Chapter 26 – Sasha
“Where is she, Sasha? I’ve been calling the house all day and I’m just now getting you answering. Where is Mariah at?”
I’d just gotten back a few minutes before. I didn’t know where she was, and I certainly wasn’t going to go look.
“I don’t know, Elie. I was out late last night and most of the day. The auction was for the day, twenty-four hours.”
“Don’t get smart with me. I know what I signed you up for, Sasha. I’ve got your check, as well as Mariah’s. If she doesn’t show up soon, she’s not going to get a dime. Maybe I’ll start charging her five percent for every day that she doesn’t come in.”
“That’s between the two of you.” I had learned my lesson about arguing with him. He was going to do what he wanted, and even though he wanted to make it seem like I could change that, I knew that wasn’t true. Nothing I did was going to affect or influence Elie. He didn’t care what I thought about anything, so there was really no point in arguing with him.
I started to walk through the house as he told me how everything was chaotic at work because so many girls hadn’t come in for their shifts. I could have reminded him that he was the one who’d planned it all. Maybe he should have done a better job. But of course I wasn’t going to tell him that. Let him figure it out on his own, as far as I was concerned.
“You’re involved, Sasha, whether you want to be or not. I would have never hired her if it wasn’t for you. You told me that she would do well here.”
“And she has. I heard about how much you made off of her. The percentage that you’re getting is rather high as it is.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. I wasn’t even sure what had possessed me to say that, but I wasn’t going to apologize. I just didn’t want to, and the longer I was on the phone with Elie, the happier I was that I wasn’t ever going to have to go back there to work. I was going to pick up my check and then tell him that I was leaving. I wanted to see the look on his face when I told him I’d had enough.
“She agreed to it.”
“Well, you’ll have to talk to her. I just got back and I haven’t seen her since last night.”
Elie wasn’t ready to get off the phone, and even though I felt like I was going to pass out where I stood, I couldn’t hang up. I wasn’t that brave, and I still needed Elie on my side until I got paid for the auction.
“Are you coming in tonight, Sasha?”
“I’m really tired, so I don’t think I’m going to be able to work, but I’ll be in to pick up that check.”
“Make sure you bring Mariah with you, Sasha, or don’t even bother showing up.” I wanted to say something, but I knew that it wouldn’t do me any good. There was nothing that I could do to make him change his mind. I was going to have to convince Mariah to come with me. We needed to get our money from Elie so we could leave. I didn’t trust him to hold on to it, and I was going to need that after I quit.
Finally hanging up the phone, I moved to knock on Mariah’s door. She was most likely still out, so I didn’t expect an answer. I opened the door a crack to see if she was in there sleeping, but I saw that she was actually getting ready for something.
“You’re looking hot. Where are you going?”
“I’m going to go see Scott.”
“Weren’t you with him last night?”
“Yeah, but nothing happened.”
“What do you mean nothing happened?” I knew how much he’d paid for her, so I found it hard to believe that nothing had happened between the two of them. How could it not? No man was going to pay that kind of money just for a girl’s company.
“Elie put something in my drink and I passed out before we even got to his home, apparently.”
I just shook my head. I wish I could say that I didn’t believe it, that he wouldn’t do something like that, but the sad reality was that I knew he was capable of that and so much worse.
“Are you okay?”
“I guess. I don’t really remember anything from the auction at all. I remember talking to you backstage, but then I was handed a drink and I just downed it. From there, it gets pretty fuzzy pretty fast.”
“Yeah. Elie is a monster half of the time. Did you try to leave?”
She told me that she had, but Bruno and Lex hadn’t gone for it. “They said if I tried to run they were just going to tie me up and carry me on stage. I didn’t really have a choice.”
That was how Elie liked to do it. He made sure that he’d gotten a person in a bind first, and from there it was no holds barred. Then he could do whatever he wanted. I swear, sometimes he must have just sat up at night thinking of ways to make people’s lives a living hell. He’d done it to me, and his creativity was formidable. It made him far too happy to mess with us girls the way he did.
“Well, I’m glad it was Scott that won.”
“Me too. I can’t imagine what would have happened to me if it had been anyone else. No other man would have been as well behaved. He put me to bed and I woke up with my clothes intact.”
That was hard to believe, although I did know a few clients who I thought could manage it. It wasn’t hard to see that a man like Elie would have taken advantage of her, but it was good to hear that not all men were like that. In this business, it was easy to think that way and forget that there were in fact still good men in the world. I’d always had a good feeling about Scott.
“I’m glad, too. I always liked him, although he never liked me that well. So where are you going with him tonight?”
“Just to his place, I think. I’m going to give him what he paid for.”
“Elie wants to see you.”
“Yeah, I know. He’s been calling me all day, but there’s no way that I’m talking to him. I’m not even going to think about it. Tomorrow I’ll go and see what he wants from me. I need to get that money and then I’m going to quit.”
“Me too. I’ve been thinking about it all day. I talked to him earlier and he was looking for you.”
“Did he sound mad?”
I shrugged. He was pissed, but she didn’t need to know that, not yet. I would tell her in the morning after she’d had a good night. She deserved one after everything that Elie had put her through.
“Have fun. We’ll go together tomorrow. Better in numbers.”
“Do you think we should just act like everything is fine and then just not go back in or what?”
I personally wanted to tell him off, but that probably wasn’t the best idea that I’d ever had. It was better if I just let it go. I was going to have to temper my mouth, now and tomorrow.
“Well, we’ll talk about that later. Tonight, just have fun. Don’t think about Elie and the club. Go have a good time and tomorrow we’ll take care of the rest.”
“Thanks, Sasha. I don’t know what I would do without you. This has been a hard month.”
I had to agree. Her ex-boyfriend getting shot and then just the auction itself had been a big mess. It was not hard to see that just one month at the club involved a lifetime of drama.
Leaving her room, I could feel that the sinking in the pit of my stomach was only getting worse. I didn’t want to tell her the truth, which was that Elie was most likely going to screw us both over on our cut. He was like that, and since he was already starting to justify it, I wondered how much of it I would end up getting. It wasn’t like we could go to the police about it, and he knew it. He knew he had us over a barrel. He always did. That was his method of domination.
Let her have tonight, because in the morning we were both going to have to face up to the truth. I was prepared for the eventuality of what was to come. I didn’t know if Mariah was, but she was eager to leave and so was I. To me, it was a good sign. Kimmie was another matter altogether. I agreed with Mariah: I didn’t think she was going to want to leave. Since she had nothing to do with the club or Elie, she wouldn’t have to.
The day was just too much. I got a wineglass out of the cupboard and a bottle out of the fridge. Mariah left not long after I left her room. She had a glow to her face that was hard to respond to. I hadn’t felt that happy in a long time, and I was envious of her for a moment. I had a feeling that her heart would be crushed, though, so maybe it was good that we were leaving. It would save her the heartache I knew Scott would bring. Men like that didn’t fall for girls like us, not really.