“She had a stack of business cards here on the shelf, each with a date,” I tell him as I shuffle through them.
“Shitty way of keeping a client list,” Kenji points out.
“Young and stupid.”
We both quiet as the locker room door opens and footsteps approach.
“I am so sorry,” Miya says sweetly.
“She’s good,” I say under my breath.
“Don’t let her hear you say that,” Kenji murmurs.
The girls round the corner. Stacey looks up coming to a dead stop as she sees us, locker open, bag dumped. She takes a step backward only to run into Miya.
“Stacey, is it?” I ask as I take a step forward.
“D-do I know y-you?” she stutters.
“I would hope so, considering I’m the man who signs your checks,” I say, watching her go pale. “I have one question for you, are you sleeping with paying customers of the casino and not sharing the profits?”
We watch as the girl nervously shuffles side to side, touching her hair.
“Answer me,” I say harshly, making her jump.
“It would be better to come clean now,” Miya tells her.
“We have no need for liars,” Kenji says conversationally.
“Look, I’m a single mom, I’m just trying to feed my son,” she blurts out.
“Do we not pay you enough?” I ask.
“You do, you do,” she backpedals.
“Then why sleep with the customers?” I ask, leaning against the lockers.
“Look, I’m sorry. It will never happen again,” the girl pleads, tears running down her face.
“You're right.” I nod. “It won’t because you no longer work here.”
“Please, I need this job.” She sobs.
“If you want to whore yourself out then you can. But you will not be doing it out of my casino and taking all the profits.” I watch Kenji step forward, sliding a card out of his pocket. The girl backs up, right into Miya’s hold. “There is nothing wrong with sex work. But you aren’t allowed to do it in my business, taking away from my working girls. You are no longer employed by The Currency.”
“Call this number, if the Madam chooses to meet with you and you meet all of her qualifications you can work there,” Kenji tells her, holding the card out to her.
“Where?”
“At Skin,” he tells her.
“I can’t work at a strip club!” she protests.
“Last I checked, spinning on a pole was classier than making money on your back,” Miya sneers.
Two bouncers round the corner silently.
“You paged?” one says, looking at Kenji.
