Chapter Four

AVA

Ava was sure she had never felt so incompetent ever since she had started working at the club. The blaring lights and the booming songs made it all the more difficult for her.

Scanning her eyes over the sea of heads that were dancing and getting drunk, she searched for Nicole from her position at the bar.

Nicole was nowhere to be found and Ava guessed she must have escaped somewhere with a customer. It was normal for girls like them to go to dark corners with the clubbers.

Working at the bar had given her the chance to always escape from the conspicuous attention- literally.

She could never escape from the stares but the physical barricade gave her a kind of protection from the men.

Passing off the shots across the counter to the guy who seemed like he needed a sleep more than he needed a drink. But that's their problem, they never know when to stop.

"Ava I should take over." One of her colleagues shouted to her over the din.

That's their usual way of communicating in there. Shouting on top of their voices.

Ava dragged her eyes to Jasmin- one of her colleagues. They weren't really friends but they were closest amongst the other workers.

Shaking her head adamantly, in a bid to refuse Jasmin's offer.

Putting ice cubes in a mug, she poured into it and slid it over the counter to a lady with too much make up.

Looking now at her, Jasmin blinked. "you look like you would fall on your face any moment_"

"No I don't!" She shouted back at Jasmin which earned her glances from the customers. Perhaps, she had shouted more than she had intended.

Giving Ava a bright smile, "come on! You can take a few minutes off at the back. I got this."

Seeing that Jasmin was really serious, she gave her a nod and a smile and made her way out, through the small door they only get to use.

Finding her way to the back, Ava dragged in heavy breaths into her lungs while hugging herself. Thanks to the ridiculous shorts and tops they were made to wear that left nothing to the imagination.

But that, was the least of Ava's worries.

Though the music drifted in to the hallway and into the private cabins- Nicole must be in one of those, Ava knew without a doubt- Ava wanted to get further away from it.

The noise. The stares. The lewd comments. The alcohol.

Walking further down the hallway, it got darker but her feet wouldn't stop. It felt like they had a life of their own and took her farther into tranquility.

Suddenly feeling weak, she slowed and eventually stopped. Leaning against a handrail, she threw her head back and groaned heavily.

Jasmin had said that she looked like she could fall flat on her face.

Was her frustration bursting to the surface already?

How many people could see that?

It was a thought at first, but then she knew she wasn't alone anymore.

Swirling around to face the unwelcome intruder, her breath hitched and her eyes grew wide in total horror.

Not Tony please!

The colours on Ava's face turned white and she flushed all over.

The unwelcome intruder, Tony, ran his eyes down her length and up again to settle on her flushed face. That appraisal, made her more aware of what she wore.

"You shouldn't be here," Ava said, startled to discover that her voice had sounded okay and not croaky.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a sly smile, "should you?"

From the first time, Ava had passed him a drink at the bar she knew she had trouble on her hands. His looming presence and persistent eyes had always distressed her.

Tony wouldn't be called ugly or unattractive, but there was just something unsettling about him. He really looked intimidating for someone as little as Ava.

Nicole's got to be high on something to think that she should link arms with Tony. Ava cringed at just the mere thought of it.

It was bad omen that they were alone and away from help. Ava cried inwardly when he planted himself directly against the only path to her escape.

"Ava right?" He started, squinting at her.

Knowing that she shouldn't be wasting any more second with him, she tried to draw strength to face him.

Even if he wasn't going to answer her prayers, she really needed the strength at that point.

Ava bit her cheeks and fisted her palms. "I should be getting back to the bar_"

Tony sucked in air through his teeth. His eyes darkened as he pinned them on her face, looking really dangerous by the minute.

"I think this is divine orchestration, Ava. You don't have to ruin it by running off now..." He drawled and his eyes got even darker.

Ava was starting to get scared. She could feel a sweat run down her back and into her waistline.

Fisting her palms tighter, she took two strides towards him, her chin up. She was really working so hard at trying to feign the daring look. "I need you to get out of my way. I need to get back_"

He cut her off again. "What's the rush princess? We could get things done in just little time. It's just us." He smiled and it irritated her the more.

Ava felt the overpowering urge to smack the smile off his face.

Tony straightened and got closer to her. Leaning forward he whispered into her ear that she could smell the strong alcohol in his breath. Ava's stomach grumbled from the upsetting smell.

"I'm sure you want to make me fight for it. Is that what gets you all wet and hor_"

Ava's right arm flew up, still fisted and connected with his nose. She didn't know for the life of her that she packed such power in her muscle because she felt it shatter beneath her fist, and then it spurted blood.

Knowing she had got the chance to escape, she shoved him and ran while Tony held his nose and cursed at her, whimpering like a cat as he did.

At least, that would take stitches and if he's unlucky, he'd live the rest of his life with a broken nose.

Gotcha!

*****

For every action, there's a reaction. The reaction for Ava's action had gotten her fired, the moment Tony came back out with his green shirt drenched in his nose bleed.

"All I wanted was a break and he ruined it!" Throwing open her locker in the changing room they all shared, she started to shove things into her small black backpack.

"Really? You just got fired and all you care about is that he ruined your break?" Nicole fired at Ava as she had followed her into the locker room from the Manager's office.

"I'll find something. Don't worry." She didn't say those words with the hope of anything. She had said it more to herself than to Nicole who was breathing down her neck.

Nicole wasn't even buying that. "Find something? I shouldn't worry?"

Stopping for a minute, Ava looked at Nicole who seemed really upset.

"I'll figure something out. I'll be fine Nicole."

"You can't figure shit out Ava!" Nicole had called her name as a way of reminding her who she was. But Ava doesn't need a reminder.

She's the girl from Salta. The wide eyed naive girl that just broke someone's- a man's- nose.

Girls like us.

Turning away from Ava briefly, Nicole clamped a palm over her mouth and breathed heavily. She was really affected by that.

Calming down, Nicole turned back to Ava who was pulling her jeans up her legs, the shorts flung into a corner.

"I could ask the Manager to pardon you. You have hospital bills to pay. We need to get your job back."

"I don't need it back. I'm not going to beg when I know I didn't do anything wrong." Ava's voice rang higher than she had intended. She was really trying to keep it all in.

She pulled off the flimsy top, flinging it to a different corner this time. There was no point in taking care of the stupid outfit.

"But you didn't have to hit him! You could have_ have_"

Pulling the oversized black cardigan over her head and arms, Ava shoved her hair off her face. "I could have done what? Let him get his filthy hands on me because I want to keep this stupid job. No can do!"

Nicole nodded, feeling defeated although they were never competing.

"You're so naive, Ava! I just pray that this city doesn't swallow you up!"

Without a word, Ava hung the backpack on her shoulder and slammed the locker shut, then bent to shove her feet into the well-worn but cheap sneakers.

Straightening herself, she shoved back her hair and looked squarely at Nicole.

"You're so wrong Nicole. I'm not naive," scoffing sadly, she ran her tongue idly over her lips. "I might be a virgin but I'm far from stupid and naive."

Tears threatened to fall as Ava pushed open the doors and let herself out. She wasn't going to let herself shed tears in that place.

She'd caught Jasmin's concerned gaze as she walked past the bar to the exit. Her lips thinned as she forced a smile at her.

She told herself as she went further away from the club and down the street, that she would figure out something.

Something would turn up. Something just had to.

There was an urge to hit something. Anything. Ava had never been a violent person but maybe that's what Bellamy does to people.

It brings out the other you. The you you never knew was there. Ava had never hit anyone in her life and now there was the urge to hit something.

Stuffing her fists into her cardigan pockets in a bid to calm her nerves, she realized she was now in the very busy streets of Bellamy.

Without any idea how she got there, she stood briefly at a spot and watched how people breezed past.

The honk of cars, the blinding lights, the people that went on their way without so much as a glance at her shadow.

Breathing in the clean air and drifting whiff of scents, Ava dragged her weak limbs to the bus stop.

Getting lost might be a good thing, since she could hardly tell where she was. Sitting at the bus stop, she looked down to her open palm and felt the tears again.

Her head bent forward and her heart started thumping, she bit down hard on her lower lip and shivered all over.

While she fought within her, a man stuck in traffic idly let his eyes wander and fell on the girl.

He didn't think much about it but his eyes never left her shadowed face. It stirred something in him even as the driver stepped on the pedal.