CAGED

Twelve

Zuri leads the way. She seems to know the bouncers at the door. Just a wink at them and we are in. I have been to a club before and this place, if it is a club. It is a different kind of club; it seems like a sex club. 

At a corner by the bar was a girl performing fellatio on a man on her knees while the man held her hair in one hand, and held a cigarette in the other hand.

From Zuri's gait I can see the excitement bubbling in her to be here. She stops at the bar and looks around. I also pose and look around. There is a booth at the far end. Two girls played with themselves to entertain the men seated there who had ladies sitting astride and rocking their bodies back and forth on them. All were still clothed but I could tell they were actually skin to skin. 

Zuri turns and hands me a glass of lucid drink. I sniff it as I continue walking behind her. I have been seeing faces here and I can say, I do not look like a clown; the ladies here fit that description better.

We enter a door covered with a beaded curtain. She confidently sashays in and I follow while looking around. People here are just drinking and caressing. Nothing serious. I grab Zuri's hand and she pauses.

‘’ What is this place?’’

‘’ This is where you can make enough money to return home,’’ she says and continues walking to a group of men.

I scoff. She just looked at me and concluded I could please men for money, that I need money to return home, that I have a home.

There is a long table with men dressed in fine suits sitting around it on stools. There is no female in their midst until Zuri walks up and places a kiss at the back of one's head. She looks at me and smiles like she is giving me a sign. I understood it alright but I do not try to get comfortable. I remain at my spot watching as stiff as a rod.

 Four pairs of eyes address me, even the man that has his hand on Zuri's ass sizes me up and down before he hides his face in Zuri's breast as she sits astride one of his legs facing him.

It feels like I was handed an incomplete script without a guide on what next to do. 

 I have slept with a man for money before. It was just a quick arrangement and I did not have to act to be seen. The man was a banker. He lived around my neighbourhood and I never saw him in a suit. But these men look rich.

Sniffing drinks is something I love to do so I sniff the one in my hand.  It is alcohol but not a strong one. I hold the glass with both hands and shift on my feet. 

"She's such a baby," one of the men says. It makes the others access me again and look away. 

"I like her," he says with his down lip in between his teeth. He dims his eyes at me. It is supposed to be sexy but he looks like a Sloth.

Zuri looks at me and winks. I'm tempted to yank off her wig and lunge at her. Did she forget her senses at home? She was the one that handed me tampons this morning now she's pimping me out.

I drop the glass on the table. "Zuri, let me talk to you,"

"You are talking to her," The man holding her says and laughs crazily.

I smile at them. Zuri laughs too, coming off his lap. She throws her jacket on his thighs and bends to his face. "Stay here."

The man darts his tongue out and licks her lips. I turn away and wait for her to lead the way towards the restroom.

There's something wrong with this place. I can feel the discomfort just like how I feel when it's almost time for Uncle Joel to return home or how I felt the day I went to Kent's house and saw him through the window moving his black ass up and down in between the legs of another girl.