he says that she’s crap. Maybe, if I find a new dancer, he won’t need Jasmine. Think, Max, think. I don’t know anyone else who can do the job. Damn it!
“Good, let me know.” He dismisses me. Making my way towards the dressing room, I start to panic; I don’t want her to dance. I’m being ridiculous, it’s not like she’s my girl.
“Vicki, get your stuff, quickly, and get out,” I shout, my anger bubbling over. I’m seriously pissed off now. Why does everything have to go so wrong, and why does everything have to be so hard? No one teaches you this stuff in school. They teach you all sorts of shit but real life isn’t about Maths and English, it’s hard and it sucks.
After escorting Vicki off the premises, I make my way to the staff room to call Scotty.
“Hi, Mate. Jake asked me to give ya a call to see how Jasmine’s getting on.” My stomach lurches at the thought of her up on that stage, taking off her clothes.
“She’s amazing, Max, a real natural. She could probably do with a few more lessons on techniques and choreography, but it shouldn’t take long for her to grasp the concept. She could pull off a three to five minute performance.” FUCK!
“Okay, thanks, I’ll let Jake know. Can ya come in this week if you’re needed?”
“Yeah, sure. Let me know. ” He’s always so damn cheery. He makes me want to puke with how cheery he is all the time.
“I’ll call you back.”
Hanging up the phone, I make my way back to Jake’s office to tell him the good news.
Chapter Ten
Jasmine
“It’s perfect, we’ll take it.” The estate agent shakes my hand as we leave the property. Austen runs down the steps and onto the pavement, waiting when he gets to the car door.
“Great, I’ll have the documents drawn up, if you could pop in and see us this week to sign the forms and we will get your references dealt with.” Her blonde hair swishes in the wind and I notice she has one of those strange ear piercings, you know the one where it looks like you could fit a butt plug through your ear lobe.
“Thanks, I’ll speak to you soon.” I go round to the driver’s side of the car and climb in. “Do you love it, baby?” I ask Austen. He seemed pretty bored whilst we were viewing the new flat. Although, I don’t blame him. I’ve dragged him around several different flats over the last week.
“Yeah, it’s cool, and it’s near my new school so I can make some new friends.” The flat is just down the road from the new school and only a ten minute walk to my parents ’ house. We have come to an arrangement that Austen will sleep at Mum and Dad’s house when I’m working and he will sleep at home when I’m not. It’s a bit of a messy situation but if it wasn’t for this job, I wouldn’t be able to afford the flat at all. Rent is a hell of a lot cheaper than it is in London, but it’s still a stretch, or at least it would be if I had a lesser-paid job. We make our way back home, and I make Austen some lunch before having a quick nap. I’m so exhausted lately and I have to work again tonight. I keep telling myself that I’m doing all of this to give Austen a better life. It won’t always be like this.
I wake with a start, sweat pouring out of me. Turning over I glance at my phone. Crap, I need to get ready for work. The nightmare that has been haunting my sleep daily, still clinging to me. In it, the man with the gun is chasing me. He knows where I work, he knows where I live, he even knows about Austen. He want’s to hurt us both. He wants to shut me up, Permanently. I beg for my life, I plead with him and promise to never say a word. Then the gun goes off and I wake up.
Jumping in the shower, I try to dissipate the remnants of the nightmare before getting ready and heading off to Lust.
“Hey, Piper, how’re things?” I call out as I walk through the bar towards the dressing room. She’s sitting on one of the bar stools talking to Harry. Harry is a
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