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it.” She looks at me and drinks her Tom Collings and sucks on the cherry. “I bet he’s bursting a girl’s cherry right now, the way he did with you. You never had any experience with men and trust me they can’t be trusted. I learned that the hard way. I used to be just like you, now I find them, let them do me, and forget them because chances are men are thinking the same way.”
    “I hope when I reach twenty-six, I’m not as jaded as you.”
    “I was twenty and twenty-five before and I don’t want to see that impressionable, immature, inexperience, gullible young girl again. I’m happy now that I know men. It’s kind of freeing. You know what they want and you know what you want, to be taken care of, and hopefully they can give it to you. But if they don’t, you stay single, and get what you can out of them.”
    “I hope I’m not as bitter as you, Tamika.”
    “You wish you were bitter as me and then you can see that scoundrel Troy for what he is; a controlling self-centered womanizer.”
    “You’re talking about the man I love.”
    “Ok. I’ll give you a break. I know I can be a little strong on my opinions of men that’s because I had a bad marriage.”
    “Troy and I won’t have that kind of relationship you had with your husband.” Tamika turned and looked around and winked at the bartender. Then she turned back facing me.
    She didn’t say a word she rolled her eyes and twisted her mouth to the side and then ordered another Tom Collins. We sat around and talked for hours about our lives and the bank. The banking institution was beginning to get precarious. I had taken that job out of college because it appeared to be a secure place to work.
    Tamika on the other hand thought she could meet a rich man and marry him and live happily ever after. The only men she met were guys looking for a woman with a job and they thought that if she was around a lot of money some would rub off on them.

Chapter 2
    W e made it around to his club and the lines were around the block. He worked day and night trying to make his business a success and from the look of the crowds on a Friday night it was more than a success. The club hadn’t open but everyone knew who I was and as soon as they saw me they smiled and said, “Go on in and take the best booth, Leila.” We’re opening in five minutes.
    “Don’t sit too close to the dance floor and the music,” Rodney said as he opened the door for me. Rodney, a large burly black man, dark and menacing because of his size, is a sweetheart and always looked out for me the few times I visited the club.
    He was one of the few people who knew I was Troy’s fiancé, and he respected that I didn’t show my face much, however the cocktail waitress would give me a nasty look whenever I stopped by the club. The looks were so intimidating that I decided to call before coming. If it wasn’t for Tamika, I wouldn’t be here tonight.
    We found a seat that was perfect. Right in front of the dance floor and away from the DJ and speakers. As soon as we sat, a pretty light skin girl with long dark hair came to our table. “Hi. What do you want this evening?” She appeared to be a new hire. Troy always picked the waitresses and their costumes if you want to call it that. He said that he had to compete with the strip clubs and the waitresses had to be a certain type. Every one of the clubs he owned had different girls according to his clientele.
    In one of his clubs, all his patrons were white so he hired all white girls and maybe two black girls. Then the clubs in Brooklyn he had a mixture of white and black or light skinned black girls and dark skinned girls. He would do what it took to satisfy his customers.
    Their bodies had to be hard, their breasts large, and their butts big. The skimpy costumes left nothing to the imagination. Looking around, glancing, and raising an eyebrow at Tamika, “We don’t have a chance to get a dance dressed in these banker’s suits.”
    “You