Haze Wood's

It was the longest 30 seconds of my life.

Waiting for my death to take me away with her, but I heard a gun shot and I scream in terror and opened my eyes quickly only to see a dead body of the man. I see blood everywhere, my vision blurred to haze, the sounds of feasting still, and from every dark corner, shadows streamed toward me until they reached the dais and formed a pulsing darkness before me. From its murky heart, to the dead body, eyes glowing and malignant, stared into me. I felt the whole vision turn to darkness and my feet give way. My head went round me.

It was nearly fainting: indeed, I wished I could really faint, but faints don't come for the asking. The floor scooped me up where I stood, and I blinked as it hit me.

I can see a man coming towards me and I see a gun in his hand and raise my gaze on his face. I've never seen such a devilish entity in my life.My eyelids feel heavy... My eye's shut down...

Four years ago.

" Next, stop!" Hazed Club!" Nile said and bringing my attention to him with a quick backward glance, Nile pulled the eight-seater minibus out into the lunchtime traffic." Hiya was sitting next to me with four other girls in the back seats.

" Just give it your best moves,"And no worries if ya don't get picked because we still have Spearmint Rhino and Diamonds after that.He continued encouraging us. Well, I was just 14 when my father died from an overdose of drugs. We were in debt. My mother got married to the number one dork in the world. I hate that fucker. I ran away from the house, leaving mother and Stacey behind but my sister ran away for good because I wanted to take them out of this hell. I moved to north London, got a job as Barista and where I met Nile, he offered me a job with a promise of a great salary. I need money to send my mother so I can't refuse his offer.I again shifted my eyes on Nile.He has a boyish face,full of charm and guile, but one looks at him and you know.Weasel.The six of us hang onto our battered seats and smile hesitantly at each other.We have been collected from the designated pick up point outside.South Kensington Tube station.We are competitors and are on our way to an audition.I gaze out of the window and digest the information that Club Hazed is to be our first stop.

" If I didn't get this job, I'll be devastated.""

I had hoped to practice my routine on a

Real life stage in one of the other clubs

We see all the other girls routines before we get to Hazed.But still, it is interesting to know that Club Hazed has to be paying for the highest commission to have first refusal.No wonder it has overtaken all the other strip clubs and become the club to be seen even though it does not offer full nudity. In silence, we head northwards to the infamous King's Cross area of London.Once it was synonymous with a grimy train station crawling with prostitutes, and rave parties in disused warehouses.But King's Cross has cleaned up its act and fast become a cutting-edge hub for fashion and the arts, attracting even G****e to set up its European headquarters there.Club Hazed stands sandwiched between two tall glass office towers.

Nile, drives past the large neon-lit bitten red apple logo and, turning at the next side street, enters the rear car park.He parks close to the back doors where a guy in a chef's whites is sitting on the steps smoking a cigarette.He watches us through the smoke with incurious eyes.We climb out, adjust our clothes, and follow him around the side of the building to the front entrance.

As soon as we enter the double doors my stiletto heels leave their indent on the carpet, I feel a prickling sensation going up my spine.It is so strong it feels as if a spider is actually walking on my skin.Unable to stop myself, I snap my head around.

" Jesus! Jesus!""

Deeply tanned, badass black hair, and

Staring straight at me is the legend.

Himself!

" Haze fucking, Wood's!"

It was truly an alluring sight that I would always remember. His intense azure eyes met mine for the first time. Goosebumps came rushing in as raindrops were unnecessary with no purpose. I couldn't look away, it was as if I was trapped by those lightening blue-sea eyes.

I could feel my body become surprisingly hot, too hot. My fingers were itching for something, something strange. Suddenly, the spell broke. He stumbled back with a startling look as if he was the only one affected. Whilst I on the other hand froze.Yes frozen as an idiot.

Yet my sultry eyes still had time to uncloth him.Don't blame me. I can't control my gaze. He was a very tall, muscular man with broad shoulders. Uncontrollably attractive man with no hardship when it comes to women. He had a structured, little bit crooked nose probably due to fights and a playful ,secret smile as if he knows something that we don't. Mysterious aura surrounded him. I don't have time to blink. His eyes were deeply entrancing, in a dangerous, luscious way and he had them on me as if he covered me more than anything or anyone else in this world. I sensed his gaze falling upon me time and time again. My heart pounded more than it should and my cheeks picked-up a seemingly perennial red tint. I wondered whether he thought of me as a mere other pray to feed on its heart or there was something special to that look he shackled me with. And yes, there was such a luster in his eyes that I had to look away, and when I looked back at him, his gaze hadn’t moved and was still focused on my face, as if to say, So you looked away and you’ve come back, will you be looking away again soon?—which was why I had to look away once more, as if immersed in thought, yet all the while scrambling for something to say, the way a fish struggles for water in a muddied pond that’s drying up in the heat. With a sharp gasp, I turn away from him and lower my eyes to the floor.

This isn't appropriate behavior but I can't fight the instant fear I feel creeping through my spine.I take a deep breath that doesn't calm me and fling a short glance over my shoulder in his direction, but he's looking away now.

When I look back, Nile is holding another door open and I walk through a dimly lit corridor.

"Changing rooms are through there." Nile says, swiveling his eyes toward another door farther up the corridor.

"Meet me upstairs, in fifteen minutes.""

I'll introduce ya to the manager."

Then he disappears in the direction we

Came from and the five of us troop into

Changing rooms.The other girls immediately started unzipping their bags.I opened my bag and pulled out my specially commissioned, easy to remove silk dress. My eyes flick over... While I secure the straps I notice that the life-size Barbie doll is dressed in a schoolgirl's uniform.She catches my eyes in the mirror.As if by unspoken agreement, we are all ready at the same time.Together we go up the grand staircase.Haze Wood's had come down and through a pair of gold and black doors.I was in nightclubs when daylight starts filtering in before, and it always. It looks dirty and sordid, but not this place.From the hundreds of gilded mirrors to the rich wallpapers, the heavy velvet curtains, to the massive chandeliers it is just over the top splendor. Nile beckons us over.

" This is, Elijah." He's the manager. So?

Be nice to him."

Elijah, greets with a smile that encompasses all of us. We pipe in with our bright volley of hello and hey.

First time for anybody here? Elijah asked us all and I hesitantly raised my hand. He peers at me and says, "Right. We run a squeaky clean club here. No drugs. No prostitution.Zero tolerance. Got that?

I nodded and he continued," Do you wanna go first? 

I shake my head in a yes but I was nervous.

Did you bring your music?

Yes.I did.Two songs were requested."

"Great, great."" You know our rules here.Keep your clothes on for the first song.Start getting undressed for the second and by the middle of the second track you have to be topless.You have only one objective.By the end of your second track, you want every guy in the place to want to empty his wallet all over you." He said to me,

" Are you ready, Autumn?"

Nervousness skitters across my face.

I shake my head.

"I can't fail at this, and it's smarter if I see what he wants." And what if he doesn't?If I'm the first girl to go, I might make a mistake. I can't afford a mistake."Well, I thought.

He must read my uncertainty because

He smiles reassuringly before speaking.

"Since you're new, you can watch

First before you go."

"No, no." I am good." I say, stubbornness rather than reason, spurring my response."

" I can't let them see that, I'm nervous."

It might affect my chances."Well, I thought.

His eyes travel casually down my body,

Taking in the silk dress that I could shimmy out of in two seconds flat.The butterflies in my stomach begin to crawl up my throat. I swallow hard and nod.I give him my CD and walk to the stage slowly, deliberately swaying my hips, but I am so nervous my knees wobble.I climb the steps carefully. No point falling on my ass before I start the show.There are large mirrors on stage and I can see myself walking.

Five feet five inches on top of nearly seven inches of heels, slim hips, flat

Stomach, nothing special chest, and a wide red mouth fixed into a professional dancer's smile.I guess, I don't look too bad.

" Are you ready?" Elijah says and I give him a thumbs up. He hits the play button and Marilyn Manson's skin-crawling voice reverberates around me.

" Sometimes, I feel l got to run away."" 

Holding onto the pole I circle it with a

Prowling gait and sinuously rub myself

Against it.I snake my hands above my head and grab the pole , put my ass out and swing it from side to side.I sneak a look at Elijah and he is leaning forward with approval.

I grip the pole hard and with all my might I fling myself into the air.It should have been an energetic and impressive one handed swing around the pole, but instead my sweaty palm starts slipping off the metal.In a blind panic I try to right myself by catching the pole with my other hand but it is too late-l am flying into the air.L end up hitting the stage floor hard with my knees.For a few seconds I sit stunned in the position I have fallen in.My adrenaline is pumping so hard I do. I don't feel any pain.Then my brain kicks into gear. 

"F*ck. F*ck. F*ck."

My eyes scan the room and when I find him, I lose it.His face remains unmoved, his eyes reflecting no emotion as he watches me struggle to stabilize myself.

Haze Wood's been watching me. I can't.

Let this chance pass." I thought, and Elijah's voice and approach dragged my attention back to him. Around us Marilyn's raspy voice screams, "Tainted love,tainted love.""

" Are you alright?" He asked me.

" Yes, I'm sorry." Please give me another chance. I need this job badly."I beg, humiliated by my graceless fall and annoyed with myself for being so careless.His eyes scanned my knees and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and I know just by looking at him that he is going to ask me to take more lessons or something in that vein.

Elijah nods as if he understands, but the

The look on his face says he doesn't agree.

" I don't think you are ready," You need more practice."

" It was my first time and I got nervous, and I can do it.""

" I'm not saying you can't do this, but

You're not ready."

"Well, I need this job." I. I am. It was a slip."

He begins more firmly, but he is

Interrupted by his mobile ringing.He takes it out of his pocket, glances at

The screen looks surprising.He lifts one finger at me in a gesture that tells me to wait, and puts his phone to his ear.

" Yeah, yes!"" He says after less than a few seconds of listening to someone speak, and terminates the call."He turns his attention back to me, but his eyes are now speculative and assessing.

" Good news, man."You've got the job.You can start whenever the swelling goes down.Arrive at five thirty p.M. With a photo ID, your National Insurance number and report to the House Mother. Her name is Brianna."Well, he said."

For an instant I stare at him speechlessly.My knees are throbbing like crazy now. I can't believe it.

"Well, I've got the job.""

" Yeah, you've got the job."" He replies casually, losing interest in me. And turns toward the blonde Barbie. As I hobbled away from the stage, a slight movement in the far shadows caught my eyes. At the dim edges of the club, l see the glint of snakeskin as Haze Wood's quietly slips out of the black and gold doors.And I know without a doubt: London's most elusive mafia boss, Haze Wood's has just hired me.