Strictly Business

"Scarlett! Get over here!" Trish called out to her, where she had just stepped off the elevator.

Scarlett obeyed the older woman, hurrying over to where Trish was waiting by the front desk. "Yeah?"

"I have a surprise for you. I want you to meet someone in a few minutes. He is very important, you understand? Be on your best behavior and make sure the other girls don't come down while I get him."

"Sure," she replied. Honestly, she was dreading it. Yet another customer she had to secure. She'd only returned from her night with Derek at Trish's club and she'd barely had time to shower and get her eight hours of sleep before Trish was calling her to get ready and get down to the lobby again. She looked down at the dark purple marks forming on her wrists from the strain of the ropes that she hadn't had time to cover up in her rush. She had them on her thighs and neck as well.

Scarlett sat down in one of the lobby's chairs while she waited, but it was only a few minutes before Trish had returned with an older man dressed in a nice tan suit.

"Scarlett, this is Felix Fontane. Felix, this is the girl I was telling you about."

This Felix character, with his unsettling, almost black eyes and his spiked dark hair that didn't belong on a man in his forties, took her hand and pressed his lips to it for a little longer than was a comfortable greeting. "Wow, Trish, you were right. She is stunning. They don't have 'em like this in California."

"Isn't she? She's my best girl."

Scarlett did what she was supposed to do. She just stood there with a subtle smirk on her face while he and Trish talked back and forth. She only half paid attention to him as he talked about his small town in California. That was, until he put his gropey hand on her ass and squeezed so tightly that she yelped in surprise and pain. He immediately looked angry at the sound she'd made and how she'd pulled away from him.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Fontane. Just took me by surprise, that's all," she covered, plastering a fake smile on her face.

Felix laughed heartily as he patted her on the ass. "Oh yes, I like her. She's going to make a good addition to my business. She's probably even worth more than I paid!"

Scarlett froze. What the fuck did he just say? Trish's eyes automatically flashed over to her, seeing the look of shock and horror on her face. "Scarlett," she started but the younger woman was already walking away from them.

"I'm sorry, I don't feel well," she said over her shoulder and made a beeline to the elevator, which luckily happened to be open so people could get out. She pressed the roof level and leaned against the wall, letting out a shaky breath.

When she reached the roof, she kicked off her high heels and climbed up to sit on the ledge so she could listen to the noise around her. The loud sounds of the city were a comfort to her. She looked straight down at the ground, which was a good distance down. She wasn't necessarily suicidal, but she did think for a moment that it wouldn't be so bad if she just happened to slip.

She sat on the ledge, her bare feet dangling off the side of the building. Anyone who came up on her now might think she was preparing herself to jump. Which is exactly what Trish had thought.

"Scarlett, what the fuck are you doing?! Get down from there!"

She didn't respond to the older woman. She just lifted her eyes toward the sky and let the cool morning breeze whip the loose strands of her dark hair around her face.

"Please get off that ledge, Scarlett."

Trish Marshall had never begged for anything before.

But here she was on the hotel roof, pleading with Scarlett to move away from the edge of that twenty-story drop. Scarlett laughed as she slowly turned her head to look over her right shoulder at the woman who'd been her mentor since she was nothing but a stupid teenager. "Am I supposed to believe you give a fuck now? After all, I'm just another one of your whores. I'm disposable to you."

"Oh, don't be such a smartass bitch." There was the Trish Marshall she knew. In a matter of seconds, she'd gone from begging Scarlett not to jump off the roof to returning to her old attitude. "You don't know everything."

Scarlett swiveled her body around so that her feet were no longer hanging off the side of the building, even though she was still sitting on the ledge. "I know you sold me to that repulsive old pimp from some nothing town in California."

"Hey, Felix is a big deal in that town, just like I am here. He's not got as much money, but you don't need as much to live off of there," she snapped as if Scarlett were somehow being ungrateful for what she'd done.

"I can't go to some little shit town, Trish! Big cities are all I know. Big cities with lots of customers."

"That's why I did it, baby," she replied, her voice softer now for some reason.

Scarlett laughed humorlessly. "Don't act like you did this for me."

"But I did. You've been in this business a long time, baby. I've asked a lot of you over the years and I know that. You're the best seller I have. On top of you having double the customers as the other girls, you've had to train every time I get some new girls. You're good at your job, baby, really fucking good. But maybe now you can go to California and relax a little bit. The job won't be nearly the hassle it is here in a city like this."

"Wait, so you're telling me you did this so I don't have to work so much? That's complete bullshit and we both know it."

"I don't give a shit what you think you know. The bottom line is that this is a good opportunity for you to get out of Sin City and go settle down a little bit."

"You think I'm just gonna go live out in this dusty little town and settle down? You're the one who made me into this person I am, Trish! There's no way moving out into the middle of nowhere is going to change me. I'm a trained whore," she said, spitting out the last two words venomously. "A little town that's not even on a fucking map is not going to satisfy me."

"In time, it will."

Scarlett shook her head and stood her feet to be eye level with the older woman, her icy blue eyes boring into Trish's brown ones. "I can't believe you fucking sold me."

"It's for the best, baby. You'll see. Here," she said, extending her arm toward the young brunette.

"What is it?" she asked skeptically, holding out her hand. Trish set a thick roll of money into her palm before retracting her hand and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Um, what's this for?" Scarlett looked at the roll of money in her hand before finally closing her fingers around it.

"A going away present. It's ten thousand. Should get you started when you get to California. Get a car, buy whatever you need." She noticed the raised eyebrow she got from the woman in front of her. .

Both women stood in tense silence, just watching each other. Neither of them was sure what the other would say or do next. Finally, Scarlett sighed, her curiosity getting the best of her. "How much did you sell me for?"

Trish looked down at Scarlett's hand, which now was closed in a tight fist around the wad of cash. "Ten thousand."

"That's bullshit. I've been around for a long time and the first thing I know about you is that you're a fucking businesswoman. You'd never give me 100% of your profits."

"Alright, fine, he paid twenty," she finally admitted.

That's more like it, Scarlett thought. She crossed her arms over her full chest and quirked an eyebrow at her now former boss. "I want fifteen."

"What?" Trish asked her incredulously.

"You heard me. If you want me to leave, I'll leave and go to that god-forsaken dump in California. But I want fifteen," she told her, holding up the wad of green bills. "This roll's a little light."

Trish glared hard at the younger woman but Scarlett just stood her ground. She'd obviously learned a lot from the older woman over the years and she was putting it to good use.

Those were her terms. If Trish didn't agree to them, then she could just leave with then ten thousand she had in her fist and Trish would be forced to pay Felix back every penny of the money he'd already paid out. That, or Trish would have to give him a different one of her girls. Either way, she'd be losing big.

Trish finally rolled her eyes and reached into the back pocket of her jeans, unfolding the stack of bills and counting out another five thousand. She stuffed the rest back into her pocket and handed the five over to Scarlett, who snatched it out of her manicured hands. "You have to go back with him tonight," she told the younger woman.

Scarlett picked up her stilettos from the ground next to her feet. "I figured," she sighed, slipping past the woman who'd taken care of her for the past eight years.

"Hey," she called out, causing Scarlett to turn back and look at her.

"What?"

Trish rubbed her lips together as she looked away from the other woman's bright blue stare. "I did care about you, Katie. You know that, right?"

Scarlett was surprised by the older woman's words and even more surprised that she'd used her real name, since that was off limits once she someone got into her "business." But she nodded her head and walked inside to push the button and wait for the elevator.

She had no doubt that Trish had truly cared about her ever since she'd found her in that homeless shelter when she was a scared, barely seventeen year old kid. She'd been a mother figure, and a friend. Trish and the other girls were all she'd known for the past eight years and now she was being forced to walk away from it all. In some twisted way, she felt sad about leaving.

And it was all for some stupid town in California.