Charisma #2
I stood up straight the air between us making me feel as though it were choking me instead of sustaining life. “A couple hundred for some whiskey? That doesn’t even make any sense.”
His eyes narrowed like they were rejecting my comment. “Are you being coy?”
“No, I’m being honest.”
His grinned broadened forcing his eyes to wrinkle and he nodded his approval. “Suit yourself. Make it a double then.”
I nodded but went through the script they’d told me as I set up the wells of the bar. “Okay. Do you want to start a tab or…”
“You think you got that kinda stamina to serve me, little lady?”
This man was creepy as hell and if this is what I had to look forward to with patrons then I was going to keep looking for another job. “Well yeah. It’s part of the job description. Gotta keep patrons happy.”
“I’ll pay cash this time. But you know if I like how it goes down then I’ll definitely be back.”
I smiled uneasily at him trying to come up with something that would ensure he didn’t give me a bad report in case he knew the manager here.
“I’ve been told it goes down real smooth.” I was lying because I drank nothing but wine, but it sounded good as I grabbed the bottle from behind me.
“Is that right? Already have people singing your praises?”
“I mean I didn’t do it. It’s nature.” This wasn’t my whiskey and I had no hands in making it. I just poured it out of the bottle and into a glass.
“You’re right. But your mama ain’t here for me to thank her.” I had been reaching to put the bottle of whiskey back and his comment forced me to turn back to him.
“My mama? What in the world are you talking about?”
“We don’t have to keep talking. We can go ahead and get out of here. Which room is yours?” He reached across the bar and grabbed my wrist.
I moved to jerk my arm back but his fingers tightened around it instead. “What are you talking about?”
“You set the price and I agreed to the terms. Now it’s time to deliver.”
“I did. Your whisky is on the counter. It’s the double you asked for.” I nodded to the amber liquid housed in the cheap rocks glass that was sitting there untouched and unnoticed by the man who’d been so eager to order it a few minutes ago.
He looked down at the glass with only a fleeting glance before he tried to pull me closer again.“Nah, honey. The double means two hours.”
I jerked back again and this time I was successful in getting him off me. “Two hours of what?”
“Between those legs. Honey, this here is a whorehouse.” His grin was salacious, voice jovial, like delivering this news was the extent of his life’s joy.
I could only blink stupidly and my response was just as lame. “This is a bar!”
The sound he made wasn’t dark but it held a threat all the same. As though this situation were somehow funny. The idea of selling myself to him for a few hours was just another way for him to entertain himself tonight. “It’s a bar inside a whorehouse.”
“Well, I don’t know anything about that. You need to talk to somebody else.” I grabbed the rag that I’d been using to wipe down the counter to give me something to do so I didn’t end up in cuffs from punching him in the face.
Something in his features shifted. Like he’d weighed my words and didn’t like how they settled in his brain. “Well why? I’ve already talked to you. You’ve accepted the terms now you have to fulfill them.”
My response was swift and left no room for interpretation. “Hell no.”
“Too bad. I’ve taken a liking to you, sugar.
So come on. Everyone has their first time turning a trick.
If it is your first time. You were the one talking about it going down smooth and I’m ready to get my taste of it.
A lil sample.” He smacked his lips together like his taste was a forgone conclusion.
When he reached out like he was going to grab me again I jerked my hand back out of his grip.
“Oh, hold on you’ve gotten me mistaken. I was talking about alcohol. Not me. None of this banter has been about me.” I felt like that girl in Player’s Club telling them niggas she was just here to dance.
Damn, all the warning signs were right there weren’t they?
“Well, it is now.”
“I think the fuck not.”
His face shifted again from the delight that had graced it before to something harder.
“See the thing about that is that girls like you are a dime a dozen. You think the boss is gonna be too concerned about a gal he could just step outside and replace? Or about a man who is easily spending thousands of dollars in his business every month.”
“Thousands a month? On pussy? You don’t have a different hobby you could take up? Something that won’t bleed you dry or give you something you can’t shake?”
I had no problem with people who engaged in sex work.
But this man was basically saying that he could do whatever he wanted all because he had money to spend.
That type of man was dangerous to any woman and especially dangerous to one vulnerable enough to be in this business.
The owner needed to never let him back but I was sure that he didn’t give a damn.
The person whom I’d interviewed with had said they were only the manager and the owner wasn’t very hands on with the business.
It made me wonder if they even knew what was going on here.
“And you’re worried about my wellbeing? You trying to move up outta this place ain’t it.
You the kinda thing I can put up in an apartment and just visit only you.
Is that your hook? Pretend to be an innocent little miss and find someone to give you an easier life?
That’s playing it smarter than most of the gals here.
” He had the muthafuckin’ audacity to wink at me like his promise at the so called good life was just within my grasp.
Like he was a messiah coming to set me free from the shackles of being a prostitute.
“I’m here to earn money—”
He thrust his hips suggestively. “And I’m here to let you earn it—”
“Honestly. That’s the difference between what you’re offering and what it is I want. You not offering shit that’s honest. So I’ll pass.”
That dismissive sound came from him again and he moved even closer to the bar. Like he was positioning himself to jump over it like we were in a western. I was sure that the manager and the bouncers weren’t going to let something happen on the floor but when I looked around no one was watching us.
“Oh, we’ve moved on from the point of refusal.”
“I don’t know how. The only thing on the menu from me is liquor. My body isn’t on the menu for anyone in this place.”
“I think that menu just got revised. Come on and give me a chance to convince you of how good it could be. You’d be able to get the money you want and I can make you feel real good.
” He pounced then, his grip back on my arm and I reared back to shake him off again.
My voice must have been drowned out by the music or the TV or the people in this place not giving a damn because when he started to drag me toward the lift-gate no one stopped him.
“I said no!” My boots weren’t gripping because of the sticky substance that coated the floor from the dozens of drinks that had already been poured tonight.
The anti-fatigue mats weren’t helping and my free hand closed around an empty bottle ready to swing on this man so he would let me go.
But I apparently had someone looking out for me who wanted to make themselves known.
“Get your gotdamn hands off of her while you still can.”
Both of our heads snapped around to the voice that had traveled over the music in the bar. The breath damn near left my lungs when I looked into the eyes of the man who’d spoken.
Oh my goodness.