Desperate for money

"Yeah," I huffed out. "I think it's time for a break", I pulled myself out of his arms and took few steps away from him.
Ricky looked down at his watch and whistled. "Actually it's about time we stop for the day. We need to rest and get ready for tonight's show anyway."

Turning my head, I looked to the old clock over the door to the studio. I sucked in a gasp realising how late it was. "Wow, yeah." The other dancers had already left the studio for the afternoon and it was just me and Ricky in the dance room over the theater. "Shit, I haven't eaten all the day."

"Want to get a bite to eat together?" Ricky offered. "I'm going to meet my boyfriend for a light dinner before the show if you want to come."

"Thanks for the offer, Ricky, but not tonight. "I think I'll just grab a bite to eat around the corner and come back to get ready for the show," I stated. Putting my leg up on the bar for cool down stretches. My pulse was still racing a mile a minute and every time I blinked in those devious brown eyes I saw.

"Okay, Rhea, but Devin complains you never do anything with us anymore."

"Well, Devin has more free time with you since he retired from dancing. Not everyone gets a sweet local modeling gig afterwards, okay?" I snarked back.

"Okay, true, but you don't even go to the after parties anymore either." Ricky didn't know why my nights weren't as free as his. Only a few other dancers here would know, and we didn't talk about it.

"I'm not a part girl, Ricky. But maybe some day soon we can all go out together again," I offered. His boyfriend used to be part of the NYC Ballet; it was how they met. I used to spend more time with the others outside of practice before my life took a turn.

"There's going to be a new club a few blocks from here pretty soon. Some plans the mayor approved and construction is going like super fast after the old building was torn down", Ricky blew me an air kiss as he reached for the door.

"Sounds good! Tell Devin I said hi if he's not at the show tonight."

"Sure thing!" He tossed over his shoulder before slipping out through the door to the lockers. The second, his sunny mood vanished made the studio seem dim despite the near blinding white lights.

Now alone, I turned some pop music on my phone and began to do floor stretches to cool down from practice. I could only enjoy the time by myself for ten minutes before the door to the studio squeaked open again.

Wondering if Ricky came back or one of the other dancers was here early to prep for the show tonight, I looked up. Then I froze. Luke leaned against the door with his arms crossed over his chest.
Luke was tall and thin, with the right amount of muscle for a dancer. His brown hair and green eyes made him look like any other attractive man in the city. Like Devin, Luke was a retired dancer, but instead of modeling he was offered a role as the choreographer for the New York Ballet and had been in this role for the past twenty five years.

Somewhere along the way he met Dax and they started up their illicit contracts with the dancers who didn't make enough money from dancing alone. It was an ordinary dancer for a couple of years before Luke learned I needed more money.
Becoming the prima Ballerina helped, but it still wasn't enough. Luke changed in my eyes the day he offered me the contract. His roaming eyes now meant something entirely different.

They weren't just examining my form during practice and rehearsal, there was something vile behind it. He was assessing me and the other women like objects to throw at Dax when we were at our lowest. As long as he was getting a cut from our meetings in his life was perfect for him.

I rose to my feet as the song on my phone started to fade before leading in another. My hands were trembling, knowing that if Luke was here to talk to me in private then I wouldn't like whatever he was going to say next.

These past two weeks without any night time meetings had been nice. Even though I wondered if Aleksander had followed through on inquiring about an exclusive contract the entire time. It bugged me that I kept thinking about him. Especially here in the studio to the point it distracted me.

At the end of the day, it was fine if he didn't. I might have experienced new pleasure while with him, but I didn't think it would last anyways. He was just another stranger paying to get between my legs after all. A rich Playboy who could have anyone he wanted didn't need to keep coming back to me.

"Are you excited for the show tonight?" Luke finally spoke after watching me walk to my phone and turn the music off.

"Always." I tried to avoid direct eye contact so he couldn't see me rolling my eyes.
"Good, that's good." I heard him moving and my back stiffened. I straightened up and looked over my shoulder at him, one brow raised at him in question.

"What do you want?"

He seemed to get the hint. "Do you have any plans coming up?"

"Well, if you mean this weekend, I think I'm going to have a headache this weekend", It wouldn't be the first time he had tried to ask me out. It wasn't until I signed the contract that he made his first move.

Just because I did something desperate for Money didn't mean I would do his desperate ass for free.

"Haha, that's funny, Rhea," Luke laughed out as he kept moving, closing the distance between us. I turned all the way around, so my back wasn't to him. Even once he got into my personal space he didn't stop moving until my back was pressed to the wall.