Page 107 of Fall into Savagery

I grimaced and looked down at my phone, opening up the message.

Why would someone send me this message? Why tell me it was from a friend? It almost felt like whoever did it wanted to drive a wedge between my men and me—or maybe just Damien and me, though I wasn’t convinced it was the latter.

But after all that we went through, I was getting a touch paranoid.

I stood up, impatience clawing at my inside.

What if something happened to take my men away from me?

Nausea started to build from the thought.

Where was Gleb?

He told me not to go out there, but—but—

I jumped when the door opened, and two women I didn’t know entered the room. They came to a stop when they noticed me.

“There you are,” one of them said. This one had bleach blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes. She looked beautiful in a soft way, despite her face being layered with too much makeup. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. You’re the new girl Stevie just hired, right?”

I shook my head, but she wasn’t looking at me anymore.

“Come on. You shouldn’t just stand around. I get it can be a little unnerving the first time, but trust me, you’ll get used to it soon,” the other one said, offering a kind smile. She had short brown hair and big brown eyes. She was probably shorter than me by a couple of inches, though it was hard to tell considering she had on a pair of five-inch stilettos.

Both women were wearing what could only be described as bikinis.

I tried to open my mouth and tell them I wasn’t one of the dancers, but they weren’t listening to me.

The short-haired one approached me and started tugging on my shirt.

I looked at them with clear panic in my eyes.

“It’s okay,” she said. “We really need to get you dressed and out there, okay? It wouldn’t be good for you to slack off on your first day here.”

The blonde one came up with a costume in hand. Never in a million years would I think I would be wearing something like this.

“It’s new,” she said. “We just got new shipments, and all the girls are pretty excited about that. And this one is somewhat modest. I know you’re nervous. You don’t have to take it all off, but maybe just your top, okay? I heard the bosses are here, and Stevie is running around in a panic. I swear, that man is starting to piss me off.”

I looked from one lady to the next.

Oh, God.

They thought I was one of the dancers.

Frustration made my eyes burn. I wished I could just tell them.

They had my shirt and bra off before I could say anything.

I covered my chest and let out a small squeak.

One of them offered an apologetic smile. “We have to get a move on. This is one of the best joints I’ve been at, and I don’t want to get fired because Stevie doesn’t do well under pressure. So let’s go, okay?”

What happened after that was a blur.

They put me in the costume and pulled me out of the room. I stumbled a bit in my three-inch, strappy black heels, and Lucy, the blonde girl, held me up.

“Okay?” she asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

I could only nod.

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