“Now remember,” Cole whispered as he dropped me off at the dressing room, “the code-word is—”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Cole. I remember. Now, get out of here before someone sees you.”
He chuckled softly as he opened the door. “It’s my ass if something happens to you, so don’t try to play hero. You’ve got me here for a reason. Use the code word if you’re in trouble.”
I nodded. “I promise I will, okay?”
After he returned my head nod, I disappeared into the dressing room and heard him slink off down the hallway. It already felt odd that the brute of a bodyguard wasn’t at the back door when we both entered, because he would have surely stopped Cole from coming in with me. And while part of me wondered where he was, I knew what I had to do.
“Brooks?” I whispered as I made my way to the back of the room.
The earpiece in my ear crackled before I heard his voice. “What’s up, Josie?”
I kept my voice low. “Just wanted to let you guys know that the back-door bodyguard wasn’t there when I walked in, so Cole was able to completely escort me to the dressing room back here. That’s the first thing that’s been off since I’ve been here, so I wanted to let you know.”
“Wonderful. Keep doing that until we can get out of here, all right? It’ll help us gauge what to do on our end.”
I nodded. “You got it.”
I cleared my throat and went to go sit at the small vanity afforded to me with the name “Butterfly” scrawled on a sheet of paper and taped to the top of the mirror. I hated that name, but it was what it was. There were only three other girls in the dressing room with me, and none of them I recognized.
Which was odd, considering how long I had worked there beforehand.
“So,” I said in a soft, breathy voice, “where are y’all from?”
Instead of answering me, though, one of the girls leapt up from her chair. She gagged as she rushed around before she bent over at her waist and puked all over the floor. Me and the other two girls rushed to her side, trying to clean her up while we found towels for the floor.
But the missing back-door bodyguard burst into the room and grimaced.
“What the—Jesus fuck, can someone clean this bitch up?”
I shot him a look. “That’s what we’re doing, are there any towels or something around?”
He glared at me. “Try that tone again and see what it gets you.”
I swallowed my anger. “She needs a doctor or something. Is there a doctor around here?”
He thumbed over his shoulder. “Get her out of here. She can’t dance. And you, Butterfly. You’ll take her place in half an hour. The show must go on, as they say.”
He walked right out of the room and closed the door behind him as if we meant nothing, and it boiled my fucking blood. One of the girls running around managed to find some old, musty clothes, and mopped up the vomit on the floor while I got the sickly girl to swish some water around. I walked her into the cramped bathroom and pulled at the paper towels that felt like cardboard before I cleaned her face and her lips off.
Then, after puking in the sink one last time, the door slammed open again.
“Where is she!?” a man demanded.
I whipped around and blocked her body as two burly men in black leather jackets stood at the entrance to the bathroom. “That her? The sick one?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Why? What’s going on?”
The skinnier man thumbed over his shoulder. “Got a doc in the audience. He’s willing to take a look at her. She comes with us.”
“I want to come, too,” the other dancer I didn’t recognize said.
The fatter man rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Can we just go on and get out of here? It smells like regret and farts.”
Really? A fucking fart joke?
“What a winner,” Cole murmured in my earpiece.
I had to hold back a snicker as I stepped to the side. One of the men threw the sick girl over his shoulder and the other dancer walked behind them with her eyes pointed toward the ground. If I had to venture a guess, they were girls that had already been brought in from other countries, and the idea made me sick.
But once they all left the room, I was the only one in there.
So, I closed the bathroom door. “Cole?”
“I’m already thinking it. This shipment of women isn’t their first.”
I sighed. “Any way we can get them out of this, too? Or are we just focused on the—”
He cut me off. “Be careful with what you say out loud. We can’t ruin this for them. Everyone’s lives are on the line right now.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Right, right. Well, uh, is there anything we can do?”
He paused. “Give me a few minutes to think about it and I’ll get back to you. In the meantime, get ready for your set. I heard you’re back on stage in about thirty minutes, they just announced it.”
Knowing Cole would be out there watching me settled my gut a bit, but I was still incredibly nervous. However, the dancing came and went without a hitch. There wasn’t as much money tossed up onto the stage, but that was what happened as the night waned on. That was why a lot of dancers enjoyed being either the first three to go on stage or the last three, because the middle of the evening usually slumped a bit. Men either threw too much money in the beginning and had to penny pinch until the end where they went big, or men threw all their money in the beginning so they could get home to their wives before sneaking back out and coming refreshed with a wallet full of twenties.
But I still cleared a decent four hundred, even after the assholes in black leather jackets took their cut.
“Hey, you.”
I heard the cat-call, but decided to ignore it. And apparently, he didn’t like that very much.
“Hey,” he said behind a whistle through his teeth, “I’m talking to you.”
He gripped my shoulder and spun me around, and I found myself face to face with Chops.
“Josie? Don’t engage that man,” Cole said in my ear.
But it was too late. “My apologies, I didn’t know you were speaking to me.”
Chops raked his eyes up and down my body. “With me. Now.”
“Where are you two headed?” Cole asked.
I couldn’t respond, though. “Of course, sir. Where would you like me to be?”
He peeked over his shoulder at me. “Behind me. Now, do as I ask or you’ll be out of a job.”
Shit, he’s got the right to fire in this place.
Cole rustled around in my earpiece and I tried to ignore how frantic he sounded. He needed to keep his cool, but the only thing I could do was clear my throat. I did it as many times as I could without it sounding fishy, but the longer I followed Chops the more worried I became.
Especially when he rounded into a private dance room that had a pole in the middle and a plush chair backed up toward the far wall.
“Dance,” Chops commanded as he slammed the door closed.
I looked up at him, watching as he went to sit down. “What kind of show would you like?”
“I hear you. You’re dancing for him. I’m on my way,” Cole whispered in my ear.
Chops glared at me. “I won’t ask you again. Dance like your life depends on it.”
“Fuck,” Cole hissed.
Once the music cued up, though, I didn’t have a choice. I swayed my hips side to side as I stepped up to the pole, hoping and praying that I didn’t have to go any further than that. My small gun pressed against my right knee as my thigh-highs bunched up, and I prayed the damn thing wouldn’t be revealed while I swung around.
I climbed up the pole and swung back down, shimmying my tits as my legs hung on for dear life. But once I got to the ground and stood back up, Chops was on the platform with me.
And he wrapped his hand around my neck before pinning me against the pole.
“What are you doing? You aren’t allowed to touch—”
Chops leaned in and sniffed me. “I can touch whatever I want in this place, you understand?”
I closed my eyes. “You’re holding my neck a bit too tight. Please, all I’m doing is what you wanted.”
Where the fuck is Cole? Why is he not in my ear?
Chops chuckled as he nipped at my neck with his lips and my instinct was reactive. I shoved him away, watching as he stumbled off the platform and almost fall to the floor. The two of us froze at that moment, staring at one another as he slowly stood to his feet.
Then, his eyes darkened with madness. “Oh, you’re going to pay for that.”
“No!” I shrieked.
I leapt off the platform as he lunged for me and I raced for the door. I knew that if I pulled my gun, I’d blow my cover, and that would put every single one of the guys in danger. I had to get out of there. I had to get away from this man.
I had to find Cole and figure out what happened to him.
“Come here,” he growled.
“No!” I shrieked. “Someone help me!”
Chops grabbed me by my hair and yanked me back before tossing me to the floor. I caught myself on my hands and knees and scrambled to get up, but Chops’ boot stepped down against the small of my back. I fell to my stomach with a thud, clawing at the carpet to try and get back to my feet.
And the second his belt buckle clinked around, tears rushed my eyes.
“No, you can’t do this. You can’t touch the dancers!” I yelped.
I tried to get up again, but it was no use. His pants slid down his legs before he grabbed my ankles and flipped me over. And as he stood over me, his cock in his hands, I did the only thing that came to mind.
I jammed the spike of my heel right into his fucking ball sack.
“Holy fuck!” he roared.
He collapsed to his knees and I slithered from between his legs, watching blood drip to the floor beneath him. I almost threw up at the feeling of his leaking dick streaking across my bare thigh, but I didn’t care. He deserved exactly what he got, and I hoped it became infected so he lost his entire dick.
But as I scrambled to get up, he reached for me, latching onto my wig. And while I knew the glue could hold up to one big pull, I knew it wouldn’t hold up to another one.
Which is why it came flying right off my head as I leapt to my feet.
For the briefest moment in time, everything froze. Chops stared at the wig in his hand and as blood dripped against the carpet in the bedroom, I watched even the rising and falling of his breaths still. I had to take the moment. I had to capitalize on it as quickly as possible.
So, I dashed over to a hidden side door that every room used as an emergency exit and slipped through it before Chops looked up.
And I prayed that Cole was okay as I hissed the word heatedly through my lips.
“Pineapple. Cole, if you can hear me, pineapple, pineapple, pineapple!”
I managed to utilize the back hallways in that club to weave my way back to the dressing room. I slipped through the door and found the room still empty, despite the fact that another dancer was on in ten. I heard the announcer’s voice out in the main room fade away as the back door to the dressing room closed behind me. And quickly, I raced to my locker and pulled out a back-up wig Cole made me pack in my very first bag.
“Thank fuck, for him,” I said breathlessly.
I sat down at my vanity and quickly stuffed my hair back into the net that was keeping it flushed with my scalp. It took me a few minutes to get the wig looking right, then I peeled up the sides and slipped a little bit of glue under there for some extra hold. I knew it wasn’t as good of a job as Cole would have done, but it was all I had.
And when it looked as natural as it could on top of my head, I took a second to close my eyes.
“Cole, where the fuck are you?” I murmured.
