THE TOKEN Read Free Page A

hidden by a strategic strip of ebony satin.
    I made the mistake of looking at Ty. He licked his lips, his hooded eyes roving my body like a starving man. My palms begin to sweat.
    “Turn,” he said quietly, and I do. He'd been looking at my bare ass, only a strip of lace bisecting my butt cheeks.
    I felt the heat climb higher, infusing my neck to the roots of my hair. I count inside my head, praying for it to end.
    “Walk,” he said.
    I do, knowing I'm naturally graceful and balanced. The deep lace of my stockings whispers as I move away from him. Grace is the one thing that has never been taken from me, and I'm grateful for it now.
    “Turn,” he said. I don't miss that his voice is somewhat hoarse.
    I pivoted in a smooth motion, and I can't help but notice I've affected him. Shame flares anew, riding high to mortified.
    “Walk.”
    I inhaled deeply and draw nearer. I stop about three feet from him, and we stare at each other. I'm so tense I could've screamed.
    “You'll do,” Ty said in a sarcastic drawl.
    I looked into his dark eyes and see desire there. I swallowed so hard my throat clicks. Silence fills the space uncomfortably. “So when can I start?” I hate how timid my voice sounds.
    Ty smirked as though he understands how desperate I am. I know Kiki didn't tell him my reasons. He assumed a lot. It must come with the job. “Tomorrow.”
    “Okay.” With shaky fingers, I'd put on my clothes, fighting tears so hard that my eyelids burned with the need to cry. My mind filled with all my defenses. I'm a respectable girl. I pay my bills. I don't party, have boyfriends, goof off... I'm a physical therapist, for God's sake! But when I get the last button done, the words die. Ty sees me as commerce, and I sighed, feeling defeated. I can't even make the proper ending salutation.
    I made my silent way to the door and almost escape before he'd asked “Have you ever had sex?”
    I turned slowly, my heart hammering. What kind of effed up question is that? I gathered my courage, knowing I could lose this chance to clean up my fiscal problems with the wrong words.
    “That's none of your business.” I'd hated myself, but I had to ask anyway, “Why? Why does that matter?”
    Ty walked around his desk and shifted papers, his interest in me clearly waning. He'd been silent so long I opened the door and began to walk through it.
    His words caught me before I closed it, “Because you walk like a whore.”
    I stiffened. The tears that threatened earlier? Yeah... those fall.
    I had softly closed the door and moved through the crowded, dark hallways of the strip club. My coat is secured around the outfit that'd cost me almost a week's pay.
    I hated what Ty said.
    I hated it because it felt true.
     
    Kiki shatters the foul memory of meeting Ty when she asks, “You ready?”
    I look back at the girl in the mirror that's me. Her eyes are so pale a gray they would look almost white if it weren't for the lightning strikes of bronze that streak the irises, a warm brown ringing the outside. Right now, they're wide and ghostly in my even paler face and Kiki stares back at me in the mirror. Her darker skin and complexion contrasts with mine in the reflection. She draws me in as I lean back against her.
    “You don't have to, Faren.” She gives me an out as I stare at her dark arms wound around my neck in an embrace of solace.
    But we both know why I have to.
    I nod. “Yeah I do.”
    She kisses my coiffed hair and backs up. I slip into the ruby red heels and try not to take that final glance in the mirror.
    A tall slim girl stares back at me. Her hair looks like caramel, eyes like ice. Her creamy skin looks like milk against the deep red of the outfit. A glittering mask that is part of the act. It surrounds my silver eyes in secrecy. I'm glad for the anonymity. The glittering v between my full breasts needs only an inch to reveal my nipples. The waistband is Velcro.
    Meant to be torn.
    Kiki does a little spin, hump-hips, and throws