Poles Apart

“Thank you so much, Carson. I really love it,” I said honestly.

He smiled and nodded. “Good. Right then, I’m back next week so I’ll see you then. Have fun tomorrow.” I gripped his hand as I walked him to the exit, stopping just inside the door as he kissed my forehead again. “You know, nineteen definitely suits you. You seem to get more beautiful the older you get,” he teased, smirking at me. I giggled and he turned and walked out the door, leaving me standing there, biting my lip and holding the little butterfly around my neck.

I sighed dreamily and immediately skipped over to Lucie, showing her my necklace. She gasped as soon as she saw it, her eyes wide and shocked. “Holy shit, that’s beautiful! He said he had that made for you?”

I nodded, grinning excitedly. “Yep. He’s so incredible.” I grinned and tried to ignore the vibrating of the music as ‘Petal’ started doing her routine on stage. Not even a half-naked stripper was going to bring me down from my Carson-high tonight.

“That must have cost him a fortune. For goodness’ sake, don’t lose it! Hey, maybe you should get it appraised or something, get it insured in case you do lose it,” she suggested, nodding enthusiastically.

As soon as she mentioned losing it, I suddenly started to get worried. I gripped it protectively in my hand. Now I was scared to wear it in case it broke and dropped off or something. “I don’t even want to think about how much it cost him. Probably like a grand or something.” I winced at the thought of him spending all that money on me.

Lucie made a scoffing noise in her throat. “Trust me, that cost a lot more than a thousand pounds. Jeez, the diamonds are probably easily two carats each, and then there’s the other stones. You’re probably looking at more like fifty thou,” she guessed, shrugging casually.

I gasped in horror. “No!” Now I definitely didn’t want to wear it, but I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to take it off, either.

She waved her hand dismissively. “Of course it would cost a lot, he’s a freaking millionaire. He’s not just going to give you a cheap necklace from the market, is he?” She laughed, rolling her eyes.

I frowned. “But why would he give me something like this in the first place? It’s crazy!”

“He is crazy. Maybe he’s got no one else to spend his money on,” she suggested. My mind flicked to the girls he’d been in magazines and the papers with for the last few weeks. He sure as hell did have other people to spend his money on, that’s for sure. Lucie nodded behind me to one of my tables. “Looks like someone wants a drink or something.”

I groaned and headed over to the table of middle-aged men in suits who were waving to get my attention. Plastering on my work smile, I forced myself to let go of my necklace. One of the guys regarded me curiously as I took their drink orders. “You know Carson Matthews?” he asked.

I smiled and nodded, my hand instinctively going to brush my necklace again. “Yep,” I confirmed happily.

He motioned toward my necklace. “I saw him give you that. Special occasion?”

I grinned. “Yeah, it’s my birthday tomorrow. Well, technically it’s today seeing as it’s after midnight.”

“Oh, really? Well, happy birthday. Sorry, I forgot your name…” he trailed off, looking at me expectantly.

“Emma.”

“Right, yeah, of course. So, how do you know Carson? Are you friends? You two looked pretty close.”

I looked at him more closely; he actually seemed a little familiar but I didn’t know where I knew him from. Maybe he’d been in the club before. “Er, he comes in a bit, so I know him from here. We’re friends, I guess, yeah.” I skirted around the question, not really wanting to classify my relationship with Carson as just a client. I hated the thought of him just being that, even though that’s what he was.

The guy laughed. “Really, and he gave you that? You two must be pretty good… friends,” he mused, smirking at me. “So, how long have you known him? Will he be coming back soon? I’d love to get an autograph or something with him.”

“I don’t know when he’s back,” I lied, frowning and feeling a little uncomfortable with all the questioning. “I’m gonna go get your drinks. I’ll be right back.” I turned and headed to the bar, glancing back over my shoulder to see the guy talking quietly with his two friends.

When I delivered the order a couple of minutes later, the same guy was questioning me again, but slightly different this time. He wanted to know more about me: how long I’d worked here, if I had to dance on stage, how many lap dances I did a week. I gave vague answers and then went to Lucie, pushing that table onto her instead. I really didn’t like the guy prying into my life all the time; it was a little weird.

By the time the club closed, I was exhausted and definitely ready for bed. I changed into my outside clothes and made sure the little necklace was hidden from view as I made the fifteen-minute walk home.

After making sure we were all safe and comfortable in the flat, I fell into my bed, thinking about Carson before hugging my pillow, overcome by a wave of loneliness.

I LOOKED AT MYSELF IN THE MIRROR AGAIN, checking my make-up one final time before flicking my eyes behind me to Lucie as she sat on the bed, grinning at me. I sighed, knowing there wasn’t much else I could do to make myself look any better, and did a little twirl. “Look okay?”