Chapter 4

“How does a straight-A student like you get into fights?” Theo teased as he studied the bruises on my face.

I had already opened the assignments and was ready to begin. “How do you know I’m a straight-A student? I’m someone’s side piece too.”

“You sound awfully proud of that. Are you expecting me to compliment you?”

I met Theo’s almost-amused gaze and hurled my pen to the floor.

“That’s right. I’m a harlot. I’m used goods.”

I shot to my feet.

Theo stared at me in shock as I grabbed his shirt and yanked it open.

“Who would believe that you spent $260 just to have me do homework? Why can’t you be honest? Just do what you really want…” The words kept spilling out. My hands grew more frantic.

I thought, “Hurry. Stop tormenting me. Just do what you want. Do what every man wants to do after paying a woman. Please prove that my body is all I am worth.”

Theo did not stop me. He let me tug at his clothes.

He watched until I finally sank to my knees. I struggled to catch my breath.

No tears came. They had stopped coming long ago.

Theo stood over me. His voice was perfectly calm. “I don’t care whether you’re a woman or a harlot. You were late. I’m docking $20 from your pay.”

I looked up at Theo in a daze.

He had to be out of his mind.

Theo bought me antiseptic and painkillers. I was about to thank him.

Then, he added mercilessly, “Those are coming out of your pay too.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “You…”

“I’m sorry.”

Theo tapped one finger against his temple. “With me, you only get paid for using this.”

I worked much faster than before.

After leaving the motel, I took a bus to the location Chase had sent me.

I had barely entered the private lounge when I saw Chase with an arm around Fiona. They were laughing with their friends.

Chase tipped his chin toward the table when he saw me. “We saved those for you. Fiona lost too many rounds, so she owes twice as many drinks.”

The table was covered with bottles. I understood immediately.

Once again, I was expected to drink for Fiona.

I downed one drink after another until my stomach burned and acid rose into my throat.

The room blurred around me. I gripped the edge of the table and retched, but nothing came up.

Beside me, Chase and his friends kept laughing and shouting over their game.

A hand came to rest on my back. I had not noticed Fiona sit down beside me.

“I heard Chase gave that gambling addict you call a father more money today.”

I tried to lift my head, but she grabbed me by the neck and forced me beneath the table.

She leaned close and spoke into my ear.

“I was just so curious. Your father was willing to send his own daughter to another man’s bed for money. He didn’t care that you were sleeping with my boyfriend either. So, I decided to ask your mother what she thought.”

She paused before lowering her voice. She seemed to savor every word.

“I asked that dying mother of yours if she knew her daughter was selling herself to someone else’s boyfriend. I told her the whole campus had seen your nudes and knew exactly what a harlot you were!”

I stopped breathing.

I could still hear people laughing and talking, but none of their words reached me.

Fiona saw my face go white and smiled in satisfaction. Her grip on my neck loosened.

“You should’ve heard what your mother said. It was…”

She never finished her sentence. I grabbed the nearest bottle from the table and smashed it over her head.

Crack!

The sound of shattering glass cut through the room.

I stared at the jagged bottle neck in my hand.

Then, I struck her again. Once. Twice. I did not stop until the bottle had shattered into fragments.

Fiona collapsed to the floor.

For a moment, the entire room seemed frozen.

Fiona’s eyes were wide with shock.

Blood mingled with liquor and spread across the front of her dress.

The smile had vanished from Chase’s face.

No one reacted.

The entire room was dead silent.

I gripped the broken bottle neck. Warm blood ran across the back of my hand.

I did not know whose blood it was.

I watched Fiona’s face twist in agony.

My voice was calm, so calm that it was strange even to my own ears.

“Now. Say it again.”