Her Price for One Night

Natalie was waiting in front of the dressing room for Kevin when she heard noise coming from backstage.

"It must be the manager," she surmised.

Expecting the manager to appear at any minute, she put on her professional smile and kept her eyes on the corridor between the backstage and the dressing room. Her smile faded away when an unexpected person showed up instead of the manager.

Why is he in a personnel-only area?

It was the same skinny man from the central table, and he was walking unsteadily down the corridor until he ended up colliding with the wall. When he spotted Natalie standing close by, he straightened up and blew a kiss her way.

Turning away from that unpleasant sight, she faced the closed door and knocked as calmly as she could.

"Kev! I'm coming in, okay? I suggest you cover up what you don't want me to see."

She turned the doorknob, but the door that was locked from the inside didn't budge.

This is bad.

"I-I'll be outside, okay, Kevin?"

Receiving no response from the dressing room, Natalie walked briskly through the rest of the corridor leading to the club's back door and went out without looking behind her. A prickling sensation crept up her neck and a strange feeling nestled in her heart. Should I have stayed inside near Kevin?

Relief washed over Natalie when the door finally opened behind her. "Finally," she said, turning back to face Kevin. "Let's go to my place—"

"My place or yours, sweetheart?" The skinny man's breath reeked of alcohol.

"I-I'm waiting for my friend, sir. I wasn't talking to you."

He wiggled his eyebrows, "I can be your friend if you want me to."

Disgusting.

"You must have gotten the wrong idea about me, sir."

She winced when he shoved his hand into his pocket, pulled out a stack of 100-dollar bills, then licked his fingers before starting to count.

"Give me your price for one night and don't play hard to get now. You can do that later in bed if you want to; I won't mind."

Gritting her teeth, she managed to control her flaring temper knowing Kevin was just a scream away and considering the man too drunk to pose a real threat to her.

"I have already made it clear, sir. You're mistaken about me. Have a good day."

Turning around and descending the stairs, Natalie took her phone out of her pocket. She searched her call log and then rang up Kevin, half sure that the man would stumble and fall on his face if he tried to follow her.

She gasped when she was gripped by the elbow and forcibly turned around, the impact knocked her new phone out of her hand causing it to hit the hard cement and break into pieces.

"Is 2000 dollars enough for the night?" He spoke through clenched teeth, provoked and angry.

The next thing she knew, the money slapped into her face and dropped to the ground beside the pieces of her broken phone. In a surge of pure anger, her free arm went up and slapped the drunk man's face.

"You are despicable!" She shouted in his face.

Fear filled her heart when he grinned crazily at her.

"I was right to choose you; the hard ones are always more fun." 

"Get your hands off me!"

Struggling to free her arm from his grip, she felt a scream building in her throat and got ready to let it out. But before she could, her arm was freed from the man's grip as he disappeared from her line of vision. It took her a second to understand that he had been pushed away.

Hugging herself and taking a few steps backward, her eyes darted between the drunk man's bewildered face and the other man's angry expression. His brown eyes glowed with anger beneath his salt-and-pepper hair.

"How dare you act this way around here!"

"I'm buying this place; I'm buying everyone inside it too!" The drunk man objected.

"Get him out of my sight this instant!" Mr. Moneybags shouted.

All of a sudden, two very large men who came out of nowhere grabbed the drunk man by the shoulders, lifted him up, and then looked at Mr. Moneybags as if waiting for his orders.

"Send him on the first flight back to where he came from!"

Natalie watched in horror as the drunken man grinned at her while being dragged away, but the scary moment was short-lived as he was tossed into a black car that had just pulled over.

"Are you okay?"

It was the second time the grey-haired man asked her this question today. He regarded her with kind eyes as he walked her way and lifted his arm, but she cringed away from him thinking that he was about to place his hand on her shoulder.

"Stay away from me!"

He lifted both hands up, palms pushed forward; his eyes were cautious now staring at her as if he were dealing with an injured animal.

"You're safe now, I promise you. Allow me to drive you back to your home."

Natalie shook her head repeatedly. She would not allow herself to be saved from one predator only to fall into the clutches of another one.

All men are the same.

Tightening her grip around her jacket and pulling the zipper up as far as it would go, she crouched down to pick up her broken phone then swiftly shoved the pieces into her bag and pushed her freezing body up. Planning to get inside the first Uber parked in the line close to her, she quickly moved its way only to jump when the driver started the engine upon seeing her approaching.

Natalie opened the door with a shaky hand, got inside, and closed it then watched with wide eyes as a hand knocked on the driver's window.

The driver did not hesitate to open it.

"Take her home safely then call me." Mr. Moneybags slipped a couple of hundred-dollar bills along with what seemed to be his card to the driver.

The last thing Natalie could stomach now was for a stranger to know the location of her house. As fast as her reflexes allowed her to, she opened the passenger door and kept it open then ran all the way to the last Uber parked and threw herself inside the car.

"Take me to West Adams, hurry please!"

The driver quickly started his engine and went on his way.