Lex's tone was beyond condescending. He stared openly at her 'ensemble' and the skin that it left bare. She'd grown up over the course of her senior year and the following two months. Her limbs were smooth, and she'd grown into her curves for a more complete and 'finished' look that all high school girls lacked without surgical help.
"Stop staring at my tits." her voice was tense and edgy. She was standing with her weight balanced on one hip and her other foot stretched out. An unmistakable pose, most likely meant for the bartender who was watching from across the room.
"I can't see your tits," Lex replied, slipping in her own term. "They're covered by those ridiculous coconuts. I can't even see any clevage." Chloe tossed her fake hair and glanced surepetously over her shoulder. She didn't have time for this.
"I'm not going to do this right now," she said. "Just ask for one of the other girls."
"No." He uncrossed his leg and leaned forward. "I want to know what you're doing here."
"Isn't it obvious?" Chloe's voice was getting dangerously loud. "I'm dancing."
"No," Lex corrected. "She's dancing." He pointed to Donna who was currently giving Braun his show. "And she's dancing." he pointed to the other dancer in the room. "You are standing there scowling at me and not giving me what I want."
"You want a lap dance from me?" Her tone was incredulous and he wondered if her scorn was effortless when it came to him. "You must be really hard up these days."
"I want to know why you're here."
"That's none of your business." She looked nervous. "I can't do this." She started to turn away but Lex held up one finger to get her to wait. Then he reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out a money clip.
Lex watched Chloe's gaze fasten on the cash that he was unfolding and he laid out a stack of $100 bills. She chewed her lip, nervously, marring her white teeth with smudges of lipstick. He thought he had his answer.
"I think you can do this, Chloe."
"It's Dani when I'm working."
"It'll never be 'Dani'." He fixed her with a hard look. "I'm willing to pay top dollar for an amateur, so save your comments and commence the dancing." He slid back and folded the bills so they made long, narrow tents on the tabletop. The gauntlet had been thrown. He was going to treat her like any other stripper and make her work for every penny.
Chloe closed her eyes and began her routine with her arms over her head, elbows slightly bent, and hands relaxed with fingers slightly curled, as she'd been taught. She let the beat of the music wash over her and mentally went to her 'happy place'. She wasn't in a strip club in Edge City, she was playing dress-up with Lana and Lois. They were goofing around and pretending to be strippers. If she really pretended, she could almost smell the popcorn and taste sticky ice cream on her teeth.
Chloe opened her eyes, It was lipstick on her teeth, and she was moving her hips to the rhythm of the music, and she was dancing for Lex Luthor's money. Reality wouldn't slip away so easily, so she tried harder. She gyrated her hips and took a careful step forward, pivoting and making a full turn. Then she felt herself relax. It was a game. She was with Lois at the apartment in Metropolis again, and she was danging in front of the window. Lois was beside her, and they were giving a show for the guy across the street who always left his shades up. She moved forward, rolling her hips and just keeping her eyes open enough to keep herself from bumping into anything. She approached the seat and placed her foot between Lex's legs. Then she leaned forward in a lunge, keeping herself from wincing as the straps to her shoes cut into her flesh.
Lex held up the first bill, asking permission, she leaned her knee forward and he was presented with a smooth thigh and a garter into which he could place the bill. He lifted the edge and tucked it in, neatly. Chloe turned and did a little shimmy, causing the skirt to rustle and a fair amount of body glitter to land on his black pants. She bent at the waist and then moved into a squat before sliding up his shin. She paused and he tucked the next bill into the waistband of the skirt.
Chloe was playing truth or dare and she had to do a strip tease in front of her friends. She moved her knees on either side of Lex's leag and rolled her belly back, unable to stop blushing at him being so close to her pelvis. She did another roll, this time a little closer, and he tucked another bill in her waistband. With each additional payment, she felt worse, and better. She was taking money from Lex, but was getting ever closer to her goal, the end of the dance. The tempo sped up and she placed her hands on the padded back of the seat, on either side of his head. She placed a foot on the cushion and gyrated till her sparly-skirted crotch was nearly in his face. She hated moves like that. Lex reached underneath her and she paused, allowing him to tuck another bill into the back of her thong.
Chloe glanced at his face. His lips held the slightest curve, as if he were enjoying himself. His eyes were on her navel ring, a professional choice, and the charm she had covering the intentation of her belly utton. His eyebrowsmoved together when he realized what it was. A tiny martini glass, with a miniscule olive, hung from the top of the barbell. He raised an eyebrow and looked back up at her face.
"Cute."
"Stop talking." He shrugged. She kept dancing, or, at least, grinding in his face. He kept putting bills into every available elastic band.
Chloe placed a knee on either side of his legs and ran her hands down his chest. Then she reached behind her and pulled the loop on the tie that held on the coconuts. She let them fall into his lap, revealing a miniscule, silver bikini that barely covered her nipples. She arched her back, pressing her breasts close to Lex's face and he calmly slipped the remaining bills, folded together, into her clevage.
"I just want to watch till the end." Lex placed his hands back onto his knees, and leaned back keeping his eyes on her face.
Chloe couldn't pretend when he was that close. She could feel his muscles under his clothes, smell his aftershave, see his gaze upon her. She stroked her fingers over his bare scalp, rose up and arched her back, pressing her hips against his abdomen. Lex kept his hands on his knees but pressed his arms inward, his forearms putting pressure on her thighs. He bent his head slightly and leaned close. "Why do you do this?" He waited and she didn't answer. "Is it the money?" Her rhythm faltered for a second, and her wide eyes darted to his, but she didn't answer. "Talk to me Chloe."
"I can't be Chloe," she whispered. "Not here." Then she ground her pelvis against him, not hard, but hard enough for his body to respond. He didn't bother to hide it. Then the dance was done. She kissed his cheek briefly, leaving a smear of lipstick. She pasted on a smile and got up, walking to the bar and not looking back. She gave the bartender his money immediately, dancers always gave the bar a tip for setting up the dances. It was too close to pimping for her liking, but Jake, the guy working today, was pretty good about weeding out the weirdos and keeping the guys in line.
"Not bad for your first time, Darlin'." Jake's voice was soothing. He was a good guy...for a meat pirate. 'And yu got a good one who paid pretty well." She nodded and accepted a bottle of water from him. "Go change, no one's here, you can leave early."
"Thanks." She went back to the dressing room, Donna joined her a moment later.
"Hey, Kid."
"Hey."
"You did okay for a hostess." Praise was very careful in the entertainment industry. Donna laid a hand on her shoulder. "really you looked good, despite the coconuts." Donna was a lesbian, but Chloe didn't take the compliment as a come-on.
"Thanks."
"Looks like you had a captive audience."
"Good tipper, can't complain." Chloe tried to brush it off. Donna wouldn't let her. The older woman sat down next to Chloe and took a few pins out of the wig and helped her to remove it. She combed it with her fingers and set it on a styrofoam head. Then she placed two fingers under Chloe's chin.
"I know it isn't easy to go from the stage where you have power, to their laps where you feel vilnerable. It's my least favorite part of the job, but just remember that Jake can be over that bar and across the room in about three seconds if you need him, and as much as we raz you here, we all like you."
Donna had an amazing vocabulary for a stripper, but then, few of the women here had planned to make their careers this way. Donna had been a teacher down in Georgia before her sexual orientation had been revealed. She'd been fired and blacklisted and unable to find other work. "We appreciate you filling in till the other girls are back on their stilts." She patted Chloe's shoulder and went back onto the floor.
When she was alone, Chloe went to the mirror and carefully began to remove her makeup and costume. She had a frumpy robe with her to keep warm in the cold dressing room. She felt better once she took off her shoes, or stilts, as the girls called them. Cold cream got most of the heavy makeup off her face, she never left the building with it on, it was too easily recognizable on the street as perfomance makeup. A warm washcloth got the majority of the body glitter off and she dabbed a littel ointment on her feet where the straps of the borrowed shoes had dug into her flesh. After slapping on a couple of band-aids, Chloe put on her jeans, long-sleeved, baggy shirt, socks and sneakers. She checked her watch, the next shift would be coming in soon and she wanted to catch the subway home. Only after she brushed the tangles out of her blonde hair and pulled it back into a ponytail, did she count the money.
Lex had given her Seven Hundred dollars. She'd handed Jake one of the bills and he probably thought she'd over-tipped him. She tucked the money in a belt she wore under her clothes and decided to treat herself to a cab ride so she could deposit the money in the bank. Chloe shuffled out the back of the dressing room and through the kitchen where she was greeted by the busy staff. She opened the fridge at the back of the kitchen where the chef usually left some sandwiches and bottled water. She grabbed a wraped sandwich and stuffed it in her bag. Then the only thing to do was to let security know that she was leaving. All girls were accounted for when they arrived and left.
Chloe took the train back to Metropolis, it was only an hour if you made it before the rush, and got off at her stop. Then she took the subway to her block and walked to her apartment building. The long black car that waited at the curb shouldn't have surprised her. She ignored it and walked to her door, taking out her keys and shuffling up the front steps. She heard the car's door open and her hands began to tremble.
"Ms. Sullivan." The arrogant voice made her skin crawl.
"How did you find me?"
"You weren't actually hiding were you?" Lionel's voice was condescending as usual.
"Okay, then. Why did you find me?" She unlocked the door and paused with her hand on the latch. She faced him. "I'm tired and I don't want to talk to you right now."
"Rough day at the office?"
"Goodbye." She walked through the door and shut it behind her, then she headed for the elevator, knowing it was stupid to antagonize the man, but somehow feeling pleased that she'd walked away from him, leaving him without a target. She let herself into the tiny apartment that she shared with her cousin when Lois was in town. Over the summer, she wasn't in town much. Chloe closed and locked the door behind her and ignored the phone that was ringing. She knew who it was and didn't want to talk. She also knew that she was delaying the inevitable. It had been a really long shift. She'd pulled a double from 3AM till 9Am she'd hostessed, then from 9am till 3pm she'd danced. The money she'd brought home was good, but she didn't usually get large sums from a single source.
There was a soft knock at Chloe's door and she froze, he wouldn't be happy if she ignored him, but she wasn't going to let him in. She reached for a cold bottle of beer but dropped it when the door crashed in, breaking the chain lock and deadbolt, or rather, the frame to the door that it had been anchored to.
Lionel thanked his driver and thug, then stepped through the open doorway, still with the polite expression on his handsome face.
"You didn't pick up the phone, Ms. Sullivan," he said. "I was worried about you."
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hmy: 
hot dance!! but icky freaky lionel! man, I cant wait for the next bit! 
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