Max goes to the strip club.

-co-written with SammyColt-

“Cheap drinks! Cheap girls! All night long!” a skinny, strung out man yelled, his voice hoarse from constant use. Behind him stood of brute of a man guarding a large steel door that led inside a large brick building. The brute eyed every man that walked up to the door, taking their money before grunting and letting them through. His face was covered in piercings, his lips, ears and nose all adorned with polished metal that glowed red with the reflection of the bright neon lights that hung above him.

'Cherry Bomb' was spelled out in yellow neon letters, above it a large bright red cherry bathed the street in a red glow. 'Girls, Girls, Girls,' was sprawled along the side of the building in blue. The glow of the lights and their reflections off the line of men waiting to get inside and puddle riddled street made the entrance seem almost unworldly, dreamlike.

It was anything but a dream to Max who stood across the street, she adjusted the tiny shorts she wore that barely covered her ass and stared as the black town car pulled away leaving her with little option but to go on with Jonas's little mission.

Max watched as men filtered into the club disgusted with what she was about to do. Making sure to avoid the mud and puddles that covered the street Max made her away around to the side of the building. Almost every “gentlemen's” club in town worked the same way. Patrons would enter through the front door, while the girls would go around back.

Down a side alley she found another door guarded by another steelhead bouncer. He was even bigger than the last. He had implants across his head, creating a sharp silver metal Mohawk where his hair used to be, a single large gauged ring through his nose that was polished to a near perfect shine, even at twenty feet away it stood out against his dark skin.

Three girls were standing outside the door, chatting amongst themselves and smoking. Walking past them Max ignored their glares before approaching the large man. He gave her a very slow once over and nodded in approval before pushing the door open with one hand. It buzzed and she walked a through.

Max made her way down a darkly lit hallway, on each side the walls hung pictures of half and fully naked girls, smiling groups of girls sitting in the laps of men, even a few half famous people were in the photos. She could hear loud music emanating from the far side of the hallway.

Following the noise she stopped in front of a room, the door half open. Inside an elderly woman sat at behind a desk, a topless girl was talking to her, handing her a wad of cash before they both turned to look at Max. The older woman immediately went back to counting the cash while the younger one continued to stare. Nobody liked competition.

“Okay, we're whole.” the older woman stated. That was enough to seemingly finish whatever they had been doing. The younger woman pulled on a coat, covering herself and made her way past Max.

“Come in and shut the door. First time here?” she spoke but didn't look up, instead her gaze was busy with some papers.

“Yeah,” Max answered,

“You can get to the club through there,” she nodded towards a door on the opposite side of the room. “If you want to get time on stage it's fifty, dances in a booth are twenty, use of the private rooms are eighty dollars. Those are rates for freelance girls, you can charge the customers whatever you want, but the club gets that cut. The next time I see you walk through that door I expect you to have the money. Understand?”

“And if I don't have it?”

The woman looked up, her face stern, and aged, she had a look of someone who had been through a lot, and had seen a lot. She gave Max a good long look before turning her attention back to her paperwork. “Honey, you should have no problem. But if you do, the owners have other ways for girls to pay.”

“Sure thing,” Max said sweetly and made her way into the club.