My eyes catch Leon's across the room, and he raises his eyebrows at me in a silent question, Do you need help?
I give a shake of my head and lengthen my stride to keep up with Lance. He pulls her down the back hallway to the left of the stage, straight toward Simon's office, and then he's pushing her through so roughly that she stumbles and almost falls. Luckily, she catches herself on the corner of Simon's desk and rights herself.
I grab ahold of Lance's arm and pull him around so he faces me. "What the fuck are you doing?" I whisper urgently. "Peter's taken care of. He's not mad anymore."
The fucker gives me a wink in return. "I know. He's satisfied with any pussy."
"Then what are you doing to Nikki? You know she's not part of the prostitution … She didn't do anything wrong."
Lance steps in closer to me, a maniacal smile on his face. "I know. But I'm not about to waste a chance to beat this bitch down into submission a bit. Make her a little easier for us to handle tomorrow. I want to see what kind of fighter she is."
"You are not going to-?" I start to say, intent on blowing this whole operation out of the water if I have to save Andrea from being raped by Lance.
"Relax, dude," he says with a chuckle. "I like my women willing. But I am going to test her."
With that, Lance turns away from me and walks into Simon's office. I follow him in and watch as Andrea raises her head and pushes her hair out of her face. I don't know if it's an act or not, but she looks scared. This causes my own fear and anger to surge again.
Lance stalks up to her and wraps his large hand around her throat, pulling her up straighter. Leaning his face in, he hisses at her, "You think you call the shots around here, Nikki?"
"No," she whispers fearfully, now standing on her tiptoes to try to keep balance with the way Lance is holding her up by her throat.
I stand poised … ready to attack if Lance makes a move to hurt her. The fear in her voice has me on edge, and every protective instinct I have as a man rears up inside of me. Andrea's eyes are flared wide, her bottom lip quivering. I take a step toward Lance to put an end to this, but then I look down at Andrea's hands. Both of her arms hang loose beside her body, but her fists are balled up tight. I watch as she opens her hands, and then curls her fingers inward again in tight reflex.
Open … close. Open … close.
She's not scared.
She's pissed, yet she's still maintaining an act.
Immediately, my pulse calms somewhat, because her body language is telling me that she has a grip on the situation and she is not fearful as to where she's at right now.
Reluctantly, I decide to trust my partner and let it play out.
Wanting to appear nonchalant and vaguely interested in what Lance is going to do to "test her," I walk over to one of the chairs and sit down. I stretch my legs out in front of me, casually resting my elbows on the armrests.
"You are the fucking employee, Nikki," Lance snarls in her face. "You do not say no to the customers."
"Okay," she says quickly … fearfully … giving him no fight.
"You want this fucking job?" Lance asks, his nose just an inch from her own. He gives her a tiny shake to further bully her.
"Y-y-y-es," she stammers, and her fists clench and uncurl.
Clench and uncurl.
"Then you better do anything Simon, Raze, or I tell you to do, you hear me?" he says with menace.
"Yes," she blurts out. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry. I'll go back to that man now, if you want."
Lance doesn't say anything, just stares at her intently. I see his eyes roaming back and forth between her own, gauging the truth of her words.
He releases his grip on her throat and her heels go back down until she's standing on her own again.
"No, that opportunity is already ruined," Lance says quietly, and I let out a sigh of relief. It appears Lance just wanted to scare the shit out of her.
Reaching out, he skims his knuckles down her arm. His voice is thoughtful when he says, "But I'm not sure if you really mean what you say."
"I do," Andrea assures him.
Good girl. She sounds completely obedient.
"Let's test that out," Lance says, and I immediately go back on alert again. I sit up straighter in my chair, prepared to strike if necessary.
Lance grips Andrea by the arm and then gives her a push my way. She stumbles … rights herself again, and then straightens up, looking back over her shoulder at Lance.