AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Stef pushes a fork in my direction and takes the second fork for herself. She takes a few bites before answering. “I’m okay. Hey, I didn’t cry on the floor last night! I guess that’s progress. I might earn real money soon enough.”
I take the fork and poke at the food. Despite what’s happened to me the last few days, I can’t help but think that Stef getting used to this place is just as tragic. “That’s a good thing,” I say feebly, taking a bite of eggs so I don’t have to speak again.
“Did you hear about the cop?” Stef asks, voice strained. “Cat sussed him out. I probably wouldn’t have noticed. Would have gotten us all arrested or something. Guess it’s good he went for Cat and not me.”
I almost choke on the eggs. I force myself to swallow though, giving myself a moment before I reply, “I’m not sure I’d have noticed either.” But I did. I noticed the shoes, and I’m part of the reason a man is dead now. Why did I open my mouth?
But then, he was doomed from the start. Slayer had already decided the man was going to die. Nothing I could’ve done would’ve changed that.
I’d still made it worse.
“Donny sat us down later and gave us signs to look for.” Stef puts the fork down and starts counting off things with her fingers. “Won’t take his cock out for you. Is way too enthusiastic about soliciting in general. Didn’t touch you at all during the lap dance. Possibly even if they’re extremely generous, but we do get a few clients who leave big tips.” After a short chuckle, she adds, “Now I have to worry if a guy touches me, and if he doesn’t. Great.”
I wince in sympathy with her. “There’s a lot to this,” I say. I want to ask her how she ended up here, but I don’t want her to ask any questions about my situation in return. I go back to eating, because it’s better than trying to have a conversation when my thoughts are all over the place.
After a few beats of silence, Stef asks, “But seriously… I didn’t see you at all yesterday. And it was your first time with a client. I hope… you’re fine, right? He didn’t hurt you?”
I flinch. I’m not sure if the client would’ve been better or worse than the snake. Worse, probably, especially one with a fetish for underage girls. But the snake… “No,” I say. “It was… I don’t really want to talk about it.”
Not about the snake, not about Giulio fucking me after, not about how strange he’d acted the next morning…
Or about him and Damien taking me together through some fucked-up fantasy where I wanted them both.
Or about Slayer and the detective.
Or about Damien eating me out and fucking me—
How is it possible so much happened in such a short period of time? How am I even functional?
Easy: I’m not. I’m barely hanging on by a thread, and it feels like it’s frayed to the point where it’s going to snap at any moment. Any of these things would’ve been bad enough on their own, but thinking of just how quickly it had all happened, of how this had become mylife…
Stef’s voice gets quiet. “Yeah. I understand. I… if you need help with… anything. I pocketed a few salves the last time that doctor bitch was here.”
I shake my head. “No, I’m… No one hurt me.” Not physically, anyway. Mentally, though, I feel like I need more than a fewsalves.
“I don’t know what you were doing before all this,” Stef says, still quiet. “But I used to have fun, y’know? My boyfriend and I… but we partied a lot. And we needed money, because of the drugs. Then one day my boyfriend offers my mouth in payment. I thought it was okay. Just my mouth. Only it didn’t make enough money fast enough. So things just… escalated. Until he dumped all the debts on me. And every time I remember, I just…” She blinks quickly and wipes her eyes. “Shit, I didn’t mean to tell you all that. But I remember not crying during sex. Now it just hurts. If I’m lucky, it’s just a dance. But Paul sometimes wants more too, if I didn’t pull another client. I never had this much dry sex.” She laughs bitterly. “I bet they use more lube with their sex toys than with me.”
I can’t help but stare at her, horrified by her story. I’d known it would be unpleasant, but I hadn’t thought it would be quite so bad. No wonder she cries all the time. I don’t know where to start with what she’s just told me.
But shame is first and foremost, because I haven’t beendryyet. No matter how much I fight it, my body betrays me at every turn. I know in theory that it’s not me—and it sure as hell doesn’t make what they’re doing right—but it’s still humiliating. Is it better or worse that I react so strongly when they touch me?
“Does Giulio know that Paul… you know?” I hate that man more and more with everything I find out about him.
“Why wouldn’t he know?” Stef asks, genuinely sounding confused. “Giulio sometimes fucks us too. Well, never me. But Traci used to brag about how she was his favorite. I think she was lying about that though. I never noticed Giulio doing anything but visit Elena.”
And I know Giulio hasn’t beenusingElena.
“I doubt she was his favorite,” I say. “She’s such a bitch.” I feel bad for saying it, but I’m still a little bitter that it’s because of her that I metAntonia. I shudder at the memory. I try to remind myself that it could’ve been worse, that I could’ve ended up with the client he’d made up.
I still don’t know that it would’ve been worse, though.
“I guess you’re his favorite now,” Stef says, reaching out to touch the fabric of my t-shirt. “He’s never given anyone clothes like this before. That was nice of him.”
Nice.
That’s one word I never would’ve associated with Giulio. But he had been nice, when he’d been fixing me waffles and talking about his time with his mother.
Before Damien had come over and everything had turned all sexual all over again.
