job, apply for college, so one day she wouldn’t have to think
about what she did to get there.
“Can we do some shots standing up?” Rodger wasn’t going
to take no for an answer, so Cassia nodded. His assistant
removed the stool and she stood against the white background,
letting Rodger once again tell her what to do, design her with
his words, shape her. She wondered what he saw from the
other end. How many girls he saw doing this.
She’d expected the building to be seedy, but the place where
Stu had his office, a headquarters of sorts for the company,
wasn’t run down or creepy. It looked like any other older
three-story brick building. It had been well maintained, and
had cheerful white windows, a big clear glass door, and a nice
reception area with modern white furniture. There was even a
coffee table with magazines she’d flipped through the first
time she’d been there. The back rooms weren’t sketchy. None
of the other girls she’d met were unkind or desperate. They
looked like everyone else. They were everyone else.
Cassia had done a lot of rethinking since she’d been in
Vegas, and not just because it was Vegas. It was because her
understanding of the world had been so limited.
She had only herself to take care of now, and if she was
going to do this, and it appeared she really was, at least she’d
be on the road to freedom. She wouldn’t be required to sell her
soul to anyone. This was only for a short time. She could
endure it so she could get out to see the other side. If people
wanted to say and think certain things about her, she could live
with that. She knew the truth. She knew who she was and what
she was fighting for.
“Here. There. Wow.” Rodger continued to compliment and