by M. S. Parker
I nodded.
“Why don’t we just settle accounts right now?” he asked. “We’re open another two hours. You spend that time on stage showing us all what’s under that uniform and giving a couple private laps, and I’ll call us even for this week.”
I gritted my teeth to keep from telling him to go to hell.
“Or you and me go back to my office, and you show me if you’re a better fuck than your whore mother.”
Why wouldn’t he leave me alone? There were tons of women who’d have sex with him for free, especially the ones he sold drugs to. I didn’t really need to ask the question. I already knew the answer. He wanted what he couldn’t have. He’d been hitting on me since I was fourteen, and I’d never shown the least bit of interest in him. Men like him, it was all about power and control.
“I’ll have the money for you,” I said.
Even if I had to steal it.
“Maybe I’m tired of waiting for your ass to pay me back.”
He took a step toward me, and I took one back. My heart thudded against my chest, my blood rushing in my ears. This couldn’t be happening.
“I haven’t missed a single payment,” I protested, holding my hand up as a pitiful barrier. “I won’t miss this one. You don’t need to…”
He kept coming at me until my back was against the wall, and I had nowhere else to go. “What do you know about my needs, little girl?” He brushed some hair back from my face, and it was all I could do not to flinch. “Besides, it’s never been about need. I do what I want, to who I want, and you should know that. You saw the lessons I had to teach your dumbass mom.”
I had seen them. Black eyes and bloody lips. Bruises in the shapes of his hands and fists, cuts made by his rings. I’d heard them too. The sound of flesh hitting flesh. The cries of pain. The worse grunts and moans. By the time Fernando had come around, I’d been old enough to know what those other sounds meant. The last few years, I’d taken Austin and left the apartment every time Fernando appeared.
“We don’t even have to go back to my office. I’ll do you right here.”
He leaned against me, and I turned my face away. I wanted to push him away, hit him, hurt him, but I knew there was only so far I could go before it was too much. If I crossed that line, he could hurt me, rape me, or kill me. He could come after Austin. He could do dozens of horrible things to us both.
And no one would care.
The powerlessness of my situation overwhelmed me, and I knew it was over for me.
Thirteen
Slade
I clenched my fists and told myself that I couldn’t get involved. Fernando Sanchez was scum. It hadn’t taken much in the way of research to find out that he was a drug dealer, a pimp, and a probable human trafficker. None of it had enough in the way of admissible proof to get him beyond an initial arrest. Evidence came up missing. Witnesses and accusers vanished or had sudden changes of heart.
Besides, I wasn’t hearing anything that gave me a reason to bust in there. Sure, it sounded like blackmail, but I didn’t know Cheyenne, no matter how much I wanted to think I did. She’d said she wasn’t one of Fernando’s girls, but what he was saying…
I had to think big picture. I planned on opening a file on Fernando, so we could shut him down for good, and anything I did here would affect that. If I went in now as a DEA agent, he’d know we were looking at him. Even if I didn’t say who I was, I could possibly compromise any future case once he realized that I was connected to Cheyenne. I had to wait and hope that she’d get herself out of the situation.
“I don’t wa–”
The muffled sound covered whatever Cheyenne had intended to say next, but I’d heard enough in those two-and-a-half words to decide. Even as I reached for the doorknob, I heard Fernando’s response.
“I don’t give a fuck what you don’t want, you little bitch.”
I shoved the door open harder than necessary, sending it rebounding off the wall with a loud crack. As I took in the scene in front of me, my vision went red. Fernando had Cheyenne pinned against the back wall, one hand clamped over her mouth, the other on her hip. He had a knee between her legs, and I had no doubt what would’ve happened if I hadn’t interrupted.
Or what would happen if I couldn’t get her away from him?
“Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing back here?”
I had seconds to decide how to play it, and even though everything in me was begging to cross the room and beat the shit out of him, I knew I had to be smart about it.
I immediately slipped into the person I’d always been for my brothers, the one who could charm and bullshit my way into and out of anything. Then I added a little sleaze. I smiled and slid my hands into my pockets. Fernando straightened, his hands dropping to his sides.
“Hey, I was just out there saying that I was looking for some company tonight, and they said you were the guy to talk to.” I shrugged and jerked my chin toward Cheyenne. “See you’ve got the same idea. I’ve been eyeing her all night.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cheyenne’s jaw drop, but I didn’t look at her. Fernando had to see that I thought of her as a commodity, not a person. He had to believe me, or both Cheyenne and I were screwed.
“You’re a good-looking guy,” Fernando said, sizing me up. “You tell me, there’s not a single woman out there who’ll fuck you for free?”
I felt my smile widen and hated myself for being convincing. “There’s probably a dozen women I could have, but that’s the one I want.”
Fernando looked over his shoulder at Cheyenne who had her head down, her hair covering her face. “She’s a bitch.”
I laughed even though I would’ve preferred to be beating his face into a bloody pulp. “Sometimes it’s better when you got to fight for it. You know what I’m saying, right?”
He grinned at me, his posture relaxing. “I do.”
“I can get all the easy pussy I want, but occasionally, I like a feisty one. Someone who’s wild in the sack, even if she don’t mean it.” I took a couple steps toward him, my hands still in my pockets.
It was dangerous to approach him like this, I knew. If he decided to attack me, I wouldn’t be able to defend myself. But if I didn’t take this risk, I’d never be able to get him at ease.
“I got a couple girls who’d be fun for you.” He stayed in front of Cheyenne, his body language saying that he was still claiming her as his.
Fuck that.
“I want her.”
Fernando’s smile faded. “She ain’t on the menu.”
Shit.
I took a step back, taking my hands out of my pockets to hold them up, palms out. “All right.”
Arresting him here and now was a last resort, but there was something else I could do that might change his mind. I hadn’t considered it until just now when I’d realized that I had to do whatever I could to get her away from him. It was better than flashing my badge, but it could come back to bite me in the ass.
I glanced at Cheyenne. She pressed herself against the wall, her skin pale and her body shaking.
To hell with my ass.
“How much?” I asked. “I’ve spent the whole night thinking about what she’ll look like bouncing on my cock, and I’m willing to pay to make that happen.”
I ignored the furious look she sent my way. I’d rather her be pissed at me and safe rather than happy with my behavior and being assaulted by this asshole.
“You don’t know how to take no for an answer.”
He was one to talk. I gave him my best smug smile. “Not when I see something I want. Name your price.”
“Two grand,” he said. “You can use my office and leave her there when you’re done.”
I shook my head. “I want her all night.”
“Not gonna happen.”
I thought of my bank balance. The checking account where I deposited my check every two weeks could swing two grand with some creative bill paying, but that wasn’t the only money I ha
d available. I had an app on my phone that would allow me access to an account I didn’t touch. The dividends paid out for my shares in Hunter Enterprises had built up over the years, giving me an obscene amount of money to work with even though I never did.
“I can transfer fifteen thousand dollars right now to any account you want.”
Fernando looked interested, and I was glad I’d started low. If he knew how much money I had available, he could clean me out.
And I’d have handed it all over to him if it let Cheyenne walk out with me.
“Thirty.”
“What–”
“Shut the fuck up,” he snapped at Cheyenne as she tried to interrupt but didn’t take his eyes off me. “Thirty thousand.”
If I agreed right off, he’d try to go up again, or he’d figure out something was up. The sort of men who did what I was doing wouldn’t hesitate to haggle over a woman.
“Twenty.”
He glanced back at Cheyenne, then looked at me. “Twenty-five or you can watch me fuck her for all I care.”
I paused like I was considering walking away, then said, “Twenty-five and you make sure she does whatever I tell her.”
He reached back and grabbed Cheyenne’s arm, yanking her to his side. “You do whatever he wants, or you’ll regret it.”
She shook her head. “We had an agreement.”
“Which you broke when you couldn’t pay the very reasonable amount we’d agreed on.”
He squeezed her wrist until she winced, and I reminded myself that it would be counterproductive to break his arm right now.
“Unless you can pay me twenty-five grand, you’re going to work it off, either with him or with however many men it takes for you to earn the same tonight.”
For a heart-stopping moment, I thought she’d tell me to fuck off, that she’d do anything else but leave with me, but then she nodded, and the grip around my heart eased.
She was safe.
Fourteen
Cheyenne
How had things spun so far out of control so fast? Two days ago, things hadn’t been great, but I’d been managing. Juggling two jobs, taking care of Austin, making ends meet even with the weekly payments Fernando demanded. Then, suddenly, one job was gone, with a good chunk of my paycheck with it, and now I’d essentially been sold to a virtual stranger for twenty-five thousand dollars.
As Slade finished the transaction with Fernando, I numbly retrieved my bag and hung up my server’s apron. Vaguely, I wondered if Fernando was going to dock two hours off my pay for this week, but then I remembered that he’d been ready to rape me before Slade had appeared and a man who’d do that wasn’t going to let me pay off my debt one second sooner than possible. Even if he counted the entire twenty-five grand toward what my mother owed him, the interest he charged would keep me under his thumb longer than I could bear to think about.
A little voice in the back of my head told me that I didn’t have to do this, that I could take Austin and disappear, but I shut it up with a reminder that if I took off with the little bit of money I had, I’d end up turning tricks just to keep a roof over our heads. At least here I had Estrada and Resa.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” Fernando said as he shook Slade’s hand. “The only limits are no permanent damage, and she has to be able to work Monday night. Other than that, do what you want with her.”
I made as if to step around him, but he grabbed my arm again, cruel fingers digging into my flesh. I looked up at him, refusing to let him see anything I was feeling. That was easy, at least, since I didn’t even know how I felt yet.
“You do what he says like a good girl, and I’ll consider this week’s payment paid in full.”
One week? I was only a couple hundred short of what I owed for this week, and that was all he was going to give me from the twenty-five thousand he’d get for selling me so cruelly?
I couldn’t do anything but nod. Any other choice I could make would only lead to disaster. Agreeing to go with Slade would at least keep Austin and me safe for another week. I couldn’t bear to think about anything beyond that.
“Let’s go.”
Slade took my other arm, and for a moment, I had this crazy image in my head of the two of them pulling me back and forth until I tore right down the middle. I needed to pull myself together, or I was never going to make it through tonight.
I let Slade lead me out of the club, my head up and eyes forward. It didn’t matter that everyone who saw me knew exactly what was happening. I refused to let anyone see the humiliation and fear that had finally worked its way past the numbness.
Rather than flagging down a cab, Slade went around the club to the parking lot, and I tried to remember how much he’d had to drink tonight. If he got us into an accident and I was hurt or killed, Austin would be all alone.
I held out a hand for his keys. “I can drive.”
He glanced down at me, the first time he’d looked at me since he’d paid Fernando, I realized. “I’m fine. I barely drank either of the beers I ordered.”
“Why not?” I asked as he opened the passenger door.
“Because I wasn’t here to drink,” he said simply. “Get in.”
I did as I was told. Since I’d spend the rest of the night taking orders from him, starting with a simple one seemed like the thing to do.
I waited until we’d pulled onto the street before bringing up the one thing I’d fight tooth and nail for. “I need to call my babysitter and tell her that I won’t be home for a while.”
Slade nodded, not taking his eyes off the road. For a second, I entertained the idea of calling 911 and reporting him and Fernando and the whole damn club, but it was wishful thinking, nothing more. I knew good cops existed, but I’d seen firsthand what happened when women tried to report an assault or an attempted assault. They’d look at my clothes, at where I worked, and they’d write me off as asking for it. I’d even risk being arrested for solicitation.
As much as I would’ve loved to see the look on Slade’s face if we got pulled over, or Fernando’s expression when cops showed up at DDD, I couldn’t do it. Every choice I made impacted Austin, so I’d endure whatever I needed to, for as long as I knew he was safe.
I pulled up Estrada’s number and made the call.
“He’s fine,” she said in place of a greeting. “You don’t need to worry.”
“Good,” I said, blowing out a breath that seemed to have stagnated in my lungs. “I didn’t call about that though.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked, the concern in her voice making my chest tight.
That was how a mother should’ve sounded.
I avoided her question completely. “Something came up, and I have to stay late. I’m not sure when I’ll be home.”
She didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and I wondered if she was going to press me on the issue. She knew I worked as a waitress at a strip club, but she’d never pried into whether I did any ‘extra’ work.
“I can stay all night,” she said finally. “Austin’s sleeping, and I’m in the middle of a good book. I don’t have anything planned tomorrow, so I’ll just make myself comfortable, and you can come home whenever you’re done.”
“Thank you,” I said, barely able to speak around the lump in my throat.
“You do know you can come to me with anything, right?”
“I do,” I whispered, fighting back tears. “It’s nothing, really. Thanks again for staying the night with him.”
I didn’t give her a chance to say anything else, unable to trust that I wouldn’t blurt it all out, just to have someone know. The pressure was getting to be too much, and another kind word from her would shatter my resolve. I already kept my financial situation from her because I knew she’d hand over her entire disability check if she thought Austin and I needed it.
I put my phone in my bag and settled into silence as Slade drove. I needed to get my head around what was going to happen. I wouldn’t get a reprieve. There was n
o white knight, no fairytale ending. I’d known all my life that the real world sucked, but I’d managed to protect myself in some ways. That was all going to change tonight.
For Austin, I’d give up anything. Everything.
The complex we pulled up in front of wasn’t even close to what I’d imagined. It wasn’t completely suburban family, but it wasn’t bachelor central either. An unexpected home wasn’t enough to change my opinion of him though. Plenty of men lived in places like this, better than this, with families, and they still came down to DDD to watch strippers and fuck prostitutes.
Neither one of us spoke as we walked up the sidewalk and into one of the units. A hallway light kept the room from being pitch black, but I didn’t bother looking around. I didn’t care about his decorating or any of that other shit. I was here for one reason and one reason only.
Maybe, if I took control, I’d feel better about what was going to happen.
And maybe if I kept telling myself lies, I could get through this with some shred of who I was intact.
Without giving myself even a second to question my decision, I turned around as he closed the door, reaching down and yanking my shirt over my head. I clenched my jaw as I stood there in my lace bra and told myself that it was the same as being in a bikini.
I thought I was ready for whatever came next, but nothing could’ve prepared me to see Slade’s eyes go wide.
“What the hell are you doing?” He pulled his shirt off and had it over my head so fast that I’d barely registered him moving.
I stared right back, and I was sure I looked just as incredulous as he did. “What am I doing?” I asked as I shook my hair free of his shirt. “Did you want me to wait until we got to your room? Is that where you want to do it? Or did you just want me dressed, so you don’t have to look at me while you’re fucking me?”
“Hey.” Slade wrapped one arm around me and caught my chin with his other hand. His expression was serious. “What’s going on?”
