Author's note:

First off I want to say thanks for reading! Vote and comment because I always want to know people's opinions. Feel free to message me whenever you like. Enjoy!

Chapter 1:

The thudding sound from the music never seems to end. Even when I'm lying in bed at home it's all I can hear. That rhythmic beat plays in my head over and over.

I rolled my eyes at the guy I had just spent a long ten minutes giving a lap dance to. He wasn't afraid to run his hands all over me. He had offered me money to have oral sex with him, but that's a firm boundary I created when I took this job. I wasn't going to become a prostitute.

All of the men that come here are disgusting. Many people would say I'm disgusting for working here, but I'm only here until I have earned enough to get a new job.

I started walking away from him.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?" he yelled at me. I was able to hear him, but the loud thudding of the music drowned out the sound of the man's chair scraping across the ground as he got up. I didn't want to turn around, but he grabbed my wrist.

I stared into his dark, cold eyes. He was much larger than me and had a large gothic tattoo of a crow behind his ear. I tried pulling my wrist away from him. It only resulted into him tightening his grip and me yelping out in pain.

"The sign says Girl's Do Whatever You Want," Crow told me, tightening his grip even more.

"I'm not a hooker!" I shouted.

Using my free hand, I tried to push him away. I hit his chest, but he didn't even budge. He was too big for me to have any effect on him. He was going to force me to do whatever he wants.

"It's not sex," he told me.

I hate that fucking excuse. They're all just a bunch of fucking pigs. I can't wait until I never need to deal with these perverts again.

"I don't care! Let me go!" I continue to yell. I kept on trying to push him away, but it was nothing but pathetic attempts.

"Listen here you fucking whore!" Crow yelled out. He through his other arm around me and crushed me into his chest. I tried to wiggle out of his grip, but it did no good. His hand ran down my back and over my ass.

"Hey!" I heard someone yell out. A hand grabbed Crow's shoulder and ripped him away from me. I was relieved to see Donavan. His voice became heaven to my ears and I knew I was protected from this creep.

"What's going on here?" Donavan demanded.

"She won't do what I asked for," Crow barked out.

"So you grab her? You're fucking disgusting. Get out of here!"

Crow pushed me into Donavan. He grabbed my arms so that I wouldn't fall over. Crow grunted and rolled his eyes. We watched him as he marched out of the club screaming about how much this place sucks and how much he hated me. The music was too loud for me to hear him. Donavan let go of me and I started to walk away.

"Wait, Julie come here," he told me. I turned around and stared at him. His dark, short hair and bright, blue eyes popped from his pale skin. He was skinny, thanks to a meth addiction. He was only eight or ten years older than me, but every time I talked to him I felt like I was talking to someone much older.

"Yes?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"I want you to wait tables. And if that asshole comes back you tell me right away. Understand?" he told me.

"Yeah," I said walking away. I weaved my way through the people to get over to the bar. I got a tray and looked for someone who wasn't drinking. Donavan once told me the goal is to get people drunk. That way they won't know the difference between a twenty and a one.

I spotted a man in the corner. He was middle aged and had greying hair on the top of his head. He had his eyes concentrated on the stage. More specifically, on the girl.

"Can I get you something to drink, honey?" I asked. My voice broke his concentration.

"Yes. Scotch on the rocks," he said letting a smile grow across his face.

I went to the bar and brought him back is drink. He paid for it and then gave me a dollar. For the next few hours I did this. Of course, men made a few rude remarks to me. I expected it though. No one asked me to do anything else but get them a drink and Crow never came back.

On my break I went to the dressing room in the back. Five other girls were already sitting in their chairs in front of their little strip of mirror. I sat down in my spot. Lina was beside me.

Lina was my best friend, and probably my only friend. All the other girls were thieving skanks who would do anything for money. I met Lina right after the orphanage let me out and I came here for work. I needed a room and she had one she needed to rent out.

She sat in her chair brushing her light brown hair. She wore a silver corset wrapped tightly around her body. I had on a bra and panties, but had a short purple dress over it. The front was covered in slashes, making my body still noticeable. I pulled the money out of my bra and opened up my drawer. I pulled out my green metal box, threw my money in and locked it. This never kept my money completely safe, but it was better than nothing.

"Julie, I met the weirdest guy tonight," she told me.

I slouched in my chair and closed my eyes. I felt so tired. After my break I only have two hours left before I can go home.

"Really?" I asked not really caring. "I thought all the guys here were weird."

"Well, yes. But this guy interview me. That's strange."

"Interviewed you about what?" I asked, my eyes still closed.

"He said he was writing a story on young women as strippers. Or something like that. Anyways, he gave me fifty dollars."

I opened up my eyes.

"Fifty dollars just to answer some questions?"

"Yes. He barely wrote anything down. That was strange too."

I shook my head and laughed at her. She probably gave all her personal information to some creep for fifty bucks. It's a lot, but not enough. I slumped back into my char.

I don't know how long I had my eyes closed for, but when I woke up Lina was still beside me and someone had their hands on my shoulders. I didn't expect it and jumped. I looked up to see that it was Donavan. He was looking in the mirror at the reflection of him and me. He slowly brought his eyes down to look at me.

"Did that asshole ever show up again?" he asked me.

"No," I said quietly.

"Okay. That's good. I was just checking to make sure you're alright."

"Yeah, I am. No worries."

He slid his hands off my shoulders and walked out the door. Lina and I watched him as he left. We were now the only two girls in the dressing room. I don't know why he'd be so concerned about me.

"What was that about?" she asked. She only spoke once we heard the door click shut. When I turned to look at her, her eyes were wide.

"Some guy was giving me a hard time earlier," I told her shrugging my shoulders. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

"But was with Donavan?"

"I don't know."

A smile grew across her lips. She fell back into her chair giggling.

"What?" I asked.

"Donavan's got the hots for you," she said as she kept on giggling. "It makes so much more sense now. That's why you usually serve tables. He gets jealous and doesn't want you to take off your clothes for other guys. Explains the costumes you wear. They're so much more conservative than everybody else's. He doesn't want other guys to see you like that."

I rolled my eyes at her. She can be so unbelievable sometimes. There is no way Donavan likes me. My body is pathetic compared to all the other girls here. I wasn't even close to being pretty. A girl like Lina is someone he'd go after. She is beautiful.

"Wow, you're so fucking stupid," I told her.

"No. You're just angry cause I'm right," she told me in a taunting childish voice.

I got up and walked away. By the time we get home she'll forget all about this. I continued to serve tables and I caught Donavan in the corner of my eye a few times. He was always staring at me. I tried to avoid his eyes.

I walked up to the bar. Kevin was the main bartender working tonight. He had short blonde hair and green eyes. "What time is it?" I asked him leaning over the counter. I knew that he wore a watch. He and Donavan are the only two who do, and I don't want to ask Donavan.

"It's almost one o'clock," he told me. I let my lips curl into a smile. I only had an hour left to work.

"Thanks," I said walking away.

My eyelids felt heavy. I pinched the skin on the inside of my hands. I can't look tired. I'm pretty sure that yawning isn't sexy.

When I dropped off another drink I passed Lina. She was giving a guy a lapdance and gestured her head over to Donavan and grinned at me. I rolled my eyes at her and walked away.

"Excuse me," I heard a voice say. I turned towards one of the booths to see who it was.

It was an older man, most likely in his fifties. He had dark hair and eyes and the skin on his face sagged. He had a dark plaid shirt and jeans on. I initially thought he wanted a drink, but I saw his fingers curled around a full glass.

"Yes?" I asked taking a step forward.

"I wanted to know if I could ask you a few questions?" he asked me. His voice had a gravely sound to it.

This must be the man Lina was talking about. Why would he still be here after a couple hours? How many questions did he need to ask? How many girls was he going to interview?

"About what?" I asked.

"About you. Don't worry, I'll pay," he said.

"How much?"

"How's fifty dollars?"

"I may be a stripper, but I'm going to need a lot more than fifty dollars to tell some complete stranger about my life."

I could hear him laugh under his breath. I don't know how I could hear it over the thudding of the music.

"You're smart. You're the first girl to turn down my offer. How about seventy-five dollars?" he offered.

"Why do you want to question me?" I asked.

"I'm writing an article on why young women, like yourself, become strippers. So how's seventy-five dollars?"

"Sorry. It's still not enough," I told him.

"Fine. I'm only doing this because you're so beautiful. How about a hundred dollars?"

He seemed like a sweet old man. It couldn't hurt to answer his questions. I could use a hundred dollars too.I've been running behind on my bills lately. Anyways, I've done far worse things to men for less than hundred dollars.

"Sure," I agreed. His lips curled into a big smile and he gestured out to the booth in front of him. I sat down.

"Thank you so much," he said flipping open a notebook. "Can I have your full name?"

"Juliet Miller," I told him. I had to lean forward, across the table, so that he could hear me.

"My name is Charles. Age?" he asked.

"Nineteen."

"That's pretty young to be working here," he told me scribbling down in his notebook. "Who do you live with?"

"My roommate. She works here too."

"Why don't you live with your family? Like I said, you're a young girl."

I dug my fingernails into my hand and bit down on the bottom of my lip. He's going to judge me even more now.

"I don't remember them," I told him. "I spent my life in and out of foster families and orphanages. They let me go when I was eighteen. That's kinda why I work here."

Charles was furiously writing down in his notebook.

"Why didn't you ever stay with your adoptive families?" he asked me, arching an eyebrow.

"I never wanted to be there. I got kicked out of most," I explained.

"Why?"

"I got into fights. Stayed out all night. Came home drunk. I basically did everything you weren't supposed to."

"Do you still do that?"

His voice had sympathy in it, and it actually surprised me. He actually sounded concerned with what I do with my life.

"Not really. I try to stay out of trouble. It isn't always easy," I told him.

"Do you do any kinds of drugs now?"

"Not anymore."

Charles closed his book, looked up at me, and smiled. He smiled so big that all of his crooked, yellow teeth were showing.

"Thank you, Juliet," he told me. I slid out of the booth and started to walk away. I heard him call my name and turned around again.

"We settled on a price and you still don't take your money," he told me extending his hand out. He had a couple of bills in it. How could I possibly forget about the money? It must have been how his smile caused a shiver to run down my spine. I grabbed the money and shoved it into my bra. I could hear him chuckle and shake his head. I started to walk away again.

"Wait! Juliet!" I heard him yell out. "I have one more question. Are you a vegetarian?"

"No," I said shaking my head.

I turned around and continued to walk away. I knit my brows together. It was an odd question to ask. What does eating meat have to do with being a stripper?

I went back into the dressing room. A few other girls were there, but it was still pretty empty. I put the money from my green box into my bag. With that hundred dollars I won't need to work for the rest of the hour. No one would notice that I was gone. Donavan may, but if he's secretly in love with me he'll let it go. This may have its privileges.

I got changed into a pair of jeans and an old grey sweatshirt. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail. I always loved how safe these clothes made me feel. My skin is covered and no one can make rude remarks. I'm wrapped up in a cocoon of comfort. I also like how normal they made me look. If I went into a restaurant or store, no one would think I was a stripper.

I exited out the back down and started to make my way down the street. I couldn't afford an apartment in the city, so I have to walk forty-five minutes to get to my apartment. It was dark, but after a few months I got used to it. The eerie way the trees swayed still made my stomach twist.

The stones under my feet crunched with every step. A cool breeze whipped across my face and caused me to shiver. I started walking faster.

I heard a car diving up behind me and I saw the headlights of an old blue pickup truck. I kept my gaze straight and crossed my arms under my chest. The truck slowed down next to me and the driver rolled down his window. It was Charles.

"A pretty girl like you shouldn't be walking alone late at night. Do you want a ride?" he asked me. I kept staring straight and continuing to walk. I may have answered his questions, but I'm not about to get into his truck. I don't know anything about him. He could be some kind of sex offender.

"No thanks," I said as coldly as the wind.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to catch a cold," he told me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and kept on walking. I wanted him to keep on driving and leave me alone.

"I'm fine," I said strictly.

"I just..." he began to tell me.

"I'm fine. Just fuck off and leave me alone!" I snapped. I could hear him turn off the engine of his truck.

Please don't get out. Please. Please just stay in the truck. I repeated over and over in my mind. Unfortunately, he did because I could hear him slam the door of his truck shut. I turned around to see him start to run towards me. My heart felt like it was about to beat out of my chest and panic set in.

I've heard about how when people panic a rush of adrenaline set in. That must have been why I started to run. My feet began to fly across the pavement and I don't remember ever running this fast before. Charles was fast too. When I looked over my shoulder he came up closer behind me. I won't be able to outrun him. I won't be able to outrun him, so I ran off into the trees. If I can't outrun him than I'll hide in the darkness.

As I ran between the trees, I had to raise my hands up to stop the branches from scraping my face. One got caught on my sleeve and tore it. I don't remember when, but at one point I lost my bag, It was no longer on my shoulder.

My plan to hide became harder and harder. Sticks cracked under my feet. A root was poking out of the ground and my foot got caught on it and I fell forward onto my hands and knees.

I could hear Charles fast approaching behind me. I got back onto my feet and started running again, despite a few near falls. I looked around for a place to hide. He was so close now that hiding behind a tree or bush wouldn't work.

I turned to see how close he was to me. When I couldn't see him I finally stopped running. I bent over and put my hands on the tops of my thighs and I was panting. The cold air burned my mouth, throat, and nose. Charles most likely headed back by now. It wasn't worth chasing me. I better continue to walk in the same direction, in case he was waiting for me to leave.

I turned around and my heart jumped up into my throat. He was standing there right in front of me. I wanted to scream out, but my throat burned like fire. Every step he took towards me, I took one back. I fell back onto the ground after tripping on another fucking tree root.

I went to get up, but he ran over and pinned me down onto the ground. He threw a leg over me so he was sitting on my stomach. All I could do was scream. I imagined him torturing me painfully and then brutally murdering me. Pictures of long, sharp knives he carries around in his pocket filled my head.

I built up a collection of saliva in my mouth and spit in his face. It landed right in his eye. Without saying anything, he wiped his eye with the back of his sleeve.

He pulled out a needle. He was going to drug me. I tried to move, bur he was so heavy that all I could do was move my legs furiously. It didn't make any kind of a difference. He put the needle in my arm and after injecting the liquid into my arm, he got off me.

I struggled to get back onto my feet. Once I did my head began to spin. I tried to run, but I was so dizzy that I tumbled down on the ground after a few steps. I couldn't get back up onto my feet. I crawled on my hands and knees over to the closest tree. I grabbed the rough bark with my hands and it stung as I pulled myself up onto my feet. I could hear Charles looking at me. I probably look pretty pathetic right now.

Charles grabbed my back and legs, and lifted me up off the ground. He walked away with me in his arms. My eyelids felt heavy and I fought with them to keep them open. I can't sleep now; I need to get away from here. I tried to push Charles away with my arms, but I'm weak and whatever drug he gave me makes me feel weaker.

He put my feet back down on the ground, but kept my body supported by one of his arms. I would try to run away, but my knees kept folding underneath me. I could see his blue pickup truck in front of me. He opened up the door and placed me in the passenger seat. He reached across me to put the seatbelt on. I tried to scream, but only a pathetic sound came out.

"It's okay, honey," he said soothingly. He stroke the side of my face with his hand and I couldn't stop myself from making more of those pathetic noises. He walked around to the other side and got into the driver's seat. My head fell against the window and I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. "Don't worry, Juliet. I'm bringing you home to your family."