"Come on, we're almost home," Ryan laughs as he jogs ahead of me. I only manage to go a couple more feet before I have to stop to try to catch my breath.
When I realized that Ryan only lived around the corner from the park, I figured it wouldn't have been a long run. I didn't think that the place he bought the breakfast sandwiches from were a two and a half miles away though! This is causing me to regret skipping gym so many times.
"Come on," Ryan laughs as he jogs in place. "We just have to cut through the park and we'll be home."
"Shut it, you show off " I say as I try to catch my breath. Once I've catch my breath however, I start jogging with him until we get back to the apartments. "I'm just a little out of shape."
"I wouldn't put it that way. You're just not use to running for that long. After all, you did start off pretty strong."
"Thanks," I laugh as we walk around the corner.
We both then look over to the opposite side of the complex and I see someone looking into one of the glass doors. I look up to Ryan, who is already in the middle of throwing his water bottle. I watch as the bottle fly up to the second floor of the building across from us, and it hits the door above the man. Within seconds, that door flies open and I see the same man from the club last night, Marcel, run out. He goes to the railing and looks down to us, and Ryan just points to the man below Marcel.
Marcel rolls his eyes and carefully crawls over the railing before he slowly lowers himself down to the first floor. He jumps into the grass to make his landing as quiet as he possibly could, before he walks up behind the man. My eyes widen and I gasp as I watch Marcel then grab the back of the man's head and slam it against the door before throwing him onto the ground.
"I told you to stay the hell away from here," Marcel yells at the man. "You've already been banned from the club, and we've already called the police on you three times! If you don't get the fuck out of my face right now, I swear to god, I'll beat you into the ground!"
I blink and by the time I had opened my eyes, the man was running around the corner to get away. Marcel turns to the door and rips the door open before he yells, "Are you fucking serious?!"
Ryan turns me to him and hands me the keys to the apartment. "Go wait for me in the apartment. You can take a shower if you want, you can watch TV, or play on the pole, whatever. It doesn't matter. Just go wait in there and make sure to lock the door behind you."
I take the keys and nod, having a feeling that now isn't the time to ask any questions. As I walk to the apartment door, I look over my shoulder and watch as Ryan runs across the courtyard and goes through the door Marcel ran through.
I go into the apartment and do as I was told, making sure to lock the door behind me before I put the key into a bowl next to the TV. I decide to take a shower first, so I walk to the bedroom and open a drawer in their dresser, taking out a clean shirt, pants, and boxers for me. It's been three days since I met Panda, and Ryan and Bryce have been pushing to make sure that I follow the rules he made for me.
They cleared out one of the drawers for me to have my clothes in, I have to work out multiple times a day, and they've made sure to have pre made meals for me, which I have to eat throughout the day. Although my body has been sore from that, I know it's for the best. I need to get this job.
Once I grab my clothes, I walk into the bathroom and turn on the water in the shower, sticking my hand in to test the temperature. As soon as I think that it is just right, I slip out of my sweatshirt and pants and get into the shower, allowing the warm water to hit my body. I then shut my eyes before I take a bottle of shampoo and start massaging it into my hair.
As I scrub out the dirt and sweat built up on my body, I allow my mind to wonder off again, and of course, I end up thinking about my parents again. As time goes on, I can't help but think of them. They are... They were everything to me. I love them so much and I never in a million years would have ever thought I would be in this situation, but I knew I had to leave.
As I rinse off the soap and shampoo out of my hair, I start thinking more about the time before my parents fell into the darkness that was their addiction. I remember my dad getting more and more angry as days went on and he struggled to get work. I remember my mom skipping meals in order to make sure I ate every night. I remember my dad crying when he had to ask my grandparents to help them pay our bills. Then, one day, he came home and was... different. Later on, my mom and I learned that that was the day he was welcomed into the darkness.
I shake my head and turn off the water. I don't want to think about my dad like that. He wasn't always like that, I know he wasn't. I can still remember him as the man that taught me how to ride a bike. The man that told me I could do anything and he would still be proud of me. The man that always made sure to spend a full day with my mom and myself, so that we always knew that he loved us. The man that would work his ass off to make sure that we had a comfortable life. That's what I want to remember. I don't want to think about my dad when he was swallowed by his darkness. That isn't him.
As I step out of the shower and I start drying myself off with a towel, I think more about how my parents use to be. Who they really are. My dad was someone to look up to. My mom was someone to admire. They were amazing people that fell into something. I hope they can get out of it, and I hope I can see them again. For now though, I need to get this job. I need to do something to get my life moving in a good direction, and I think it may be able to start with this job.
After drying myself off, I put my clothes on and walk out to the living room, where I see that Ryan and Bryce are still not back. I look over to the pole in the middle of the room and take a deep breath before I run to it and jump on, wrapping my hands and legs around it and starting to spin around it, using as much of my upper body strength as I can to keep myself up.
Whenever I can, I try to practice those tricks Ryan showed me, but I haven't made that much progress with them. I still can't walk on air, but I can hold myself up for a minute.
I try to make myself spin around the pole as my legs start kicking around, when I hear the door start to open, causing me to freeze and fall to the ground. I groan as I push myself up onto my knees, and put a hand on my head as I hear laughing behind me. "You can't be all that shy whenever we come in," Ryan says as he walks over to me and helps me up.
I hear the door shut and look over to see Bryce walking towards the bedroom with a basket of clothes in his arms. When I'm on my feet, I turn around and sit on the couch before I ask, "What was all of that outside?"
Ryan rolls his eyes and sighs. "That was one of the few things we hate about our jobs. The man that Marcel chased away was a former costumer. His name is also Ryan, and he was a business man that came in daily. Every time he came in, everyone treated him better than any other costumer there. He had money, and he loved to spend it. And then Bryce showed up!"
"Shut up, Ohm" I hear Bryce yell from the bedroom. He walks back out and leans against the counter. "It's not my fault he got attached."
"What," I say, confused.
"I started working at the club about a year ago, maybe a year and a half. When I started, I worked my ass off to get good at the job, and Ryan took notice. After a while, he requested that I would either serve him his drinks or give him lap dances, whichever I could do that day. Then one day, he asked me to be his boyfriend, and I turned him down for two reasons. Both of which would have gotten me fired."
"What were the reasons?"
"We have three rules at the club for the employees," Ryan explains. "Number one, no matter what, you have to do as the boss says. If he tells you to jump, you do it, no questions asked. Number two, you can not date a costumers. We provide them with a service, and we leave it at that."
I nod and see Bryce and Ryan then turn to look at each other. "The last rule," Bryce then says. "Is that employees are not allowed to date other employees."
"A rule Bryce and I broke."
My eyes widen. "Wait, you guys are dating?"
"No," Ryan says before he turns away. "We broke up a few months ago. But when Ryan asked Bryce to go out with him, we had been a couple for a week. No body knows about us though, so you have to keep quiet about it."
I nod.
"After I turned Ryan down though, things changed. He drank more and started touching me whenever I gave him a dance. I would always tell him to stop, and Marcel gave him serval warnings. One day, he came in when I wasn't there, and he got pissed off."
"He started yells at us; accusing us of hiding you from him, and he tried to go backstage. Before then, he was always so calm and nice, so all of the guys were scared."
"After that day, Panda banned him from the club. And then he got worse, which we didn't think was possible."
"He started waiting for you outside of the club until we called the police on him. Then he started following you after you left work, so he found out where we all live. Stalking turned into harassing and blackmail, which caused our break up."
"However," Bryce sighs as he smiles. "He is stopping. This was the first time he's shown up all month, and he didn't do anything other than stare at me; so it's a good sign. He might be getting bored of something, I don't know."
"I don't know either," Ryan says, looking away. "But I don't trust this. He was watching you do laundry for God only knows how long. You were alone."
"Ohm, stop; I'm fine."
"I know, but Marcel was right. You shouldn't have let your guard down."
"It was a mistake and a one time thing. It won't happen again. Now, if you guys will excuse me, I have more laundry to do." As soon as he says those words, he turns and walks into the bedroom again.
Ryan rolls his eyes and mutters, "Why do you always have to be an ass when I try to help you?"
He then looks over to me and smiles. "So, Evan, why don't you try practicing again? Having someone here might actually help you get these tricks down."
I chuckle and nod before I get off of the couch and walk over to the pole. As long as Marcel is here, we're safe it seems... That's what this means... Right?