Chapter 27
“A car will arrive at your dorms at 8 PM. It will take you to the Globe Hotel. You will go to room 640 where the client will be waiting. Dance for him until he is satisfied, then leave. Nothing more is expected of you.”
They were the exact same instructions I'd gotten for my first client, the man in the shadows at room 640. I'd danced for him, imagining it was Kyle, losing myself in the moment. It had been the most exciting night of my life, my senses a blur a I danced and stripped for the shadow sitting in front of me, a man who could be anyone in my mind. I made him Kyle.
The usual buzz I felt when receiving a new job wasn't present this time though. Tess' actions the other evening had seen to that, and now I felt nervous about doing the job, paranoid that there would be eyes on me, tongues wagging in rumor as I stepped into the car to take me to the client.
The secret had been exposed, the mystique broken, and now everything associated with the job had been tainted.
I arrived at the hotel with a lump in my throat, my usual swagger missing, and went to the concierge at the front. He recognized me immediately.
“Mr White?” he asked, a suggestive look in his eye.
I could feel his disapproving eyes at my back as I walked towards the lift, the young man, Raoul, not there this time to escort me up. I felt a weight increase on my shoulders with every glance of foreign eyes in my direction,my paranoia making every step a burden.
I focused my mind as the lift took me up, trying to break the shackles and get into character. I could hear the words of Mrs Jones in my head: “you're playing a character Alice, and even on a bad day, you need to be able to perform. Whatever is going on in your personal life, do not take it onto the stage with you.”
Unfortunately, now both my personal life and secret working life had become entangled like a pair of earphones.
I knocked at the door and heard the command to come in - that deep and authoritative voice that I'd heard before.
I walked in the room to a familiar scene - a figure sitting in the middle, cloaked in darkness, dim lamps creating a dark and brooding atmosphere but for a single spotlight lighting up the center of the room. I moved into position upon his order and began dancing to the music, setting into my routine.
“Stop.” The voice boomed from the shadows after a couple of minutes. He had kept quiet last time, not uttering a single word.
I stood upright, my dress already discarded, and looked at the shade. He didn't move, but spoke once more.
“You're not performing as last time,” he said simply. “This is not satisfactory.”
The words stung at me - no client had given me bad feedback. “I apologize Mr White,” I said, “I have no excuse.”
I could see the shape of his head nod slightly. “Go again,” he growled, “and don't let me down.”
Shit. I couldn't afford to f*ck this up - there was no wiggle room for letting clients down.
I pushed my personal thoughts deep to the back of my head, as Mrs Jones had taught me, and set back into my routine. I set my mind to Kyle once again, his easy smile and piercing eyes gazing at me from the shadow.
I thought of the touch of his lips as I draped my fingers over my body, my underwear coming loose. I imagined his hands on my body, slipping under my bra, sliding under my panties and onto my ass. The mood struck me as I began to lose myself, my eyes seductive to the shadow, seeing Kyle within it.
“Good,” came the low voice, “you may stop.” The words came suddenly, unexpectedly, bringing me back into the room once more, out of the fantasy of my own thoughts.
“I will be seeing you again Alice,” said the man, his voice dripping in anticipation. “Please, see yourself out.”
Once more he stayed in the darkness, unwilling to show his identity, as I walked away. It was just the way I wanted it - it allowed me to imagine it was Kyle.
.....
The concierge caught my attention as I returned to the lobby, calling out to me as I fleet-footed it to the door.
“Miss Newton.”
I turned to see him standing behind the front desk with a letter in his hand. He fluttered it about in the air as my eyebrows set down into a frown.
“I have a message for you Miss Newton,” he continued as I pressed forward towards him.
I took the message, a blank envelope with a folded piece of paper inside, and looked into his eyes. “Who gave this to you?”
“She didn't give a name Miss. I assume her identity is revealed within her words.”
I slipped the note from the envelope and opened it up. It was hand-written, but the writing was alien to me.
“Alice,
Tell the driver outside you don't need him and come to the hotel bar. I've something I need to talk to you about.”
There was no name, nothing to say who it was from.
“A girl gave you this?” I asked, turning my head back up to the concierge who had begun to busy himself with another task. “What did she look like?”
“Well, I'd say about your age, 5 feet 5 or thereabouts, brown hair, very attractive.”
“Thank you,” I said, before turning away and setting to the instructions.
I went straight to the driver and knocked on the front window. My heart jumped briefly as the window wound down in the hope that Kyle would be sat there as he had before. It wasn't him.
“Yes?” the man said.
“I won't be needing you to take me home,” I said. “I am meeting a friend for a drink.”
“But Mr Logan told me to make sure you get home safe,” he argued.
“Look, I'm a big girl and can get home fine alone. You can tell Mr Logan I told you that if you want.”
The man grunted before begrudgingly closing the window and driving off into heavy traffic. I turned and walked back in towards the hotel, the inquisitive eyes of the concierge on me once more. I approached him and prepared to open my mouth but he got there first.
“The bar is to your left, Miss Newton. Down the corridor and you'll see it.”
“Thanks,” I said, following his simple directions and moving off to the left.
I walked in to the room, my heart beginning to pulse more powerfully as I scanned for this mystery girl. It was dimly lit in there, a romantic lighting that complimented the dark wooden tables and red carpet. I walked further in, ignoring the men whose eyes lingered upon me, and continued searching.
Then, I saw her, sitting alone at a table, her face solemn and watchful.
Oh my God....Jen!
I quickly moved towards her. Finally I'd get some answers. Finally I'd find out what really happened with her.
“Did you tell the driver to leave?” she asked quickly as I arrived at the table, her voice hushed.
I nodded. “Yeah Jen. What's going on? You're looking...well.” I couldn't help but hesitate with my final word upon her appearance. She looked slightly unkempt, her eyes darting here and there, her expression uneasy.
“What's up,” I continued, “you look a little jittery there hun.”
“I need to tell you something Alice, you need to know what you're getting yourself into.”
And I thought I was paranoid. I looked like the calmest person in the world next to her, a still pond next to a raging sea.
She quietened her voice further and leaned in towards me. “I know what you're doing Alice, and I know who you just danced for.”
“Yeah, Mr White, what's the problem.”
“Stripping is just the first step Alice, it doesn't stop there.”
Her words cut into me. “What do you mean it doesn't stop there?”
“Why do you think they're spending so much money sending you to Mrs Jones? Do you have any idea how much she charges? She doesn't come cheap, you know. They're grooming you Alice, like they groomed me.”
My voice was now lost of its flippancy, a sense of dread climbing onto me. “Grooming me for what?”
She looked to the left and right before setting her eyes back on me. “For prostitution Alice. They're trying to open you up sexually so that you'll take the next step. It's what they do - they can charge a whole lot more for sexthan stripping.”
I shook my head. “No, Kyle wouldn't do that, there's no way.”
Her face turned to anger as her words went blank. “You'd be amazed at what Kyle would do. Anyway, it's not just him, he's not the one calling the shots.”
“His father,” I said quickly, “Kyle's dad's doing it?”
She nodded, her face growing more fearful.
“You've met him?” I asked, seeing the look in her eye.
She nodded again, slowly this time. “I have, and trust me, you don't want to.”
A silence fell between us for a moment as I read her eyes. “Is that what happened to you? Is that why you left college?”
She nodded, a tear beginning to trickle down her cheek as she recalled what had happened that night - the night she returned to the dorm only to leave as I slept.
“I came here for Mr White. I had danced for him a few times as you have. I knew he liked me, he told me as much. They convinced me to do it, to sleep with him. They said the money was good, that it was all monitored, all safe.Mrs Jones, she gets in your head, makes you feel empowered, makes it seem like a good idea.”
She paused, taking a sip of wine and catching her breath.
“What happened,” I whispered, eager to know more.
“I couldn't do it. It was too much, too far for me. He put his hands to me and it felt wrong. I - I hit him to get away, and went back to the dorm. That's when you saw me Alice, that's why I left so early the next day. I wasn'tchucked out of college, I just needed to escape them.”
“But surely if you don't want to do something you don't have to? They can't force you.”
“No, they don't force you, not against your will anyway. They force you in another way - by polluting your mind, by easing you into it, by making it seem natural. By the end, you go through with it willingly. You have to get out now Alice.”
She was shaking now, her mental state clearly affected by what had happened to her. But that wouldn't be my experience - I'd never agree to that.
I took her hand and brought her eyes back to mine.
“What are you doing now Jen? I thought your family lived on the West Coast? Why aren't you there?”
I could see the tears building in her eyes, about to spill over as she spoke. “I couldn't go back, I couldn't tell my parents what I'd been doing. I've been staying in town, trying to figure out what to do. That's when I saw you Alice, I saw you here by chance weeks ago, I saw you get out of the car and go into the hotel. When you'd gone in, I saw Kyle get out of the drivers seat. I knew then that he'd got you as he had me. You can't trust him Alice.”
She looked a wreck, her hands getting progressively fidgety. “Where are you living Jen? Do you need some money?”
She shook her head violently, her eyes growing wide and wild. “No, no, I can't tell you that. I don't trust anyone Alice, you might tell them about me.” She seemed overly paranoid, blowing things way out of proportion. I'd never felt manipulated by Mrs Jones, by Kyle, by anyone. I was there of my own free will and I could leave if I wanted to.
“Well do you have a phone number I can reach you on, a way of contacting you. You don't seem completely OK babe.”
She continued to shake her head. “No, I can't give you my number. If I want to talk, I'll find you.”
With that she stood up, did one more check of the room, and then turned and rushed off towards the exit, leaving me suddenly alone.