Page 45 of Saved By My Buyers

Any tips I make from working the pole or private dances are mine to keep. I have three more hours before my shift is over. I hope the time flies.

Three in the morning looks and feels different when you have to walk home alone after work. I’m not a hero, I dress as warmly as possible on the way to and from my apartment. The temperature dropped from when I took my break earlier, my breath feeling as if it’s freezing in front of me.

“Fuck,” I whisper as I head out the back door to begin walking. I’m wearing a warm sweater, heavy dark pants covering my legs with boots, and my coat tightly buttoned over my clothing.

I have no other winter gear, so the walk home is going to be miserable.

I keep hoping that it’ll warm up for a day or two to give me a break from the cold, but since we’re in the middle of January, it’s basically impossible that’ll happen. I made five hundred dollars tonight, I think I need to just break down and buy myself a pair of new gloves and a scarf.

These were some of the items that recently were stolen from my bedroom, because I didn’t think I’d need to put them in my safe.

Maybe I just need a bigger one.

“Excuse me,” a voice says from behind me as I begin walking toward the road. Turning my head, I see a man pushing away from an expensive car is speaking to me. Fuck, I didn’t even realize anyone was parked back here.

There’s a small space in this alley, I’m going to have to start checking there. It’s never been an issue before in the entire time I’ve been working at Percy’s club. My heart begins to hammer in my chest as I imagine that somehow, Gareth found someone to find me.

“Whatever it is, I’m not interested,” I say gruffly, even as my voice wobbles.

“Woah, I swear, I don’t want anything except to offer you a chance at more than dancing here,” he says, hands up in the air as if to say that he doesn’t want to hurt me. He also stops walking closer to me.

“I came in to watch you because someone mentioned you were incredible, and they were right. I should probably take a second and ask to make sure I have the right girl before I tell you any more about my offer. Do you want to dance in this club for the rest of your life?”

“No,” I say. “Why are you here? I don’t understand.”

“I find people who are in a rough place in life, who need some money, and are desperate enough to give up their bodies for a weekend,” he says.

The thought of this should make me crawl. I was just thinking about all of the reasons why I wouldn’t do extras for the club…

“How much?” I rasp, my throat dry. He’s right, I can’t do this for the rest of my life. There has to be more.

“A guaranteed five hundred thousand dollars, and the auction is held on one specific night,” he says with a nod, pulling out a card and showing it to me.

I guess I was really jumpy earlier if he’s telegraphing every action now. Get a grip, Dahlia.

“That can’t be real,” I breathe. “I seriously would have sex with someone for one weekend for that?”

“I know it sounds out of the norm and outlandish, but I promise that everyone who has done this has lived to tell the tale to others in your exact position,” he says.

“I get paid to find people like you. This is real, all you have to do is email this person on the card. He’s my boss, and he’s completely responsible and above board. Take a chance.”

I was the last person to leave the club out the back before Percy locked up, so there’s no one to judge me if I do this. If I don’t at least email the address on the card, I’ll lay in my shitty bedroom for ages and kick myself.

No more regrets. It’s just one night, and then I get out of Detroit to do all the things I want.

Except see Jack and Bronwyn…

Telling my traitorous thoughts to get lost, I nod and gingerly walk forward to take the card from the man.

“Okay,” I say. “Yeah. Thank you. I will.”

Turning around, I walk away as if my hair is on fire, ready to go home and be done with today. First, I make sure to tuck the card in my pocket. My money is in my crossbody purse inside my coat, because I’m determined to make sure this money ends up in my safe.

Sure, they could steal the thing, but I splurged and it’s really fucking heavy.

As I scurry up the stairs to unlock the front door to the building, I sigh as it sits slightly off the hinges. This isn’t the first time this has happened, unfortunately. It probably won’t get fixed until spring or summer at this rate.

Whispering a prayer that everyone is asleep in my apartment, I shove the busted door open and wiggle my way in. Sighing, I walk up two floors and unlock my apartment door. Everything is silent, except for Frankie’s room where he’s loudly fucking someone. Better her than me, honestly.

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