"I don't look—"
"No need to get riled up, Starla," she laughed. "Day one hasn't even started yet."
"I'm not riled up," I shot back, annoyed.
"I'm surprised Greyson chose you. He usually prefers the submissive girls."
"I'm not submissive."
"No, you're not." She looked at me consideringly. "I'm not even sure why you're here."
"I told you why I'm here. I needed a job."
"Yeah, yeah." Her eyes grew cloudy, and I could tell she was thinking. "I know why you came. I just don't know why Greyson let you stay."
"What do you mean?" I frowned, my heart pounding. Talking about Greyson was heating me up even more.
"Nothing." She shook her head, and this time she looked me over again carefully. "I just hope he knows what he's doing."
"Will he be there tomorrow?" I tried to ask casually, but my ears were perked up, eagerly waiting for her answer.
"Greyson?" She gave me a look. "Not at all. Greyson has nothing to do with the girls. I doubt you'll see him again for the rest of the week."
"Oh, okay." I felt a surge of disappointment at her words. I tried to tell myself that it was due to the fact that I wasn't going to be able to get much information about Brandon without seeing him. My body was calling me a liar though.
"Just relax and wait for the next girl." She walked to the door and stopped before she left. "By the way, I'm Raven. I'll be helping you this week."
"I thought you were Patsy?" I frowned and she laughed.
"Do you think men prefer an exotic dark-haired beauty called Raven or a mousy brunette called Patsy?" She raised an eyebrow at me and then walked out of the room, leaving me standing there wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into.
I was surprised by Patsy’s appearance. While she was beautiful, she was older than I thought she would be. She had to have been in her late thirties, though she hid it well. I wanted to call after her and ask her more questions, but for some reason I didn’t trust that the answers she would provide would be true.
***
A few hours later, the door opened slowly and my breath caught as I waited to see who was going to walk thought the door. My heart skipped a beat and my fingers quickly smoothed down my hair as I waited for Greyson to walk through the door.
"Hello," a young voice squeaked and I looked up in surprise and disappointment.
"Hi."
"I'm Nancy." She walked into the room and I was able to see her properly now. I frowned as I stared at her. If I thought Patsy had looked too old to be working here, then Nancy looked too young. She couldn’t have been older than eighteen.
“Meg,” I said and smiled at her warmly. “Or, I guess, Starla now.”
“Meg or Starla?” She gave me a wry smile.
“That’s the name Patsy said I should use.” I shrugged.
“Oh, she told me to use Pippi.” The girl smiled. “There’s no way in hell I’m telling anyone my name is Pippi.”
“That’s how I feel about Starla.” I laughed and she joined in. She looked different when she laughed. I studied her face again to see who my new roommate was going to be. She reminded me of Katie, in a way, from back when we had started college. Her long brown hair shone like silk and her big brown eyes were open and wide, showing all of her emotions. In this very moment, I knew that she was excited, scared, and slightly worried. She felt the exact same way I did, and that gave me comfort. “So did you just get a job here as well?” I asked, wanting to continue the conversation. Instinctively, I trusted Nancy, and I wanted to find out what she knew.
“Yeah.” She nodded and she looked away from me. “I did.”
“Not happy about it?” I jumped off of the bed and walked over to her.
“No, I’m very happy. I wanted this job.” She looked up at me. “I needed this job.”
“Can I ask you something?” I bit my lip, and she nodded apprehensively. “Do you know what this job is, exactly? I’m not really sure and no one will tell me.”
“Oh.” Her eyes looked at me in shock, and I could tell that she was surprised by my question. “You don’t know?”
“No,” I sighed. “I applied for a job as a bartender and I’m not sure that what I’m going to be doing is bartending. I know, I know. I should have run out of here as soon as I sensed something was up, but my best friend’s boyfriend—well, ex-boyfriend—told me not to take it and I just found out that he may be involved with the club somehow and...” My voice trailed off as I realized how much I was babbling. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to overwhelm you. I guess I needed to get that off of my chest.”
“My sister disappeared.” Nancy’s voice was soft, and I could see unshed tears in her eyes. I froze at her words and stared at her. “My sister got a job here about ten years ago. She was really excited. My parents and I didn’t really know what was going on. But she never came back.”
“What do you mean she never came back?” My mind went into lawyer overload. I’d always enjoyed criminal law in law school, and part of me had always wanted to be a detective.
“I’m not really sure what happened.” She shook her head. “I was only nine when my sister left. My parents were upset with Maria. They wanted her to go to college, but instead she started working at some private club and started dating some older man. We never really got to meet him, but I saw her with him once.” Her eyes glazed over. “Then she just disappeared. I thought my parents had disowned her, but my dad passed away last year and my mother told me that they never knew what happened to her.”
“What?”
“I know. I can’t believe my dad never tried to find her.” Tears started falling from Nancy’s eyes and raced each other down her face. “So I’ve decided to try and find her. And this is where I start. This is my only clue.” She bit her lower lip, and I could see her fingers trembling as she gestured around the room. “She got a job here, and I’m pretty sure the guy she was dating was from the club.”
“A patron?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “He could have worked here as well.”
“I guess you’ll know him when you see him.”
“I don’t know.” She shook her head. “I only saw the back of him.”