Page 122 of Ewan

He nudges me to the stage.

I don’t budge.

“Who is the client?”

He shrugs.

“He’s just a client.”

“How does he look?’

“It doesn’t matter. You move your hips for him and maybe show him your tits.”

“I’m not showing him my tits to him. How big is the room I’m dancing in?”

“It’s not a room. It’s a private nook with a curtain and a chair. It’s enough space to sit on his lap.”

My heart sinks.

This sounds horrible.

“I’m sorry. I can’t do that.”

He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

“You’re doing it,” he says in a different tone. “He may have nicely asked for you, but I’m not doing that. I’m telling you to do it. I don’t want any trouble tonight.”

“What trouble are you talking about? You’re getting cash for nothing. You’re calling that trouble? I won’t do it for less than $7,000. I think three grand is enough for you to keep your mouth shut.”

“If I give you seven thousand dollars, you better suck his dick too. I want him out of here as soon as possible, and you too.”

I ponder an answer, noticing the anguish in his voice.

“What did he tell you?” I ask, wrestling with a strange sensation, something I have felt before.

The manager could kill me if he could.

“It doesn’t matter what he said. You’ll spend time with him, so we can both go home tonight.”

“Can you show him to me?”

“No. Go dance. We’ll talk after the show.”

He turns his back to me and walks away when I bark at him.

“You show him to me, and I’m doing it. Otherwise, I’ll go home. Now.”

He stops and turns around, and he looks like someone who could tear me apart with his bare hands.

The gap between us evaporates as he pulls up in front of me.

“Listen to me, you little cunt. You get seven grand to dance for him. I don’t care how you get out of a sticky situation if something happens. You’re an adult. You handle it. You don’t have the option to say no to me or him, or you’ll never see the inside of a classroom again.”

A thunderclap in the middle of the corridor wouldn’t have the effect his words have on me now.

My legs shake, and my lips quiver while my life as I know it seems to be slipping away from me.

It’s never crossed my mind the man who has paid for me to dance for him might know me.

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