Song: Choke - Royal & the Serpent

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Luscious

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Before I turned away, I did something completely out of character.

I winked at him.

I winked at him and then I became another nameless face amongst the ever flowing stream of people.

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I rushed inside the small club, revelling at the inside warmth.

I blew on my hands as I took off my raggedy coat and made my way into down the hallway and into the main room. 

I toured the area, surprised at how much had changed in only a night.

All the tables, chairs and sofas had been replaced with deep reds, all done in modern taste. The bloodstained carpet from yesterday had been replaced with a dark, fluffy kind which hugged the entire room. 

Instead of a stage in the middle of the room, there were smaller stages dotted around, each with their own poles and the tables had been placed around them, but the icing on the cake wasn't the new red aesthetic or the new stages, it was the grand piano placed in the middle of the room. 

The mere sleekness of the instrument took my breath away. 

I slowly approached it, as if under a spell, and gingerly touched the smooth wood, my fingers eventually finding their way to the cover. 

I lifted it up, met with the familiar white and black keys. 

Still entranced by its beauty, I dragged my finger over the keys, finding the middle C and pushing it down, letting a lone note ring out in the empty room. 

"Do you play?" A voice shook me out of my entranced stupor. 

I looked up, met with those dangerous eyes from across the room. 

If I thought he looked good yesterday, he definitely looked better today. He donned a three piece suit which seemed to be tailor made for him and hugged his entire figure, showing off his muscles in the most artful way possible. His hair was pushed back and to top it all off, he leaned dangerously on the doorway.

As if the keys had suddenly turned blazing hot, I snatched my hand away and closed the cover.

Adjusting my hood, I stood to my full height, letting my eyes roam the room a second time, no longer entranced by the aesthetics and picking out the flaws I would have to fix. 

"Sometimes."

I kept my answer vague, he was already asking more questions than the old boss and I couldn't say I liked it. 

I liked to keep my affairs private. 

He hummed, pushing himself off the doorway and looking around the room as if it was the greatest thing in the world. 

"What do you think of the transformation?"

My eyes snapped to his, not wanting to tell him that I thought he did a nice job.

"Good luck getting spilled drinks out of this carpet," I said making my exit, not looking at him once as I strutted out of the room and into the hallway. 

I barged into the main dressing room, immediately noticing another change to the regime. 

Outfits rested innocently on the large daybed in the middle of the room, each with a name tag lying innocently on top. 

This was new, I thought, usually we got to pick our own outfits. 

I slowly rounded the sofa, looking over each name tag and carefully taking in the outfits that had been meticulously planned. 

One thing stood out to me, each and every one of the outfits had a piece of red whether it be accessories or the entire thing, there was always a hint of red. 

He must like this colour.

I almost skipped over my own set, he hadn't written my stage name, he had written my real name. 

Ophelia. 

A name so foreign I snatched the tag and crumpled it up, shoving it into my back pocket and out of my mind before I shrugged out of my clothes and into my work clothes. 

Made completely of red lace, the body suit hugged my every curve, showing parts of myself that would usually only be shown in private. Lace was carefully clumped together the closer it got to more intimate parts of my body, though it left little to the imagination. 

The lace reached all the way up my neck and down my arms but left my legs free and with no shoes lined by the outfit, I picked my own, a pair of strappy red heels to fit the theme.

I don't think anyone would pay much attention to my heels when I looked as good as this.

He must've bought an entire new closet, because I couldn't recognize a single piece of lingerie on the spread. 

I shoved my clothes into my locker, taking out my makeup bag and making my way to the connecting room where all of the makeup tables were set up. 

This was precisely the reason why I always ensured I arrived early. 

With only six makeup tables and 22 girls including me, rushing to do their makeup at the last minute, it created a high stress environment and one I didn't like engaging in. 

Just as I primed my face, the first group of girls came in, giggling and chittering away, shredding their heavy coats as soon as they step into the room. 

"Well I think it looks great," Star declared, catching a glance at the clothes. 

I applied a light foundation to my face, gently beating away with my very much overused beauty blender, trying my best to block out their talking and work on making my face look flawless. 

"Hey, Lush, what's the deal with the clothes?" Star called out to me.

"New management, I think, just put them on," I replied without looking away from my eyeliner, a task that called for a high amount of attention. 

She hummed, before turning to chatter again, thankfully not asking anymore questions. 

More girls started to pour through the door and into the room, all asking the same questions as before as I continued to meticulously finish my face. 

With a heavy sigh and shoving the last of my products into my makeup bag, I stood up and turned to face the girls, all bustling about, preparing to get ready for the show tonight. 

Something was off in the air tonight, electricity ran through the dressing room but it was a different kind of excitement, edging on nerves. Nobody knew the extent on how much the club would change, me included. 

I made my way to the doorway splitting the makeup room and the dressing room, standing in the middle of the chaos before clapping my hands to gain their attention. 

I waited for awhile before the last whisper had been stamped out.

"Okay, everyone I know yesterday was a little off," I said, a snort cutting me off before I continued, "but thank all of you for showing up today, from what I know everything will continue as normal today, everyone planned to or have private dances will continue to go ahead. If you're on poles today, you're on poles, if you're waitresses today, that's exactly what you'll be doing today whilst I work on smoothing out any wrinkles with the new management."

I took a breath, surveying the room again and making sure all my girls were here. 

Surprisingly enough, everyone had turned up except for one, the newbie brunette from yesterday. 

I couldn't blame her, though it did add to the list of things I needed to tend to. 

"Any questions?" I asked, having to stop myself from bouncing my foot. 

Almost every single hand went up, causing me to deflate a little at the amount of questions they had and the small amount of answers I would probably have to them. 

So, instead of dealing with the problem I passed it to someone else.

"Raven, answer their questions," I said, coming out as more of a command than an ask, but it didn't faze her, she had probably expected it. 

She playfully rolled her eyes at me and pushed herself off the wall making her way over to me.

"You owe me," she whispered in my ear, immediately turning to the group and taking in a deep breath. 

I muttered a quick thanks to her before walking to my locker and picking up my clipboard where I had written my plans to get everything going today. 

Without a second to spare, I rushed out of the room, not missing a question that made me snicker. 

"Can we go for the new boss?"

I shut the door behind me and walked back to the new main room and took in a deep breath. 

Looking around there were flaws in the new design. 

The tables were awkward in their placing making it harder to walk from table to table, especially with a tray full of drinks. The bar seemed to have not been properly stocked, a film of dirt covered the stages and there were still some evidence of last night on the walls. 

I sighed, knowing that we only had little under and hour before people would start filtering in and started to write down what had to be done, commanding people around and getting cleaners to do their goddamned job. 

Before I knew it, the lights were perfect, the music inviting and seductive and the bar more stocked than previously. 

"Good job, piccola," a deep voice interrupted my concentration. 

Translation: Little one

A voice I had grown to know all too well. 

I turned, meeting his eyes head on and nodding. 

"It's my job," I stated blankly before turning back to the cleaners, hoping he would get the hint that I wasn't nearly finished ironing out the wrinkles. 

"Piccola, I actually have a special job for you tonight."

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1646 words

any song suggestions?

okay bye