Hannah

28

Hannah finished her set. It had gone perfectly. She had even felt good enough to add in an extra top tier move at the end, for free. Finishing on the stage floor in a perfect split. Smiling while she tried to hold the mark while her lungs burned for her to take deeper, less controlled breaths.

Hannah counted out the seconds. Standing and taking a bow, she strutted off the stage as best she could back to her dressing room to do as quick a turn over into her cocktail outfit as she could.

After only seven minutes, Hannah had showered just her body in the small attached washroom. The shower stall was barely big enough for her to stand under let alone turn around under the weak shower spray. The bad proportions at least made it easy to keep the wig dry under her shower cap. Sweat washed off, Hannah used thirty seconds to moisturise. Before taking a moment to make sure she emptied her bladder. Hannah did her best to smmothly pour herself into the first layer of her Velvet Viola cocktail outfit. A full pale flesh colored leotard that covered her from her toes all the way up to the tank top straps over her shoulders. It was cut low to accommodate even the most daring necklines and most back options.

It was the perfect thing to wear underneath the rest of her costume. Hannah put on the stiff lace blouse, with exaggerated puff sleeves. On its own, no part of her figure was hidden in the blouse, the lace had been starched stiff, to give it structure while still being see through. Over the low cut blouse, after arranging everything, so the under layer unitard was hidden, while still giving the appearance of being almost naked. Hannah laced herself into a demi-cup corset that made it seem like her breasts were about to slip free at any moment. Nipples seeking to be just barely concealed. It was an outfit for standing in and looking pretty. Not for moving.

Finishing her look with a small black panty, and a bird cage style circle skirt that made it appear as though Hannah was far more naked than she was. Hannah finished by tying the large satin bow on her lower back and she was dressed. She tied on the more sensible black thigh high boots she had packed. Touched up her makeup, and made sure once again that all her real bits were covered, and her naked illusion looked good. Placing the mask back over her face to conceal her features, Hannah nodded and went to her door. No one was there to escort her. That was fine. Once Hannah left the dressing room the clock started to tick down on how long she had to stay.

She made her way back to the main part of the club. Got to enjoy one and a half routines on the stage before the man who had booked her found her, and started to parade her around the room like she was some trophy he had won. It was an odd meet and greet. Everyone seemed really stiff, or awkward around her. Hannah did her best to just be polite and friendly. Nothing mean to say about anything. No political opinions. Sports, open season, she allowed herself to participate any athletic based conversations that started naturally around her.

Only twenty seven minutes into her meet, greet and be social time, Hannah felt something like fear, anxiety, and a lot of very strong male anger hit her while a Chinese business man tried to talk to her about her records before she had been injured. Hannah was so distracted by the surge of emotions from her mates, that she didn't notice how odd it was that a clearly foreign national knew about her records when she had never officially reached Olympic team status.

Hannah could almost swear that her mates were getting closer. But that was impossible. She couldn't possibly be able to tell such a thing. She had seen them turn into Wolves and one Dragon. She was still human. She couldn't sense anything extra. It was just her own subconscious wishing they were closer as the poor company bored her.

Hannah was going through the motions of enjoying a party. Except she was drinking lemon water with lots of ice. Eating all the snacks that came by though. She was always hungry after performing. The small canapes that were brought around by servers were very good. Hannah's favourite part of her experience so far had been the food.

"There's my doll-face." A voice Hannah had wanted to never, ever hear again ringing through her ears. As someone new joined into the conversation she was having with someone she had been led to. Hannah had given up trying to learn new names. Pretending you knew someone could get you very far she had learned. Just be polite and personable but vague. Focus on others. Only say things to keep conversation flowing.

She was caught sincerely off guard hearing a voice she recognised. The feeling only intensified as she turned and saw someone she had never, ever wanted to see again.

"Carson?" Hannah breathed out as she turned around. Starting to panic, that only caused the anxious weight of other people's emotions in her heart to grow even more intense.

"Care to explain why my stake in Olympic Productions has been bought out, and my little golden geese accounts have gone dry Dolly girl?" Carson said with the same voice he had used to boss Hannah around before he had set all this up in the first place.

"I'm making it a real business" Hannah said softly, as the other business people started to step back. Hannah made eye contact with a few, they looked complicit. Like they knew there was going to be a confrontation. Many didn't seem to have any expression at all. 

Too many people looked like they couldn't see Carson start to tantrum. "Like hell you fucking are," He bellowed to close to Hannah's face. So close spittle hit her skin. "It's my business, I built it. You can't take this from me. I earned this!" he roared at her. Everyone else taking steps back. Hannah's eyes searched the crowd as Carson grabbed her by the wrist with a too tight grip. Not one of the well dressed men or the women on their arms would meet her eyes.

Hannah was trying to struggle free as Carson dragged her away from the main bar towards a hallway. The performers on the stage kept dancing. The servers kept serving, the bartenders were executing their jobs perfectly. No one was making any move to stop Carson as he dragged her through the crowded space, yelling loud enough to be heard over the music. Hannah saw the door with a set of guards in front, one guard moved to start unlocking the door with a physical key. "No." Hannah finally managed to say. She did not want to go through a locked door with Carson. Nothing good would happen on the other side of that door.

The only person who made eye contact with her the entire time was Aspen. He looked at her like he was devastated. "I don't want to go with him." Hannah tried to tell one of the guards. It was like they didn't even see her. "Everyone. Fucking. Works. For. Me!" Carson had turned on his heels and yelled in Hannah's face. Slapping Hannah across her cheek once when she didn't reat like he wanted her to. "Including you!" Grabbing her by the forearm with a bruising hand.

Flashbacks of the night Hannah had run away from Carson for the last time. The real reason she hadn't every tried to change the business arrangement as it was. Hannah had tried to end things, face to face so she could walk away clean. Carson hadn't accepted that and had instead beat Hannah black and blue. Leaving her with a concussion, she had been bruised for weeks. The last thing he had screamed at her that night, was that she was his for fucking ever. Kicking her in the ribs one last time to punctuate his sentence, before he walked away. Leaving her in her apartment alone. Thankfully the only fracture was a hairline crack in her cheek bone. It healed fine and wasn't a break that affected her ability to perform.

"No." Hannah said one more time, nearly stumbling to her knees before she was yanked up and through the locking door. Her blood running cold as the door was forced closed the moment she was through, then the lock slamming into place. Trapping her with Carson, in a worse mood than she had ever seen him.