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“Good thing I don’t sell that,” I say, flexing my thighs and sliding my knees apart and back together, keeping my ass in the air.
“Everyone has a price,” he says, tipping his chin at me. “How much?”
I give him a smug smile. “I’m not for sale.”
“Looks like you are to me,” he says. “Does Rylan know you work here?”
I roll over, arching my back and running a hand down my torso, smiling up at him while my mind races for an answer. If I say yes, he’ll definitely mention it to Rylan and give him shit. If I say no, maybe he’ll take pity on me and keep his mouth shut.
“Maybe,” I say, pushing up and smiling at him over my shoulder. “But he’s not my boyfriend anymore. Why would he care?”
“Oh, he cares.”
He lays the bill on the edge of the stage, and I spin around on my ass, keeping my knees together and moving them from side to side, teasing him. I keep my smile in place like I did for two years while I was on the throne at Willow Heights, before I fell to the depths. If I don’t let him know my heart is racing so hard I’m dizzy and my stomach is churning like I’m about to be sick, maybe he’ll spare me the devastation he could cause.
I got comfortable here, where the worst I’ve had to do is dance for one of Mr. Dolce’s associates who didn’t even recognize me. Our clientele is upscale and elite, mostly politicians and businessmen coming in for meetings. Half of them don’t even pay attention to me while I dance, they just do their shady deals and drink their Old-Fashioneds and leave. Mr. North is fiercely protective of his club and its reputation, and by extension, his employees.
I let myself feel safe. That was my mistake. I let myself believe I could make it on my own, use my body instead of letting it be used against me, and that if I did that for someone, he’d protect me for once. But Mr. North can’t protect me from this—it’s too late. Colin has seen me, and he holds the power now, cradling my fate in his hands like a grenade.
“I’ll tell you what,” Colin says, nodding to the twenty between my feet as I plant my heels on the edge of the stage and slide them apart, letting him look. “I’ll keep this between us if you let me fuck you once for free. You can keep the twenty. That’s for the dance.”
Before this, the worst thing I’ve encountered was a discretely worded proposition now and again. No one has so much as attempted to grope me. They know the consequences,and they don’t want to lose their membership or admittance privileges. And since no one under twenty-one is admitted, I didn’t think about someone I know coming in.
I was a fool to let my guard down. Nowhere is safe.
“I thought you only fucked virgins,” I point out. “Aren’t I a little ...Old for you?”
He shrugs. “You’re hot, and I’m horny and bored. That’s why I’m here.”
“And I’m here to make money,” I say, swiping the twenty and closing my legs to move down the stage to the next guy. “If I wanted to go home with a client tonight, I have better offers.”
“Wait,” Colin says, tossing down another three bills. “There you go. One hour. Pussy only. No condom.”
I laugh and lift my hips, spreading my thighs wide and running my hand over the front of my bikini bottom. “You think this is worth sixty bucks?”
“Rylan told me about you. I know you’re run through. I’m the one taking a risk here going bareback. But I’m so horny right now I don’t care. Let me see that pussy I’m about to cream pie.”
“This one?” I ask, sliding my hand under the front of my bikini, touching myself.
“Yes,” he groans. “Take the deal or I text Rylan before I leave here tonight. By tomorrow, your whole school will know you’re a cheap hooker.”
I swallow past the fluttering pulse in my throat, imagining going through that again, the way I was treated when the Dolce twins called me Glory Hole. It’ll be worse than that, and this time, there’s no overthrow of the elite to distract them on the horizon. It’s only the first of February, which means three and a half months of harassment, torment, and soul-crushing hatred hurled my way.
But what’s it to me? Everyone already hates me. They saw me fall, saw my perfect diamond shell shatter to reveal thegrotesque, broken creature within. They know that not a single guy at Willow Heights would touch me, much less date me. They all know the truth now: the reason Royal never committed to me wasn’t because he doesn’t do relationships. It’s because I’m damaged, broken, unlovable.
Even if I wanted, I’d never get back into their crowd. And I don’t want it. They can choke on each other’s dicks for all I care.
Maybe this isn’t the life I’d have chosen, but that one sure as fuck isn’t either.
So I slip my hand from between my legs and rise. I bend all the way down, swiping the twenties from in front of Colin and tucking them into the string at my hip.
“So tell him,” I say, turning and strutting back to the pole. I hold on with one hand and swing around it, letting my hair stream out in the spotlight as the beat to the last song in my set begins.
Colin can hurt me, but he can’t break me because I’m already broken. He can’t take me down because I’m already at the bottom. He can’t take anything from me because I have nothing.
I’ve already lost it all, and I’m still here, victorious.
It may not look like it to him or anyone else, but I know I’m a victor. I survived the Dolces, after all. I’ve survived the Norths.
