I’m on my feet, waiting for my client. Lizzy will show him to my room. My knees are trembling but I have to get a grip of myself. I can’t be nervous or scared.
I hear Lizzy push the key into the lock and then as she opens the door, I take a step back into the room.
‘Amber, this is your client. He’s paid for one hour with you,’ Lizzy says. Her eyes dart between us before she backs out of the room and locks the door behind us. I look at him as he stands there in silence and I don’t know what to say. I go to the bed and sit down. Wait.
‘Are you okay?’ he asks without meeting my gaze. He’s visibly uncomfortable by the way I’m dressed. Lack of material has surprised him, although I don’t understand why because he’s seen me in this attire twice before.
‘Can I ask you a question, Paul?’ I say, trying to meet his eye. He sits down on the chair next to the table in my room, dropping his rucksack at his feet. He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and bows his head. ‘Why are you helping me? No offence but you don’t even know me.’
‘No, I don’t. But I care a lot about Jade. And this is important to her. She wants to get you out of here and she has no one else. No family, not close by anyway. And now that I know about this place and what that guy is making all of you do, I can’t stand back and do nothing.’
I regard his response. I wasn’t kind to Jade when I met her. I wouldn’t say that I was kind to her at all during the short time I was around her, before Marcus brought me here. So why has she come back?
‘But she could have just gone off into the sunset and lived her life. Why risk coming here and saving someone she barely knows?’ I ask.
‘Do you think she would ever have been able to relax? She would have been living a life in fear, constantly looking over her shoulder in the hope that Marcus wouldn’t be there. Jade would never admit this but she is the type of person that suffers from guilt. If she knows she can help someone in some way and doesn’t do anything about it, then it eats her up inside.’ Paul clasps his hands together and glances at the door. ‘Like Lizzy said, I’ve paid for an hour so we’ll have to stay in here for that length of time so there isn’t any suspicion.’
I glare at him. ‘Are you expecting to sleep with me?’
The look of horror on his face tells me I’ve got it wrong. ‘Oh god no. Sorry I didn’t mean it to sound like that at all. I’ve paid for the time to explain what is going to happen, not the service.’
A little laughter releases from me and Paul smiles.
‘So, what is the plan? And where is Jade?’
‘She’s in the car. Waiting.’
‘Right outside? Isn’t that putting her in real danger? What if Marcus sees her?’
‘Marcus isn’t here. He’s at that club,’ Paul sneers. ‘I can’t believe I never knew the stuff that goes on in those kinds of places. It’s sick.’
I nod and then freeze when I hear a knock on the door. It’s quick, forceful. I eye Paul who is now on his feet. I get up and pull the duvet back and climb under. ‘Quick,’ I mouth at Paul. He panics and takes off his shoes before climbing in. I pull the duvet over us when there is another knock on the door.
‘Erm, I’ve got a client in here,’ I call out.
I look out from the duvet and see that Lizzy has peered her head around the door.
‘Everything okay in here?’ Her eyes are wide and I wave her away. Closing the door, I shake my head.
Paul gets out from under the covers and clears his throat before putting his shoes back on.
‘Look, you don’t have to worry. I’m used to being so exposed to men.’
‘That’s not a normal thing to be used to, Amber.’ He sighs then meets my eye. ‘Look, this is what’s going to happen.’
I listen intently, taking in every word he is saying. I don’t think it’s going to work. But I have to try. Jade has stuck her neck on the line for me, for all of us here and I can’t let that all be for nothing. I owe it to Crystal and Yasmin to do my best to get away from here. I owe it to the rest of the girls living here and at the brothel in the city.
It’s likely that someone will die tonight, or in the days that follow. I just have to hope that I can fight hard enough against the evil running this place. And I have to be strong, fight the withdrawal, the pain and the itch that blurs my thinking. If I can do that I might just win back my freedom.