Worth Saving(4)
“Umm, I’m sorry, Damien,” I begin, but I’m quickly cut off.
“I don’t want to hear that shit, Layla, because that’s how it always starts with you. Apologies and bullshit that never do the one thing I need them to do—make me money. Your apologies never bring me back the money your f*cking attitude loses me.”
“But I really am sorry, Damien, you’ve got to believe me. You don’t understand what he wanted me to do,” I try to explain.
“I don’t give a f*ck!” He bellows, and I swear the entire room stands still to see what’s going on. You’d think this is where Damien would take me to the back and finish this conversation in private. But if you think that then you don’t know Damien Baxter. He’d prefer we do this right here in front of everyone, especially the other girls. He wants to make an example out of me, and Damien always gets what he wants.
“I. Don’t. Give a f*ck,” he continues, pausing between his words to emphasize. “When a paying customer puts up two G’s to spend the night with your little sexy ass, then that paying customer can do whatever the f*ck he wants to do with you. You know that’s how this goes. You’ve been here long enough, you know better, but you just like to break the rules and set a bad example for the other available girls. You think that you don’t have to follow the rules. My rules.”
“That’s not it at all, Damien,” I try to edge my way into the conversation, hoping maybe I can get him to understand before things get too out of hand. “I’m not trying to break the rules, I promise. But he tried to burn me. He wanted to tie me up so he could do some shit he called fire play. He was gonna burn me.”
Damien stands there, completely unmoved by what I just told him. His facial expression doesn’t soften at all. He just glares at me for a second, then he looks around the room at the other girls who’ve all started watching the whole thing unfold. I, on the other hand, am too embarrassed and worried to look at anyone else.
“He paid two grand, and now he wants his money back,” Damien says as he pulls a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and sticks one between his thin lips. He flicks his lighter and puffs out the smoke in my face. “He paid two thousand dollars to burn you, and now your fear and attitude have cost me that two thousand dollars. So, now you owe me, and you know owing me is never a good thing.”
He takes a step towards me and I feel a sharp pain in my stomach that shoots up to my heart.
“Damien, please. I’m so sorry. I’ll pay you the money back. I just couldn’t let him . . . please, Damien,” I beg. The only two customers who are in the room suddenly get up from their booth, but it isn’t to help me. I watch out of my peripheral vision as the two men slowly make their way towards the exit, acting as if they haven’t seen a thing. Typical cowardly men. It’s just Damien and the available girls now.
“One way or another, Layla, you’re gonna learn to follow the rules.” That’s the last thing Damien says before he reaches across his body and hits me in the face with a vicious backhand. I stumble back a couple of steps before finally crumbling onto the floor. I hear the other girls gasp, some of them turn around and walk out, but none of them help. They know better.
Damien takes two steps in my direction, and then sends his foot flying into my stomach. The impact sends all the air in my lungs shooting out of me like a fighter pilot ejecting from his jet. My vision goes blurry as I struggle to breathe and maintain consciousness.
In that moment, that nanosecond that I realize I can’t breathe and I might actually pass out, I check out. I let my brain slip into my nirvana, and I’m suddenly on the beach in Hawaii. The dull lights of the room morph into one bright sun, shining down on me in the middle of the most perfect day I can imagine. Instead of struggling to breathe, I let my lungs fill up with the humid, salty air that sweeps in from the ocean in front of me. I’m in my nirvana. I’m somewhere better. I’m somewhere happier. The bright sky is beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I barely notice the amber glow of the cigarette just before Damien jams it into my flesh.
Austin
“So how long you been with her?”
“Umm, about seven months. I met her while I was in the academy.”
“Well, that’s cool, Lieutenant,” I say as calmly as I can. The look on this guy’s face tells me that he’s nervous as hell. Exactly the kind of thing I don’t need right now. This isn’t the time or place for babysitting, but it’s in my best interest to make sure this newbie doesn’t lose his cool before we get there. It’s his first time out.
“How about you, Captain?” he asks. I look down towards the controls and see his knee is bouncing rapidly like he’s trying to burp a baby.
“Nah, none of that for me. Been off and on a little, but definitely more off than on. I don’t do serious. I just try to get mine and be on my way. Haven’t been in a rush for anything serious because I’m always out here doing this. I try to stay focused, because if you’re not focused, you make mistakes, and I can’t have that. Got too much at stake for distractions.”
I reach up and adjust my headset and align my mic so it’s right in front of my mouth. Then, I glance over at Lieutenant Weston again. He still has that look of worry spread across his face as he looks down at the clouds below us. I can understand the feeling. I remember my first time out. I was sitting there next to the pilot with my knee doing the same bouncy shit his is doing right now, and sweating like the co-pilot seat was a sauna. I was beyond nervous. I was damn near terrified, but once we went in, everything went away. There was nothing on my mind but the mission. There was no fear, and that’s why I became so good at this job. Hopefully I can help Lieutenant Weston get there too, since he’s my new partner up here until my tour is done.