Page 1 of Savage

CHAPTER 1

Stef

My hand shakes as I apply the makeup. It shouldn’t. There’s nothing unusual about tonight. I’m not going to be pulled aside for a private session. I’m not good enough for any of the fancy clients, and there’s no reason for the boss to ask for me. I’m fine.

I haven’t even cried at all this week, which is… well, it’s something.

“Here,” Elena says, handing me a deep red lipstick. “It’ll go well with that eye shadow.”

I take the lipstick and smile gratefully at her, my eyes sliding over the scarred side of her face. It’s still hard not to stare, to wonder just how she got the burn marks, especially on nights when her hair doesn’t fall in exactly the right spot to hide them. “Thanks.”

Elena has been here a lot longer than I have. Rumor has it, she used to be married to the boss’s father, until he got bored of her. It’s amazing that she’s as… kind as she is, considering everything she’s gone through.

She’s truly seen the worst of the worst this strip club has to offer.

Strip club.

I wish it was just a strip club instead of the nearest thing to hell I’ve ever experienced.

I wonder what Dylan’s doing right now.

I wonder if my ex-boyfriend is enjoying his life—enjoying his next high—with someone new by his side.

I wonder what he’ll do to her when his debts get too high again and he has the perfect scapegoat to pin it all on.

Again.

“Stef?”

I startle, looking at Elena as she speaks. She nods to the tube of lipstick I’m still holding. Just like she’s taught me to do a hundred times, I carefully paint my lips. I watch myself in the mirror, ensuring I don’t go beyond the lipliner I’ve used. I don’t want to have to do this all over again.

Some giggling at the other vanity catches my attention, and I turn to see Cat and Traci leaning in close to each other. Even being in the same room as them makes me anxious sometimes, but they’re ignoring me right now, focusing on each other instead of tormenting me.

It must be nice to actually have a friend in this dump. There’s Vanessa, the boss’s… girlfriend, I think? But she’s confined to her room for now because she tried to run away.

I don’t think about it often, just what kind of girlfriend she has to be for the boss to share her with his friends and keep her locked up in a strip club that might as well be a brothel.

I’m just glad I’m not in her position. Having the freedom to roam Ntimacy is better than being locked away.

“Here, we’ll clip back your hair a bit, give you that alluring look,” Elena says, grabbing a hair clip from the vanity. “The men love it when you play with your hair seductively.”

“I guess,” I say, turning to face her. “But I’m okay with them not liking how I look.”

Elena gives me one of her half-smiles. “I know. But that’s not going to get you in Giulio’s good graces, and—”

The door to the dressing room suddenly slams open, and the boss, Giulio Pavone, strolls in.

“Hello, ladies!” Giulio greets us. He’s a handsome man, with a friendly smile and casual air to him. He has frosted tips in his dark hair and is wearing jeans and a t-shirt with sandals on his feet even though it’s already October.

“Speak of the devil.” Elena sets the hair clips down and goes over to him, leaning in for a brief kiss on the cheek. “I thought you were busy today?”

Giulio nods. “So did I, but I rearranged my schedule for this. I need one lovely lady to help me wine and dine—well, seduce—a friend of mine. For some reason, he doesn’t want me to do it.” He goes past Elena and starts looking around the room.

I shrink back, not wanting him to notice me. I’m not the right person for the task anyway. I don’t know how to seduce people. Even with Elena’s lessons, I still feel awkward and ridiculous every time I try to make a move.

“I could do it, Giulio,” Traci says, getting up from the vanity. “I’m always happy to help you out.”

I try not to audibly breathe out a sigh of relief. Good. Traci can do it. Giulio likes Traci; she always does well. If she’s a little bit of a bitch, well… She’s been at Ntimacy for longer than I have, and that would turn anyone a little callous and cruel.

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