I paced around the room for hours like a lion in a cage. Two hours in, pity started to fade, and I realized I needed a plan. I needed to do something. I only had one thing in my room that could be considered a weapon. A razor. I snapped the handle and stuffed it underneath my mattress in case things went south during the “audition”.

My body felt like a million tiny spiders were crawling all over it. I couldn’t shake the feeling. I felt contaminated and gross. I washed my hands like a hundred times. I just kept going. The water was starting to turn cold, but I didn’t care. I needed it off. I needed the feeling gone. When I’d been washing for what felt like an eternity I glanced down at my hands. I realized my hands were flaming red and bleeding. Shit. Shit!

It was right as I was staring at my hands that the door swung open and in walked Pytor, Anatoli and Tobias.

“Hello Alex,” Pytor said calmly, hands clasped in front of him. I looked him up and down. There wasn’t so much as a wrinkle on his blue dress shirt or black dress pants. His gold necklace hung perfectly straight on the front of his shirt, reminding me who he was and who I was dealing with.

“Oh hello. Glad you took time out of your day to visit the girl locked in a room.”

“Anatoli wouldn’t have put you in here if it wasn’t necessary.”

“Well fuck Anatoli.”

Pytor ignored me, but both Tobias and Anatoli were glaring daggers at me.

“I assume Anatoli told you about the audition.”

“He may have mentioned it.”

I picked at my nails, as I tried to decide what to do next. I could feel Anatoli’s gaze on me, warning me to play this cool, but the little shit in me wanted to fight this. I left home to avoid just this. Except, well, dealing my father would have been a hundred times worse than this. I would have just put a gun in my mouth.

“Great. So, strip,” Pytor said with a casual wave of his hands. The air left me, and I laughed audiously.

“You… I… are you fucking kidding me?”

“Is this not what we agreed to?”

He glanced up at me like I was a waste of his time and cocked an eyebrow, fueling my anger.

“Yes, but not this. Like what the hell?”

“It’s not my fault you didn’t ask for the details.”

“I didn’t sign anything. It was just a verbal agreement.”

“That I held my end of the bargain of.”

“I’ll pay Anatoli back. I'm out!” I grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. It was the only thing in my reach.

Pytor laughed maliciously.

“You have nothing Alex,” Pytor spat at me. “Anatoli, Tobias…” Pytor waved his hand annoyed, “deal with her.”

In an instant my hands were behind my back and Anatoli was in front of me, looking terrifying. My legs felt weak. I was scared.              

“I warned you,” he growled. He looked over my shoulder at Tobias. “Hold her. She will fight.”

I felt Tobias nod behind me. Anatoli grabbed my ankles, as Tobias effortlessly held up the majority of my bodyweight. Anatoli pulled at the edge of my pants and I felt them slid down my legs. Visions of this happening when chained to a bedpost at my dad’s spun through my mind.

“Stop!” I screamed. “I’ll do it. Please stop.”

Anatoli dropped my feet, leaving me limply held up by Tobias. Anatoli looked over at Pytor who was giving him a stern look. Anatoli sighed quietly and reached for me again.

“If you do this you are raping me,” I said meeting his eyes. I could feel that was a hard limit for him, based on our earlier discussion. His hands froze as he stared at me, then at Tobias, then me, seemingly frozen.              

“Let her go,” Pytor said to Tobias. “Anatoli, come back here.”

Anatoli scattered, and Tobias slowly let me go. I fell to the ground but caught myself with my hand and pulled my pants up. I didn’t even bother buttoning them, because why? I knew they weren’t staying on long.

“Glad you finally conceded. What are your limits?”

I felt small and was tempted to shrug and say nothing, but I knew, from experience, that I had limits and needed them to be known now.

“First, the condition we laid out in the beginning, no Eric Ray.”

“That’s known Alex,” Pytor said impatiently.

“Okay,” I said hurriedly. Fuck, it was just me and three large, armed men. I was tiny, with unbuttoned pants and a half a razor stuffed under my mattress.

“No knives. No choking me until I pass out. Must have one free arm, at least with strangers at all times. No torture. That’s it.”             

“What. the. Fuck.” Came Tobias’s voice. Tobias who never said anything. “Where the fuck did you run away from?”

I shot him a curious look. I wasn’t embarrassed before, but the look on all their faces made me feel a little uncomfortable. Tobias looked downright disturbed. Pytor, evil leader of whatever the fuck this business was, had his eyes raised. Only then did I chance look at Anatoli. Anatoli was staring at me with furrowed eyebrows. His look was the worst, the quiet curiosity.

“Well,” Ptyor said with a small laugh as he cleared his throat, “you don’t need to worry about any of that here. The only one I will have to make note of is no handcuffing fully with strangers. Repeat customers you will have to though. Hope you understand that,” then his tone dropped. “Look, do your job and life could be fairly good for you here. I take care of my girls. You can stay with Anatoli until you earn enough to get your own place. I trust him with you. He won’t let you run off anywhere or off yourself. You can use his shower, eat his food or do whatever you need. I’m working on getting you a car, but I’ll need to trust you first before I give it to you. How about you take the first step in earning your keep Alex?”

He took off his belt.

I removed my shirt.

I was gonna fuck Pytor. Then commit to being basically a hooker.

To survive.

I had to survive.