I managed to go the entire day without running into Chasey. I didn’t know where she was, and I didn’t care. However, I knew it was only a matter of time before I ran into her. Like a rat, Chasey liked to come out at night.

I normally only stayed until three one night out of the week, and I didn’t know what to do with myself with the extra two hours I had before Whatever-His-Name showed up. I set up shop in one of the back rooms, hoping to avoid everyone as best I could.

A half past twelve—when I’d normally be gone—Chasey walked by the room. The door was only open a crack, but somehow, she still saw me as she walked by. More than likely she thought it was some other girl trying to hide out in the back. Her eyes widened for just a second when she saw the girl hiding was me.

“What are you doing here still?” she snapped.

“I’ve got a client,” I replied shortly.

My words went in one ear and out the other. “Did you get that man I asked you to?” she asked.

“He didn’t want anything last night,” I replied. “He’ll be back tonight. He’s my client.”

“He better come back tonight,” Chasey said. “Or else.” She gave me a warning look and walked away.

I rolled my eyes. I’d done exactly what she’d wanted, and she still couldn't acknowledge it.

Thirty minutes of just me and the ticking wall clock passed, and then it seemed that everyone from the late shift decided to come into the room at once.

Leesa and Heidi came in first.

“Milena,” Leesa said, “what are you still doing here?”

“I have a client.”

“A client?” Heidi asked. “But you never take clients if you don't have to be here. Did Chasey schedule you for tonight? Why aren’t you up front then?”

I wished I had genitalia to shove into her mouth. “It’s someone specific. Special request.”

“A special request?” Sharan’s voice was in the room before she was. “Since when do you take special requests?”

Heidi’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “Is it a special someone? A lover? Milena, are you in love?”

I rolled my eyes, standing up from my chair because frankly, the room was getting too crowded. “It’s nothing like that. Chasey told me a specific person to get business from. He could only make tonight after two. That’s why I’m still here. If it wasn’t for Chasey being the bitch that she is, I wouldn’t be here.”

A chorus of oh’s escaped their lips, and I sat back down, thinking the conversation was over.

“Is he a hot one?” Heidi asked.

I shrugged. “Barely looked at him. Besides, what does it matter? The hot ones aren’t the ones who stick around.”

“The hot ones are usually married,” Sharan pointed out. “They’re not coming here anyway, unless they’re unhappy at home.”

“There have been some hot ones,” Heidi said with a pout.

Leesa and I exchanged glances.

Sharan rolled her eyes and scoffed. “I wouldn't say our standards of hot are quite the same, Heidi.”

Heidi flipped her hair back, but the pout hadn’t left her face. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Sharan mirrored her hair flip. “We just don’t entertain the same crowd, that’s all.”

“That’s right, because one of us has standards,” Heidi said.

“Standards?” Sharan demanded her voice raising an octave. “At least I don’t believe I’m dating the town drunk.”

Heidi gasped like it was the most surprising thing she’d heard in a year. “He is not the town drunk!”

Maxius was the town drunk, and so was his father, and his father before him.

“He is, and he also isn’t as hooked on you as you think he is.”

I leaned back in my chair, shutting my eyes. I knew exactly what Sharan was about to say, and I wished I could be anywhere else but here. I even wished mister holier-than-thou-mullet-man was here early.

“He fucked Denese last night,” Sharan blabbered. “Came in here drunker than usual, coins pouring out his pocket for her. Denese didn’t turn him down.”

I could feel Leesa looking at me. Either she didn’t know that, or she did and expected me to diffuse the situation now that the cat was out of the bag.

“You whore!” Heidi screamed.

“Me? Denese is your whore,” Sharan said.

From there, the two instantly started screaming incoherent profanities at each other. I removed myself from the room, leaving Leesa to sort things out herself. She was too young and too naive to understand it.

This was why prostitutes didn’t love. Love who? The men they were sleeping with? The ones that fucked one if not more of the other prostitutes in the same brothel, maybe even the same night? We gave up love for money. Trying to have both only resulted in petty squabbles like that.

I managed to find another room and lock myself inside this time. Fatigue caught me by surprise, and I didn’t wake up until a few minutes before two. I used some makeup lying around to spruce up my face, then went out into the front room.

The crew was down to Celestine, Shenna, and Denese. And me.

I took a seat at the bar and ordered an Elgin rum from Shenna. She didn’t bother to question why I was still here.

Someone tapped on my shoulder and I turned to see Celestine.

“There’s a man here for you,” she said. “Well I think he’s here for you. He said he didn’t know your name, just that you had shoulder length hair and a scowl. Figured that was you.”

I nodded, glad mullet man had read me right. “Yeah, that’s for me. Thanks.” As Celestine walked away, I downed the rest of my rum. I probably needed another one to get through this with a pleasant attitude, but I didn’t want to waste time, risking his departure. I left the cup at the counter and found him just inside the doorway.

He leaned against the inside wall, his lips set in a tight frown, and his head turned in the direction of the rooms.

“You actually came back.” I could have said anything else, but I wasn’t one to just let pass what I was thinking.

The man looked at me, and the tightness of his lips slacked the tiniest bit. He better have liked what he was seeing. I was wearing a shirt where the buttons didn’t start until right under my breasts and a short flowy skirt. He looked back toward the rooms. “Let’s just get this over with.”

I rolled my eyes, for a second considering just kicking him out. But I knew if I did, Chasey would hear about it. I could always pass him off to one of the other girls, but one glance around I could tell they were all busy. I led the man out of the foyer and to the hallway of rooms. Each of the six rooms was different than the next, but all ultimately disgusting.

I chose the room with a large black fabric spider-looking decoration above the bed. I kicked a pair of shoes somehow left behind under the bed.

Mullet man sat on the bed, kicking off his own shoes.

I figured if at some point I decided to call out his name, mullet man probably wouldn’t fit the mood. “You got a name?” I asked him.

“Don't worry about it.”

I exhaled out some of the irritation. Chasey sure picked a good one. “Are you sure you want to do this? You seem like you don’t want to.” Seem was an understatement.

The man looked up at me, in the middle of taking off his shirt. “You don’t seem like you want to.”

“This is how I seem always,” I retorted. “Have you forgotten? I do this for a living.”

The man didn't seem convinced, or any more inclined to finish taking off his shirt.

I sighed and unbuttoned my shirt, tossing it on the floor behind me. “Look, my bite isn’t as bad as my bark. It's a nice experience. You get sex, I get money. We’ll do this and we’ll never see each other again, okay?”

The man’s eyes had zeroed in on my exposed breasts now, barely managing a nod as a response.

If I’d drank another Elgin rum—or maybe three more—I could have done the whole foreplay act. But at that moment, with him drooling over my breasts, I realized I wanted this to be over quicker than he did. I slid my skirt off, then set to taking his clothes off. Quick and seductive was the goal. The more undressed we got, the more eager he became about the impending sex. When I’d slid his pants off, he actually leaned back and pulled me down onto him. I set to my usual routine, kisses and stroking, working my way up to the big moment.

Suddenly he stopped, leaning as far back from me as he could into the pillow. “Wait, your necklace.”

Instinctively, my hand went to my necklace. “What about it?”

“Are you going to leave it on?”

“I always do,” I said. That actually wasn’t true. Usually I took it off before being with any client, I’d just forgotten since this wasn’t part of my normal routine.

The man grimaced.

I sighed and moved to undo the clasp. “If it's going to bother you that much.” I laid the necklace on the bedside table and we continued.

Skipping the foreplay, the rendezvous took hardly any time. He was sober so we didn’t have to worry about stopping every few minutes for him to catch his breath or figure out if he had to vomit. He was also extremely eager, so I barely had to do any work.

When he finished, I rolled off of him onto the left side of the bed, exhaling through my nose. Admittedly, this was one of my best affairs, quick and easy. I was so content, I actually felt comfortable in the bed, and closed my eyes just for a few seconds. Those few seconds became close to an hour, I realized when I opened my eyes and saw the time on the clock. I was also now the only one in the bed. On the pillow beside me was the money. I counted the money while still lying on my back. He’d been kind enough not to stiff me. My hand went to my neck to fiddle with my necklace, and I remembered I’d taken it off.

The words were out of my mouth the same time my eyes landed on the bedside table. “Oh fuck.”