My Professor Owns My Nights

Chapter 9: First Night Under Contract

Mia's POV

Damien was so close now I could feel the heat coming off him and my back was already pressed flat against the door with nowhere left to go...

And that prick was still coming closer.

Then his phone rang loud in his pocket and he cursed under his breath, glancing down at it for half a second, and that half a second was all I needed.

I ducked under his arm fast before he could stop me and yanked the door open and ran straight down the hallway without looking back, my heart slamming so hard against my chest it actually hurt.

I didn't stop running until I was two buildings away and even then my legs kept shaking for a long time after.

That night, Lila drove me to the club because she said I needed the moral support and also because she wanted to see the place with her own eyes, and the second we pulled up I felt my stomach drop.

"Do a good job, girl," she winked at me before finding her way into the club somewhere.

When I got backstage, it was absofuckinglutely nothing like I expected.

Girls walked past me with half their boobs spilling out of tops that barely counted as fabric, mini skirts so short you could see the curve of their butt cheeks underneath, tank tops so tight they looked painted on, everyone fixing lashes and lip gloss in mirrors like getting half naked in a hallway was the most normal thing in the world.

I was still staring when I spotted someone familiar.

That was Priya from my Tuesday seminar in school. A very smart kid everyone really envied for her good grades.

She was standing three mirrors down in nothing but a bra top and shorts, laughing at something another girl said.

My whole body went cold.

I turned fast and ducked into the nearest row of lockers before she could look up, my heart hammering so loud I was sure someone would hear it over the music bleeding through the walls.

"You good?" a girl next to me asked, eyeing me weirdly as I pressed myself flatter against the lockers.

"Yeah," I said, my voice coming out too fast, "just fixing my shoe."

I stayed crouched there until I heard Priya's voice fade toward the floor entrance, and only then did I let myself breathe again, my legs still shaking under me.

A woman named Rosa, who Marco introduced as the floor manager, sat me down right after and went through the rules fast.

I couldn't grab much, because my mind was damned far away.

"No names, no numbers, no personal information given to anyone... obey whatever the client asks within house limits, and if something feels wrong signal a guard immediately." She said, not really looking at me the whole time.

"You'll get used to it," Rosa said, tightening the strap on the dress they gave me to wear,

"everyone does eventually."

I wanted to tell her I didn't plan on getting used to any of it but I kept my mouth shut because Lila was already gone off somewhere flirting with a bartender and I didn't have backup for an argument I couldn't win anyway.

I met a guy who introduced himself as Ethan, a very handsome young man who was standing near the entrance to the floor when I walked out.

But thank goodness he wasn't staring at me like the other guys were, like they wanted to devour me anything soon.

"First night," he said, not really a question.

"Yeah," I said, and he nodded once

"Stay near the bar section," he said, "less trouble there."

I didn't understand why he was even bothering to tell me that but I said thanks anyway and he just watched me walk off, his face unreadable the whole time.

The floor was loud and packed and I spent the first hour just carrying trays back and forth, keeping my head down, trying not to look at any of the things happening in the corners that I really didn't need to see.

Then a man at one of the private tables grabbed my wrist as I set his drink down, gripping it hard enough that I gasped and nearly dropped the tray.

"Sit with us a minute," he said, pulling me toward him, his fingers digging in deeper when I tried to pull back.

"I need to get back to the bar," I said, trying to keep my voice calm even though panic was climbing fast up my throat.

"I said sit," he snapped, yanking harder, and I stumbled forward almost losing my footing completely.

I didn't even see Damien cross the room. One second the man's hand was locked around my wrist and the next Damien had it pried off so fast the guy yelped out loud in pain.

"Touch her again and you lose the hand," Damien said, his voice low and flat and definitely nothing like the calm professor voice from his office.

The whole floor had gone quiet, music still playing somewhere but nobody moving, everyone watching to see what would happen next.

The man went pale and started apologizing fast, saying he didn't know, saying it wouldn't happen again, but Damien wasn't even looking at him anymore.

He was looking at me.

"You're bleeding," he said, and I looked down and saw the man's ring had cut a thin line into my skin without me even noticing.

"I'm fine," I said, but my voice came out shakier than I wanted it to.

Ethan appeared beside the table now, two other guards behind him, all of them waiting for some kind of order, but Damien waved them off with one hand.

"I've got this," he said, that even Ethan's jaw tighten before he stepped back.

Damien wrapped his hand around mine, gentle now compared to a second ago, and pulled me away from the table toward the exit, past every single set of eyes still watching us.

"Where are we going," I asked, trying to keep up with him because his stride was so much longer than mine.

"You're done for tonight," he said, not slowing down at all.

"I can't just leave, Rosa said..."

"I don't care what Rosa said." He cut me off flat, still walking, still holding my hand tight enough that I couldn't have pulled free even if I wanted to.

We passed Marco near the entrance and Damien didn't even look at him, just said something short about covering my shift, and Marco nodded fast.

Right before we reached the door someone from the crowd, one of the regulars I recognized from earlier, called out something about wanting a turn with the new girl.

That pervert was even laughing like it was a joke, and the whole room went dead silent again waiting to see what Damien would do.

He stopped walking.

He turned around slow, still gripping my hand, and looked at the man until the laughter completely died in the guy's throat.

"She's not on the floor," Damien said, loud enough for the entire room to hear every word.

"She's mine."

Then he turned back around and walked me straight out the door, my hand still locked in his, and I didn't say a single word the whole way to the car because I didn't know what there even was to say to that.