“After you.”

Tray took a step back after he unlocked the door to the loft he shared with Dominic. I slipped past him inside, and I walked down the hallway with Tray right behind me. We emerged into the living room, where Dominic was with the other people in the gang who appeared to be involved with the job.

Dominic was standing in the middle of the living room with his arms crossed over his chest and his mouth twisted in a frown. He was pacing across the carpet, and when Tray and I entered the room, his head snapped up.

“Hey guys,” I greeted, smiling at the people who’d become like my extended family.

 “Good,” Dominic said, somewhat tiredly, “You’re here, so we can get started.” I nodded and understood that he was all business, and I looked around for a seat.

“Alice,” Elena, the only other girl in the room, patted the small stretch of sofa next to her, “You can sit here.” I gave her a thankful look and hurried across the living room, where I squeezed in between Elena and the armrest of the chair.

“How you been?” Elena whispered, leaning towards me, “Those rich brats at school treating you well?”

“Define well,” I replied, and Elena and I shared a chuckle. Elena and I had met at Branson and immediately became good friends, but she was a year and a half older than me. It was probably because of her that I met Dominic and Tray and became a part of the gang.

Dominic cleared his throat, and Elena and I instantly focused on him. When it came to jobs, the briefing was important. If you weren’t paying attention, things could get extremely dangerous, and I definitely didn’t want to be the one to mess up a job and face the wrath of Dominic.

“As a few of you know,” Dominic began, and he cracked his knuckles, “This morning, I was meeting with someone in regards to a job opportunity. Now, the man with whom I was talking is going to remain anonymous, but I’ve decided we are going to take the job.”

Dominic paused for a moment, and he looked around the room at all of us. “Our job is to locate a man who owes our employer a lot of money, and to bring him in.”

“How are we going to do that?” Tray asked, and Dominic gave him an annoyed look. Tray may be Dominic’s little brother, but that didn’t mean he could interrupt him, since Dominic was the leader of our gang. He deserved and demanded respect.

“Sorry,” Tray mumbled, and Dominic nodded once.

“The man we’re going to bring in is Issac Chase,” Dominic continued, “and after contacting my many sources, it seems that he frequents the Bunny Club. That is where we are going to take him.”

Elena and I exchanged a look, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. So, I voiced it. “Dom,” I said, gaining his attention, “Isn’t the Bunny Club a strip club?”

“Technically, it’s a gentlemen’s club,” Dominic corrected, “But yes, you’re right. I’ve decided to take him from there because he’s most likely to be vulnerable and unfocused.”

“So what’s the plan, Boss?” Holden, one of the other gang members in the room, asked.

“We’re going to infiltrate the club to catch him off guard,” Dominic stated, “Then, we can take him at his weakest. I have an acquaintance who works down there, and he told me he can get two girls in for a night.”

That’s when all of the eyes in the room snapped to Elena and I, and we realized why we were here.

“You want us to strip?” Elena squeaked, zipping her hoodie up over her chest protectively. “Are you serious, Dominic? I am not a fucking hooker!”

I put a hand on her shoulder to calm Elena down, but inside, I was also freaking out. Contrary to popular belief, I did not find it empowering to take off my clothes and not let boys touch. I had the build of a scrawny, twelve year old boy, so this was just going to embarrassing.

“Well,” Dominic said, looking slightly guilty, “only one of you has to strip. I got the other a job as a waitress there. You can decide among yourself who does what.”

Elena’s head whipped around to face me, and she had this pleading look in her eyes. In that second, I knew what I had to do, and I sighed. “Fine,” I stated unenthusiastically, “I’ll be the whore.” Dominic winced at my terminology, but nodded.

You might be asking yourself why I didn’t fight with Elena to be the waitress, since she was older than me. Well, the answer was kind of sad.

Elena grew up in foster care before she turned eighteen. In one of the many foster houses she stayed in, her parents were abusive. When Elena left after only two months, she had several scars on her back from awful, painful lashings. Elena hated her scars, and was embarrassed by them, and I wasn’t going to be the person to force her to show those to a bunch of middle-aged, leering men.

It’s only for one night, I repeated in my mind, mentally attempting to comfort myself.

“Thanks, Alice,” Elena whispered, and she pulled me close in a hug in thanks.

“No problem, Elle Belle,” I replied, giving her a small smile and returning her embrace.

For the next hour or so, Dominic went on to explain the details of our different jobs. I was to pay special attention to Issac Chase, and Elena’s job was to keep the drinks coming so as to get him drunk. Then, at the end of the night, Dominic wanted me to “leave” with Issac, who took a liking to young girls. I was going to lead him outside, where a car would be waiting, along with a few guys to grab him.

Of course, there would be some gang members in the club, just in case something went wrong. Tray, Holden, and another name Dirk, would all be hanging around, watching Elena and I to make sure nothing went wrong, and to keep us safe. Dominic would be running the whole operation from the car.

“When is this all going down?” I asked, stretching my arms over my head.

“Friday night,” Dominic answered, “We’ll all meet here at seven to get ready and work out last minute things, and at eight, we’ll drop the girls off. Issac usually arrives around nine, which gives us plenty of time.”

“Sounds good,” Tray said after a moment, and his mouth curved up into a small smile.

“Any questions?” Dominic asked, turning and making sure that he looked at each of us to be sure. “Alright,” he said, “Then that’s all for tonight, so you are all dismissed.”

Then, Dominic walked out of the living room and into his office down the hall. I’d known Dominic for a couple years, and he wasn’t the touchy feely type. The only people he was close with were Tray and his girlfriend, Marnie. Dominic and Tray’s parents had been out of the picture for a while, and I had my suspicions that that was the reason he was so closed off.

I glanced up at the clock on the wall and sighed. “I should get going,” I stated, pushing myself up from the couch. “I have a mountain of homework to get done, and I want to make sure that I’m home when Phoebe gets there.”

“Bye, Alice,” Elena said, jumping up and giving me a quick hug. “Thanks, again.”

“We have to take care of our own,” I replied, smiling at her. Then, I grabbed my backpack off of the floor and swung it onto my shoulders. I started to walk out the apartment, when I suddenly heard my name being called.

“Alice, wait!”

Tray materialized next to me and said, “Let me walk you home.”

I thought about protesting, since I didn’t live all that close to Tray’s loft, but Tray wasn’t going to listen. He was overprotective of me, which was annoying and sweet at the same time.

“Sure,” I replied finally, and I followed Tray out of his loft. Together, we walked down the stairs and out of the apartment building. The late fall sky was just beginning to darken, and the street was alive with cars and people yelling at each other.

“I had no idea about the stripping,” Tray said quietly, after we’d spend a few minutes in silence.

“I didn’t think you did, Tray,” I replied, shoving my hands into the pockets of my jacket.

“It bothers me that Elena and you were put in that position,” Tray stated, and I frowned and glanced over at him. Indeed, he did look uncomfortable. I swallowed hard, and then I bumped into him playfully.

“Tray, it’s only for one night,” I said reassuringly, “and besides, you’ll be there to keep any creeps off of me.”

“I know,” Tray mumbled, but I could tell that he was still bothered by the whole situation. I didn’t know how to make him feel better, so I didn’t say anything. Instead, we walked silently through the city blocks until we came to the front of my apartment building.

Suddenly, Tray caught me off guard by pulling me into a hug. I didn’t know how to respond, so I just returned the embrace. After a few moments, he let me pull out of the hug, and when I looked up at him, he had a small smile on his face, though his eyes told a different emotion.

 “Well,” I said, shrugging my shoulders, “I’ll see you around, Tray.”

“Bye, Squirt,” he replied, and I grinned at him and turned and hopped up the front steps. I unlocked the rusty, heavy metal door and yanked it open. I waved at Tray and then entered my apartment building, and the door slammed shut loudly behind me.

I hurried up the dingy stairwell and pushed through the door that led to the level my apartment was on. I walked down the hallway and jammed my key into the lock on the door to my apartment. I twisted it and pushed through the threshold, and I closed the door behind me.

“Anybody home?” I called as I dropped my backpack on the living room sofa.

“Don’t be so loud.”

“Dad?” I said, frowning. I noticed the kitchen light was on, and I padded across the room and stopped in the doorway. My dad was sitting at the kitchen table, his forehead in his hands and a steaming mug of coffee sitting in front of him.

Slowly, he looked up, and I could tell that he was hungover, and not at all drunk. “Oh,” he said, running a hand through his messy hair, “Hey, Alice.”

“Hi,” I said, regaining my composure. Usually, when I came home, my dad was either out or asleep. So, seeing him up and doing something had caught me off guard. After a moment, I sat down across from him at the table.

“How was school today?” my dad asked after he took a big gulp of his coffee.

“It was fine,” I replied vaguely, and he nodded. A couple more moments of awkward silence occurred before my dad got this confused look on his face.

“Where’s your sister?” he asked, looking around slowly.

“Phoebe went to Miranda’s house to finish a project,” I answered, but his puzzled expression didn’t change. “Miranda’s her best friend,” I clarified, and he nodded as he finally understood.

Finally, I got too weirded it out, and I pushed away from the table and stood up. “Do you want me to make something for dinner?” I asked, “It’s almost five thirty.”

“Sure, okay,” my dad replied, “that would be great, Al.”

At the sound of my dad’s old nickname for me, I found myself grinning. I made my way over to the stove, and I put a pot with water in it on to boil. As I pulled out the ingredients I needed, I glanced back at my dad.

I wanted to think that maybe this was a change; that, maybe he wouldn’t go out tomorrow or the next night and get drunk. However, that wasn’t a reality. I was done wishing for things to get better and to be magical.

I was done.

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