Between Us.

| One. |

"Ooh nana, why you gotta act so naughty? Ooh nana, I'm 'bout to spend all this cash, ooh nana, if you keep shaking that- oh oh!"

The popular 2014 song by Trey Songz played loudly through Club Echo, as Rikki strutted across the stage, her half naked body catching the attention of every man and female in the building. They all cheered loudly as she grabbed hold of the steel pole, beginning to spin around in multiple circles, before she hopped up and spread her legs, her back sliding down the pole as she preformed a few different tricks.

She could hear the few whistles and cat calls from the audience, as she dropped down on all fours, cupped both her round breasts and bounced her fat ass inches away from the face of a man that resembled Santa Claus. She did a few more dance moves afterwards, happy when the song finally went off and she could step off stage. Everyone in the house clapping loudly for her performance.

A few newly hired janitors came behind her as she made her way to the back, picking up all the money scattered around and handing her the large pile before she disappeared into the dressing rooms where all the other strippers were getting ready. She sighed, taking a seat in front of a vanity mirror that she claimed as hers, picking up a moist wipe to wash all the caked up makeup off her face.

3 minutes later and fresh faced, she changed out of the exposing lingerie she had on into a pair of blue jeans and a white T-shirt as she slipped on a pair of UGG slippers. She reached underneath her chair, stuffing all of her money and her clothes into her large duffel bag before checking to make sure she had it all. Once confirming that she did, she stood up and threw the bag over her shoulder as she grabbed her cell phone and began to head out.

She exited the dressing rooms in less than five minutes, reappearing back in the front of the club where everything was still hype and going down. There were still strippers on the floor of course, trying to coax men into the back for a extra lap dance and Candi, the newest addition to the 12 strippers was on stage popping her ass to Body Party by Ciara.

Rikki tiredly took a seat at the bar, catching wind of a woman's back facing her with long light brown hair cascading down her shoulders. Her eyes lit up in excitement. "Jamie?"

The woman turned around, a 'Amber' nametag on her right breast. "What can I get you, sweetheart?"

"Just a shot of vodka." Rikki sighed, pouting her full lips in a sad expression. She watched as the woman fixed her drink, remembering when her ex-best friend used to be the one behind the counter serving the liquor.

But of course, that was some time ago. It was now almost 2 years later and Jamie still wanted nothing to do with her once finding out that Rikki had been sleeping with her husband for 2 months. Luis was way gone and after quitting her job as a middle school substitute teacher, there was no more Principal Stephen Grant either.

So, now she was just like she has been almost a majority of her whole life. Alone. She picked up her drink, taking it straight to the head as she reminisced all the bad memories like she often did. Once finishing the liquor, she dropped the glass back down on the counter and stood up from the bar, being sure to check the time on her phone before finally deciding to walk out the crowded strip club. Passing a few crumpled up bills to Amber as a tip.

The heavy October wind seem to hit her harsh as she made her way outside, tossing on a jacket and pulling out her cell phone and calling an Uber. She only waited for about 4 minutes before they pulled up, Rikki wasting no time in climbing into the backseat. Shutting the door behind her as she stuffed her duffel bag underneath her arm tightly. "Main Street Apartments, please."

The man nodded his head, driving the car in complete silence as he pulled the cab in front of the large buildings. Rikki thanked him, passing $20 as she climbed out of the yellow car. She walked into the building, rubbing her eyes as she got to the elevator and hit floor number 5, yawning the entire ride up.

The elevator beeped, indicating she had reached the floor as she strolled out and headed towards the last two apartments at the end of the hallway. She raised her fist, applying a harsh knock to the large wooden door waiting for apartment #46 to open up. The door eventually pulled back, revealing her older neighbor Miss Tonya and her 1 and a half old daughter, Jailyn in her arms.

Rikki smiled widely once seeing her sleeping daughter on the woman's arm. "Hey, how was she?"

Miss Tonya nodded, passing the little girl. "Just a perfect angel, of course."

"Thank you, Miss Tonya. This means a lot to me." Rikki thanked her, grabbing the diaper bag from the kind lady and passing a crisp $100 bill.

"No problem, Rikki." Miss Tonya waved her away, watching as Rikki turned around and made her way across the hall to her own apartment door with the almost toddler girl cradling in her arms. She managed to pull out her house keys, unlocking the door to their small apartment and flicking on the light.

"Thirstay." Ari tried to grumble in her mother's ear as Rikki kicked the door closed behind them and made her way straight to their bedroom in the back of the house.

"You want some juice?" She asked, understanding perfectly what her daughter was trying to say. Arika only nodded her head in response. She wasn't much of a talker, baby or not.

"Okay, hold on. Let mommy get you something." Rikki spoke, walking back to the kitchen and grabbing the jug of juice from the fridge. She reached for a sippy cup in the cabinets, pouring the juice into the plastic cup as she went back to her bedroom and set her daughter up. She listened to Arika sucking out the cup, before she opened her drawer and stripped from her clothing into a pair of pajamas pants and a matching tank top. Once done, she grabbed her duffel bag, emptying the contents on the bed as Arika continued drinking.

"Let's see how much mommy made tonight." Rikki spoke, tying her freshly done box braids nto a high ponytail as she began counting the paper bills.

"$400. Barely enough." Rikki sighed, dropping her head down into her hands. Arika soon finished her drink, throwing it on the bed as she crawled between Rikki's legs and slobbed all over the bottom of her shirt.

"Aw. I love you, baby." Rikki grinned, scooping up her baby girl and laying her across her chest to rest. Arika kicked around, before calming herself down and drifting off to sleep on top of her mother, barely 2 minutes later. Rikki laid still, her hands running through Arika's head full of curls as she kept her eyes on her beautiful daughter.

The one piece of family she knew she had left in this world. But even though, it was sad to say that Arika was all she had- it was even sader to say how Rikki was all the family that the little girl possessed. Because even practically two years later, Rikki still had no clue if Arika belonged to Stephen or... Even Luis.

But, to her- not knowing whether her ex boss or her ex best friend's husband was the father of her daughter was actually some sort of miracle. After all, Stephen nor Luis even wanted a thing to do with her and they both had no idea about Arika's existence in the world.

So not knowing who fathered her child was absolutely a good thing. At least... That's what she thought. As she got older, she realized that she grew up with no daddy. Maybe her little girl deserved better.

********

For anyone re-reading this because I know I have some folks here who do that, two things were changed in edits. Jailyn is now Arika and Lucas is portrayed by Noah Schnapp. Also, if you didn't know- picture of the main characters & the book trailer are in the multimedia last chapter.