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I wasn’t busting my ankle jumping out of a two-story window. Frederick would probably say something like,You do your best work on your back anyway, pet.
My circumstances would only get worse.
All I could think about as I tried to wrap my head around the situation that was becoming my reality was,Good thing I’m prepared.
After a clarifying breath, I returned to the vanity and picked up the bottle of my favorite rose-scented moisturizer. I squeezed a dollop onto my palm. Leisurely, I rubbed the cream into my shoulders and arms while my mind whirred.
Frederick and I had been dating for a month before he learned I was the ripe old age of thirty-one at the time. What number warning sign would that have been? His eye had twitched hard, but he’d claimed he had allergies.The pollen, Tova, my dear.Then he seemed intrigued by my life’s story.
Because he thought my past, my mom, would make me easier to control.
Another squeeze, and I lathered my legs. I had thespecialperformance in three hours. I could get my pre-show routine down to forty-five minutes, but I preferred to spend hours lost in my head, thinking of new moves, fresh skits, and upcoming venues to pitch myself to. Tonight, my mind was otherwise occupied.
The private event Frederick planned was supposed to have been a treat. A private performance with only me, putting on my two special acts as Fannie Grace—a nod to my 1920s look and dance routines, plus two new acts I’d been working on that were more modern—at Frederick’s suggestion. More seductive. Smaller pasties. Narrower G-string.
Ugh. I envisioned sticking those pasties on his nuts. No, getting them to stick to my breasts was hard enough. I could tie my titty tassels around his balls and knot them.
Thelma would high-five me.
Once I was done with the skincare routine, I checked my phone like I would do a social media update, spying on my nonexistent friends. The last two years had been so Frederick-focused I could high-kick myself, but it wasn’t as if my life had been brimming with connections before that.
Except for the kids I used to teach.
I let out a gusty sigh. I missed the kids.
I grabbed my phone and tapped into the app for my savings and investment accounts that Frederick had set up for me. I was logged out. Shit. I put in my information. Incorrect password.
No. Chewing on my lower lip, I attempted to sign in.
Still an incorrect password. Imagine that. The asshole had shut me out of my accounts and cut off my access to my money.Don’t worry, Tova, my dear, my assistant will take care of everything,he’d assured me. Had she gone into the system and changed my password, or had Frederick delighted in doing it himself?
I was flat-ass broke once again.
Well. That was that. Time for my perpetual plan B.
I went to the large walk-in closet. A small section by the door had been cleared for my stuff in the room that was as big as the kitchen in the home Mom had packed me out of and fled that last time. Should I have read into the minimal effort Frederick had made? Was he planning to shuffle me to one of the guest rooms while he found another dancer to fuck before sharing her with his clients?
Had he done this before? He seemed to have the playbook down.
I left my strappy, sapphire-blue underwear in place and stepped into the black velour tracksuit I usually wore to a venue. My hard-bodied black suitcase and a garment bag were packed with my costumes, my steamer, and duplicates of all my makeup and hair supplies. I’d worked too hard to be prepared.
I flipped over my suitcase and opened the lid. Inside was a sapphire-colored two-piece dress—my act included a striptease after all, the more articles to take off, the higher the tease—with fringe and sequins. My feather fans were tucked inside.
Digging underneath the supplies, I located the old phone I’d come to LA with. Thelma had made me keep it charged, and she insisted on a steady supply of minutes. Since both she and this phone had saved my bacon a few times, I’d dutifully done as she said.
Once the screen blinked on, I sent her an address and the time with the message,I’d love to visit you soooon.No specifics, in case Frederick found the phone. He’d only see a message to Thelma, who didn’t live in California.
I wasn’t a secret agent, I was just a girl used to limited resources. I hid the phone and went about packing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt from the old dance school I taught at. Nothing out of the ordinary. I had to play this right. Instinctively, I knew if I didn’t, I’d be trapped for good.
A message blinked.Got it, doll face.
I blew out a breath, shut down the phone, and tucked it back into place. Like a robot, I went through the rest of my pre-show routine. Frederick used to tease me about my preparations.You’re not making international deals, pet.
I was proud of how far I’d come as a dancer. No, I didn’t get chosen as a Laker Girl. I wasn’t on the big screen, but I didn’t want to be. I needed to perform enough to earn a living and support my mom. Earning an income that didn’t involve flashing my pussy to men as often as humanly possible was difficult. As tonight proved.
The door jiggled twice before it opened, and Frederick appeared, his eyes narrowed. “Time to go.”
I acted as if I didn’t know the door had been locked. “Of course.” I held my chin up as I wheeled the suitcase behind me and followed him out the door and through the spacious hallways of his Beverly Hills mansion. Outside in the circular drive, a gleaming black car waited.
