Shocking Exposé! Secrets Revealed!

by Carol Queen

“No,” said Abby, feeling like she’d had a drink already. “Let’s just go.”

She expected a club with seats. But the Lusty Lady had nothing but booths. Abby looked around in confusion, but Lila took her hand and pulled her into a corner booth. Daniel followed them in and locked the door, then pulled out a ten and fed it into a machine on the wall. The kind they have at the Laundromat, thought Abby—but that thought seemed so incongruous here; she didn’t say it out loud.

“It’s a peep show,” Lila explained. “We just watch through the window, see?” The window slid up with a whir when Daniel put the money in, and Lila pointed to the stage on the other side, where the women from the pulp covers seemed to have come to life—big hair, high heels, lingerie half-on, half-off. They sashayed around the stage just like the women on the books would do if they could move—like they owned the place! Some of them made slow, seductive dance moves, while one curvy blonde woman just stood and ran her hands across her pale skin. It looked like she might be about to masturbate.

Abby’s eyes grew wide—there was a Hooters back home, but absolutely nothing like this.

“I used to work here,” said Lila. “The dancers love it when women come in, and couples. Daniel and I come here a lot to show off for them. I thought you’d like to see them, and if you feel like it . . .”