Play the Leader

The road came to an end, but for once it was good

It wasn't like she wanted to do this. She was desperate, Carver was breathing down her throat demanding the money she owed him. The club just wasn't enough to pay off what she owed and have enough money to live off of. She needed to do this. For money. For her future.

It was necessary.

Or that's what she told herself as she straddled Gabe's waist in her small studio apartment, "three hundred dollars and I get to do whatever I want?" Gabe asked for clarification, hands hovering at his sides as he was used to doing in the club.

"Three hundred, in cash and you get to touch with your hands, no kissing, I'm in control." Clementine emphasized, grinding up against the boy as she spoke.

"Uh-okay, bu-but... sex right? Not just a lap dance?" Gabe asked, leaning back against the couch, hands already caressing the bare skin of Clementine's sides, she shuddered at the contact.

"Yes, sex." Clementine tried to hold back her grimace, stomach lurching. Is this what it came down to? Maybe she really was just the prostitute everyone had always thought of her as. She didn't ask for her parents to die. Or her foster parents to kick her to the streets the day she turned eighteen. All the money her parents had left to her mysteriously vanished. All she had to her name at the time was a small four door car and a suitcase full of clothes. This wasn't a choice, it was a necessity.

Gabe looked over the brunette hungrily. He slid his hands up her back and unhooked the bra that he was all too familiar with. As soon as it was open he ran his hands to her front, Clementine closed her eyes, air freezing in her chest as he was finally able to touch what he had coveted for so long.

The front door swung open, "Clementine! Sorry I just let myself-" Violet's voice came from the doorway. Clementine's back was to her, Gabe's hands paused mid-grope at the interruption.

"Vi! No! It isn't what you think!" Clementine shouted, spinning around, accidentally revealing her exposed breasts. Violet looked from Clementine to Gabe and back, eyes slipping down to the brunette's attire, or lack thereof, for only a second before spinning on her heel and leaving the apartment, "Violet!" Clementine stood, no amount of money was worth losing Violet over, but the floor beneath her faded. Gabe grabbed her from behind and started shaking her.

"No! Get off! Get off!" Clementine fought against his hands that now felt much softer as the room around her darkened.

"Clementine, sweety, shhhh baby, shhhh." Zee's voice broke through the blackness.

"Z-Zee?" Clementine stuttered reaching out blindly, Zee took her hand and squeezed it lightly, kissing her forehead.

"It's me Hon." Zee leaned in and brushed her fingers through the brunette waves.

"What's going on? Where am I?" Clementine breathed in deeply, heart racing she tried to get her bearings, mind a haze of confusion.

"You were having a nightmare." Zee talked softly, stroking Clementine's face, "You're in my bed, in my apartment. You're safe. You didn't want to be alone after last night."

Clementine's heart steadied. The memories from the previous night overtaking her nightmare about Gabe. The things that girl had said, Minerva her name was, made her feel lower than dirt. Violet had been with her, dated her? Clementine wasn't completely sure about anything that had happened. She was already stressed from Marlon, Carver, Gabe... Minerva was just one more weight on her already overburdened shoulders. The day was over, she had already mentally decompressed, ready to spend the evening with Violet- "Where's Violet?" Clementine asked suddenly. She remembered how upset the blonde had been. Blaming herself for everything that had happened.