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137
Rosa's eyes flew open as she woke up with a start. She winced and grabbed her head. There was a faint headache that seemed to worsen from the blinding light.

Her apartment's lights were all turned on and worse, the curtains were drawn apart and sunlight poured into her bedroom. She would have to take some painkillers.

She forced herself upright and rubbed at her eyes. She could barely remember falling asleep.

She had brushed her teeth and taken a shower. Without even putting on any clothes, she had fallen asleep on her couch while waiting for her meal to warm up.

She forced herself to her feet and let out a yawn. Her phone lay on the table in the middle of her living room. She picked it up and the time said 1pm.

She frowned; she had been asleep for a while now. She had gotten home a few minutes to seven and had slept since then.

She stretched out her hands as she walked to the kitchen. She popped open the microwave and scrunched her nose.

There was no way she could eat the leftover now. It had been sitting out for too long. She threw it into the trash and decided to make a fresh breakfast.

Breakfast didn't take too long to make. Eggs and sausages, topped with a cup of coffee to wake her up.

After she was done eating, she cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes. Stale dishes were the bane of her existence and she always made sure to wash them as soon as she was done eating.

She made her way back to the living room. Next to the only couch she had was the backpack. It was exactly as she left it last night.

She picked it up and walked into the bathroom. She had to wash and spread it out before she used it.

Most of them were picked off the ground and worse. She didn't even want to imagine what was on them.

She opened the bag on her bathroom floor and her eyes nearly popped out of her head. There was more cash than she had anticipated.

There weren't only ones and twenties, but there were hundreds too. She bent down and began to count. 

The most she had ever earned in one night—and that was a very good night—was about six thousand.

On average, she earned anywhere from six hundred to one thousand on most nights. But on nights where she soloed, she averaged three thousand.

"Fifteen thousand!" she screamed on her bathroom floor. "What the fuck!"

Just how much did Alpha Nolan spend in the club? She understood adding a tip for a private dance, but this was ridiculous.

The dance wasn't even up to an hour and it usually costs about a thousand for that long. Besides, she only danced with him. There was no reason her pay for the night should have amounted to such a high number.

Her left eye twitched. She could totally understand why Franco had been so willing to suck his balls and why Tracy had acted in such a way.

If the woman found out she was paid this much for a lap dance that she abruptly ended, the dancer would rip her throat out.

She pushed thoughts of him from her mind as she cleaned the money. As tempting as it was, she knew it was money that came with equal consequences. 

She had been on the side of life long enough to know the kind of men not to mess with, and Nolan was one of them.

Sundown arrived sooner than she would like and she had to leave her apartment. Cleaning the money had taken too much time and she couldn't even nap again before she had to run out.

She got to the establishment a little late but there was no reason for concern as the club didn't fully open until 9pm.

However, they were required to arrive at least two hours before to rehearse and prepare for the night. She was thirty minutes late.

"Gallivanting in here so late, Rosa.” A familiar voice said as soon as she walked through the back entrance. “Did last night go to your head?"

Rosa looked to the ceiling, took a deep breath, then plastered a stiff smile on her face before she turned to Tracy. "Good evening to you too."

She walked past her, almost brushing shoulders as she made her way to the dressing room. She could hear Tracy's dramatic gasp behind her.

She dropped her carry-on. She had brought a few clothes she would change into. She didn't have any solo set today but there would be a lot of dancing.

"Are we doing anything new today?" She asked one of the girls dressing up next to her.

"A little bit. Franco made some changes. It's our biggest night of the weekend and he wants all of us to open, then he will divide us throughout the night."

"Okay, that works for me," she replied and turned to the mirror.

She shook her head as she started on her makeup. She was sure the Alpha’s presence must have gone to Franco's head and he was hoping Nolan would return. 

As long as her manager didn’t make her do what she didn’t want, she was fine with whatever he had planned.

"I am almost done so we can rehearse before we have to go out. The last thing we want to do is make mistakes."

"I'll be ready in a minute," she replied.

She quickly changed into something she could use for the rehearsal. She would have to change after, but she needed similar clothes so it would feel the same.

The biggest part of their show was taking off pieces of clothes until they were barely any left. She had to make sure she didn’t have any wardrobe malfunctions.

"I am ready," she mumbled as she stood up.

"Took you long enough," Tracy replied with a sneer.

She turned to see her standing by the entrance. She was already dressed, wearing her usual sheer leotard and a large coat that hid it from view.

Rosa didn't address her remark. She thought all this was ridiculous and she couldn't even be angry because of the sheer stupidity of it.

"Let's go," she said to the other girls in the room and she walked past Tracy, not caring that she didn't step out of the way.