Elouise Edron - In The Night Time

"Yes Dan, I know, I know. It will be fine. I’m used to taking care and orders from drunken idiots all the time. It’s kinda in the job description.” I responded casually, trying to chill him out. Events like these were our bread and butter, and if we ensured our clients a good time, they were likely to book again, and tell their friends. Word of mouth was our best form of publicity, and I knew Dan had great plans for the place.

By 9pm, the bar was pumping, and the sights that came in and out of that room were jaw-droppingly inquisitive. Men in pinstriped, expensive looking suits, with slicked back hair, elegant silk ties and pocket squares. Women with fake breasts, inflated lips and thick make up over their Botox pumped faces.

There was laughter, loudness and loiterers in dark corners carrying on like they were in the privacy of their own bedrooms. I was a little uncomfortable being eye-balled like a piece of meat ready for the slaughter; regardless, I did my job, and I made sure I didn't talk back.

"Bianca?" asked a voice behind me as I was wiping up a spilled drink.

I stopped in my tracks trying to link the voice to a face.

"I thought it was you."

I spun around and came face-to-face with DeGrain.

"Seriously, you again?" I asked, casting my eyes away with a loud exhale, dishrag in hand. "I’m working, don’t you think you could find someone else to hassle?"

I attempted to use my nicest voice, accompanied with the realest of fake smiles. I didn’t want to piss off Dan; I’d finally managed to gain back a smidgen of his trust.

"Clearly. But the other girls don’t put up a fight like you do," he replied with intensity, as the left corner of his mouth curled up into a snarl. "Have you thought about leaving all of this and coming to work for me?” He raised his hands to the room around me, his eyes following before they settled on mine. “The industry is waiting for a star like you."

Our eyes locked, mine with those baby blues of his, and for a moment, it felt as if we were the only people in the room. My heart started beating faster, my palms went clammy, heat rose from my chest. There was something about him that I found intriguing, yet… unnerving. His features weren’t typically handsome, but his strong jawline and the intensity in his eyes amplified his confidence, making him kind of sexy, for an older man. Suddenly, I felt like there was nowhere else I would rather be, than caught in this intimate exchange

"Like me?" The moment passed. I snapped myself out from under his spell. "Ha! Look mister, you have your pick of whores to work the camera for you, and I’m sure they're all great actresses. In fact, I even saw you had a celebrity working for you – which one of her characters rose to fame first?"

I returned to bitch mode, trying to shut down the conversation. I wasn’t interested in being one of his ‘groupies’ or whatever the equivalent was in the world of porn.

"I see you've done your research; I guess that means I have your attention," he replied, his white teeth gleaming despite the dim light.

I quietly gulped, looking for an easy escape. I had shared too much information, and wished the world would find a way to swallow me whole so I didn’t have to continue this conversation.

I had done my research, but I needn’t reveal that to him. He’d gotten under my skin like no one before, and the last thing I wanted was to stroke his ego.

"Can I call you Paul?" I said with confidence despite my internal discomfort.

"Sure, Ms. Elleroy"

My eyebrows lifted, and head tilted as I recognised my surname coming from his lips. He’d also done his research. He was unlike anyone I had ever met before, and despite the industry he worked in, he oozed class in an old worldly manner. He was sophisticated, but clearly didn’t like to show it when he thought people were watching. It intrigued me, knowing there was another side of him that didn’t meet the eye, and I wondered what that looked like, and why he was so desperate to hide it.

“I get that this is your ‘thing’. The girls. The tits. The sex. The whole porno and drug thing that go hand and hand - but it's not mine," I said sternly. I wasn’t interested in playing his games, nor becoming another notch on his belt.

"Hahaha! Not yet it's not, but it will be once you see where it can lead you," he replied, looking intently into my eyes as if searching for the devilish side of my soul.

"Where it can lead me? Hell, I'm doing a nutritional science degree and I'm pretty sure that sucking cock on camera is not on the formal list of qualifications I need to land a fucking job!" I blurted out in quick retaliation. Even if I wasn’t entirely certain of the path I had chosen, I did know that I didn’t want any part in his.

"Please sweetie, leave that filthy mouth for more important roles," he said with a grin, watching me move around the tables, knowing he was getting under my skin.

I didn’t like the pull he was gaining over me. I could tell he enjoyed getting a rise out of me, and I was very ready for the night to end.

"You knew my name."

I couldn’t let it go. I stopped in my tracks, hands and washcloth perched on my hips. "Which means that you also knew I worked here too."

"Bet your bottom dollar." He took a swig of scotch and looked at me with a straight face. "I know what I want, and I usually get my way." He purred as he placed his glass on the table I had just cleaned. "Missed a spot" he said, pointing to the water streaming off his glass.

My teeth clenched as I kept in mind Dan’s orders to be nice. I grinned, picking up his glass half full of crushed ice, pouring it over his head, just in time to have gained an audience full of his colleagues.

"It looks like you could use some cooling off."

I turned on my heel and excused myself to the bathroom. I needed to calm down, my heart was still racing, and my mind was replaying the scene over and again. What was it about him that was so annoyingly evocative? Was it his eyes? His arrogance? His job title? Or perhaps the fact that he represented such an elusive industry that had me second guessing my hours spent at the bar for a pittance. I believed in fate, and always looked for new opportunities to learn and grow, but surely pornography wasn’t the next opportunity the universe was throwing my way?

The entire situation confused me, and I decided it was well and truly time for a shot to settle my overactive mind. After all, one of the perks of working at a bar was to indulge in a drink or two as the shift tapered.

"Dan's looking for you," my colleague Ryan said with a sceptical look on his face. "He doesn't seem happy about it either. He wants you to head down to his office ASAP.”

“I’ll go see him in a sec.” I still had to close the downstairs bar down so one of the other girls could head off.

“Pretty sure he meant straight away, he seems pissed,” he yelled after me as I kept walking in the opposite direction.

I closed my eyes and grimaced at the thought of having another 'meeting' with the boss. Despite the fact I’d been so good with the rather obnoxious guests tonight, I knew I’d let my guard down when DeGrain showed up. Whatever it was, I spent the walk downstairs preparing to talk up all my positive interactions, even though I wasn’t sure how to explain the DeGrain situation, or if Dan would even believe me.

I knocked on Dan’s office door hoping he was busy.

"Yeah, come in," he answered in a flustered tone.

I gulped back my nerves as I pushed the door open, knowing that whatever good mood he was in earlier in the evening had certainly shifted.

"Bianca, there's been a complaint. A bunch of guys in the VIP room saw you pouring a drink over their boss’s head, and while they thought it was funny, I’m not so sure I can see the humour in it. I told you I needed you to be on your best tonight Bianca. Seriously, what were you thinking?"