23 SWINGING ON A POLE

Ashley sits on the bed waiting for Cole to come in. Ever since the incident happened, she had not seen him for the whole day. She wandered where he was.

She was so happy to see him walk into the room.

"Cole, where were you, I was worried" she said walking up to him.

"I went for something urgent in the office" he said.

Ashley sensed a lie in that statement. She had called his employees to ask about him but they said he had not been in the office for the whole day. It was obvious, he was lying to her, but why?

She decided not to blow his cover and play along. She wanted to ask him for an explanation on his sudden behavior change in the afternoon.

"Cole, can I ask you a question?" she asked.

She could sense her was rather tensed up by her question but he should have been expecting her question.

"About this afternoon right?" he said.

Ashley nodded in agreement, she needed an answer maybe it would help in solving this secret. But she knew whatever would come out of him may be a lie.

That incident reminded her of the countless rumors and stories she was told of him being a bloodsucker. She still didn't want to believe it because she had never experienced any blood sucking moments since she was came here.

"Yes," she replied.

"I felt a bit worried seeing the wound on your finger" he said.

"Just worried?" she asked in suspicion.

"Yes, what else could it be?" he said sounding a bit irritated.

Ashley knew she was pushing him to hard so she decided to back down.

******************************************************************************

Janet sat in the living room with her mother. She spread the budgeted money on the coffee table listing their uses.

"This is for food stuffs, this is for Janice's School fees and this is for miscellaneous expenses" she said pointing them out.

"Thanks dear" her mother said with teary eyes. "I don't know what we could have done without you"

"You're my family, aren't you?" she said with a smile.

Janet knew she didn't have any money left in her account, nothing at all but she decided to keep it to herself knowing that her mother would reject the ones she gave if she found out.

Elena's phone rang but when she saw the number, she ignored it. At first Janet felt indifferent about it but when the phone rung up to three times in a row, she got worried. She knew her mother so well that she only ignored calls when it was from creditors and she didn't have the money to pay.

"Mom" she said. "What loan did you take now?"

Elena's face tenses up and she gives an unnatural smile. Seeing the smile was not in any way helping with the situation she gave a sigh of defeat.

"Janet" she started hesitantly. "Our house rent is about to expire"

"Tell her we'll pay in a week time" Janet said.

"She won't give us that long" Elena said

Janet gave a sigh" When is it about to expire?"

"Umm…" Elena hesitated seeing how frustrated Janet was. "Tomorrow"

"Tomorrow?" Janet exclaimed in shock.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" She said angrily. "I would have tried to arrange the money but...ugh, this is so frustrating"

Elena kept mute. She knew Janet was the one who bore all the expenses but for some reason she decided to not to tell her about it. Elena had been owing the land lady for more than three months as a result of financial instability. This put the Scott family in the bad books of the land lady. The land lady had threatened to throw them out of the house once the month was over and that was tomorrow.

"Look mom, I don't know why you did this but it isn't fair." She said

She stormed out of the apartment in anger leaving Elena heartbroken. She felt helpless, she let her twenty year old daughter carry all the responsibility of the bills and finances. She knew she was a bad mother.

She didn't have a job but her two daughters were working their asses off. Janet was working as a maid while Janice did par time in a grocery store. Fourteen year old Janice would often complain to her about the sexual harassment she goes through from countless customers. She had been going from business to business, looking for a job but no one wanted a middle aged woman.

*********************************************************************************

Janet wore a very revealing outfit that showed of virtually all of her body only covering some vital parts. She stood beside a pole waiting for the music to start. She could not bear the looks on the men eagerly waiting for her to jump on those poles.

She had no other option but to raise money by pole dancing for the night. The money she was going to earn wasn't even enough for the rent. She lied to her family that she was sleeping over at a friend's house.

The music started then she held the pole tightly trying to remember some tricks in the gymnastic lessons she took as a child. She started off by gracefully twirling round the pole while letting her head fall backward. Though she was really uncomfortable in her really high heels, she still managed to perform some tricks.

From the podium where she twirled and danced with a pole she could see a ruckus going on at the very back. The club was a really famous one where celebrities and influential men and women came to party.

Her eyes widened in horror when she saw Tegan walk into the club with two alluring women in his arms. She felt her body become weak on the pole and she lost her stamina but was able to regain it and make it look like a trick.

She had been given a mask that was able to cover her eyes so that increased her chance of not being caught. She tried her best to look away from him and to her relief he wasn't paying attention to her, he was rather busy with his friends and girls.

She kept monitoring him every time she had the chance to look at the crowd. Her heart almost ran out of her chest when her eyes met with his. She was scared that he had recognized her but he just flashed his flirtatious smile at her which made her instinctively sneer at him. That action was the biggest mistake she made.

Ever since she had sneered at him he had been looking like he was trying to recognize her. Every time she saw him watch her weirdly she turned her face away. She could not wait for the music to end as it felt really weird that someone she knew was watching her dance as a stripper.

She was so overjoyed when the music finally ended. She hurriedly walked off the stage and to the manager's office. She wanted to leave this place ASAP. What if Tegan tried to meet her personally?

She needed @200 but the manager only gave her @150. She begged him for payment in advance but he refused. Accepting defeat and hoping the landlady would give her some time to pay the remaining, she changed to her casual wear and left the strip club hoping she wouldn't need to come back again.