Family Comes First

Chapter 1: The First Encounter

I had grown immune to the pounding music. When I first started working here, the rhythmic beat played over and over in my head. Even when I was in bed at home, it would be all that I could hear. It was now one of the many things that I have grown used to.

I rolled my eyes at the man I had spent a long ten minutes giving a lapdance. For most of the dance, I was pulling his hands off my body. In the end, he offered me money to give him a blow job. I declined, as I always do.

I stood, but the man grabbed my waist and pulled me back down onto his lap. I grabbed his thumb and twisted it back until he let go of me. It was a little trick I learned from Lina when I first started working here. He yelped and let go. I got off his lap and walked away.

"Hey!" he shouted, but the music almost drowned out his voice. "Where do you think you're going?"

His sweaty hand grabbed my wrist and yanked me back. He spun me around so that I was staring into his dark cold eyes. I had to look up as he towered over me. A large gothic tattoo of a crow was on the side of his neck. The smell of scotch was coming off his breath. I tried to pull my wrist free, but that only resulted in him tightening his grip. I grabbed his thumb again, but he pulled my hand away. Both of my wrists were locked in his grip.

"The sign says Girls of Your Fantasy," Crow said, "and this is my fantasy."

"I'm not a hooker," I said.

He clenched his jaw and tightened his fingers around my wrists. I swung my leg out and kicked him in the shin. Before he could react, I dug the heel of my shoe into the top of his foot. He growled and threw me down onto the floor. The people around us glanced down at me, but no one moved to help.

"It's not sex," he said.

He grabbed my ankle and pulled me across the ground.

"Let me go!" I yelled.

I clawed at the floor as I tried to crawl away from Crow. His lips curled into a smile as he reached for his belt.

A hand grabbed Crow's shoulder and ripped him away. Donovan, the owner of the club, was standing there.

"What's going on here?" Donovan asked.

"She won't do what I asked for," Crow said.

"So you grab her?" Donovan asked. "You're fucking disgusting. Get out of here!"

Crow grunted and let go. Donovan crouched and reached for my hand so that he could help me back up. My fingers wrapped around his bony arm. Donovan tended to wear hoodies no matter what time of the year it was, and this made me forget about what kind of skeleton his meth addiction turned him into.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"I'm okay," I said.

"No, Julie," he said. "If you're in pain I want you to go home."

I shook my head. I couldn't afford to leave this early in my shift.

"I'll be okay," I said.

Donovan gave me a wary smile and looked at my hands. I was still clinging to his arm. I let go and crossed my arms over my chest.
"I want you to wait on tables for the rest of the night," he said. "Tell me if that bastard comes into the club again. I'll make him regret it."

I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. The thought of him kicking anyone's ass was hilarious; however, all of the girls in the club felt protected by him.

"Yeah, no worries," I said.

I weaved my way through the crowd of people to get over to the bar. I pulled a tray out from behind the counter and looked for people who were not drinking. Donovan once told me that it was the waitresses' job to get everyone in the club drunk. That way men wouldn't realize the difference between a twenty and a one.