My Father's Friend
My Father’s Friend – Chapter 18

The sound of the music was loud enough to hear the murmurs of the men talking non-stop, impatiently waiting for the girls in Otto’s half-lit bar. With only a tiny lamp in the middle of the table, and many half-filled brandy glasses on the table, the patrons were eager to see the evening’s performance.

Otto visited each table, smiling at the customers, though he saw them more as walking checkbooks… while the circus owner chatted with his customers, some very discouraged young ladies prepared to go out and lose a little more of their dignity.

-The new one will go last,” Erika declared, adjusting her skirt.

-Her name is Casey,” Serena shouted.

-Yeah whatever, let’s get this damn night over with once and for all,” she says stepping out from behind the curtains, then there is the sound of applause and whistles from the men.

Serena looks over the edge of her shoulders, visualizing the black-haired girl, hell, she had to help her out of that mess.

[…]

Applause broke out just as L.C entered the bar, the blue-eyed man caught a glimpse of the girls coming out from behind the curtain. He looked at each of them in detail, one blonde started to dance on the stage while the others were called by the men at each table.

He sits down at the usual table, one that gave him a view of most of the bar. At that, a presence stands next to him, but without taking a seat.

-Welcome L.C., good of you to come.

-Get out, Otto,” he replies with that bitterness in his voice.

-I’ll send someone to get you a drink,” he replies, walking away from the table.

A few seconds later, one of the girls deposited a glass with the drink he always asked for. He looked sideways at the redhead and realised that her hand was shaking as soon as she put the drink on the table. However, he said absolutely nothing to her. Rather, he ignored her presence and concentrated on the rest of the girls.

[…]

They were all outside, the only one who didn’t dare leave the shelter of the dressing room was Casey. Especially after wearing that revealing outfit that consisted only of lace panties connected to thigh-high stockings. The young woman tightened her bra a little more, feeling her breasts bulging out, even though they were small, she thought the garment was too small for her. But she had nothing else to wear.

Stupid Erika had chosen the garment, as Serena decided that a dress was the most appropriate for her first night. But the blonde adamantly objected to her wearing such a conservative dress, Casey flattened her lips, Erika was envious and resentful… she let out a sigh, it was time to go out, but she was scared to death. She knew he was there waiting for her.

Once again, she tried to hold back the tears. Serena had done her make-up so well, she really didn’t deserve him to ruin her work. She took a deep breath, it was time for her to face her fate.

-Hey stupid, it’s time for you to come out,” A man peeked through the velvet fabric announcing it was time.

She walks towards the exit, when Serena appears from behind the curtains. Casey gasps when she sees her all agitated.

-You can’t go out there, he’s out there.

-I know that, but there’s nothing we can do, I have to get out or it’s going to be very bad for me.

-Casey.” He takes her by the shoulders. He seems pretty bored, he’s not interested in any of the girls he’s seen out there. You can’t go out, if he sees you, he’ll buy you.

That news made Casey’s hair stand on end, he was aware that he was hoping to buy a girl that night, but to be told in such a desperate way by Serena gave him dread and chills.

-If I don’t come out, Otto will hurt me.

-I’ll help you cover up tonight, you can’t go out.

-No, no, I won’t let you do that. He’ll kill you, forget it. If I’m gonna risk your life just to protect myself, then no.

[…]

Desperate and quite irritated, Otto looked at the curtain again and again. While the girls were dancing on the platform, they were about to finish their number and that meant that Casey should have left by now. But he hadn’t, he complains mentally.

He glances at L.C. and notices that he’s not very happy, and from his annoyed expression Otto senses that at any moment he might just walk out and not buy anything. And that wasn’t good for his bank statement for the month, he needed that money he was going to ask for Casey’s damned money.

So, in a rage, he walked over to Erika, grabbed her elbow roughly and made her look him in the face.

-Where’s f*****g Casey? I told you she had to get out after they all did.

-I told her, Otto. I warned her she had to get out.

-So why the f**k isn’t she out, then? -Why the f**k isn’t she out?

-I just… -I don’t know.

-Well, go replace her, with a demon.

I was about to take her out of the dressing room to take her somewhere else, Serena and Casey were planning to get out of there. Well actually, it was mostly the brunette who thought it all out, but as they were about to leave, the blonde entered the dressing room surprisingly, catching them red-handed.

-I told you to get out after we all got out, and here you are, trying to sneak out like a f*****g bitch,” she spat in annoyance. Otto, he was about to beat me up because of you, I’m not going to let you get away that easy and beat the shit out of me.

-Erika, that man is out there if she comes out he’ll….

-I don’t care, she’ll come out.” He grabs the redhead by the arm and pulls her.

-No, Erika, don’t, he’ll take her,” Serena interjects, but the blonde pushes her away.

Casey looked like a rag doll that anyone could play with, while Serena tried to support her, Erika did the opposite. And she… well, she just wished it was all a horrible nightmare from which she’d wake up at any moment.

-She has to get out, damn it, I’m not going to get beaten up.

Suddenly from all the scuffling between the blonde and the brunette, the redhead was pushed out in full view of everyone present… Casey had never seen so many men gathered in one place, let alone all of them with their eyes on her. Her heart began to thud and, by then, that’s all she could hear, she had gone deaf out of nowhere.

Then Erika pushed her towards the stage. She stood on the first step, hesitating whether to climb up or run away, not caring whether she would get a beating or not.

-Get the f**k up, you stupid bitch,” the blonde growled from behind her back.

-Casey, no, you can run away, you can get beaten, but don’t go up,” Serena’s whisper also came through.

She looked sideways at Otto who wouldn’t take his eyes off her, his eyes expressed the terror he would put her through and an uncontrollable desire to beat her to death, was that preferable, to be beaten to death, or to die at the hands of a man she had never seen in her life, then she recapped, if she ran away Serena would be hurt and although Erika was a f*****g bitch, she didn’t deserve to be beaten because of him.

None of the girls deserved to be hurt because of her, they all led miserable lives and she didn’t deserve to add to her problems, so with what little courage she had left, Casey looked over her shoulder.

-I’m so sorry, Serena,” she said with guilt in her eyes.

-No!” The brunette makes an attempt to grab her, but Erika stops her.

Casey climbed up on the stage and, although she didn’t know the steps she was supposed to do, she tried to do an unattractive dance.

[…]

The powerful blue gaze immediately fixed on the woman who climbed onto the stage, his gaze became severe as he noticed the obvious nakedness of her body. Without taking his eyes off her, he watched as she performed that uninteresting dance, the truth is that she seemed innocent enough.

-So, what do you think of my new star? -Otto’s irritating voice was present at L.C.’s side.

-Where did you get it? He asks as he continues to watch the red-haired girl’s awkward dance.

-That doesn’t matter, what I can tell you is that she’s a very special girl,” he smiles, putting both hands in his pockets.

At that, both men watch as many potential customers beckon Otto to approach. The owner nods, then looks at his favourite customer. He needed just one word from him to ignore the rest of the madding crowd.

-I’ll buy it from you.” Simple as that, Otto thought.

-It’s quite expensive.

-I’ll take it,” she insists, not even looking at him.

-Will you pay triple what you paid for the girl you took before?

Otto knew that none of his clients would pay such an obsessive amount, but L.C. was from another watering hole.

-I said I’ll buy her from you, I don’t care what it costs. I’ll take it right away. Santino will bring the money,” he added, getting to his feet. Get her off the goddamn stage, Otto,” he orders, losing himself in the curtains.