The Jewel Box Read Online Free PDF Page B

during dances.
    My first Friday night netted me three hundred dollars. Wesley kindly allowed me to buy some totally groovy, inexpensive white go-go boots to wear on my second Saturday night, which is when I raked in over four hundred bucks. That same night, Wesley drank himself into a stupor and calledme vile names. I told him to hit the door and go to hell. A bold statement for someone who’d had subservience drilled into her brain since birth. I wasn’t sure which persona initiated it, but Jill aka Cherie, suddenly felt liberated.
    In the wee hours of morning as we sat at the bar counting money and unwinding, Kat and Beau seemed happy about my sending Wesley away.
    “How’d you meet this guy?” Beau locked his cash pouch and pulled out a deck of cards.
    “He was my boss, and seemed decent enough. I was in emotional turmoil and under the influence of prescription drugs when he tossed out my meds and offered a shoulder to lean on.”
    “Shoulder!” Kat snapped. “Now Sir Galahad expects you to kiss his horse’s ass.”
    Beau frowned at her language, then turned to me. “Well, baby, I don’t know him, but he seems a bit pushy. Especially when it comes to money you’re making and he’s taking.”
    “It was for us to start a legitimate company. He has experience and connections—we just need cash to get it off the ground.”
    “I’ve never taken a nickel from a woman, and would shovel sewers before letting a female support me. But I’m old-fashioned, I guess.”
    “You’re such a gentleman, Beau. Nothing like I presumed. I expected a lecherous swine, fondling and drooling all over a bunch of wayward girls.”
    Beau shook his head. “It’s almost the other way around, baby. You’ve likely seen some of these girls offering me sexual favors.”
    “Which you diplomatically decline.” I let my high heels drop against the bar rail.
    “I have morals and I love my wife.” He adjusted his red suspenders. “Even though we only see each other in the mornings and early afternoons between tending our businesses.”
    “So you’ve never been tempted by any of these chicks?” Kat winked at him.
    “Not even slightly.”
    “Ouch. That kinda makes Cherie and me feel terribly unsexy,” she teased.
    “Save your flirting for customers. But feel sexy about you two being smarter than average. The majority of dancers who drift through this joint barely have functioning frontal lobes, and most customers check their brains at the front door.”
    “Nice back paddle, man.” Kat shot Beau a sweet smile. “But have you lectured Cherie on club clientele yet?”
    “I
never
lecture.” Beau winked. “You go ahead, Laura.”
    “Well, just because a guy blows a ton of money in here doesn’t mean he’s wealthy. One customer spends hundreds every week, but Beau says he lives in a shabby apartment and sleeps on an army cot. Then there’s old fat ass Murray who comes in night after night, stands at the bar trying to manhandle every girl who walks by, but won’t fork over one thin dime. And he’s filthy rich. Right, Beau?”
    “He’s from money, and also invented some surgical device they utilize down the street.”
    “Can’t believe we’re only blocks from the world’s largest hospital complex.” I flexed my toes.
    “Texas Medical Center is the biggest in the
world
?” Kat asked.
    “You bet,” Beau said. “That’s what I love about Texas. The state does everything big. Some are successes and some aren’t. You girls are too young to remember Galveston’s glitzy gambling days with its Balinese Room where legendary acts like Burns & Allen, Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, and others entertained. Illicit action ran rampant on that Pleasure Pier.”
    “I love that the Flagship Hotel is the only hotel built entirely over water.” Kat bragged.
    “While we’re talking Texas history, I’ve got some Larry McMurtry books you two might like to read.” Beau placed a 7 Up on my coaster and a Coke on Katie-Laura’s.