Chapter 4 - Yara #2
"You could get on your knees and show us what you're really good at," Rhett smirked, leaning forward. "I might even give you a bigger tip for your services."
"Rhett!" Ryder admonished him, looking at the man sitting opposite of where I stood with disgust all over his face. "That's fucking enough."
"But why, Ryder," Xavier said, coming closer to me. "She needs to earn her money." I could feel his breath against the back of my neck, yet I couldn't move.
I was frozen in place, just praying I wouldn't say anything that could cost me this job.
My mother controlled all of my finances, and this job was the only saving grace in this fucked up place. My plan was to save enough money and get the hell out of here as soon as I could and if that meant keeping my mouth shut for a little while, then that's what I would do.
What I didn't expect was for Xavier to touch me in front of everyone. What I expected even less was for him to caress my backside with his hand, laughing along with Rhett as I paled, my eyes widening at what was happening.
"I think she would sound really good as she screamed our names, don't you think?" he asked his friends.
Something crashed in my chest, something vital, yet I had no idea what it was.
Maybe it was foolish of me to think that there was anything good in Xavier.
Maybe it was foolish to think that he only messed with me because it was fun, but that he would never cross the line.
This here, what he was doing, this was crossing the line.
He was treating me like a whore. Like someone he could use with his friends.
"What do you think, little lamb?" he said, "Whose dick would you like to suck first?"
Move, goddammit. Just move away from here.
All my bravado disappeared into the thin air, and I hated myself just a little bit more when I felt the first tear rolling down my cheek. There was still a little girl somewhere inside me, waiting for somebody to save her, but that somebody would never be Xavier Thornton.
Ryder suddenly got up, and before I could even blink, he had his hand wrapped around my upper arm, pulling me away from Xavier and behind him. "This was too much, even for you, man." I couldn't look at Xavier.
I couldn't look at any of them.
What was even worse, I could feel the eyes of other patrons on us, on me, and suddenly the idea of working here did not appeal all that much to me. I could hear them whispering, pitying me, saying things I didn't want to hear.
Ryder stood in front of me like a guardian angel, but one look I dared to have at Xavier told me that this wouldn't end well. My vision was blurry, but I could see the fury emanating from him and as he opened his mouth I never would have assumed he would say something like that.
"Why, Ryder, are you already fucking her?" His sneer was mean, his words filled with malice, and I couldn't stand here anymore. I couldn't stay in this place. "Is that why you're suddenly so protective of her?"
Xavier took a step forward, completely ignoring my existence.
"I didn't know you would fuck the hired help, but hey," he shrugged, chuckling darkly, "if her pussy is so good, maybe we should all try it. After all, I've heard that girls like her really do put out."
I hugged the tray I held to my chest, and without waiting to see what would happen, I turned around and stormed toward the bar. Henry, an older gentleman who has worked here most of his life, looked at me with pity, shaking his head as I came in front of the bar.
"Yara—"
"Don't," I snapped. "I'm... I'm gonna be fine."
He looked back toward the table I abandoned and then at me. "This is not right. We should say something. I know that boy is your stepbrother, but he has no right to do those things."
"I'm fine," I repeated. "Besides," I looked up at him, feeling the tears still streaming down my face, "it's not like we could say anything.
It would be their word against mine and we both know what would happen if their families decided to retaliate.
Just..." I stammered. "I'm just going to go to the bathroom and clean myself, if that's okay. I look like a mess."
Henry inhaled deeply and took the tray from me without saying another word. There was no doubt that he wanted to do something, say something, but Henry was like me.
He worked here because it paid well, and he had a family to take care of. Neither one of us had the luxury of snitching on people who paid our salaries. Besides, this wouldn't last forever.
This place wasn't my home and the more time I spent here the more I understood that I would never find happiness in the arms of someone from here.
It would be best if I kept my head down and if I minded my own business.
There was no point in trying to play any games with Xavier, because it was obvious he would win.
He would always win, and I was too tired of life hitting me from every side to try and catch-up with him.
I was here to study and to work, nothing else and nothing more.
I cleared my throat and straightened my shoulders.
"I'll be back," I told Henry and without waiting for him to say anything else, I walked toward the entrance to the lounge and exited this messed up place.
I didn't look at Xavier and his group of assholes.
My only regret was that I couldn't exactly thank Ryder for standing up for me, which I didn't quite understand.
I knew nothing about him, but it was obvious that he at least had more heart than the rest of them.
Especially Rhett.
That man made my skin crawl ever since I met him during the first week at college.
Even Violet and Noah steered clear from him and the two of them got along pretty much with everyone around us.
Violet herself told me to stay away from Rhett if I could, and unless I had to be around him, I did exactly that—I stayed the fuck away.
The wide double-doors slammed behind me as I exited the lounge, and for the first time in hours I felt like I could breathe. My lungs seized as I took the lungful of air, trying to calm myself.
"Are you okay?" came from my left and as I turned toward the soft voice, I saw Cora, the Concierge working in the Club for the last couple of years, looking at me with pity in her eyes. "Oh, Yara," she said, her eyes scanning me from head to toe. "What happened?"
Cora was now coming closer, and as much as I liked her, and as much as we were friendly at work, I wasn't ready to talk about the fiasco from inside. I had a feeling if I really started talking, I would tell her all the other things, and not just things about Xavier, but literally everything.
"What did they do?" she bit out, every word wrapped in the strings of anger I was seeing for the first time coming from her.
"Who?"
"Don't play with me, babe," she added, closing the distance between us. "I saw them come in, and I saw the last one joining them as well. I don't have to be psychic to know they have something to do with you looking like a raccoon and with those tears on your cheeks. So, tell me—what did they do?"
I stared at her, desperate to share this burden with someone, to unlock my chest and tell her what was wrong, but I couldn't. I didn't know her, and almost every single person in this town belonged in one way or another, to those influential families.
"I'm fine," I repeated the same thing I said to Henry. "I just need to go to the bathroom and clean myself up."
"Oh, Yara." She was now right in front of me. "You can talk to me."
But I couldn't—not really. None of them would understand.
Most of the people working at this place couldn't understand why I worked when my mother married William Thornton. They couldn't understand why I wasn't one of the people with membership to this club. Sometimes I wondered the same.
Was my stubbornness really worthy of being treated like this? But I knew that even if I was a member, things wouldn't change. They could only get worse, and I wasn't ready for that.
Like this I was still able to fly under the radar, and Xavier and his fuckers weren't coming here all too often. Today was the first day I saw Xavier here, and on a couple of other occasions I only spotted Caleb and Ezra using the Indoor Pool.
"It's okay," I croaked, plastering a fake smile on my face.
"I think my period is about to come so my emotions are a little bit all over the place.
" I downplayed what happened, because I really, really didn't want to talk about it.
I didn't want to talk about the fact that my heart felt as if it had shriveled in my chest, or that there was a gaping hole where my soul was supposedly sitting when I realized that Xavier would've molested me in front of all these people.
I was even okay with him mocking me, trying to humiliate me in front of all his friends, because none of them mattered. But to do it here, at the place where I worked, siding with a scumbag like Rhett—yeah, this was not something I would easily forget.
Stepping away from Cora, I cleared my throat, hoping it would placate her enough not to come after me.
"I'm gonna go now." I pointed toward the staircase.
"Can't leave Henry alone for too long. We both know he would start pouring water in shot glasses if they pissed him off.
" I laughed, summoning the happiness I lacked today, but Cora didn't laugh.
If anything, she looked even more concerned than the moment before.
"Okay." She nodded. "But when you're ready to talk, you know where to find me."
That one simple sentence had my throat tightening and my heart pounding, because when was the last time someone actually cared enough about me to keep an open-ended invitation just in case I wanted to talk?