The Gold Dollar Girls

"Fuck you, Bryant." She turned and walked out of the room.

Kayla was sitting with Reynold at the bar. She looked up and saw Roxanne striding toward her. Roxanne could see the guilt on her face.

Clover did a spin around her pole, and saw Roxanne heading toward the bar. Oh shit, this is going to be bad, she thought. She hopped down off the stage and waved to Misty.

"Hey, I was watching," a guy at the closest table shouted.

"Go watch your sister," Clover told him.

Misty didn't know what was happening, but she could tell that something was about to go down. He climbed off the stage and headed to the door to alert Sporty.

Roxanne stopped in front of Kayla and moved in close. With their faces only inches apart, she said, "So, you sucked my boyfriend's cock?"

"Back off, bitch," Kayla said, leaning back on her stool.

"What did you say?" Reynold sputtered.

Bryant came up behind Roxanne and put his hand on her shoulder. "Babe, let's go talk," he said.

"There's nothing to talk about," she snapped at him.

"You aren't being fair."

"Fair? What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You're in here sucking dicks five days a week, and you think you can judge me for going out with Kayla?"

"Going out?" Roxanne and Reynold shouted in unison. Every head in the club turned toward the bar.

"Let's all chill out," LeAnn said, "How about a round on the house?"

"Chill out, my ass," Reynold said. He roughly took hold of Kayla's arm.

Sporty had been hovering nearby, and stepped in between them.

"Take your hand off the lady," he said in a stern even voice.

"This is my girl," Reynold barked.

"Been a long time since motherfuckers could own other people in this goddamn country," Sporty growled, "I told you to take your hand off the lady."

"And if I don't?"

"Fuck around and find out."

Reynold released Kayla's arm and stood up. "You're in my space," he said to Sporty.

"You're space is outside of this club, motherfucker."

Reynold set his glass down on the bar, then turned and shoved Sporty's chest with both hands. Sporty's arm shot up and cuffed him hard on the side of his head, nearly knocking him over. He swung back, but Misty was at his side, and hooked her arm through his. Sporty punched him in the solar plexus and he went to his knees. Kayla jumped down from her stool and ran to the dressing room.

Georgie came out of the back room and joined LeAnn behind the bar. "I've called the police," he shouted

"Well, this shift is fucking over," Clover muttered, watching the patrons streaming toward the door. There was nothing like mention of the cops to clear a club in a hurry.

"Roxy, come on, let's get changed and go get something to eat," she said.

Roxanne stared contemptuously at Bryant for a moment, then turned and began to walk with Clover toward the dressing room.

Bryant stalked after them. "Rhonda, don't go, let me talk to you."

"Talk about what? A fucking blowjob, I could understand. A cement of stupid passion. But you have been going out with her?"

She raised her left arm to wave him away, and he reached out and grabbed her wrist.

"Goddamn it, Rhonda, stop," he demanded.

"Let go of me," she said trying to pull loose of his grip.

"No, I want you to listen to me." He yanked on her arm as she tried to turn away. Clover heard an audible pop, and Roxanne dropped to her knees, screaming in pain.

"Oh, shit," Bryant moaned. He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender and took a step backwards. Georgie was there waiting for him, and wrapped his arms around him in a suffocating bearhug.

"The fuck? You broke her arm!" Clover shouted. She dropped to her knees next to Roxanne, who was sitting on the floor, holding her arm against her chest. LeAnn rushed over to join them as Georgie manhandled Bryant out the front door.

"Can you move your fingers?" LeAnn asked.

"A little bit," Roxanne said, "Hurts like a bitch, though."

"Probably not broken. A torn ligament or something."

Georgie came back in, and knelt down. "Come on, sweetheart, I'm going to take you to the hospital."

He gently put his hands under her arms and lifted her to her feet. He looked at Clover and while his eyes were brimmed with tears, his mouth was contorted in anger. "Nobody hurts one of my girls," he growled.

Clover stood and said, "Let me grab her clothes, dude, you can't take her like that."

Georgie nodded, and Clover rushed to the dressing room. Kayla was sitting at the make up table, crying.

"You're still here?' Clover snarled. "What are you, waiting around to get your ass beat, too?"

Kayla sobbed louder while Clover fetched Roxanne's clothes and purse from her locker.

Roxanne was sitting in a chair when she returned.

"Should we take her pleasers off?" LeAnn asked.

"You think we can get her jeans on over them?" Clover asked.

"No, I guess not."

They got Roxanne into her jeans and street shoes, and draped her shirt and jacket over her shoulders. Georgie and LeAnn wrapped their arms around her back from either side and walked her out.

Clover watched them go, then looked around the club. She was all alone. She felt an almost overpowering weariness, but beneath it there was a rising tide of anger. The world was really fucked up. There was so many assholes, so many Reynolds and Bryants and Darryls. Even their goddamn names were stupid. But they had their way, with good women like Roxanne, and bad ones like Kayla and with plain old fuckups like herself. She looked down and saw an empty highball glass on the nearest table. She picked it up and thought about throwing it. She wondered how many liquor bottles she could knock off the shelf behind the bar. Then she had a better idea. She went behind the bar, set the glass on the side of the sink and picked up a bottle of Jose Cuervo off the shelf. She twisted off the nipple and flipped it into the sink.

"Another great night at the Gold Dollar Lounge," she said, raising the bottle high, then took a long drink.

She carried the bottle with her to the dressing room.

Kayla was blowing her nose as Clover entered.

"So, are you going to beat my ass?" she said in a timid voice.

"Naw, you're just another sad ass chick like the rest of us," Clover said. She went to her locker and began to change her clothes.

Misty came in, her face flushed with excitement. "Clove, you should see, Sporty has got zip ties on those guys. What the fuck was that all about, anyway."

"Ask fucking Lolita," Clover sneered.

Misty looked puzzled, then pointed at Kayla as a look of enlightenment crossed her face. "Wait...you and Roxy's boyfriend..."

Kayla hung her head and sniffled.

"Sugar daddy didn't take it well," Clover said.

"Yeah, and I'd say Roxy didn't either."

Clover took another drink of tequila, then offered the bottle to Misty.

"Yeah, I could use that," Misty said. She took a drink, then sat down next to Kayla and put her hand on her shoulder.

Kayla looked up at her.

"You know, honey," Misty said, "you are an incredibly good dancer. You really ought to go to Vegas or L.A. You could make real money. But you don't belong here. See, we are working girls. We try to look out for each other. We don't do that cutthroat shit here."

"Nobody here liked me from the start."

Misty sighed. "You're not wrong, honey. We probably weren't very welcoming." Clover snorted derisively, but Misty ignored her. "Like I said, this place was never a good fit for you."

"I don't know what I'm going to do. Reynold pays my rent, all my bills..."

"Yeah, that's the problem with sugar daddies," Clover said. "Sooner or later, they stop paying the bills. Even if you hadn't fucked up, eventually they come across a younger, prettier version and you find out that you ain't shit to them but a piece of ass."

"I don't think Reynold is like that..."

"Oh, for fucks sake. Misty, hand me that bottle, will you?"

Misty gave her the tequila.

"I said I wasn't going to beat her ass, but I feel like punching the snot out of somebody, so I need to get out of here. Looks like you and me are going to be pretty fucking busy for a while."

"We'll deal with it," Misty said.

Clover pulled on her jacket and left the dressing room. She crossed the empty club and went out the front door.

Reynold and Bryant were sitting on the yellow parking curb. Sporty really had zip tied their hands behind their backs. He was standing over them, trying his best to look intimidating.

LeAnn stood a short distance away, looking distressed. "Clover, you can't bring that bottle out here," she said.

Clover ignored her and bent over to look at Reynold. "Looks like somebody fucked around," she said.

"And somebody found out," Sporty chortled.

"You bad ass motherfucker," Clover said, laughing.

"And this fucking guy," she said, pointing at Bryant. "What the fuck is the matter with you? Most guys would give their right nut for a babe like Roxy. Well, maybe you don't have a right nut."

She took another swig of tequila. In the distance, she could hear sirens. She looked around and saw Bryant's Mustang sitting alone in the second row of the parking lot.

"Hey, is that your car?" she asked, nudging his leg with her foot while taking her cigarettes and lighter out of her bra. When he didn't answer, she nudged him again.

"I asked you a question, fucknut."

"Yeah, it's my car," he grumbled.

"I don't think it's very smart to leave the top down. There's some fucked up people around here."

"Fuck you, fat ass."

Clover opened her mouth wide in mock indignation. "Fuck me? I don't think so, douchebag."

She lit her cigarette, then sauntered over to his car. The sirens were getting louder. She took another drink, then turned the bottle upside down and began to pour tequila on the Mustang's back seat.

"Hey, what the fuck?" she heard Bryant yell. He struggled to stand up, but Sporty grabbed him and held him where he was. She continued to pour out the bottle, splashing it on the front seats and the dashboard and the floor.

The blue lights were visible a few blocks away. Clover looked over toward the club. Misty and Kayla had joined the others, and they were all staring at her. She held the bottle up to the light and saw that there was one last swallow in it. She took a drag on her cigarette, then flicked it into the pool of tequila on the driver's seat. There was a soft whoosh, and a swirl of blue flame arose from the seat. The sound of Bryant's screams was drowned out by the sirens as a pair of police cars roared into the parking lot.

"Happy birthday, asshole," Clover called out as the glow of the flames merged with the blue police lights. She swallowed the last of the tequila and tossed the bottle into the back seat just as the first cop tackled her.

EPILOGUE

Roxanne sat on a wooden bench in the lobby of the police station, trying to keep her eyes open. She was exhausted, and the dull throbbing pain in her wrist was the only thing keeping her awake.

The door next to the reception desk swung opened, pushed by a balding, pot bellied policeman. "Try to stay out of trouble, will ya?" he said to the person behind him.

Clover stepped around him. "Yes, sir, officer, you don't need to worry about me," He shut the door behind her and she muttered, "Eat a big bag of salty dicks, you fascist cocksucker."

She stopped and looked at Roxanne. "They told me somebody named McAllister made my bail. That's you?"

"Yeah, that's me." She rose wearily from the bench. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"You don't have to ask me twice. Hey, I'm fucking starving. Let's go to the Finest Kind."

"Yeah, all right."

"Can you drive with your arm like that?" Clover asked as they crossed the parking lot.

"Yeah, I can hold the wheel, I just can't bend my wrist."

"That's really going to cut into your income, isn't it?"

"It shouldn't. I probably won't be able to do much pole work for a while."

"Not dancing. I meant, you will only be able to give one hand job at a time."

"Clover, I am really not in the mood for that shit right now."

"You think I'm in a good mood?"

"You didn't see Romeo while you were at the station, did you?" Clover asked as they drove to the diner.

"Nope, but guess who I did see?"

"Wait, don't tell me. Sugar Daddy?"

"Yep. Coming out as I went in. He didn't look happy."

"Too bad I didn't have my phone. I would have liked a video of Sporty and Misty cleaning his clock."

"Uh huh. And guess who else didn't look happy?"

"Who?"

"The woman with him who I have a strong suspicion does not want to be Kayla's sugar mama."

"Oh goddamn. That almost makes up for all the bullshit."

As they got out of the car at the diner, Clover said, "You know what? I don't think I've ever seen this place in the daylight."

They went inside and saw that their usual booth was occupied. "Makes you realize just how special you really are," Roxanne muttered.

They waited a few minutes, and then the hostess seated them at a table in the center of the room.

"Is Mildred here?" Clover asked her.

"Mildred? No, she works nights. Heather will be with you in a moment."

"I wonder which Heather," Clover said, "You know they probably got three or four of them."

"So, what are you going to do?" Roxanne asked, "Are you going to the club tonight?"

Clover shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. Go in and see what happens."

"You don't think you're fired?"

"Sherry won't fire me without talking to Tony Junior, and I can persuade him."

"You mean you'll fuck him."

"Well, yeah. Won't be the fist time. What about you? You gotta live with that asshole in your building."

"I suspect he'll avoid me."

"You know what I'd do if I were you?"

"Set his other car on fire?"

Clover snorted. "Ha, good one. Nope, I'd find a couple really hot dudes and have them come hang out at the pool with me. Get all giggly and squealy and shit. Make him jealous as fuck."

"That's not my style," Roxanne said, shaking her head.

Heather came to take their order. Roxanne asked for a chicken Caesar salad. Clover ordered two eggs, sunny side up, and toast.

"Jesus Christ," Roxanne said, when the waitress had left, "Is that all you ever eat?"

"It's all I ever eat here."

"Do you even eat vegetables?"

"I eat french fries."

"You're just fucking with me now."

"I get mushrooms on my pizza sometimes."

"Stop it."

"I'll be eating prison slop pretty soon."

Roxanne shook her head. "No, you won't"

"What the fuck you talking about? I committed arson in front of about eight fucking witnesses."

Roxanne held up her bandaged wrist. "What does this look like to you?"

"Your arm? What do you mean?"

"It looks like assault and battery to me."

"Oh." Clover laughed. "Oh, shit. So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that if he drops the charges against you, I'll drop the charges against him."

Clover stared at Roxanne. "You'd do that?" she asked.

"Sure."

"Thank you, Rox...Rhonda."

"You're welcome Charlene."

Heather came and set their food on the table.

"You see that chick's name tag?" Charlene said. "It said Heather C. You know why? Because there are probably four fucking Heathers work here, like I said."

She jabbed the corner of her toast in her egg yolks and took a bite. She wiped a drop of yoke from her lip with her finger and looked up. "You going to make some wisecrack about how I eat my eggs?" she asked.

"No, Rhonda said, shaking her head, "We're all good, babe."

Clover smiled, and said, as she chewed her toast, "We ain't just good, we're the fucking Gold Dollar girls."

Dedicated to sex workers everywhere