“Where do you go when you leave here?”

“Places.”

“Nice places?”

“Sometimes.”

“When they’re not?”

“That’s when I stay the longest.”

“Why?”

“What else can I do? That’s where they need me the most.”

I handed her twenty dollars, which she tucked into her g-string. Her eyes were shiny, reflecting the club lights back at me. I couldn’t even tell where she was looking. Then she turned and left, climbing the stairs to return to the stage. I saw my twenty travel with her.

I couldn’t tell if she was the deepest person I’d ever met or the stupidest. I knew that she’d cost me four hundred dollars in the last two months. I imagined she treated me differently from the other men at the club, but maybe that was naïve. Maybe everyone in the place was secretly hoping to figure out her secrets.