Did I enjoy a man taking my dress off, pulling down my panties, and ejaculating on my behind?
I picture the little town I’m from, which molded me into everything I am, and I’m leveled by guilt. What have I done but ruin myself?
But then I think of my life ahead, how there’s a whole world out there for me, ripe for the taking, which I can’t reach until I unload the baggage weighing me down.
“Yes, Gwen. Yes, I did enjoy it.”
* * *
CHAPTERFIVE
LUCI
“This is for you.”
Gwen thrusts a handful of cash at me, but I just stare. Like it will bite me. Or at least sully me. As if I hadn’t done a good job of that already, all by myself.
From what I can tell, it seems to be more of what Max gave me back in Room 21—one-hundred-dollar bills. But because they’re in a folded stack, I’m not certain how much is there.
But I’m looking at multiple bills, of that, I’m sure. Multiple one-hundred-dollar bills.
“What is this? What’s this for?” I ask.
She rolls her eyes impatiently. “What do you think it is, Luci? It’s your payment. Do you think the girls here meet with members and don’t get paid for it?”
I think for a moment. “I don’t know. I… never thought about it.”
Adjusting the corset her breasts are popping out of, she watches how I look at the money. “Go ahead. Take it. Count it. It’s yours. You earned it,” she says impatiently, like I’m some sort of idiot.
Maybe I am.
I carefully reach for the crisp bills, as if Gwen might take them back, laughing at me, saying it’s all a joke. That a man ejaculated all over my back end, sent me on a death spiral of confusion, and gave me two hundred dollars for it… just for fun, to humiliate someone like me who doesn’t know how this sinful world works, even though I sort of want to?
I just want to get back to work cleaning rooms like I am supposed to.
But none of that happens. I accept the money from Gwen, fanning it to find I’ve been given five bills—five one-hundred-dollar bills.
I now havesevenone-hundred-dollar bills.
I’ve never seen this much money in my life. I don’t think my parents even have this much money.
I crumple the bills into my fist, just in case someone is indeed planning on taking them back.
“You get fifty percent of what the house gets. Mr. Natelli pays one thousand dollars for an hour of your time, so you get five hundred. And don’t gripe about that. I don’t want to hear it. You girls always think you deserve more than you do. You have no idea how much it costs to run this place.”
Complain? Who would complain about five hundred dollars?
Was she crazy?
Or kidding me again?
“It’s… it’s great, Gwen. Thank you.”
Her face softens when she realizes I’m not going to give her a hard time or ask for more money.
Do the other girls really do that?
Satisfied her breasts are tucked well away, at least for the time being, she continues. “So, good news for you, bad news for me. Izzy, ya know, the person you pretended to be today, is moving on. Leaving the state. Something about a new boyfriend. I’m interviewing for her replacement. Lucky you.” She stares at me, her expression bored.