HOPE(10)

Damon paused staring at her. Her innocence was going to take him a while to get used to. He didn’t know what it was like for her living out at the farms in Grimes’s area. For all he knew, they kept city life away from the farms.

“They’re dead, Penny.”

Her eyes widened as she looked at the bodies. “What? How?”

“It gets cold at night. Exposure for any length of time is dangerous.”

He grabbed her hand and moved along. There would be plenty of men and women out on the streets in no time. They passed several fallen buildings. He remembered when they’d fallen a few years back. No matter how many times Don tried to organise a re-build the area was falling apart. Damon wondered about life back before the M3. The stories gave him hope. If they’d managed to live in a world without such chaos then he’d never have to take a knife wherever he went or worry about an illness. An illness used to be fixed with some rest and medicine. Now, an illness killed anyone it struck. There was so much death around them. Damon struggled to believe there was once a world where that was different.

Damon didn’t know if Penny knew any different. He was going by what he’d been told. Being unable to read he had to go by listening to others read the books. The world it painted sounded nice. The world before the M3 had also been the very same world where women could roam free without fear and when police walked the streets.

There were times he wished for the stories to be real. Every night he returned back home, he wondered if he’d be returning to an empty shell.

The sun was full in the sky, glaring at them.

“I can’t believe how different this place is from home. We weren’t allowed to go to the main city. We had to stay at the farms at all times,” she said. “It’s all the same city, and yet each area must have made their own names for each other.”

They were not far from where the sex club where he worked. He kept hold of her in case anyone tried to take her away. He was Damon Wright, but men were fools at times.

When he was in front of the club, he knocked on the door. Matty, the doorman, opened the latch and stared at him.

“Damon, you’re early.”

“I’m here on business.” He tugged on Penny’s arm. “I need a word with Don.”

“He’s … detained.”

Code for he’s fucking one of the women. Damon rolled his eyes. “I still need to talk to him.”

Matty nodded his head and opened the door. “It is a bit risky bringing her out in broad daylight. She’s not owned, Damon.”

“She’s a family runaway.”

Penny wouldn’t let him pull her into the club. He turned to her.

She was shaking her head. “I’m not going in there.”

He sighed. “Why not?”

“Have you seen what is on the sign? I can’t go in there. I’m not doing that.” She shook her head pulling on his hand.

Damon used his strength and moved her through the door with force. Matty locked the door and left him to it.

He pushed her against the wall, covering her mouth with his hand.

“Stop your screaming. I’m not leaving you here, even though I should for all the trouble you’ve caused me.”

She stopped screaming and stayed still under his hand.

“I’m going to remove my hand. If you scream at me I’ll gag you, do you understand? I don’t have time for dramatics.”

Penny nodded her head.

Slowly, he removed his hand. She stared at him without speaking.

“This is where I work. Yes, it is a sex bar, and no, I’m not leaving you here. Don visits here. We sell sex, moonshine, and a good time.”

“I don’t want to be a whore.”

“You’ll be whatever I god-damn tell you to be,” Don said, marching down the hall. “Is she the bitch doing all the screaming?”

Damon cursed in his head. This was the last thing he needed. Penny had clearly interrupted Don’s fun.

“She didn’t mean to interrupt you. I need to talk to you,” he said.

Don glared at Penny. “Put her in the lounge with the others.”

He went to deny Don, who shot him a glare. “I said ‘put her in the lounge with the others’, Damon. That was not a fucking request. Do it.”

Damon nodded his head.

Don left them.

“I don’t want you to leave me,” she said.

“Tough luck, baby. Maybe next time you’ll keep your fucking screaming to yourself. You’re not in some pissing fairy tale. You need to realise this and fast.” He moved her to the lounge. A couple of the women were on stage practising a new routine. “Stay, and I’ll be back.”

He pushed her into a seat before walking through to Don’s office.