Rosé

I had just finished the first semester of my freshman year of college after my unplanned gap year, and was spending the winter break at home when the bell rang. My parents were already downstairs and answered the door, I heard a familiar voice and went to check who it was and lo and behold, it was the chancellor of my school, Mr. Smith, I had only heard his voice from the first day of school at the orientation but why the hell was he here in my house?

"John, long time no see." Mr. Smith said, hugging my dad then kissing my mother on the cheek before going to take a seat on the armchair.

My mum disappeared into the kitchen, leaving my dad and the chancellor to chat.

"It really has been a long time Carl." My dad sighed, "So how's the missus?" he asked.

"Betty's doing fine. Adam's grown a lot over the past few years and Leila is quite the beauty." he said in a way that implied something more.

Disgusting.

My dad laughed, "Yes, we should certainly get them together."

My mum came back out with two cold ones and a glass of orange juice on a tray and placed it the middle of them. She sat and picked up the orange juice, taking a sip before talking, "What are you boys getting all loud about?"

"We were talking about Leila and Adam." my dad replied, opening the bottles on the tray and taking a swig of it.

"That is a very interesting topic but it isn't why I came here John." he said. His tone had suddenly gone serious, making my ears perk.

"What's wrong?" dad asked.

He passed a paper to my father, "Now I don't do this for any other parent but I made an exception for you." he cleared his throat, "I noticed that Leila's classes are different from what she originally said she picked."

Shit, I don't like where this is going.

"What?" my mum gasped.

"Her grades are fine Clara but I wonder if this was a mistake because she seems to be doing exceptionally well for someone who has been given the wrong classes." he raised an eyebrow.

This bastard, what the hell is he trying to do here?

My father dropped the bottle on the table with a loud thud, making me flinch and almost slip and tumble down the stairs, "Leila!" he yelled, "Come here right now."

I stood from my hiding place and scurried down, I stayed standing in front of them. I had been planning for the moment that they would find out, I just didn't think it would be this early, I mean who would've thought that the chancellor knew my dad on a first name basis?

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, practically throwing the paper in my face.

When I was scheming what to say, I had thought of every sassy response but now that I was actually faced with the situation, nothing came to mind, "I'm sorry." I said.

"I want an explanation, not an apology." he ordered in a stern voice.

I took the bottle that my dad dropped and drank it down to the last gulp, this was not a conversation that I could have sober. They all stared at me in disbelief but still patiently waited for my response, except for my dad who's anger was oozing from his skin like steam out of a kettle.

"I never wanted to be a doctor..." I said and my mum gasped, "I want to work in a company and hopefully become a CEO."

Mr. Smith burst out laughing, "CEO, can you believe that?"

My dad looked at me then at my mum, and back to me again, "Are you shitting me?" he stood up.

"Honey, no." my mum said, trying to stop whatever was about to take place.

"No, are you fucking with me Leila? I send you to college so you could have a better life, so you can be happy and you repay me with this?" he pointed at the paper lying at my feet.

"How do you know that I'm going to be happy with being a doctor?" I yelled, "You just chose that for me without asking me what I wanted and just expected me to fall in line, everything in my life has been mapped out by you and the one time I want something for myself, you try to take it away from me."

"Leila, you shut your mouth, that is your father you're speaking to." my mum said angrily.

Mr. Smith who instigated this whole thing was just sitting down with a beer in hand and I swear I could see the faintest smirk on his face which, of course, only fueled my anger.

"No I will not." I said to my mum and turned to my dad, "You talk about repaying you when you haven't even done anything that I wanted, never. Stop trying to push you dreams on me just cause you failed the first time."

All I saw was my mum's crying face and my dad and Mr. Smith's shocked expression plus the hotness of my cheek and the metallic taste in my mouth that overpowered my senses, I spat it out and looked at the red thick liquid on the floor next to the paper. I lowered to pick it up and squeezed hard on it, wrinkling the paper a little.

"All I wanted was for you to support my dreams but you couldn't even do that." I smiled.

I walked into my room and grabbed my phone to call my best friend, Evie. I paced around in the bathroom while waiting for her to pick up, I didn't even notice I was crying until I looked at the mirror. The tears kept coming, running over the red hand print that my father had embellished on my cheek. My hand was moving to touch it when I heard Evie's voice.

"Hey babe, what's up?"

"Do you still need a roommate?" I asked, ignoring her question.

"What's wrong?" she asked, "You sound weird."

"Do you or do you not need a roommate?" I asked again.

"I mean yes but-"

I hung up.

"Suddenly running away and coming to my apartment is a little impulsive don't you think?" Evie spoke through clenched teeth.

After I hung up, I took whatever money I had on hand and used it to go to her place but she was with her sugar daddy at the time so I kinda interrupted something.

I lowered my head, "I know, I'm sorry." I said.

"Whatever but did he really slap you?" she asked, tilting my head to see my cheek better.

"Yeah, I have the mark and everything." I chuckled before taking a seat on her couch.

She walked and sat next to me complaining about how I interrupted her and now she doesn't have the money to go shopping for this week but I could care less about that because something caught on the coffee table caught my attention, a neon dark purple business card with two wine bottles on each side and a black silhouette of a woman pole dancing, there was writing at the top, The Vineyard, it said. Now that I had finished admiring the card, Evie's voice was coming across more clearly.

"I was thinking about going to Aspe- are you even listening to me?" she whined.

"Yeah yeah, what's the vineyard?" I asked, picking the card up. It wasn't made with paper like other cards but I didn't know the material.

"Oh that? My benefactor goes there with his friends, it's some kind of strip club. You should go work there, apparently, they pay the dancers well." she smiled.

"That does sound like a nice deal, I think I'll try it." I said, turning to the back of the card, hoping for the address to be written on it... it was... 1795 Lexington road.

"Leila, I was just kidding." she laughed nervously.

I stood up and walked to her room, still looking at the address as if it would disappear if I turned it over.

After a good night's rest and a couple of ice packs, the swelling had gone down a considerable amount, I made Evie do my makeup and ransacked her closet because I left home without packing, then I was off to Lexington road.

The building was black with neon purple wine bottles at the front, the name wasn't on there but I knew I was in the right place, there was no one outside, it was a pretty secluded area, my driver got lost for 5 minutes trying to find this place. I went up to the door, there was no knob, honestly there was no possible way of entry so I knocked but there was no answer. I took the card out of my pocket to look at the address one more time but there was no doubt I was in the right place, during the process of placing it back into my coat, a beep came from the behind the door which stopped me in my tracks, I waited to see if I would hear another beep but it never came. I started brainstorming.

"It's a secluded area..." I whispered, "where rich people come, so obviously they don't want to be seen, hence the seclusion, there must be a secret way of entry that only they would know." I brought the card out again, "The card is given to every member, possibly, so the card must be a way to get in." I stared at the card, trying to figure it out and something finally came to mind. In college we have our id that we scan to gain entrance into the dorms so maybe this is like that.

I turned the card the the part with the address and slowly moved it across the door, the beep sound came again and I pushed the door open, revealing a beautiful African-American woman with yellow, blonde wig and in red lingerie, she had on stiletto heels, almost the same color as her hair with red designs on it, 7-8 inches high. In short, she looked like a fucking queen.

"Took you long enough." she said, her voice low and breathy.

"Huh?" I managed to say before 3 other girls that looked not that much older than me came squealing out of a room. 1 had brunette hair and was wearing white lingerie that was a size too tight in the boob area, with transparent stilettos, maybe 5-6 inches, the 2nd one was a redhead, she wore green lingerie and matching boot stilettos, I never thought anyone could pull off green but here she was, looking like an elf, a very beautiful one at that. The last one was wearing a navy blue bodysuit and the heels to match.

"We bet on how long it was going to take you to figure out how to get in, Chardonnay said 10 minutes so she wins, she always wins." the redhead said, referring to the woman in red

"What?" I asked, confused.

The girl in the navy blue approached me and smoothed my hair back, "We've never had one with black hair before." she said, cupping my face in her hands, "Why're you here?" she asked.

"I n-need a j-job." I stuttered.

"A job?" the brunette laughed, "So you didn't steal that card off of someone."

"No, one of your clients is dating my friend and he left it at her place." I said, "So please give me a job here."

"Hmmm... we do need a Rosé." the redhead said to Chardonnay. Come to think of it, these are all wine names.

"Hey girl," Chardonnay calls me, "Have you ever danced on a pole before?"

"Uh... no."

"Stripped?"

"No."

"Danced?"

"Yes, I was on the dance team at my high school."

"Then why are you here?" she asked, all the memories of what happened the day before came flooding back.

"I just started college, my parents found out that I wasn't studying what they wanted me to so I left, they knew I left but didn't haven't contacted me, they didn't even stop me from leaving and now I need a job, a job that pays well." I said.

"You're 18?" she gasped.

"We've never had one that young before, ooh Chardonnay can we keep her?" The girl in navy blue beamed like a little girl.

"Pipe down Mer." she ordered but that didn't stop her from going on and on, "Fine." she groaned, "You have the job. Training you will be lots of fun." she smiled.

Over the course of the winter break, Chardonnay, Merlot, Marsanna and Vernaccia taught me everything there was to know about stripping, I learnt a lot of things that proved all the stereotypes about it wrong, and by the end of the winter break, I earned the name Rosé.

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Thanks for reading my book. 😁😁

It had been two years since I became a stripper, even though I had earned more than enough to get me through the rest of college throughout that time, I didn't want to quit, I know this might sound a bit cliche but they were my family now, they didn't laugh at my dreams of one day become a CEO instead, they encouraged me. Why the hell would I ever want to leave?

Mer--Merlot-- gasped, "Leila, look at the audience in your room." she said, peeking behind the curtain, into my room.

I peeked along with her at the guest in their masks, these were all rich and influential people who wouldn't want a trip to the strip club to tarnish their reputations so in order for their identities to be safe, they wear masks.

"Yeah, did you see the three fit bachelors that came in?" Mar, Marsanne, asked as she smoothed the foundation around her face.

"Omg, I wanted to rip the masks off their faces, especially the one with the wolf mask." Vernaccia moaned.

"You all need to calm down, that's Rosé's customer." Char turned to me and smiled, "Go get him girl." She's said this to me before every show but I never understood why. My show always started earlier than theirs because they stayed later and I had to go to school the next morning so I couldn't stay until 2 in the morning unless my classes for the next day started in the afternoon.

I walked out from the curtain and the whole room went silent as the music started and I began to dance. The room was designed for me, there were dim pink lights but not so dark that they couldn't see me, the curtain led to a circle stage with a pole right in the middle of it, there were chairs set up around the stage, those were for the greedy, old, pig-bellied men. There were another set of chairs at the back of the room, where the lights were even darker over there but I could feel their gaze, one in particular... the man in the wolf mask, though I couldn't see the back of the room all that much, I could still pick out some outlines of the mask, especially the eye holes. I caught a faint silver glint through it.

"Close up." Someone in the audience yelled, pulling me out of my thoughts.

A close up; this was when I would pick a random person from the audience and give them a lap dance but I only did that when someone asked. I wanted to be closer to him. I walked down the stairs in front of the stage and towards him, curving every other man that called me towards them, they all watched me as I approached him, soon enough, they stopped calling me over to them.

I stood in front of him for a second before positioning myself on his lap, placing my calves on either side of his thighs, almost straddling him, making sure that our bodies weren't being too much in contact but enough that it created a sexual atmosphere, the aromatic scent of his cologne filled my nostrils, almost overpowering my sense of smell. My arms moved instinctively to unhook the bra portion of my costume, pulled it off and dropped it in the lap of the person sitting next to him, he had on an owl mask. He just sat there and watched me dance, most of the others would've already tried to touch me by now, he was different and I liked it. I could feel his lustful stare, I could feel all of their stares but his gaze was the only one that made me feel watched, that made me feel like he was touching me, even when his hands lay perfectly on the armrests, his eyes followed my hands as they explored my entire body, then our eyes met, he had light gray eyes but because of the light, they had a slight silver color, it was almost like staring into a mirror, I could see everything he saw, my shiny black hair that Mer helped me get ready, green eyes, gold body glitter, my lewd movements. I imagined what he would do to me if we were alone in this, would he bend me over a table or would he be gentle? Would he do it with the mask on? Would he fuck me till I was teary and drooling mess?

I started throbbing at the thought of it and I felt myself getting wet, I needed to leave, needed to get back on the stage, put some distance between us, but I can't stand up until he says so or gives me money. His hand began to approach me but I didn't shy away, I kept dancing, I wanted him to touch me and at the same time I didn't. I could feel his hand hovering over my body and I unconsciously moved forward. He was so close when another guy on the other side of him, a man with a panther mask, grabbed his hand, "Look but don't touch." he said.

"Here." The man with the owl mask said to him, passing a hundred dollar bill to him.

He took it, folded it in half and smoothed it out. He must've figured that since he couldn't touch me, using money wouldn't count, because of what he did next. He used the flat part of the bill to trace around my chest but switched it to the pointed part when he got to my nipples and he poked me, making me fall into his lap and I swear I heard him chuckle.

I was starting to get pissed, I wanted to go back to the stage but he kept teasing me until he placed the folded piece of paper in front of my mouth, what the hell? He wanted me to take it... with my mouth?!

No matter how much I didn't want to do it, I couldn't anger my customer, it would come right out of my pay, so I forced a smile and opened my mouth, he set it gently on my lower lip, not breaking eye contact for a second. I closed my mouth as he let go of it then got off him, walking towards the stage and continued the show.

Soon the men started leaving one by one but him and the men sitting next to him remained, I was starting to feel self-conscious, he was staring bullets at me. His 'friends' stood up and left, just leaving us in the room. He stood up just as the music stopped and approached me, fidgeting with something in his hand.

When he got to me, he outstretched his arm to me, my bra lay on his palm. "You left something." he said, his voice deep and sexy. He walked to the door, opened it and took a step, then looked back at me, "You look stunning in white." Then the door slammed shut.

My knees buckled under me and I hit the ground, Merlot immediately came rushing from behind the curtain.

"Are you okay?" she yelled as she ran to me, "Oh my god, honey, you're so red. Do you have a fever?" she asked, pressing her palm to my temple.

I tried my best to calm myself then stood up, "I'm fine." I said, pushing her hand away and walking towards the dressing room.

When I was done dressing up in my normal clothes, I said my goodbyes and walked out of the club. I stopped when I saw a black car in the parking lot, it was the only car there which gave me a bad feeling. I decided to walk back into the club and use the back exit when I heard a familiar voice, "That's just hurtful." he said. I looked back to see my, Bryce, ex-boyfriend standing behind the open door of the car.

I let out a relieved sigh, better him than some stalker, then I walked towards him, "What do you want?" I asked.

"I'm here to pick you up." he smiled.

"How do you know I get off at this time?" I walked past him.

He grabs my hand, "Get in the damn car Leila."

"Why are you being like this? We broke up, remember?"

"I don't recall such irrelevant matters." he smirks.

I poked him with a safety pin, he winced and let go. "Well let me remind you," I said, "I walked into your apartment to surprise you for your birthday when I see you pushing your shrimp dick in and out of another woman, from a spectator's point of view, I was the one interrupting."

"Leila-"

"And let's not forget you hounding me about quitting my job." I interrupted him.

"Leila come on, she was just a fuck buddy, you're special... and I don't have a shrimp, you must be thinking about something else." he said, that stupid smirk still plastered across his face.

"Whatever," I surrendered, I was not going to argue with him today or any other day "I'm leaving now." I said as I walked away.

I had walked far enough for the soles of my feet to start hurting, I spotted a bench and limped over to it, immediately taking my seat when I got there.

The annoyingly black car pulled up in front of me and the window closest to me slid down.

"What, are you following me now?" I spat.

"Stop being stubborn and get in." he said, then the car made a clicking sound when he unlocked it.

He drove me all the way to my building then turned off the car and looked at me up and down, checking me out, I was wearing a black short skirt with a red crop top and black and white vans sneakers with red cherries on them.

"Well thanks." I said and tried to open the door but it was locked. I turned to him, "Unlock it." I ordered.

Instead of doing what I said, his hand moved to my thighs and he lightly caressed me, "I'm serious about you being special, I haven't had sex with anyone since you stopped coming over." he said before kissing my neck.

"Either that or you finally caught an std." I laughed, "Now open the door."

He slammed his hand on the steering wheel, causing it to honk in the empty street, "Fuck Leila, why can't you just be obedient and spread your legs for me like you used to."

I smiled, "Okay." I placed my hand and the back of his head making him think I was pulling him into a kiss and when he let his guard down, and with force, I slammed it against the wheel.

"Jesus Leila." He yelled and lifted his head, covering his now bleeding nose, "You could've broken my fucking nose."

"That was the plan now unlock the fucking door." I said. He did and I got out but I still felt the need to say something so I turned back, "'Used to' is past tense if your frat boy pea brain didn't already know that. I don't give a shit about you anymore." I said, holding my middle finger up.

He drove off and I felt satisfied with myself as I walked into the elevator, as the doors closed, a hand got in between them, opening them up again and a man in a black suit walked in, he had dark brown hair and beautiful gray eyes that made it feel like I was looking at the moon, he cleared his throat, making me realize that I was staring.

I collected myself and pressed the 7 button while he pressed the button for the last floor where all the penthouse suites were located, he must be quite rich.

The ride was silent, making me uncomfortable but I couldn't strike a conversation with him because I could feel him staring at me like how a predator looks at prey. We finally got to the seventh floor and I got off the elevator. Even as I walked out, I could feel his eyes following me, it was like I was back on the stage again and the image of the wolf mask appeared in my mind. I heard the ding of the elevator and I practically sprinted down the hall, into the apartment.

I walked into Evie's room, hoping to see her awake and sitting on her bed but she wasn't even home. I went into my room, straight to the bathroom and into the shower. I wanted to wash all the traces of Max, me ex, away from my body. As I lathered the soap on my body, I remembered when the he trailed the money along the exposed part of my body and the places it touched began to heat up as I reached for my throbbing pussy, I immediately turned on the cold water before I could do anything I'd regret but honestly, I doubt that I would actually regret it.

I waited till I calmed down and could think of nothing but how cold I was before getting out of the shower. I dried myself up, wore my pajamas and sat on my bed. I pulled my bag closer to me and brought out my dead phone, plugged it in and waited for it to turn on, then I set my alarm for the next morning.