HARLEY

T oday was the day. The day I had to tell Ron that I needed so much time off of work. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. In fact, I’d be lucky if he didn’t fire me. Having Tony back me up was not just necessary. It would be pure suicide not to have him there. Not that Ron was a bad guy. Ron was certainly an asshole, and he’d cultivated the stereotypical look of a sleazy strip club owner. Shiny slicked back hair, skinny leather ties on burgundy button-down shirts and the constant stench of cheap cologne mixed with stale cigars and the vanilla air freshener, that was constantly being sprayed all over the club. Ron was an olfactory offense, like none other.

Tony was waiting by the back door for me when my taxi pulled up. He opened the door like the big teddy bear he was and scooped me up into his arms, twirling me around before setting me back down on the pavement.

“Oh Tony, thanks so much for being here.” I exclaimed. “Truly… I don’t think I could do this without you.” I grinned, as he offered me a beefy arm and began walking me towards the club door.

“It’s nothing, my little friend.” He chuckled as he tousled my hair. “I always have your back.”

I grinned till my cheeks ached. Gosh, was I ever thankful for Tony. Between the two of them, they had a good cop, bad cop routine down to an art. Except that for Tony, it wasn’t an act. He did truly care about us girls and his goal was always to have a club where the working conditions were actually beneficial for us. Tony was the guy who made stripping feel like an actual job. He gave us respect, opportunities, fair pay and always let us bend his ear. Few of the girls knew the truth about him, but I did. As one of the girls who had been working there the longest, Tony had confided in me and a two of my friends about his actual status at the club. He’d told us he wasn’t a “front of the house” kind of guy. Tony had no interest in dealing with the day-to-day problems of running a business. Whereas Ron was all about the power, the prestige, and the image of being a local yet seedy entrepreneur.

It was only mid-afternoon, and the club didn’t officially open for a few more hours, so we made our way down to Ron’s office at the back of the club. Tony rapped his knuckles on the door and called out in his loud, booming voice. “Ron? You in there?”

“What do you want?” called back an angry voice from behind the closed door.

“Oh, shit… maybe this is a bad time.” I mouthed to Tony. Ron, in a bad mood, was definitely not what I needed right now.

Tony just shook his head and whispered back to me. “Stay quiet and I’ll do the talking.”

Overwhelmed with gratitude, I smiled and squeezed his hand. I’d always clammed up when having to talk to an aggressive, angry person. Especially when it was a man…

“Ron!” Tony greeted him warmly, as he opened the door. Ron was at his desk, papers strewn across it and all across the floor. The old leather couch in the corner was half buried under boxes of even more paperwork.

Ron didn’t answer, but simply cocked an eyebrow as he looked up and saw me. “What’s she doing here?” he said, nodding in my direction.

“Hi Ron…” I began, before Tony interrupted and took charge of the situation.

“For personal reasons, Harley needs to go out of town for eight weeks.” Tony began. I could have sworn I stopped breathing as he launched himself right into it.

I’d known Ron for years now and had seen him fly into a rage thousands of times, both at me and at the other girls. I could usually brush it off without too much concern, but something about him was different this time. Swallowing hard as I locked my eyes with his squinty ones, and instantly felt a cold rush of icy air down my back.

Ron’s mouth opened, shut, and then opened again. He got up and walked around to the front of his desk before leaning back against it and crossing his arms over his chest and looking right at me. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

His tone was calm and controlled, but his eyes spoke a different story.

“I’m sorry Ron, but I jus…”

Ron stood up and leaned his towering frame over me. He wasn’t a very tall man, but with me being so short, he really didn’t have to be. “You’re such a little…” He began, his saliva pooling in the corners of his mouth as his frustration grew.

“Harley, give us a minute.” Came Tony’s booming voice. He didn’t have to tell me twice. I spun and shot out of the room before Ron could finish his insult.

Voices raised, fists slammed onto desks and a lot of pacing back and forth later, and they both emerged.

“I’m not happy about this,” Ron growled. “But thank Tony, he’s pretty convincing,” Ron mumbled. “Obviously, I want you back here… people request you all the time. Go do what you have to, but before you do, I want two nights here onstage. Do you understand? Give me two nights, tonight and tomorrow, and I’ll give you your job back after eight weeks. Got it?” He was all up in my face now, barely giving me a chance to breathe. “Tonight and tomorrow you’re onstage, then you can take your eight weeks. Just don’t extend it. I’m scheduling you every day during that ninth week, hot stuff.” He finished, pointing a bony finger in my face.

I nodded vigorously, despite my stomach’s current flipping routine. Without waiting for a response, Ron turned back to his office and slammed the door in our faces.

My mind was racing. I was beyond grateful that Tony had made it happen. But two extra shifts? What would I tell Ace? He was going to flip out.

“Tony, thank you so much! What the hell did you tell him?” I asked.

A sheepish look crossed Tony’s face. “Just that you had woman problems health-wise and needed a minor surgery along with recovery time.”

I stared at him in shock. “What the fuck?”

He shrugged. “I dunno.. my sister just a hysterectomy, that’s what gave me the idea.” He grinned. “But of course, Ron knows that, so I made your story both similar, but also vague.” he grinned. “Said I wasn’t sure what type of surgery you needed. And you know Ron, he thinks women’s issues should stay in women’s spaces anyway, so he wasn’t about to ask.” Tony chuckled.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it and I’ll be back, I promise.” I assured him, still giggling about the story he told Ron.

“You gonna stay or come back later?” Tony asked as we headed back to his post by the front door.

“It’s a bit early… so yeah, I’m going to head out to my appointment then, pass by my place and grab my work bag, probably pick up a salad or maybe a sandwich and then I’ll be back. Want me to bring you something?” I offered.

“Salad ain’t my jam sweet cheeks, but a large soda and a barbecue cheeseburger would really make my day!” He winked as he rubbed his extra-large stomach.

“You got it, my friend.” I smiled and blew him a kiss before heading outside.

***

My three o’clock appointment with Devon was coming up quickly. I needed to be in his office in under thirty minutes. Shit, why was I always late? So useless. I berated myself. No time to take the bus, I was going to have to splurge on another cab.

Luckily, the cabbie that I flagged down was very adept at dealing with LA traffic, and he actually got me to Devon’s office with a few minutes to spare. After paying him and running up the stairs two at a time to the office on the third floor, I arrived out of breath but excited. Helping with band stuff was beyond thrilling to this lifelong super fan.

I found Devon’s door slightly open, with him sitting at his desk, his head in his hands as he was poring over masses of documents. I knocked on the wall softly as I pushed the door open further. “Hey there!” I grinned.

His head popped up immediately. “Harley!” He smiled warmly as he got up to welcome me. “So happy to see you. Ace tells me you have some time to fill while he’s off working with Jax?”

I smiled. “Yeah, I do and he also told me you needed an assistant? I’m happy to be of help for a few weeks!” I appreciated that Devon didn’t comment about my job at the club. Obviously, he knew I worked there and so he could have made stupid comments. Most guys usually did, but thankfully, he either didn’t care or it wasn’t a thing for him. Maybe hanging around rock stars and their stripper girlfriends, were the norm for him?

“So, here’s the thing, Harley. I’m overloaded right now. I’ve got the label execs breathing down my neck on a million different issues. It’s tax season and these idiot musicians leave all their paperwork for me to organize and I have….”.

He paused, stood up, and walked around to the front of his desk. Leaning back against it, he crossed his arms and really focused in on me.

“Anyway, none of that matters. What matters is that I’m giving Jax’s secret project to you… but only on one condition.”

I nodded. “Sure! Anything! Honestly, I’m just really grateful that…”

“Do not tell Aria anything. You understand me?” He interrupted, pointing at me. “Nothing. If Ace or Aria ask what I have you doing, you just say you’re getting coffee and making photocopies. Got it?”

Fuck. Suddenly my excitement had lost its shine.

“I don’t like keeping secrets, Devon.” I warned him. “Aria is my best friend and Ace is my boyfriend. I’m not sure why you think I’ll keep secrets from them.”

Devon just laughed. “Here, read this,” He said, tossing me a manila folder. “Everything you need to know about this assignment is in that folder.”

My chest was tight with nerves as I opened the folder, but within seconds, all my concerns were gone. This was the best secret I’d ever had to keep.

“Oh, wow…” I exclaimed, looking up at him. “I’m totally down for this!”

***

After my meeting with Devon and running all the errands, including Tony’s cheeseburger, I made it back to the club in time for the set that Ron had insisted on. There was just enough time for me to wolf down my soup and salad while curling my hair. When I was done, I reapplied my makeup, adding a heavy smoky eye, large fake eyelashes and a little white pencil in my water line. Then, after shoving myself into a tiny golden, string bikini, I added a little body glitter and donned my four-inch, clear stilettos heels. It was stage time.

Ron wanted to squeeze as much out of me as he could over those last two days. He’d scheduled me from opening to closing on both days. Arranging for me to be onstage half the time and spending the rest of the time in the private rooms. I’d been stripping for so many years that I could do it with my eyes closed, literally. Launch myself upside down on the pole? No problem. Swing around it while being completely horizontal? Easy. It didn’t matter, I could do it all, and I had created so many routines over the years that I needed zero practice time before getting up there. I just had to get through these two days without Ace finding out.

We’d been chatting multiple times a day since he’d left and he’d been giving me all the details. Apparently, Jax had been horribly sick from the withdrawal and thankfully, Ace hadn’t had the same reaction. I knew he wouldn’t, of course. He wasn’t nearly as bad as Jax.

It had only been a week, but I missed him like crazy and was already counting down the days on the kitchen calendar Ace had put up on the fridge. Each evening, while on the phone, we marked a big X through the day on our respective matching calendars. The only thing that weighed on my mind was my tiny, little, white lie. I couldn’t tell him about the deal I had with Ron to work for two more days. He wouldn’t understand and he definitely wouldn’t approve, but he also didn’t understand how things worked in my life. I wasn’t a famous rock star, and I didn’t have millions of dollars, not even close. I couldn’t just make up all the rules like he did.

Besides, it was only for two nights. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.