Page 27 of Falcon

I shrugged and shook my head. What was she about to tell me? Was this where she explained this wasn’t much different than the place with Tony, but try to sell me on it since she’s a sweet older woman? “Not really. I guess you could say I haven’t lived much. I’m used to men, though. Worked in a club since I was eighteen.”

“How old are you, Daisy?”

“Twenty-three, close to twenty-four.”

“So how did you end up where Falcon found you?”

I gave her a short run-down of how I wanted to move cities, but didn’t go into too much detail about my ex. I told her that Tony had wooed me and drugged me, then when I came out of the haze it was too late.

“So, you thought it was just a club. Legit work.”

I took a long sip of the cold water. Rehashing this with a stranger was sending bile to my throat, but it also felt good to say it out loud. “Yeah. Then I tried to leave after I figured it out, but there were men all over the place. There was no getting away unless you weren’t scared to die.” Looking off to the side, I thought about the money I was saving and my own stupidity in thinking I could leave. “But even if we got out, who would listen? Nobody gives a shit about a whore.”

“Well, I don’t think it makes you a whore if you’re forced into, hon. Even if you chose it, ain’t nothing wrong with using what you got to take care of yourself.”

My eyes widened. “Oh, sex work is valid work. But not when you didn’t sign up for it is all. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

Mama Hen waved me off. “Oh honey, spend a few days here and you’ll see, it’ll take a lot to offend me. As long as you don’t fuck with our club, there’s not much you can do to piss us off.”

“So did you ever dance or–”

“Whore? No. I danced a little when I was younger and cuter, but don’t nobody wanna see this now. Plus, once Raven claimed me, he didn’t want anyone else looking, so I stopped dancing.”

“Is that your man?”

Her blue eyes got glassy, and my lips thinned as she brushed her fingers through her short, sandy hair. I struck a nerve by the look on her face. She reached over and grabbed a picture from the side table. “Always my man. But he’s gone now.” She ran her fingers down the photo then put it back on the table. She looked back at me and my heart sank. Her nose and cheeks turned pink, and she blinked hard and fast to hold back the tears.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” Pressure built behind my eyes as I watched her face. I blinked it away before I made a fool of myself, but my chest tightened. The love she had and the sorrow she felt was palpable. “I—”

“Hon, you wouldn’t know. I’m sorry to cause a fuss. It’s still so new. We were together for a long time. More than half my life.”

I never had a love like that. Even before my ex went crazy, I loved him but never thought we’d be together forever. And I never saw a love like that at home, nothing close.

Moments of silence stretched between us. Finally, she cleared her throat. “Enough pity party. We have a real party coming up to celebrate him. You’ll be there. You’ll see what he built.”

“Oh well, I—”

She held a hand up. “Listen, there’s no trafficking here. In fact, Raven was loud about the fact he didn’t tolerate it.”

“Can I ask you something? You may not answer, but I just want to know where I am.” Mama Hen nodded, so I continued. “You said no human trafficking, but there is some other trafficking, right?”

She sighed and threaded her fingers together, taking a moment to answer. Finally, she said, “You see the diamonds on their cuts?”

My brow pinched together. “Their what?

Her shoulders shook as she laughed. “The vests. They don’t call them vests, they’re cuts. The diamond means they’re one percenters. There’re things you don’t wanna know and things you won’t know until you’re an old lady. And even then, you don’t talk about it. Best to stay out of it as much as possible. Plausible deniability.”

I wasn’t a saint. I used to dabble with drugs, but after the shit with Tony, I decided they weren’t for me. And working in clubs for years, I saw a lot of shit, but I hadn’t been mixed up in it myself. “Am I safe?”

“Probably ain’t nowhere safer than here for you, hon. Falcon wouldn’t have brought you here otherwise.”

I may have been shit at choosing men, but reading women was easy. And this one seemed to be telling the truth. But why was he helping me? Why was this woman? I was just a stripper some guy met once before he decided to tip me off.

“I assume you don’t have any family you want to call?” she asked.

“Kinda how I ended up like this.” I ran my fingers through my nearly dry hair. I had a shit childhood but didn’t need a pity party. “Left home young, trusted a couple of creeps. It’s just me. Well, and Lacy.”

“That your blonde friend?”

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