Blood Money - HO

•2•

I sat on my couch, counting out the money.
It's the morning after working for Tom, and honestly this was the best thing that could ever happen to me. I finish counting out the money, and my eyes widen.
Two. Thousand. Dollars.
In 30 minuets. No lap dances, no pervs touching me without consent. No creepy bums feeling themselves up as they watch me.
But what even was this place?...
big house, tons of rich men, nice things..
I laugh to myself at the first thought that came to my mind.
"He's not in the mafia Aria chill out" I laugh to myself.
Just then, my phone vibrated.
Tom: still up for a job?
Aria: yeah!
Tom: great! I'll send you a schedule and you can see if it works for you.
Aria: by the way, silly question. What exactly do I tell my friends? They're going to wonder why I'm working at the club less and I don't want to say I'm working in a secret club in the woods😂
Tom: you don't tell them.
Aria: What? Why?
Tom: we can discuss later, how about you come and meet me around 3pm and we can get your schedule put together.
Aria: Okay sounds good.
Bitch ass thinks I won't tell my friends I got a new job? He's hilarious. My friends are always in on my life decisions.
____
I make my way to the door of the large home hidden in the woods. As I walk up to the front door, it swings open before I get close enough to knock.
"Aria, nice to see you again" Haz smiles.
"You too Haz, I'm here to see Tom?" I say and he nods.
"Yeah I'll show you to his office" he says as I walk inside, shutting the door behind me.
I follow him down the hallway in the opposite direction as yesterday, I really enjoyed seeing all the large rooms and art that decorated the walls.
The more we walked, the more weird this place got. There's so many men standing around, drinking, smoking cigars, I see one messing around with a gun and my eyes widen.
"That guy had a gun!" I whisper yell to Haz and he laughs lightly, as if it's funny that some guy was flinging around a gun like it wasn't a weapon.
My attention was drawn elsewhere once we reached open double doors, inside sat Tom, frantically typing on a computer.
"Aria is here" Haz says as he lightly knocks on the door.
Toms tired eyes lift from the screen and connect with mine.
"Come on in" He gives me a small, unenthusiastic smile.
I walk in and Haz follows behind, shutting the door behind us.
I sit in the deep forest green chair in front of Toms desk. Haz sitting on the corner of Toms desk.
"Alright so here's what I was thinking" Tom says pulling out a paper. "Since you work the other club on Wednesday's and Saturdays, I figured you could be here Monday, Tuesday and Friday"
"How'd you know what days I work?" I ask him.
"I got access" he shrugs.
Weird.
"Okay those days sound good to me" I nod.
"So, on the other matter" he redirects the conversation.
"Of you wanting me to keep this a secret? Yes go on" I say.
"I didn't know that you were uhm, that you were unaware of what we are" he says.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"Do you happen to know who owns the club you currently work at?" He asks.
"Not sure" I shrug.
"Damn" He sighs. "Don't freak out alright? The last thing I want is to have to deal with that mess"
"Just say it?" I say completely confused, I turn my attention quickly to Haz, but his blank expression gives me no clue.
"Jack Barrett" Tom states. "He's the owner of your club, he's also the boss of a mob"
I laugh loudly as he says that, the fuck?
"You're funny" I say through laughs but the more I see Tom and Haz's serious faces the more I start to realize they're not making it up.
"Wait really?" I ask.
"Yeah" Tom nods. "That's why I went there to check out you guys, I figured you knew the life. Guess you didn't, but thought it'd be safer to just explain to you rather than you get suspicious"
"Okay wait hold on.. you too?" I ask.
"Yeah.." he says, patiently waiting for a reaction.
I stay silent, but my brain definitely wasn't. Everything in me was screaming to run away and never come in contact with these boys again. Act like this never happened and that i never met Tom. This was too much, too big.
But there was that one little thing holding me back.
A picture of my mom flashes into my head, knowing that if I keep up the slow income much longer, I won't get to keep her on life support, I could afford maybe another month.
So against every instinct, I agreed.
"Okay, I'll keep it a secret" I say.
Obviously that wasn't the answer they were expecting. My calmness was a complete shock to them. And to me.
"But I'm going to need you to guarantee my safety. You all are criminals and I don't want to deal with anything you do outside of the club" I say and they laugh.
"You're safe, were not that bad" Tom says.
"I don't even want to know" I shake my head.
I really don't, I'm only doing this for my mom.
"Alright then, we'll see you tomorrow" he says.
I get up and walk out, Haz catching up to me.
"How are you so calm about this?" He asks.
"I have my reasons" I say.
"Well I'm excited to see you tomorrow" he says as we approach the door and I turn to face him.
"Look, this is strictly a business relationship. I don't want to be involved in whatever this shit is so, I think it'd be best if we didn't speak outside the office" I say, turning around and walking to my car before he could speak.
I'm not getting close to a fucking murderer.
If I wasn't so desperate.. I'd leave and never come back.