That night, when Dede walked into the motel room, Desiree was tugging on the handcuffs that chained her to the bed, her arm muscles taut.
Dede shook her head at the girl, her mouth puckered. “No point in fooling with those cuffs, honey. They’re not a toy. They’re the real thing. Tony got them on the internet.”
Desiree’s head jerked as she focused on Dede with frightened eyes. She made a sound, but it was garbled behind the strip of duct tape covering her mouth.
Dede held a plastic cup in her hand. Lifting the cup, she said, “I got some water for you. You thirsty?”
When Desiree’s head bobbed in a nod, Dede clucked her tongue. She set the cup on the bedside table and sat on the mattress beside the girl’s prone figure.
“I’m unlocking one of your hands, okay? So you can hold the cup. And I’ll get the tape off your mouth.” She raised a finger in warning. “But if you fuss when this comes off it’ll go right back on and I’ll cuff you back up and you’ll stay thirsty.”
Desiree nodded. Dede’s hands moved delicately, pulling the duct tape from Desiree’s mouth with gentle pressure.
“There. Didn’t hurt a bit, did it?”
Then she unlocked the cuff restraining Desiree’s left hand. She handed the cup over to Desiree and watched her grasp it from her hand, lifting it and drinking greedily. The girl didn’t stop until the cup was empty.
As she drank, Dede said, “That tape’s tricky stuff. If you’re not careful, it can pull your skin off. And we want to keep your mouth pretty, don’t we? Because you’re a professional model now.”
Desiree’s voice came out with a raspy sound. “I want to go home.”
Taking the empty cup from Desiree’s free hand, Dede walked into the bathroom and turned on the faucet in the sink. As she refilled the cup, she said, “Don’t be silly, Lola. You’re a working girl. You work for Marvel Modeling.”
“I don’t want to be a model. I want to go back home. Please.”
Dede leaned against the door frame of the motel bathroom, gazing down on Desiree with mock surprise. “Don’t want to be a model? Are you messing with me? Honey, you signed a contract.”
A look of confusion clouded Desiree’s face. “A contract? I don’t remember.”
“Well, you were tired. You’d been partying. Maybe that’s why it’s a little fuzzy. But you signed on the line for Tony. Marvel has a five year exclusive on you.”
The blue eyes widened with dismay. “Five years,” Desiree croaked.
Striding back to the bed, Dede put an arm around the girl’s shoulders and held the cup to her mouth. Closing her eyes, Desiree drank deeply, using her free hand to grasp the cup over Dede’s fingers and tip it back.
When Dede set the empty cup down again, Desiree fixed her with a pugnacious look, though her mouth trembled. “I can’t sign a contract. I’m not twenty-one.”
“Oh, you don’t have to be twenty-one to sign a contract. Just eighteen. And you’re eighteen, Lola. You said so.”
The trembling in her lips had overtaken her; her head shook with a palsy. “It wasn’t true. I’m not. I’m in ninth grade. Fifteen.”
Dede gasped. “No!”
“It’s true.” She used her free hand to grasp Dede’s arm. “I turned fifteen on my birthday, two months ago.”
“Are you telling me that you lied? On your job application? That you filled out online?”
When Desiree nodded in reply, Dede’s head dropped. She said, “Oh no. No no no.”
“What?” Desiree asked, her voice tightening into a squeak.
“Lying on the internet, giving false information. It’s fraud. It’s a crime.” Dede’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Do you know how much trouble you’re in?”
Desiree’s body began to tremble. “I didn’t know. I just wanted to be a model. To try it out. But now I’m ready to go home.”
Dede stroked Desiree’s hair away from her face with a tender hand. “It’s too late for that. But don’t you worry, Lola. Tony will take care of you. He won’t let the cops arrest you and take you to jail. Tony will take care of everything. He’ll pay for your food and clothes and room. You don’t have to worry about a thing, not anymore.”
Desiree’s voice came out in the barest of whispers. “But I want to go home.”
Dede ignored her, combing through Desiree’s curly hair with her fingers. “The only thing you have to concentrate on is doing a good job for Tony. In the photo shoots. And you’ll have to entertain important clients. It’s part of the job.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Tony has some high-end connections. Really rich dudes, the kind that can make you famous. Help you hit the big time. But you’ve got to be sweet to them. There’s one man right now who’s dying to meet you. You’ll need to be real sweet to him. Do what he wants. And the plus side of handling the clients—it will make you a better model. Sexier, more grown-up.”
Desiree blinked. With her free hand, she rubbed her eyes. Dede lifted the girl’s chin with a finger, staring at her intently.
“Are you starting to feel better? Relaxed?”
“A little sleepy, I guess.”
Dede picked up the water cup and studied the interior, where a few powdery grains remained at the bottom.
“You’ll feel good again, real soon.” She turned to face Desiree with a bright smile.
Desiree’s gaze grew unfocused, but she spoke again. “But my mom. She’ll be worried. She’ll be looking for me.”
“Lola! You said you were ready to move out. You told Tony so when you talked on Skype, I remember it. I was in the room when you said it.”
“I didn’t mean it. I need my phone. I got to call my mom.”
Dede stood and looked down at Desiree. “Tony took your phone. You don’t need it anymore. But when you get all settled in, Tony will get you a new one. He’ll pay for it.”
Desiree’s head dropped onto the pillow. Her eyes closed. When she spoke, her words were slurred. “My mom will worry.”
“No, she won’t. Tony got in touch with her. He said you’re moving on, joining the agency. Your mom was really happy for you. She said to tell you good luck.”
Dede watched over the girl until her face went slack, her breathing regular. Dede reached out and gave the handcuffed wrist a jerk, to ensure that it was secure. Then she slipped back through the door to the adjoining room.