[Alyssa]
I was sitting on the edge of the hotel bed, tears falling down my face. I've only been here with Ace for two and a half weeks, and he has already started hitting me and forcing me to dance at his club, 21+. I'm not even twenty-one, yet he already has me dancing on a pole!
My sobs get louder. They only cease when a soft knock startles me and the door slowly creaks open. A girl walks in, and she looks no older than me. She has short, straight blonde hair that barely reaches her olive shoulders. Her sky blue eyes examine the room, stopping when they land on me. She very slowly walks over to me and sits down.
She has a purse on her shoulder, and she begins digging through it. She pulls out some alcohol wipes, cotton balls and bandages.
"This is going to sting a little," she warns me as she opens an alcohol wipe and starts to dab at my bruised lip. I hiss in pain. "What did he do?"
"He slapped me," I answer as the girl puts a circular bandage on the bruise. "How long have you been working for him?" I don't plan to ask her her story of how she started working for Ace because I'm sure that each of us have a different story, just as painful as the next.
"Three months this upcoming Tuesday," she replies. She moves onto the bruise above my eyebrow. "He really did a number on you. I'm Piper, by the way."
I hiss in pain again as she dabs another alcohol pad on my bruise. "Alyssa." Once Piper is finished with my face, she stands up.
"Okay, you're all fixed and ready to go. You might want to go jump in the shower now," she suggests. "Ace hates when we don't shower on the regular." She pulls me into a hug, and I hug back. I can tell this is going to be the start of a very special friendship. "I'll bring you a change of clothes from my room. You look roughly the same size as me." She smiles then walks out the room, and I walk to the bathroom, stripping from my revealing outfit.
I turn the water on and step in. I hear the bathroom door open, and I assume that it's Piper with some clothes, but boy, am I wrong? Someone pulls the shower curtains back after a few minutes, and I see that it's Ace.
"W-W-What are you doing?" I question as he steps his naked body into the space with me. He says nothing before picking me up by my waist. "Ace, what are you doing??" I begin to thrash in his arms, a feeble attempt to get him to release his hold on me. However, he holds my arms above my head without a word and forcefully rams himself into me; I let out a bloodcurdling scream.
* * *
My scream is so loud that it wakes me. I feel around the bed for Chresanto, but I come into contact with the sheets; they are lukewarm, and I realize that I'm alone. I look around the room to see Chresanto's bathroom light on.
"Chresanto?" I call out, my voice laced with worry and fear. Chresanto sticks his head out of the bathroom, his nose bleeding. "What happened to you?" He walks back into the room with a wet rag in one hand.
"You punched me," he explains, tilting his head back as he places the rag on his nose. "Where you dreaming about...?" I nod as he lets his question trail off. I hadn't realized that I was crying until Chresanto sits on the edge of the bed and wipes away my tears. "I wish there was some way I could keep you away from him longer." He sighs, running his hand down his face, wincing as he touches his nose. "Damn, Alyssa. I think you might have broken my nose."
