A Forced Foray

"Ok, I think that's all I need to see," the man said, smiling at his own joke. "Feel free to head down to the dressing room, right over there."

The girl picked up her clothes from scattered positions all over the stage, still naked, and walked out of the enclosed bar area to a door on the outer edge of the room that the man had indicated.

"Ashleigh, is it?" the man asked, looking over to her.

Somehow, she managed to nod, and Jason's hand on her back urging her forward helped her take the first step. She found a gap in the bar and entered.

"Make your way onto the stage, please," the man directed.

Ashleigh was barely even able to look at him, and didn't even risk glancing at the other two. She took the same few steps up to the stage that the last girl had used to leave the stage, went to the middle right in front of the man who was speaking, and stood there waiting for more instructions.

"Nervous?"

Ashleigh nodded.

"Well, best to take the plunge quickly then," the man said. "I'm Rob. I'm the manager. These two with me are here to protect the girls. You get into any trouble, you yell for one of them, the guy giving you trouble gets a boot up his ass and is never allowed back."

"Ok," Ashleigh said, surprised she'd been able to even breathe.

"So why don't you get naked and show us what you got?" Rob asked.

Ashleigh took a deep breath, taking one last look around the room. That's when she noticed the mirrors, along one entire wall, opposite the three men. She'd be able to see everything she was doing, herself in all her glory up on stage in front of complete strangers. Why were there mirrors? She gulped, but it was time.

"Sensual!" Jason yelled from his corner.

Ashleigh had to do it. She had to focus on right now, and not on how full the club could be. There were only four guys here, and one of them had seen her naked enough times that he barely counted. She had been naked in front of more people than this at the art class. She could do it.

Slowly, unsure at first, Ashleigh rubbed her hands over her legs. Her skirt barely came down past her pussy, so her thighs were on full view all along. After a few seconds of that, which felt like an hour, she quickly pulled her skirt down, like ripping off a band aid. She kicked it away, then pulled her shirt over her head just the same.

"Slower," Rob said. "It probably feels like it's taking a long time up there, but the guys like to be teased. You're doing great."

Ashleigh nodded, then spun around to get a look at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a barely-there bra and panties, and realized that, facing away from the men, she was giving them a full view of her essentially bare ass. The string was so small between her ass cheeks that it might as well not have even been there. That was the point, after all. She found herself swiveling her hips, to wave her ass in the men's faces, almost without even realizing she was doing it. If she stopped, it would look bad, so she kept going, getting lower and lower as she backed up closer to Rob, giving him a closeup of her firm butt.

She wasn't facing him, so she couldn't tell if he approved. But now she was committed. She had to go through with the whole thing. Somehow, the utter ridiculousness of her situation had faded into the background of her mind. She stood up and turned around, cupping her hands over her bra and taking a few steps sensually backwards. She feigned pulling her bra off, but simply removed her hands to reveal the cloth beneath. She felt a smile cross her face, against all odds, and resisted the urge to suppress it. Instead, she reached behind her back to grab the string that was tied behind. She pulled, undoing the knot and letting the string fall to her sides. The cloth still covered her breasts, but hung loosely.

Then, she got down on her knees, leaning ever so slightly forward to let the cloth barely slip away from her breasts. She rocked forward and back, a little bit more each time, letting the bra reveal more and more with each repetition. Finally, she pulled it over her head and left her arms up, showing off her completely exposed tits to the manager and his two lackeys. They nodded approvingly, as Ashleigh climbed back to her feet. She turned around fully, to face them again, showing off her body with a cute twirl. Her nipples were hard as rocks from the excitement and embarrassment. She glanced over at Jason for encouragement, and he just gave her a slanted smirk.

Ashleigh danced around on stage topless for a few minutes, going to Rob primarily but spending a little time venturing to the men to either side. She wasn't sure how far to go, so she didn't get too close to them and mostly just wiggled her body back and forth for their amusement.

Finally, it had been long enough, and she knew the last bit had to come off. How had she gotten to this point, she wondered. How could she even be contemplating taking her panties off on stage?

But here she was. She turned around, shoving her ass in Rob's face again, and pulled her panties down to her ankles before she had time to rethink her resolve.

She almost collapsed from an overwhelming wave of embarrassment, but she steadied her knees and stood back up. If they got a view of her pussy, it was only brief, and now she was facing away from them. She swayed back and forth a bit, still facing away, too afraid to turn around. She made her way to one of the poles, but realized that she had no idea what to do with it once she was there, so she just walked around it slowly, facing the men sidelong briefly before strutting back to her past position.

There was one last thing to do, she knew. Jason was still watching, and somehow his expression gave her the confidence she needed to finish her ad hoc act. Or, maybe, it was the threat of what would happen if she didn't culminate her performance.

Finally, Ashleigh spread her legs, still facing away from Rob and his cohorts, and bent all the way down, looking at them upside down between her legs. Her pussy was definitely on full display in this position, and her breasts hung awkwardly, also visible. She stayed that way for a moment, then stood and turned around as confidently as she could muster. She stood there, her legs together but the cleft of her pussy still visible as the men looked up from their seats to her on the stage.

"Ok, great job," Rob said. "If you want to collect your clothes and make your way to the dressing room, I'll meet you in there and we can go over everything."

Ashleigh flushed. They barely even acknowledged how difficult that was for her. She crossed her legs briefly, but then quickly had to move to gather her clothes from around the stage. She did her best to cover herself as she did so, and rushed down the steps and into the dressing room to get out of their field of vision. The girl from before her was in there, dressed and waiting.

Ashleigh started putting on her panties, when the door already opened, and the three audience members plus Jason came in.

"I thought this was the women's room!" Ashleigh said.

"That concept has a little different meaning at a strip club," Rob laughed. "The male customers can't come in here, though, just employees. Not like you have much to hide, you know, anyway."

Ashleigh covered her breasts with her arm against logic as she finished pulling up her panties with one hand. She knew how ludicrous she looked, but after she'd fled the stage, whatever confidence she'd conjured had vanished into thin air. She'd never be able to do anything like that again, she just knew it. How she'd even done it once was beyond her.

Once her panties were up, she turned her back to start putting her bra on. Only halfway through that process did she realize this room was even more full of mirrors than the last, and everyone could see whatever they wanted via mirror even with her back turned. She flushed again, but finished tying the bra behind her back as fast as possible.

"Good news is, you're both hired," Rob said. "You can start tonight."

"Uh..." Ashleigh said. "I'm busy tonight?"

"You are?" Jason asked.

"Yeah," Ashleigh lied. But there was no way she was doing this again.

"Tomorrow, then," Rob said. "Be here at four. It starts slow, but it picks up around nine or ten."

"Uh..." Ashleigh repeated.

"She'll be here tomorrow, then," Jason said. "Right, Ashleigh?"

"I...guess so," Ashleigh sighed.

"I can work tonight," the other girl said. How could she do it, Ashleigh wondered. How could that girl be so confident that she could spread her pussy, which Ashleigh couldn't even bring herself to do even in her brief moment of confidence. And now she was excited to start work, stripping. Ashleigh wasn't cut out for this, but she wasn't given a choice.

Once they got back to the car, Jason glanced over at her. "You're not busy tonight, are you?" he asked.

"No," Ashleigh admitted. "But I couldn't imagine doing that again."

"Well, gear up, because with a real audience it's going to be even better. I guess it works out, though, because now we can spend the night figuring out your stripper name."

"Stripper name?" Ashleigh asked, horrified.

"Yeah. You wouldn't want them to know your real name, would you?"

"Oh, no, I guess not," Ashleigh said. "This is really happening, isn't it?"

"Tomorrow night, you're going to be on stage having men give you dollar bills for showing your tits and pussy," Jason said. "It's for real. And tomorrow is their busiest day."

Ashleigh leaned her car seat back as far as it would go as Jason pulled out of the parking lot. She closed her eyes and felt a tear form at the corner of her eye, then roll down the side of her face into her ear.

Chapter 7

Ashleigh's eyes swung wide open as she bolted upright in her bed, sweating and breathing heavy. She wanted to say it was a nightmare, but really it was more like a portent. Waking from a normal nightmare was a relief; it wasn't real and you could go on with your life. But today, Ashleigh was furious that her dream about dancing on stage in front of throngs of people wasn't real life, because that meant she'd have to do it all over again tonight.

She glanced at the window, and saw that the sun was just coming out for the day. She had to shower to clear her mind and freshen up after waking in a cold sweat. She gathered her shampoo and other accessories, then her towel. She didn't have to take any clothes off since she'd taken to sleeping nude.

That was Jason's doing. She'd never even considered it before, but with the restrictions he'd placed on her dress, she barely had any other choice. As it turned out, sleeping that way was actually really comfortable. Was that the only good thing that had come from Jason's blackmail? Ashleigh wasn't really sure. Certainly stripping on stage tonight wouldn't qualify.

With a sigh, Ashleigh wrapped her towel around herself and made her way to the second floor showers, in the girls' bathroom this time. The setup was the same, though, and she had since been desensitized. If only one stranger, and a girl at that, saw her naked on a given day, it was a miracle.

No one else was around, so Ashleigh dropped her towel as soon as she was in the shower area. She hung it up on a hook near her stall. She pulled the curtain shut behind her, but didn't obsess over the inevitable gap it left, allowing anyone in the room to sneak a peek. Although she was used to it, she still thought whoever was responsible was a pervert.

She lathered up and began rubbing her hands all over her body to clean it. She lingered a moment extra on her breasts. The soapy, soft, puffy nipples felt amazing under her fingers. Before long and without realizing, one hand had wandered down to her pussy. As soon as it made contact, she shuddered in pleasure.

She shouldn't be doing this, she thought for a fraction of a second before ignoring her initial instinct. She needed this, to relax and have something else to focus her mind on, at least for a little while.

Ashleigh gave in, and began stroking her pussy furiously. She thrust one, then two, fingers inside herself. She leaned against the wall for balance, then lifted one leg high to spread her pussy wide open to ease her own access. Her other hand, which had been kneading her breast all along, soon joined the first. One was penetrating her while the other traced circles around her clit, coming ever closer with each revolution.

Finally, she made contact, and the orgasm was instant. She moaned loudly as her fingers pumped into her pussy faster than ever. Her body thrashed involuntarily, but she kept pressure on her clit and kept pounding. Another orgasm came in the middle of the first, catching her completely by surprise. She moaned again, louder this time, loud enough for the whole bathroom to hear. Over and over her hips thrusted themselves, until finally it was over.

Ashleigh opened her eyes to see some shocked girl, standing fully dressed but equipped with the essentials for a shower, staring wide-eyed at her through the gap in the curtain.

"Highly recommended," Ashleigh said.

The girl was still frozen in place. Ashleigh started laughing. She'd just been caught masturbating in the shower, and she was the one trying to ease the embarrassment of the other girl. She must have looked insane, laughing this hard after that display, and that thought only made her laugh even harder. Before long, tears were streaming down her face from laughter, and she was doubled over.

Finally, Ashleigh recomposed herself, rinsed the rest of the soap off, and left her stall. The other girl had somehow mustered the courage to undress and begin her own shower during Ashleigh's fit of hysterics.

Instead of grabbing her towel, Ashleigh had another idea. She flung open the other girl's curtain and stood, fully naked, staring at the other girl's similarly exposed body. She had red hair, and the pubes to match, trimmed neatly. Her pussy lips were shaven clean, a nice tight pair that came together into a perfect line. Her breasts were small but perky, with pointy pink nipples. She screamed.

"What's your name?" Ashleigh asked.

"Get out, you crazy bitch!" the girl shrieked.

"We've already seen everything there is to see," Ashleigh said, although her gaze still lingered on the girl's pussy, occasionally risking a trip to her breasts. She had no idea what she was doing, but at this point she was utterly past acting rationally. It probably stemmed from her upcoming ordeal tonight. "What is your name?"

"Katie," the girl said. "Now go away."

"Katie," Ashleigh said. "I'll remember that."

She backed away, and Katie pulled her curtain closed again. Ashleigh quickly dried off and went back to her room, where she lay naked on her bed and went over her shower trip again in her head.

Before long, her hand was on her pussy again. She stroked it gently at first, slowly working her way back up. She began moaning softly at the pleasure, amplified by thinking about that insane display she'd just put on.

"You realize I'm right here, don't you?" Stacy asked. "You're out of your mind."

"Did Jason tell you what I have to do tonight?" Ashleigh asked without stopping.

"I'm trying to stay out of that. Got way past what I'm comfortable with, like this."

"I have to be a stripper. At a club."

"I see you're taking it in stride. You look like a natural," Stacy said.

Ashleigh stopped her show and sat up on her bed to look at her roommate. She was fully aware that her boobs were on full display to the girl, but somehow that didn't faze her. "What happened to me?"

"Jason," Stacy said. "That kid has latched onto you something fierce."

"Hmm..." Ashleigh said, flopping back to the bed. She had a lot of thinking to do while she waited for her blackmailer to arrive to escort her to her doom.

Against all logic, the hours passed quickly. Maybe she'd fallen asleep, or maybe her contemplation had really been that engaging. Either way, her door opened and Jason entered.

"You still aren't dressed?" he asked. "Wear normal street clothes. You can change into stripper clothes there."

Ashleigh found herself dressing automatically, not even nervous about what was upcoming. Jason asked Stacy if she wanted to join, but she declined. At last, Ashleigh and Jason were in his car on their way to her first night as a stripper. On stage. In front of anyone who wanted to see.

During the drive, Jason described how various things worked, like how eager patrons could request private dances or VIP room time with one of the strippers. He also gave her some tips for her stage time and even ideas on how to attract people wanting private dances, which she couldn't fathom using. She didn't care how Jason knew so much about this stuff. It didn't matter anyway; she had to go through with it no matter what.

She took in the information he offered silently. Tonight, she was trying to convince herself, she was not Ashleigh, but Madison, the stripper. Madison, she'd decided, was confident and playful. Right. That would work. She sighed, and recognized that the Go Go Girls club would be just ahead on the right. The moment of her demise was imminent.

"I changed my mind," Ashleigh said.

"You have to do it," Jason said.

"I don't mean that," Ashleigh clarified. "I meant about my name. I don't want to be Madison."

"What then?"

"Phoenix," she said. It sounded better in her head before she said it out loud. The real Ashleigh was going to die, but a new one, who did things like be a stripper, would rise from the ashes.

"Fine," Jason said. "There's still time to change it. It's not terribly official anyway."

Jason parked the car, and Ashleigh popped quickly out of her seat and grabbed the bag with her stripper attire.

It was a few minutes after four, so technically the club was already open. The lot was still mostly empty, although there was a lone guy going up the steps to the entrance. Ashleigh followed him up, as Jason jogged a few steps to catch up to her.

"You one of the new girls?" the doorman asked.

"Yep!" She tried to sound excited.

"What's your name, beautiful?" he asked.

"Phoenix."

"Well, Phoenix, if any of those suckers in there give you any trouble, just let me know. They'll regret it in a hurry."

Ashleigh forced a smile and pushed through the saloon doors into the main room. The first thing she noticed was that it was really a lot darker in here than during her audition. The lighting seemed to be mostly ultraviolet, and it was actually kind of hard to see. The lighting color changed after a few seconds to red, where it was a little easier to make out details, but still not easy.

There were maybe five guys in the audience, and none in the inner ring of seats. Those were for closeup interaction,Jason had explained, but at a cost. The guys there were expected to tip girls for the privilege.

The girl on stage now was still clothed. Not according to common decency,of course, but at least compared to being literally nude, which was inevitable.

Ashleigh wound her way around the bar to the dressing room. Upon entry, she saw two other girls, one topless and the other covered, but barely.

"Fresh meat," one said excitedly, the one who was "clothed". Her exposed boobs wiggled as she talked.

What would a confident girl like Phoenix say to that, Ashleigh thought. Instead of having a witty retort, though, she just floundered until the other girl said something else.

"Don't worry," she said. "Everyone is nervous on her first day. But you get over it quick, and then it's fun. What's your name?"

"Uh..." Ashleigh's mind was blank for a second. "Phoenix."

"A bold choice. It's memorable, and you're pretty, so don't be surprised if you're called for lots of private dances. Not that that's a bad thing. I'm Krystal. Get changed and then follow me. I'm on stage next, so you can watch and learn, and hopefully get over some of those nerves. You're after me, according to the schedule. You're just on here as 'new girl'."