Hypnotic

Somehow Trouble Always Finds Me

My car broke down this morning so I couldn't drive Logan to school and I couldn't drive to work. Logan was fussy about getting on the school bus because he's used to me driving him to school and I honestly felt bad. I had to call the car dealership after Logan went to school and the tow truck came to pick up my car. The car dealership owner said the gas tank was defective and needed to be replaced immediately if I wanted my car back, to replace it; it costs $1126.78 which is pretty expensive considering it's an old car but I paid for it and was told I could pick up my car in a couple of days.

Work was pretty slow today, not many people were at the club but I still tried my best to entice the crowd around my stage area. Natasha didn't come to work which I found odd because she is at work every single night, she picked up extra shifts recently, for what reason? I do not know nor do I want to know. As I leave my dressing room, Grey stops me "We need to talk about your work performance" I gulp because I'm nervous. Grey has a white bandage on his nose and light bruising around his eyes and cheeks. Marshall got him pretty bad "Did I do something wrong?" I ask him sounding anxious "It's best we talk in my office" I follow him into his office and sit down on his office chair placed right in front of his desk. I hear him lock the door and walk over to his desk "Before we begin, I'm sorry about your nose" I wanted to apologize for what Marshall did "Water under the bridge, it's not your fault" He nods as he sits down opposite me

"Anyway" He leans over his desk and intertwines his fingers "I need you to stand down from dancing as I have more recruits" Grey says and I blink a few times "You're firing me?" I ask him in disbelief "Oh no you are one of my best dancers, I'm bumping you up to doing something other than dangling from the pole because I'm sure by now you may be bored of doing the same routine over and over again, am I right?" Grey asks me and I lean back on my chair "I guess" I nod "So what do you want me to do?" I ask him "I'm glad you asked" Grey smiles "You'll be given a uniform from now on and when a customer asks for a lap dance, you will do it but do not allow them to touch any parts of your body you're not comfortable with, you'll still be an exotic dancer just not on stage anymore and you'll be given a time table with a salary" Grey grabs a laminated sheet of paper from his drawer and slides it over to me "As you can see here, you'll be working three nights a week that's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, from 10:30pm to 3:30am, making $300 to $600" I look over the sheet "That's far too little from what I was making" I glare at him

"I was making $1000 for two nights and now I'm gonna only be making, what, $300 to $600" I look at him like he's stupid "You'll get paid based on your work performance, so you could be getting paid $1000 after your shift if you can make the five hours worth the money" Grey looks at me dead in the eyes "Are you in or do I need to fire you?" He asks me with his provoking smirk "Can I think about this before I make a decision?" I ask him "No, I need a decision now" Grey leans back on his chair and crosses his arms "I'm in" I sigh "Good, good, I'll see you next week" I blink a few times in confusion "Next week? Not tomorrow" I ask him "It's recruitment day tomorrow so nobody will be coming into work" I nod "Have a goodnight" Grey says as I get up "You too" I exit his office and leave the nightclub.

I'm bummed over the fact that this is a step down, not a bump up and I'm bummed over the fact I don't have a car to drive home so I gotta walk in the cold. I still haven't been able to plan my trip to Wisconsin with Logan as I've been busy with work, Marshall, taking care of Logan, and paying my bills. My rent is only getting higher and I'm running out of money but luckily my job will keep me on my feet even if I only make $300 to $600 for three days. I'll probably make $1000, I'll need to work my ass off in this step-down. Grey is such a jerk for calling it a bump-up when clearly it's not but hey, at least I'll be making tips from customers. I'm not always good at finding the silver lining of hard situations, I'm still training myself to do it and it's difficult but I manage.

I'm walking closer to this alley with a chilling feeling running down my spine, I wish I called Marshall to pick me up with Kim's car because I'm feeling unease, my stomach feels like a pit and I can't seem to pull my focus from it because that's all I'm thinking about. Marshall had the girls over today so I didn't want to ruin his time with them since he hadn't seen them in almost a week. I only just found out that Hailie said her first words on the day Kim and Marshall had their first breakup because of me and the guilt I felt clutched at my heart, I couldn't believe I had done it and I couldn't believe Kim was so selfish to keep Hailie from Marshall.

As I walked past the alley, the feeling in my stomach only got stronger and before I could even process what was happening. I feel someone wrap their hand over my mouth, dragging me inside the alley and pushing me against the brick wall. There are three guys surrounding me, one has both of my arms pinned against the wall, the other has his hand over my mouth, shutting me up and the third guy has a gun pointed to my face. They all have black-knitted ski masks over their faces, I can only see their eyes. All three guys have dark brown eyes "You're the bitch who's been messing with our sister" I furrow my brows in confusion at the man who has my arms pinned "You don't know who the fuck we're talking about" I look at the man with a gun to my face, my tears are pooling my eyes, blurring my vision. I'm fucking scared for my life "Our sister, Natasha Green" My eyes widen. That fucking bitch couldn't take care of me on her own, she sent her brothers to do her dirty work

"We've been hearing, you were giving her a hard time" The man who has my arms pinned says harshly "We won't do anything to you" The man who has his hand over my mouth "Yet" The man who has his caliber pointed to my face continues "But if you mess with her again" I look at the man who has my arms pinned "We'll be right back and you won't fucking like it" He continues "Nod if you agree" I nod slowly "Good girl" I see a smirk form as they let go of me and I catch my breath. The guy who held a gun to my face, took it upon himself to grab my hair "You'll regret it, I promise you that" He shoves me hard to the floor, and I scraped my knee and forearm "Stupid bitch" I hear the guys laugh as they begin to walk away from the alley. I slowly pick myself up and dust myself down. I wipe away my tears and head home.

......

As soon as I make it to my apartment, I throw a fit, drop to my knees, and break down. Nothing is getting better in my life and now the last thing I need is to get assaulted by Natasha's brothers. If I mess with her again then they may kill me, I can't let her get to me, now I can't stand up for myself against her because she'll just call her brothers up. Natasha won. I've accepted defeat. I pick myself up from the floor and walk to my computer I recently bought. I look up flights to Wisconsin for Monday and book two tickets for a round trip. Me and Logan are gonna be gone for two weeks, I just need to get away and what happened to me is the perfect excuse.