NURA

Chapter 7

Nura

Sept. 2013, New York

Nura was sure she was glaring, not that she minded at the moment, as she watched Nate from behind the bar, talking with some stupid blond slut.

How could the man stand to spend more than two minutes in that girl's presence and not end up wanting to shoot himself, Nura would never understand. The girl told her once that she was sure the earth was flat.

Flat!

What did a famous surgeon, a supposed genius if the rumors were to be believed, have in common with someone like that? Sure, Nura was not the brightest toy in the box either, but even she knew more than that.

She huffed and looked away, her stomach starting to roll at the scene of Nate kissing down the stupid blonde's neck while the dumbass cackled like a hyena from 'Lion King.'

It had been almost eight months since Nura had used that card Megan had given her and became a waitress in the "Echo."

During their first outing, Megan had asked her about her past. At first, Nura felt apprehensive about telling her since her past was not something she wanted to think about, let alone talk about, and she was, most of all, ashamed, even though she knew she shouldn't be. As Jasmine kept telling her during their sessions, what happened to her was not Nura's fault. She never wanted to be a prostitute or to get beaten or sold, but it was hard sometimes to think rationally when you were hurting.

And yet, there was just something about Megan that compelled you to reveal everything about yourself without being afraid. The woman simply exhumed a certain sense of trust and comfort, and by the time their meeting was over, Megan knew everything about her, with her barely noticing. And Nura somehow felt better afterward. So much so that she was seriously considering dropping Jasmine and hiring Megan as her full-time therapist.

Megan had offered her a job in her club if she wanted, having heard her complaints about her job at the time, and she had taken a few days to think about everything they had discussed and eventually decided to accept.

For the first few weeks, everything had been going great, and Nura was slowly starting to get out of her shell and mingle with the patrons, but that all changed when she met Him.

~

"Nura, stop daydreaming and get back to work! Mr. Jones just came in." Ash yelled into her ear, startling her out of her thoughts and making her drop the glass she was scrubbing.

Nura threw a glare in his direction, but Ash just smirked and gave her a pat on the butt before strutting away with his tray held up high, his hips swaying seductively while quite a number of men followed their every move. Nura shook her head at the boy's antics and grabbed her pad before walking toward the VIP area.

She smiled at the familiar faces as she wormed through the crowd, feeling happy at the chance to be there. Working in "Echo" was fun and the people were great. Everyone was respectful, and consent was Bible here, which was very important to her after everything that had happened, but since she began working there, no one had dared to bother her.

She was aware that many men had been looking her way ever since she started, which was very flattering, but after denying the first few offers of drinks, the word quickly spread around that she was not looking, and no one had bothered her since.

She finally managed to get to the other side of the club, where she saw Megan sitting with a man she had never seen before as she approached the VIP booth.