𝐁𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐄

5

I'm laying in Babe's suite again, and she's not there. I know that she's done with her private rooms, and that she should be back by now. Hell, it's six in the morning and I should be in bed, preparing for my classes of the day and away from Chiara- the city and the club.

But anxiety is pushing bile up my throat, and I worry for my friend. A second after I decide that I'll get up and search for her, the door knob clicks and turns.

Babe steps in, face wetting dry tear marks across her cheeks, her robe tight around her body, her hair disheveled.

"Babe, what happened?" I get up, wrapping my arms around her. The door shuts close behind her body and she falls against me, sobbing.

"Did your debt change?"

"No," she shakes her head. She holds her hands over her mouth and I realize that she's swallowing something. She gulps, sitting down on the bed and stretching her legs out, her face showing no relaxation, however. "Mother's dead," she says at last.

"No. No fucking way," I grab her hand, "I was just- We were just talkin' to her hours ago."

"She's dead. The fuckin' lung," she threw her hands up, "the lung cancer, Bunnie."

I frowned, "I didn't even...know."

"Cigarettes," Babe shook her head, "But I could never tell her nothing, not that she'd listen, 'cause of me and the pills," she shrugged helplessly.

"I didn't realize you guys were so close," I admit softly, "I stayed here because I didn't know what happened. I'm not going to school today," I decide in that moment, "You need me here."

Babe let out a shuddery breath, pushing the wetness away from her face rather roughly. "You don't get to what lengths me and her...we wanted to protect," her voice cracked.

"Protect what?" I ask, moving closer to Babe.

Her voice moves so close to a whisper that her words nearly whistle. "The Boss. He wants you. And we tried. But now no one can protect you."

"The Boss?" I nearly shriek.

She clamps a hand over my mouth, her eyes wild.

"Shut up. Shut up, right now, Bunnie," she hisses, "I took on the private rooms you should've been taking on. So that you wouldn't have to lose yourself. Me and Mother saw a real future for you. We didn't want you scarred by this life. You had a chance. And now, you don't."

"That's why I never had any requests for private rooms," I frowned, pushing her hand away.

"Mother scheduled it so that you wouldn't have to."

My eyes shone with tears, "Babe, you didn't have to."

"But I did. And now...I'm scared for you, Bunnie. You don't get it. Yeah, being one of the top dancers gets you some sort of fame around here, but it also brought you onto the Boss's radar. If he gets his fingers on you, you might never leave."

Like me, settles through the air.

"He- You," I stutter.

"He got tired of fucking me and replaced me for another bitch. Kind of looks like the Star girl, the one who has the star tatted on her back and the thick ankles and allat?"

"Yeah," I nod slowly, staring at my friend, and still not believing any of this.

"Me and Mother have always been on your side, but I don't know how to save you anymore."

"So I have to do rooms now?" I ask, my voice sounding much smaller and younger than I'd like for it to sound.

"And one day he will be in one of them," Babe states gravely.