Jenny laid a pale hand on Marina’s thigh. “I’m so sorry, ‘rina. I’d do
anything to help. I would. But I .” Jenny’s job at the Top Hat didn’t
pay much but her tips were good. There was something about her
schoolgirl routine that loosened wallets. And mouths. She’d had offers
to do more than just dance.

Marina stroked Jenny’s head. “I know you would. So would I. But.”

“How much time did she give You?” Jenny questioned, hoping for enough time to form some sort of plan.

“Until Friday.” Marina handed her glass back to Jenny, covered her eyes
with one hand, fighting a losing battle against the stinging tears of
defeat and despair.

Jenny’s eyes widened in genuine alarm. “No! Marina, please don’t! Don’t
cry!” The thought of Marina losing control frightened her. Literally.
Her heart was pounding, hands shaking. She needed Marina to be in
control, needed her to tell her what to do, needed her to be strong for
the both of them. When Marina said “write,” she wrote. When she said
“bend over,” she bent over. Marina’s control was the only thing that
protected her against her own horrifically bad judgments. She would do
ANYTHING to avoid that, to avoid going back to what she was when Marina
rescued her, as unworthy of it as she felt.

Jenny laid the side of her face on Marina’s feet. “It’s my fault,
Marina. It’s all my fault,” she moaned. “You have to make me pay.
Punish me. Please! If I hadn’t wanted you” Jenny lamented.

“Non, ma petite.” She sighed, lifted Jenny’s tear streaked face with
her hand. “It is not your fault. In no way does the blame lay on you.”

“Yes! Yes, it is!” Jenny gripped Marina’s hands in her tiny ones.
“Francesca hates You because of me. She’s punishing You because of me.
It’s not fair.”

Marina’s face turned hard. “Francesca punishes me because she enjoys it. She always has.”

“Then let me take Your punishment, Marina. Please! Use me! Enjoy me!”

Marina knew what Jenny was asking for. She knew she would give it. Not
because she enjoyed it but because Jenny yearned for it with every
recess of her soul. In some dark schism of her heart, Jenny had come to
enjoy pain and humiliation. She seemed to need it. And because she
loved her, Marina was willing to compromise her own feelings to give it
to her. She steeled herself to play The Game .