Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 515

She pressed into the crack with the whole width of her shoulder, and I was shoved backward onto the floor, and the lock hit home before I could scramble. I beat against the closed door, screaming "open this door, you can't just leave me," and out in the corridor the heels clicked away, easy and unhurried, toward the world, and left me behind.

I was locked in.

I sat down on the floor and stared at the door. Incoherent rage and fear and hunger working through me like a tide. Then I curled up on the couch, knees to my chest, and waited for what came next, because there was nothing else anywhere in this room waiting to do.

____

My situation became worse from that moment on. A man came in after Lola left. Tall, burly, ugly, with a flat face like someone had pressed it against a wet window. He had one motive, and his eyes made it plain before his mouth caught up.

"You're the new one, yeah?"

I didn't answer.

He stepped closer. "They said the new one was the finest on the block. They weren't lying."

"I'm not available," I said, my voice flat. "Get out."

He laughed, the sound wet and low. "Cute. Come on, don't give me a hard time. I paid good money for this."

"I don't care what you paid. I'm not letting any more men touch me. There's nothing for you here. So get out."

He knocked on the door. It opened from outside, and he stepped out without a word, leaving me on the bed, crying. I curled onto my side, and held myself, and wished that the floor could open and swallow whatever was left of me.

A few minutes passed, and the door opened again. Lola stepped in, and she looked pissed, her mouth pressed into a thin, hard line, eyes cold as river stones in that cake of theatrical makeup.

"You just upset an important client." She said it like a verdict. "He's gone now, and he left in anger."

"He took me by force," I cried, pushing myself up on the bed. "I told him no, and he grabbed me. He slapped me. Look at my face. He took me by force."

"And I told you how this place works, sweetheart. When a man walks through that door, your job is to lie back and let him smile. You fought him. You made him feel unwanted. Men like him pay money for one thing and one thing only, freedom from resistance. Now he's gone and won't be back."