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“My God, you actually went?” She keeps her voice down low. For her that’s a big thing, given she’s the loudest, most blasé girl in our group of friends. There are four of us. Miranda and Kelly are actual sisters, and Chloe and me are as close as sisters could be. That’s why I talk to her about everything, and I mean everything.
It never mattered that at one point in our lives we were at opposite ends of the country, we talked practically every day. We still talk just as much and nothing has changed since we met in elementary school when we were twelve.
We’ve been best friends that whole time. We’re both twenty-six now and we still tell each other everything. I won’t break tradition tonight.
“I went and I … applied for the job…” Applied? Was that what I was calling it?
She looks at me though like she knows what I mean by the term.
“You got it didn’t you?” She nods, and looks worried.
“I did.”
“Did Mimi show you the ropes. I mean. I know it’s not ideal and please don’t hate me. I know it’s not your thing. The money is really good though, and they pay an advance if you need it.”
She had me at Mimi. “I didn’t see a Mimi.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Mimi does the interviews and shows all the girls what to do. You didn’t see Mimi?”
“No,” panic definitely rises in my throat. “I saw Nick Giordano. I saw him and what happened was…” my cheeks burn and the dryness comes back to my throat from the memory, but… I’m more concerned with the way Chloe sucks in a sharp breath and practically bolts upright with very wide eyes.
“Mia, hold up… you saw who?” Her lips part.
“Nickoli Giordano, as in one of the five who own the club, as in Giordano mobsters.”
She places a hand to her heart and swallows hard. “Mia, tell me exactly what happened. All of it.”
Why do I think she already knows what happened to me? Or has some idea. She’s looking at me like she does and when I tell her all that happened, she doesn’t look as surprised as I thought she would. She looks scared.
“Okay, what? You have to tell me. Chloe, you know I wouldn’t have gone somewhere like that if I wasn’t desperate. Clearly I’m not doing the job because I’m here again and tonight would be night two.” It was six o’clock so I would presumably have to be there again for seven. Except I was going straight to my house to help Beth with her homework and to help Dad plant some runner beans in the garden. The doctors said it would help his blood pressure to do anything like that. So no, I wouldn’t be going to any form of sex club tonight.
“Mia, the bosses don’t usually interview the waitresses. Yes … the waitresses there are a main attraction but the ones the bosses pick are considered … well... property.”
I swallow hard as I take in her words. Property… as if I didn’t feel bad enough as it was.
“Property?”
“Yeah. I mean … I know again it’s not your thing and you probably don’t get it but in their world it’s an honor of sorts. Those guys operate differently, especially with the club, as you can imagine. And, also the other waitresses don’t have the starting salary you were quoted.”
My eyes cling to hers. It’s not relevant now because I’m not doing it but I want to know. “How much do they get?”
“A little over thirty a year. It’s still plenty for the few hours you do. It’s what they have to do though.”
I get that. I already thought of that part.
I bring my hands together and think. No, not about the club or Nick or what he was offering. I think about the situation.
I think about how screwed I am and I’m so alone in this.
Chloe reaches out and covers my hands with hers.
“Mia, what are you going to do?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I can’t work there Chloe. I don’t want to feel like I’m selling my body, or using my body for money. It’s all I have left.”
“It’s not like that, you know. As far as I know for the other waitresses the most they do is have to serve a bunch of guys topless. Anything else that happens is stuff they initiate themselves. Nothing happens to force you into something you don’t want to do. That’s the normal. I can’t say what might happen if you were to be Nick’s personal waitress, however. As far as I know, what happened to you doesn’t tend to occur. Much.”
“So, what would you do?” I ask her. Chloe is into advertising. She works for a big marketing and advertising company on Main and they’re big in the sense that they run campaigns for the likes of Nike and other brands like that. She’s living her dream. However, if that weren’t the case, I think I totally know what her answer would be.
