"im late, fuck, im so late," el cursed under her breath, practically running her way to the club.
she didn't have a car, she walked everywhere which got her a good amount of exercise but she had nothing in her stomach at the time and absolutely no rest.
she honestly felt like she was going to collapse.
she just made dinner for him and was now making her way back to the club to finish her night shift.
with the cuts on her feet and the bruises running down her back, it honestly felt hard to run.
the pain seemed like it was radiating off every inch of her body, probably from the burns she got and didn't treat, but it should be healing.
yet though she had nothing in her system, the running made her sick.
but she sucked it up and held onto her stomach as she made herself push through the nausea.
her vision was blurry and her feet felt like she was dragging itself along instead. though she felt like she was running, she knew she was barely meeting the pace of her walking.
the familiar wall came to view and she made her way into the back alley with one hand dragging amongst the concrete wall.
and then everything went black.
♥︎
the act felt rushed. her dance felt rushed. everything felt rushed just to get herself off the stage and back into the changing room to rest.
once her final act was finished, she wasted no time to change back to her usual clothes and to curl up against the stack of lockers to relax.
because apparently, she wasn't allowed on the couch.
the last time she disobeyed that, she found her clothes cut up and she had to take money out to buy new ones. resulting in her eating every two days instead with the same portions of food as before.
as much as she wanted to fight back, she knew she couldn't afford anything else. he wanted more expensive food now, he wanted more money from her.
she couldn't risk it.
"el, some men are requesting for you," lucas informed her but she only nodded with her eyes closed.
"no back rooms?"
"no. drinks only," he agreed and she sighed and stood up to peel off her sweatshirt and pants.
she didn't bother with her outfit, she stayed in her lace bra and matching panties to go out and have a drink with some men.
it earned her more than her salary.
when she sat down, all she wanted to do was leave.
the bartender came over with some drinks, making sure el's one didn't have much alcohol in it so she wouldn't get drunk so easily.
the drinks didn't last long, she had a couple of shots before she said she had to leave.
"three grand for a back room," one men winked at her but she shook her head. "no, sorry," she managed to say through her tiredness.
"just for a lap dance even," another one piped up but she still shook her head.
"come on, sweetheart," one grabbed her wrist and she immediately tried to yank it back but they were too strong.
"she said; no," someone cut in and el looked up to see mike. "we have rules here and fucking consent is one of them. you fail to follow that, i'll have you thrown out. have i made myself clear?"
the three men nodded.
"come with me," mike whispered to el and walked away with her following like a lost puppy.
arriving in the empty hallway, he stopped and turned around all of sudden which made her clash with his chest.
"i'm sorry," she quickly rushed out and looked down to the ground.
he ignored the usual sentence he heard from her and went on with what he had to say. "you've been here for almost four years and i made an exception because you were young."
she nodded slowly.
"this is a strip club for fucks sake. you either do what the others do or you're out." he said, "it's not that hard. it's just a dance but alone with some random ass men."
"i said i didn't want to do that," she finally looked up and he raised his eyebrows. "who are you to say what you want and don't want here?"
she didn't respond.
"fucking exactly so you're going to listen to what the fuck i ask of you or you'll leave. but here's the thing, el, where the hell would you go? you got no college degree and you won't even fucking strip. what's the point of you working in a club then, huh?"
again, she didn't respond.
no college degree.. the voice rang in her head.
instead her gaze moved around them, focusing on everything but him. "you're an asshole. i just want to earn money without selling my body like that, what's wrong with that?"
"you seriously think there's something like that out in the world? keep dreaming, honey, no one will hire you once they know that it was me who fired you," he spat the words like venom and she just scoffed.
"you—" just as she was about to speak, she got cut off by a voice down the hall.
"el, someone's here demanding to see you," lucas said and mike gave him a hard glare.
he only shrugged and el gave a nervous glance at mike before exiting the hall to the bar.
and her breath got stuck in her throat. what was he doing here? what the fuck was mason doing here?
she walked up to him slowly, afraid as to why he randomly showed up to her work. "what are you doing here?" she asked him quietly.
he only smirked and leaned into her ear. "you ever pull that type of bullshit on me again, you won't see the fucking light of day,"
what was he talking about?
"i— sir, i don't understand, i—" he took her hand in his and squeezed so hardly that she thought her bones would break.
"your food. it's fucking disgusting," he twisted her fingers as she held back a cry. "you tryin' poison me, huh? you're leaving right fucking now,"
"i can't.." she couldn't even whisper, "working," she stuttered.
"too fucking bad," he dug his nails into her wrist before twisting her arm and shoving her away. "now!"
she nodded, hurrying off back to the changing room to grab her bag and anything she needed.
"el," the voice made her flinch and hit back against the wall.
"l— lucas, i have to go," she breathed out," i'm sorry, sir. i.." she could barely hold a sentence together as she rushed to grab her bag. "i'm so sorry," she apologised again, tears burning in her eyes as she hid her hands away from him so he wouldn't see the damage made on her.
"let's fucking go," mason practically dragged her out by her shirt and dumped her in the back of his car.
"i'm sorry, i'll make you a better dinner just—"
"shut the fuck up!" he screamed and grabbed her hair to shove her head down to the side of the car, knocking her out unconscious in the back.
she only wished she didn't wake to see what came next.
YOU ARE READING
ANGEL IN DISGUISE , MILEVEN AU
Fanfictioneveryone said that he was the devil, but really.. he was just an angel in disguise.