To the Side Hustles ...

Elizabeth entered the smoky club. It was called Sugar's, and it was only a couple of blocks from her house. She ordered a Henny, adjusting her skirt, a relic of a manner of dress that felt like it was from a different world. She sipped the drink until the owner of the club, Lamar, came down. He looked at her dispassionately, appraising her beauty for a moment before sitting down.

"Show me what you got, bitch," he said simply. Elizabeth swallowed her drink uncomfortably, then adjusted her skirt, pulling it higher, as she started to give the owner a lap dance. She felt his hands on her ass, tugging the skirt up, revealing her tattoos. He swatted her ass a couple of times, silently instructing her to do more, to be more lewd and give in.

"You gotta act like you're riding a man's dick," he finally said. And then it clicked for Elizabeth, and she ground against a man she'd just met like she'd been married to him for years.

Later, he took her upstairs to the control room. He presented her his cock and she fellated it. It felt so ... transactional, she thought, as she obediently bobbed up and down, easily taking his impressive length. And she swallowed his cum, keeping his cock buried in her throat while she sucked every droplet of his seed.

"You could be successful here," he said finally. "We just lost our best white bitch to Gold Digger's. You could be making ten times what you're earning at that chicken place." She blushed, realizing he knew more about her than the reverse. The money was tempting. So tempting. But ... she realized Moses was right. She wasn't here to be the biggest earner at the strip club. She was here to make enough to keep struggling, even without the child support money.

"I'll do ... I'm off Tuesday nights. So I'll give you that time," she said, considering.

"Tuesdays fucking suck," Lamar complained.

"Not with me around," Elizabeth said, cocking her eyebrows. "Or maybe they will, so to speak."