Page 40 of Sassy Bennett Doesn't Do Romance

“Honest money? I’d hardly call it honest.”

“I beg your pardon?” I’m insulted. “What I do is completely legal, so yes, it is honest.”

“I won’t have my students working in strip clubs. You need to leave the job immediately.”

“What? No way. I’m not leaving my job just because you’re a prude. Are you stuck in the nineteen fifties when it comes to women and work?”

“This isn’t about being prudish, Miss Bennett, this is about decency. Quit the stripping and get a different job.”

“You cannot instruct me to leave my job.” My eyes are flashing at him, daring him to take me on. I’ll sue this motherfucker for discrimination if he keeps telling me what I can and can’t do.

“I most certainly can.” He bites out.

“In what world?”

“Saskia,” he leans forward in his chair. “When you accepted your position at this university, you signed an admission form, did you not?”

“Yeah. So what?”

“That admission form is a contract. If you’d taken time to read the small print, you would know that while you’re a student at this school, you need to conduct yourself respectably. If you bring shame to the school, the disciplinary board can expel you. Some examples are racist rants on social media, committing a crime, or, in your case, taking your clothes off for payment. So yes, Miss Bennett. I can instruct you to stop being a stripper. You don’t have to follow my orders, of course. But you either continue to be a stripper or you continue being a student here. It’s your choice. But you can’t do both.”

I sit back in my seat, feeling the wind knocked out of my sails. I remember signing the admissions form and I remember all the small print on it. Who would read it all, though? The stupid thing went for several pages. This ultimatum is bullshit, and I can’t believe that bitch Dani put all of this in motion.

I stare at the picture of the Dalai Lama, wanting to throw it across the room. Imagine Pritchard’s face as his beloved picture smashes against the wall.

I sigh.

“Okay,” I can’t believe he’s won this battle. I hate losing. Especially to self-righteous twats like him.

“Okay what, Saskia?”

“I’ll quit my job at The Nest.”

He gives me a smug smile. “Good choice.”

Chapter18

Colt

“I’m so pissed off. I can’t calm down.” Sassy growls as she paces back and forth in front of me. We’re sitting in a park, having just finished a quick take away dinner, and Sassy has updated me about her meeting with the Dean.

“You were thinking of leaving The Nest anyway,” I remind her as I wipe hot chip grease from my fingers with a napkin. Her face tells me that was the wrong thing to say.

“That’s not the point!” She seethes. “The point is, it should be my choice and on my terms when I decide to leave. They shouldn’t force me to choose between working and education, like this is some kind of olden day times we are living in.”

I nod. She’s right.

“Everyone keeps saying how women should be proud of our bodies and take control of what we do with them. Pritchard is taking us backwards when he tells me what to do.”

“You should fight him on it.” I suggest, as I roll up the burger wrappers and stuff them back into the brown paper bag they came in.

“Hmmmm,” Sassy’s still pacing, back and forth, her face tight with thought. “I can’t really fight for a job that I don’t even want. But I’d like to piss him off somehow.”

I grin at the fact that she admits she was always intending on leaving her job, anyway. I watch her in silence from my position on the park bench. She’ll wear a hole in the ground soon. Eventually, she slows down to a stop, a smile spreading across her face as she looks at me.

“What?” I ask, feeling like whatever she says next is going to be wild.

“That goddamn picture of him and the Dalai Lama.”

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