Let Me Help You

He didn't return

A few days had passed and Lindsey didn't return. Stevie knew better than to get her hopes up, she chose to be realistic instead. She had missed him, unable not to think about him a little too often. Seeing him was great, just that she wished it happened some place else. He had to have changed his mind about her, once he found out what she did for living nowadays, she thought, that's why he would never come back, more than that, help her.

"Everything okay?" One of the girls, Stevie had made friends with from the start, asked as they were taking some time off. "Stephanie?"

"I, umm... Yeah, I'm fine." She nodded, forcing a smile. "Just thinking."

"You can talk to me if you want."

"I know, Emily, and thank you."

"Did one of those assholes did something to you?"

"No, it's not that."

"Mr Boss-man asked you to visit him again? Everyone around here knows you're his favorite."

"No, Emily." Stevie shook her head, her eyes brimming with tears. "I don't feel like talking about it."

"Remember that I'm here for you, honey." Emily gave Stevie's shoulders a friendly squeeze before leaving.

"Stephanie, you have someone waiting for you. A returnee." Jane, the woman from the downstairs desk, informed her a moment later, with a wink. "He was here only a couple of days ago. I don't know what it is that you do, but men want you and only you." Those words made her feel even worse.

After being told which room she should go to, Stevie took a moment to compose herself, as well as touch up her eye make up. She took a deep breath and turned the door knob, plastering on a smile, she always had to wear.

"You came back..." She couldn't believe it, she genuinely thought all Lindsey was going to do was run away from her and never look back. She closed the door and took a step towards him. "I didn't think you would."

"I'm sorry it took me so long, but I've been busy. Did you honestly think I would leave you in this place?"

She merely nodded, breaking his heart. She had never seemed so fragile to him before. She had her issues like everyone else, but this was something entirely different. He couldn't understand how such beautiful woman inside and out could be this broken. Once she was his angel, now all he saw her as was a fallen one.

"Why are you back?" Stevie asked after some time, which surprised him.

"What do you mean? Stevie, I'm getting you out of here!"

"I'm not going with you, Lindsey. I can't."

"What, you can't go out of the building?"

"I can, but I can't leave with you."

"Yes, you can and you will."

"No." She shook her head, hugging herself around the middle.

"Why, do you like it here?"

"I hate it here..." She exhaled deeply, looking at him with tear filled eyes. "The guy who owns this place, he... there's this thing as his favorite. Once you're that woman, he rarely lets you out of sight, you spend your free time with him, you sleep with him, you do everything he asks you to do..."

"Let me guess..." Lindsey shook his head in disbelief and Stevie nodded.

"He would never let me go until he's bored of me."

"This is just unacceptable! Where is this asshole? I want to have a word with him!"

"Oh God, no! You can't do that, Lindsey! You'll only make it worse. I will stay here and then I will be the one who has to pay for whatever you say to him."

"How long have you been living in this fear?"

"Ever since I signed up for this job."

"Has he hit you? Did anything to physically hurt you?"

"He... no."

"Why is it that I'm finding that hard to believe?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does matter, Stevie. It hurts me to see you suffering like this. You've never done anything that horrible to deserve this."

After a moment of deciding, she took off her red silk robe and then gathered the material of her nightie at the hem and lifted it over her head, tossing it on the bed. Lindsey wasn't sure where she was going with it, but he couldn't ignore how flawless her figure was and just how badly he longed to touch her.

"His latest work on me." Stevie turned sideways, letting Lindsey look at her bruised rib cage.

"And you say it doesn't matter." He closed his eyes, unable to look at her like that anymore. "You're sleeping with strangers, you're being beaten by some jerk and you don't want to leave?"

"I do." Her voice sounded so small. "But I have nowhere to go. Besides, I haven't worked enough to pay him back for these fucking breast implants!"

"What?!"

"He forced me to undergo the surgery, he paid himself, but he said I would have to pay him back."

"Did you... at least want them?"

"Lindsey, I hate them. I hate the men that come here, I hate him, I hate who I've become, I hate everything."

"You can stay at my place."

She frowned at his sudden suggestion. "I... no..."

"Yes, Stevie. I'm definitely not leaving you here. There's no question about it. You mean too much to me."

Another wave of emotions hit her after what he said and she asked quietly. "You still care about me?"

"I still love you."