𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬: 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐄𝐊𝐇𝐈

07. | L O S T & F O U N D

C H A P T E R | S E V E N
LOST & FOUND

𝚂 𝚃 𝙾 𝙽 𝙸 𝙵 𝙻 𝙾 𝚁 𝙴 𝚂

SHE couldn't believe it when Ty told her to hog tail her ass into the dressing room and change into something more revealing and then haul her ass into the red room - - a special V.I.P. room for the biggest spenders at El Tigre's. The red room was where Ty had gotten Carter all situated for his private dance with the lady of his choice who so happened to be the newest addition to the growing El Tigre family. Ty was praying like hell that Stoni heeded his warning and didn't go in there fucking things up as he watched her walk away from him after his quick little reminder of what all was riding on her pleasing him.

He didn't have faith in her at all - - Allison he would have had faith in because she had been working there for him for close to four years, but he'd seen Stoni's work and he didn't know how reliable she was. At any moment she could bust into tears, weird Carter out, and ruin the entire evening just like she almost had when she was dancing on stage earlier.

He didn't have confidence in the product that he was presenting Carter with, he could only pray that she'd pull it off and impress Carter on a wing and a prayer. Ty wanted to propose that Carter front him the money for another club - - another strip joint but this time he wanted to go bigger - - he wanted it to be in Manhattan and he wanted to get a bigger piece of land than what he had now - - the only problem was he wouldn't be able to obtain the permits like he knew Carter could and he needed more money because it would be a bigger venue.

In short, Ty wanted to have two at once and reap in more money behind having two operations open at the same time all he needed was Carter's push and he'd be well on his way.

Stoni took deep breaths the whole way through; she had only seen glimpses of Carter when he came in, never really him as a whole so she only had bits and pieces of him in her mind. She told herself she couldn't focus on that - - she needed to focus on not losing her confidence like she had up there on the stage.

Allison gave her some pointers to remember and all she had to do was keep them in mind. Ty said there'd be no pressure but she knew that's all it was - - pressure on top of pressure. Anytime a person says no pressure, they usually mean all the pressure in the entire world and this time was no different - - the whole pitch Ty had planned was riding on her right now and how well she loosened Carter up.

She stood at the door and took another deep breath, wiping her palms onto her thighs and telling herself that she had the power just like Allison told her - - all she had to do was make Carter recognize that and she'd be fine. "Just relax, Stoni," she said to herself, everything's gonna be alright. Allison stood by Ty who was watching Carter at the door and using his hands to signal that she had kept him waiting long enough and that she needed to go inside.

She looked back at the door and placed her hand on one of the long silk curtains and sunk her teeth into her bottom lip. "You can do this," she said to herself again, "He's just a man like any other man and you've been around plenty - - they all want to see the same thing."

She separated the curtain with her fingers and slowly walked inside wearing her orange ensemble - - her favorite color. It was a sheer tangerine colored nighty that tied in the front where her breasts were situated underneath and it fell to just above her behind where she wore the matching tangerine panties, bejeweled at the sides where the strings were. Her heels were gold to accent the golden jewels on the nighty and her hair was pinned up into a tight bun, exposing her baby face that Carter had seen and been attracted to from a mile away.