Page 5 of Cage

‘I take it you don’t have an issue with that?’

‘Um, n-n-n-n-no, that’s fine,’ Katie replied.

Katie wasn’t very good at dealing with conflict.

Never had been.

She was trying to figure out in her head if the landlord was even allowed to put the rent up like that.

But Katie just didn’t have the courage to ask him.

‘You know, there are other arrangements we could come to?’ the landlord said, turning to face Katie, licking his lips.

Katie felt sick.

This was horrible.

‘No, I’ll pay, it’s fine, I promise,’ Katie stuttered, tripping over her words.

But Katie was anything but comfortable.

She had no idea how she would cope with paying more rent. Sure, she could put in more time on the cams, but that would take away from her practice time for singing and acting.

She had classes that she went to.

Improvisation workshops.

Plus, Katie wanted to make sure that she still saw her friends. More time on the cams would eat away into her life.

And she already hated it doing it part time.

More hours would just be awful.

The landlord took one more leering look at Katie before heading out of the apartment. At least the aircon issue was sorted out. That was one not insignificant bonus.

‘Oh, here’s your mail,’ the landlord said, just before he left. ‘Don’t say I never do you any favors!’

Katie rolled her eyes.

What a load of rubbish. He was a horrible landlord.

‘Thank you,’ Katie said, taking the small pile of envelopes and shutting the door firmly.

Alone in her apartment and already running a little late for the first cam show, Katie opened the first envelope.

No. No way. What the…

Katie couldn’t believe what she was looking at.

It was a photo of her. Naked. Her body totally exposed as she lay back on her bed. The photo had clearly been taken through her window somehow.

This was disgusting.

It was also totally terrifying.

Katie may not have enjoyed doing the cam work but at least she always felt safe.

Protected by the privacy of her apartment.

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