“You’re late, boy. I don’t appreciate that, especially when you owe me.”
I gag, and immediately pretend to cough, not to upset him.
The word boy sounds so revolting coming from Dick. When Haden says it, he’s able to ignite my need to be taken.
“I wanted to talk… mmhh… about what I owe you.”
His laugh is sharp and uncaring.
“What’s there to talk about? Your boyfriend ran off with my cash, and someone…” He points at me. “Has to pay.”
“But…”
“You should be grateful I gave you a way to pay it off.”
Shine said they were going to enter when they had enough to put him away for a long time.
I stop thinking about what’s happening outside, and focus on making it happen inside this room.
“You know that wasn’t my debt.”
“You lived with him, so I don’t care about the name on it.” Irritation is taking the place of satisfaction at having me where he wanted.
My breath shakes and my voice cracks, but I’ve never felt more in control than I do now. An irritated Dick means a Dick who is losing control, and that’s what I want. “You made meworkto pay that debt.”
I want to cancel the smirk on his lips with a punch, but instead I bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from losing it. I can smell how close I am to having everything I need. I’m not going to fail now.
“Work is work, isn’t it? You didn’t complain when that money paid for it.”
I force myself to look him in the eye. “I wasn’t working by choice. You sent Jeremy and me to that shithole to satisfy clients you and Ed were choosing for us. And you took all the money, noteven leaving us enough to eat. Every time I asked, you told me the debt had goneup, even when we did everything you said.”
Dick just scoffs, dismissing my genuine description of what a nightmare Jeremy and I had lived with him. I didn’t know I could despise him even more, but he’s proving me wrong.
“That’s how it works. You pay until I say differently.”
I take a step forward, my body trembling in fear, but I want to be brave. “You forced me to sell my body. You kept us in this shithole of a flat. You took everything I owned. You checked on us every day, twice a day. You told me I had to do what you said or I’d be dead.” My voice rises with every new statement, because of the unfairness of everything we went through.
Dick stands, annoyance clear on his face at the shift in my behaviour.
“You had a roof over your head. And I took a sample only once, just to make you understand how to behave. You should be thanking me.”
I stare at him, disgusted by the way he’s dismissing the pain we went through. “Thanking you? You exploited me. You used me to make money. You forced me to sell my body for a debt that wasn’t mine. There’s nothing to be thankful for in all of that. You used me, and you made me a slave.” My words are like petrol on a fire, sparking Dick’s anger.
His eyes flash like those of a snake before the attack.
“What the fuck are you talking about? I run a business, there are no slaves here. You pay with what you’ve got…”
“You mean our bodies.”
He ignores me and continues. “Until the debt is paid. I do what people in my line of work do.”
Silence falls on the room. I can’t believe he said it. “Are you admitting that you made me do all that? Are you admitting I had to use my body to pay someone else’s debt?”
He scoffs again, his arrogance without limits. “I don’t have anything to hide. I did. You weren’t here because I liked your company, that’s for sure. You and that friend of yours are a fucking pain in my ass.”
The door crashes open, and the police storm in.
I watch Dick freeze, and his eyes fill with fear, and something inside me settles, as if a huge weight has been lifted off my chest. I take a deep breath, and for the first time in a long time I’m free.
