𝐁𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐄

9

"Are you mine, Bunnie? Are you mine?" the man pants over my body.

His sweat drips down over my waist, his mouth is leveled with my pussy. "I've been waiting to have you for so, so long," he breathes.

Five hundred. He paid five hundred at the door.

"Are you my whore? Mine forever, baby?"

His breath smells vile, and his hairs all oily, it even makes his own eyes burn. They're bloodshot, staring down at me and his elbows press into the front of mine at an awkward angle. The only way he could keep me down in this position as he-as he-

"Ahhhhh," he let out a long sigh as he released inside of me.

"Yess," I answer meekly, squeezing my eyes shut.

He lifts off of me and strong hands snatch up my hair. Has my aunt came to save me, I wonder? But no, my eyes peel open and it's just my client grinning.

"Keep those eyes open, baby girl. I want you to see all of it." So he relieves himself on the floor in front of me, a steady stream of amber on the tile, and I watch as his erection lessens and lessens until flab is just flab, and his body rolls conceal himself.

He shakes himself, and lays it bare on my stomach. I try to fight my squirms, "I got a few more minutes with you. None of that fighting no more. I got some pent up anger to release."

And so he went into me again, and my nails bite into his flesh, his nipples hanging down over me. "Can you believe that my grammy kicked me out of her guest house, Bunnie? That bitch!"

I'm being shook awake. My body's still damp from the shower I took in Bunnie's suite, and I lay on a large towel over her sheets.

"Hey, hon. How are you?"

"Worse," I cough.

"I told you not to hit it that hard."

"I don't think my throat accepts pills anymore. Is that a thing...Babe?" I ask, pushing myself up into a sitting position.

"Hopefully not. We have a new house mother already. I was talking downstairs with some of the other girls. She wants you to take this, so you don't, you know," she gestures to my stomach. I pop it into my mouth, chugging down a glass of water. "A throat isn't like an ATM. It accepts all sorts of things," she added, shrugging.

"I know that for sure," I hug my body, clutching my robe to me. "Is today Friday or Saturday?" I ask her.

Babe doesn't even bother to check her watch. "I don't even know anymore. It feels like it's early morning."

"So it's Saturday now," I say glumly.

"How are things going with you and the boy toy?"

"NJ thinks I'm a slut. And he probably told his friend. And they probably tell everyone," I cover my face with my hands, "The whole college probably knows. I'll have to do online classes. I won't be able to pretend I have a normal life anymore."

"I hate him already. When I can leave, we'll key his car together. How does that sound sweetie?" She gives me a big hug.

But did he ever say I was a slut? No, but he insinuated it, I tell myself.

"You're always in your head, Bunnie. You know that?" Babe observed, "But that guy don't deserve you. None of these guys do." She laid her head in my lap, and I almost flinch from the contact. "I think we should just move in together after all of this and tease men in our bikini's, go to islands and foreign countries, and steal hearts for the summer and find sugar daddies for the winter. How does that sound?"

"It..."

But my degree. My dream to help adolescents in broken homes find peace somewhere, even if it's just in their minds.

"It sounds like..."

Fun. But what about all of my hard work. What about my heart. What about the young child in me who thinks that I'll find the answers to my father within this field?

"Babe, I can't," I sigh.

She looks resigned, but I know that she knew I would say it. She wouldn't know me at all if she thought otherwise. Babe checks her watch, and shows me the time. "I guess you'll be back in a few hours, huh? Or are you taking Sat- today off?"

"I'm working. I won't let Vanilla take what's mine."

"Your spot isn't your's, Bunnie. It's what the Boss has placed you into. It's what you have to do. That college, your life outside of here, is what's your's," Babe states passionately.

"I can't let Vanilla steal my progress then. If I'm nothing, I'll never get out of debt."

"And if you're something...sometimes being something around here is just as dangerous." Babe hugs me again, "Be safe. Watch out for that evil bitch."

"I won't let her distract me. And I need to meet our new mother anyways."

"She'll never be Mother," Babe says, eyes filled with emotion. I agree. No, this new lady will never be her.

Mint gum, vanilla perfume with a hint of cherry blossom, and the smell of sourdough bread makes me turn around at my locker. Just my luck that on my way out Vanilla Dreem decides to run into me.

"Still here. Thought I knocked you off your pedestal?"

Was she seriously acting like I didn't push her to the ground not too long ago?

I clutch my robe to me, about to give her a piece of my mind when I realize that the backstage area is cleared, and no one but me and Vanilla are here.

An icky feeling squirms over me. Something isn't right, Courtlynn.

Vanilla noticed my sickened expression and smiles.

"I told you I'd make it to the top," she steps closer, something glinting across her right knuckles as my eyes remain glued to her face. "But you didn't wanna believe me."

Would it be weak to call out for help?

Her fist cracks into my face and I stare at one of my teeth on the floor, blood pouring out of my mouth as I wither in pain at Vanilla's feet.

She breathes by my ear, her voice too sweet. Like her perfume. Like everything. Too sweet. Too sweet to be true. Too sweet to last. No NJ. No help around. No nothing.

"I think this victory is too much to have," she laughs, "When you look at your busted up face...I want you to think, 'Vanilla did that'. No, I want you to think..."

And the name that she whispers steals my breath.

Some hours later, security finds me and grabs Babe for me. She cries against my shoulder and I can't make out her pained remarks as I ache all over. Eventually I'm placed into a car that sends me to the hospital, told that the bills will be added to my debt.

I'm never making it out of here.

And Vanilla Dreem will pay.