Fighting to be Free by Kirsty Moseley (27 page)

We rode the rest of the drive in silence. I watched the streets pass, just wishing that I hadn't woke up this morning. Silently I wondered if Tony's goon was still following me around or if he made a swift exit once he saw who I was with. Tony wouldn't cross Brett, not again, he probably learnt that from last time they clashed.

The meeting went well as expected. I didn't have to do much, just shake hands with a couple of people then stand back with my arms folded over my chest, looking like I was one of Brett's heavies. Thankfully I didn't have to witness anything too bad, I dreaded those type of meetings where Brett would hurt someone, or maybe I would be ordered to hurt someone. I'd done plenty of that when I used to work for him.

Instead of being dismissed when we were done at the meeting, Brett asked me to go with him to his 'new venture'. Apparently he had just worked out a deal to run a legit security firm that would be placed in Michael Torrent's strip clubs across town. By the sound of what he was telling me, this was the only legal business he had going. He provided the guys, and Michael paid him the money to keep his clubs and girls safe.

That's where we were heading right now. A strip club.

I looked around hesitantly as I got out of the car outside the club. I didn't really like places like this and I definitely didn’t want anyone seeing me go in there and it getting back to Ellie that I was checking out other girls. But I couldn't exactly say no to Brett so I dutifully followed him in there, smiling while he exchanged pleasantries with Michael, the owner.

It was lunchtime now so there were a few people in for lunchtime drinks, a few half naked girls walking around. They didn't interest me in the slightest. A blonde caught my eye and smiled seductively at me. She was wearing nothing but a thong, a bra that barely covered anything, and a pair of silver stiletto strappy heels. And the only thing I could think was that my girlfriend was a lot prettier than her and had longer legs. Ellie had ruined me as a man. I laughed at myself quietly and shook my head.

"Kid?"

I flicked my eyes up to see Brett looking at me expectantly. I snapped on my business face and stepped forward, nodding at Michael respectfully. "Hey."

"You remember meeting Mr Torrent, right? Well, you two will be getting to know each other a lot better from now on," Brett stated.

I frowned, wondering what that was about. "How's that then?"

"I'm putting you in charge of the security detail across the clubs," Brett said, shrugging.

I looked at him in disbelief. I seriously didn't want to do that at all, but there was no way I could say no, especially not in front of someone else because that would be disrespectful. I decided to try and go for another angle that would hopefully make them choose someone else.

"Brett, I'm not the best person for that. Someone like Terry or Wayne will do better here than me. I'm sure Mr Torrent wants the best person looking after his staff," I countered.

Mr Torrent shook his head. "I asked for you as soon as I heard you were back in Brett's employment. I've heard a lot about you, everyone has, and I'm sure just the name Kid Cole will pretty much guarantee no trouble at my clubs," he said, smiling at me and gripping my shoulder affectionately.

"I'm only here for three months," I protested.

Brett snorted and rolled his eyes. I knew right then and there that he was thinking I would get addicted to the rush and the money and I wouldn't want to leave at the end of the agreed time.

Maybe he didn’t know me as well as he thought he did. I wouldn't allow this to be my life, not while I still had something to fight for. Ellie was worth the fight to get my freedom from this life and I would scrap with every ounce of energy in my body to be good enough for her.

Michael looked at Brett; obviously he wasn't aware of our agreed timescale. Brett waved his hand dismissively. "Let's just get things sorted out for now, and we'll cross that bridge if we come to it," he suggested.

I wanted to correct him and say '
when
we come to it' but instead I just nodded in agreement. I needed to just get through the three months and then I could leave this all behind me. It looked like now I was going to be working in a strip club at the weekends. Awesome.

We spent another hour in the club, going through the basics. I would have five guys in each club of Michael's seven clubs. Those guys would work security on the door, inside the club, and one that watched the backrooms where some of the girls provided 'extra services'. Basically I was just on call and would need to show my face at the weekends so that people would see me here. I had no idea why both Michael and Brett seemed to think that me being here was a good idea and that it would help stop trouble. It seemed like stories about me had been blown wildly out of proportion when I was sent down. In reality I wasn't even old enough to drink, I was only eighteen. But I did as I was told and agreed to come here on Saturday night for a few hours.

As time passed I was starting to resent my mother more and more. This new 'security detail' was going to significantly limit my time with my girlfriend.

By the time we were done it was after three in the afternoon and there was really no point in me going to the scrap yard, they liked to head off at about four anyway. I lingered in Brett's office with him and wondered how I could ask for money already even though I'd only made the agreement three days ago. His usual payout day was Sunday, so I had a few days to go yet.

I frowned and he looked at me curiously, taking off his suit jacket and hanging it on his coat rack.

"What's up, you don't usually linger. Something wrong?" he asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

I shook my head and decided to just ask; he could only say no, it was no big deal. "I was wondering if I could get an advance on my wages. Not the one for the boost, just the weekly rate. My first payment is due soon and I want to have the money ready," I asked, looking at him hopefully.

Thoughts of me not having the money in time had been buzzing around my head all day and I just needed to make sure nothing could go wrong. Having that money early would just take some of the pressure off of me and stop me stressing so much.

He sighed and headed over to his safe that hung behind a picture on the wall. I watched as he pulled out $2,000 and slammed the door shut. "Just don't be telling the other boys I did that, I don't want them all in here asking. That was the only exception, and only because it was you. Understand?"

I smiled gratefully and felt some of the tension loosen from my shoulders as I shoved the money into the inside pocket of my leather jacket. "Thanks, Brett. I'll see you tomorrow night before the boost." He waved me off with a flick of his fingers so I headed out quickly before he thought of anything else he wanted me to do for him.

That night I barely slept at all. All I kept thinking about was Ellie getting hurt. I knew I should break it off with her, I shouldn't be dragging her into this seedy world with me, she deserved better than that. But I couldn't let her go; I just needed her to keep me sane otherwise what would be the point in me fighting so hard? There was no freedom without her.

I decided to see how it went. Hopefully now that I'd shown my face a little, the boosts would start rolling in and I would have the money to pay Tony off within a couple of weeks. Then all I would need to worry about was not letting her know the real me.

I tossed and turned in my bed, trying desperately to get some sleep. I had a seriously long day tomorrow. I had a full days work at the scrap yard, then her dance, after that, the boost. I wasn't looking forward to bailing on Ellie tomorrow night, but it needed to be done. I hoped she forgave me; she was an incredible person so I think she would. I laid on my back and blew out a big breath, watching the shadows dance across the ceiling. I pushed myself up and grabbed the calendar off of the wall and a pen, circling the last date that I had agreed to work for Brett. I kept that circled date in my head as I laid back down and finally drifted into a shallow sleep.

~ Ellie ~

"He's gonna do it tonight, I just know it," I moaned, putting my head in my hands.

Stacey sighed and rubbed her hand across my shoulder supportively. "Ellie, for goodness sake, Jamie is not going to break it off with you! Will you get a hold of yourself? You're going to ruin your make-up!" she scolded, pulling my hands away from my face with her other hand.

I looked up at her and willed myself to believe her, to listen to the words that she'd been cooing over and over for the last week - but I couldn’t make myself believe them in the slightest. Jamie was going to break up with me soon, I just knew it. He'd been so distant lately, everything was changing between us. Maybe he was realising that he was better suited to someone more….. in his league.

"Stace, seriously, we've barely even spoken lately. He just goes off daydreaming all the time and he gets this look on his face that tells me he doesn’t want to talk about stuff when I ask what's wrong.

He jumps every time his cell phone rings, he told me last night that I can't stay at his place on Saturday night because he has and I quote 'plans with Callum' yet I'm sure that Callum is going away with his family this weekend, I'm positive he said that was this weekend!" I explained for the hundredth time.

She shook her head and plopped down onto the bed next to me, looking at me sternly. "Ellie Pearce, just stop thinking about it. Whenever I see you two together you're laughing and flirting. You're constantly talking on the phone, do you know how rare that is for people to just be able to talk on the phone to their boyfriends for ten minutes without losing their interest, yet you can talk to Jamie for an hour and still have more to say to each other. I can't do that with Paul, not even close. You've probably got your weekends muddled up, Callum's probably going away some other time and you're just reading too much into things because you're getting scared."

I frowned at that. Jamie and I got on great we really did, and if the last week hadn't happened then I wouldn't be thinking anything was wrong. But Jamie had just become more….. quiet, reserved even. He didn't pay me as much attention; sometimes he'd just get this look on his face, like he was somewhere else while I was talking to him. Something was wrong, and it HAD to be me.

"I'm not getting scared," I countered, frowning.

She raised one eyebrow at me challengingly. "Yes you are, I know for a fact that you're crazy about that boy and that fact scares the life out of you because of how Mark turned out. You're scared to let yourself fall for him so you're making up excuses so that you don't get too close. You're hoping to convince yourself that it's going nowhere so that you don't end up getting hurt in the long run," she stated confidently.

I closed my eyes and shook my head. I wasn't just being scared - sure, I
was
scared to fall for him because Mark started out great too in the beginning, but that wasn't what this was at all. Jamie was acting different at the moment. Not the usual attentive, loving Jamie that I was indeed falling for.

"I'm not scared," I protested. I opened my eyes and looked at Stacey again, forcing a smile so that she wouldn't see how upset this was making me. "I guess we'll see who's right eventually. Either he'll break up with me, or I'm being stupid and this is all nothing. There's nothing I can do about it either way," I said shrugging casually.

She smiled and raised one perfectly arched eyebrow. "Actually there is something we can do about it. We can make you look drop dead gorgeous tonight, and maybe he'll cancel his plans with Callum and chain you to his bed for the weekend instead," she suggested, grinning wickedly.

I laughed and rolled my eyes at her crudity. "I do have a pair of killer heels that he's going to love," I admitted, smiling at the thought of how excited Jamie got over a pair of stilettos.

Stacey laughed and nodded. "You know what you should pair those shoes with?" she asked, grinning. I shook my head and looked at her expectantly. "Absolutely nothing," she finished.

I laughed and felt the blush creep onto my face at the thought of it. Now
that
Jamie would like I had no doubt in my mind about that. "Maybe. I'll see how it goes later tonight," I agreed.

She clapped her hands excitedly and bounced on the bed a little. "Right, now the melodramatics are out of the way, let's do our hair!" she chirped, springing off of the bed and flicking on the curlers. I forced a smile and tried my hardest not to think about Jamie finishing with me.

I stood in front of the mirror and gulped. Stacey had spent almost an hour curling my hair for me, then scooping one side up off of my face severely so I had a mass of curls going over one shoulder.

My make-up had been reapplied after my freak out, the eye shadow and mascara that she'd plastered on me made my grey eyes look big and excited. My skin looked soft and buffed, my nails were perfectly polished. Even the light greyish-blue silk dress that I was wearing looked like it was something straight out of a magazine. I chewed on my lip as I looked it over. I'd made it myself, specifically for tonight but I wasn't convinced I should wear it. I'd never shown people my clothing designs before and I was incredibly embarrassed about it. The only ones that even knew I was interested in design were Stacey and Mark - Stacey loved everything I made, Mark on the other hand had told me on numerous occasions that most of my designs were trashy and classless. That was one of the reasons why I'd never shown anyone anything.

I'd actually bought a dress to wear for tonight as a backup in case I chickened out of wearing this one, but somehow Stacey had 'accidently' spilt her coke on it earlier so now I was stuck with either this, or a ugly black dress that wasn't really school winter dance material.

I flicked my eyes to her in the mirror; she was looking at me with the most adoring eyes as she chewed on her bottom lip. "It's beautiful. The neckline, the little mesh bit at the top, so beautiful," she gushed, shaking her head slightly.

I frowned. "Stacey, this would look much better on you. Seriously, you wear it and I'll wear yours," I pleaded. Stacey was much more suited to a figure hugging silk dress than I was, she was incredibly beautiful and it wouldn't surprise me if she could even turn a straight woman gay if she turned on the charm. I envied her, I really did.