37 Days

I pull onto the freeway and start my journey to Los Angeles.Shit, I need an oil change soon. I like this car but it’s got more problems than I’d like to admit. I need a new one but I can’t afford it quite yet. My dad financially drained me after financially draining himself. I’ve bailed him out of jail twice for possession of drugs and bought gift cards to grocery stores because I’ve made the mistake of giving him actual cash one too many times just for him to blow it on cocaine. That was his usual drug of choice, until it turned into the harder stuff a year ago, not to mention I paid for rehab facilities and a cheap apartment in a bad area for him about thirty minutes from my apartment because he refused to move in with me.I worked hard at Ricks Restaurant waiting tables for the last several years just to stay afloat. I offered to take additional shifts when I could barely stay on my feet for a moment longer but it’s what needed to be done. The tips were good, especially later in t

I’m nearly there now with only seven minutes to go according to Google Maps. I would be a whole lot more excited if it were just Steph and I living together but that couldn’t be further from the truth.I only really know a little bit about where Steph lives from what she’s told me. She lives in a huge house which I suppose at one point was a hotel.From what I know, there are about fifty people that live there. The fiftyish or so include the owners, workers, and “the girls”. Apparently, it’s sort of equivalent to the Playboy mansion with half-naked girls everywhere.Who are the owners may you ask? I have no idea. There are about 10 of them and I have zero idea what they do, I don’t even think Steph knows to be honest.Although Steph can be one of those “girls” in a heartbeat, she’s not. She got a job there a while ago through an ex-boyfriend of hers. While Steph was attending community college years ago, she had a job as a travel agent, she would find great deals sometimes and we’d ta

Steph slides her key card into the door and when the small circular light turns green she opens the door to a beautiful suite.This room was obviously a suite before the new owners took over, all they did was redecorate it to make it more homey. There’s the main living room with a couch and TV, on each side of the living room are two dark wooden doors which I’m assuming lead to the bedrooms. Off to the side of the living room is a small kitchen. The kitchen has a mixed black and white granite countertop with three dark wood cupboards that match the doors. It contains a small glass table with two black chairs around it, a mini fridge, a microwave, a sink, and an air fryer that sits on the counter. It’s a really cute small kitchen but clearly not compatible with cooking any real meals. Steph tells me I’m welcome to anything and to make this place my home as well. She says that all the actual meals can be made in the common kitchen area downstairs or we can request the cook to make somet

I toss a little hearing noises outside the bedroom door. It’s Steph. She stumbles in laughing with and to absolutely no one or anything. She’s drunk.She throws herself in the bed and lands on top of me. “Ow!” I yelp.“Oh shit Mills, I forgot you were here.” Steph laughs.So not funny.Steph becomes a child when she’s drunk and needs a babysitter which looks like it’ll be me for the hundredth time. “What time is it?” I ask.She slurs “I dunno. Like 4?”I don’t know how she does it, if I stayed up drinking until four am I’d be hospitalized with a month-long hangover. Years ago, I could take that like a champ but now it just catches up to me.I roll over so my back is facing Steph. I snuggle my head into the pillow and stare at nothing. “Hey, Steph?” I ask.She replies with “Hmm?”“Do you think that we’re safe here? That I’m safe here?” I ask.She grunts and says “Yeah Mills. I’d never put you in a situation where you weren’t. Now go back to sleep. I can’t stay up for a second longer.”

The three of us make our way to the club door. Stone, the very large man we met earlier today, stands outside a closed door that leads to the club. He greets Mia first and then nods to Steph and me with a straight, strict face.He opens the door to let us through and as soon as we walk in, dear Jesus what the hell did I just walk into?This is no club I’ve ever seen before. It’s dark in here and the music is near deafening. If it wasn’t so dark in here my cheeks would be as red as a tomato.There are handfuls and handfuls of topless women in here. Some are waitresses, some of them are the “bunnies”, as I like to call them in my head and some are strippers dangling off poles. Topless girls are sitting on middle-aged men nipping at their necks and ears.It’s unbelievably uncomfortable for me, I don’t even know where to look without seeing boobs.Mia guides us to a high-top, round bar table and we take a seat. I give Steph a death glare and she immediately looks away knowing she left man