The Perfect Boyfriend
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Two more days rolled by, Miley couldn't help but think to herself that 24 hours in a day just wasn't long enough. She thought that she'd be ready to face the wrath of Peter in a couple days, but now, now that that day is here, she's not so sure anymore. What's she going to do if Peter hits her again and demands that she stays with her job? What if Nick and Peter get in a big fight? There's no way her little body could come between the two of them and control the fight from being postponed. She squeezes her eyes shut, blocking her reflection from the mirror that's been staring back at her for the past fifteen minutes.
"Miles? Are you ready yet?" Nick asks, knocking a couple times on his bathroom door. Miley had gone inside the small room a while ago to 'touch up' and she hadn't come out since. He was starting to worry that she wasn't ever going to come out and nothing would ever be resolved. He smiles in relief when the bathroom door cracks open, but when the door doesn't come completely open he becomes curious. "Miles?" he repeats, pushing the door ajar and staring at her scared face.
"I can't do it Nicky," she whimpers, looking at him long enough to admit to him that she was weak. Then she turned her head away, allowing a couple stray tears to escape from her eyes. He looks at her broken face for a bit longer, then he walks the couple steps toward her, wrapping his arms around her once he's close enough. He presses his lips close to her ear and speaks directly to her.
"You can do it Miles, you've gone through so much and you're still going strong. You're not weak, even though you think that you are. I wish that every day since your dad left I would've recorded you so that I could play it back to you now and show you just how tough you've been through all of this. But, I can't so you're just going to have to take my word on this, okay? You must believe that you are strong and you can do this." He says, knowing that bringing up her dad was a tricky thing to do, but knowing that he had to in order to show her just how long she'd been standing strong.
"What if this doesn't work Nick? What if it doesn't matter and I still have to stay there for five years? I can't handle that," she sniffs, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes. He leans down, kissing her nose tenderly. His eyes close for a few seconds.
"You just have to have faith Miley, you have to go down there to that club with me and show him that you know what you're talking about and that you won't stand to work another day in that building. You have to show him that you're not scared of him, even if you are. You've got to take control of this one okay Miley? Show him that he's not the boss of your body, you are," Nick encourages, running his hand up and down her back. Her tears slowly start to come to a halt as his words process through her mind.
She's not going to get out of this line of work if she doesn't quit somehow. She can't just stay in her or Nick's house, hiding out from everyone so that she doesn't have to go back to that nasty place. She has to take control of everything; she has to make sure that she's completely free from that place. And that's exactly what she's going to do.
Her head nods up and down multiple times, then she looks right into Nick's chocolate-y brown eyes and nods again, "You're right," she says, placing her hands around his neck, "I'm ready, I can do this," she breathes out, a slight smile coming out on her lips. Just the thought in her mind of finally getting away from that place was enough to make her happy. Nick smiles right back, leaning down and kissing her sweetly on her lips. She kisses back, and in a matter of a few minutes Miley's confidence has gone from rock bottom straight up the top.
Nick is the first to pull away from their hold but he keeps one arm around her, keeping his hand resting gently on the small of her back as he leads her through his house, out the door and to his vehicle that's parked slightly at an angle in the driveway up to his house. Nick lets go of her petite body and she walks over to the passenger side, slipping her body inside the cozy space. Nick does the same but on the driver's side and whenever he looks over at Miley and she throws him a bright, white smile he places his key into the ignition, revving up the car.
The drive to the club that Miley had ended up spending many of her free nights at was comfortably silent. Miley kept looking out the window, finally enjoying the ride to this place, all the other times she'd been going toward the building she'd be frustrated with herself but now, she was actually going to do the right thing and fix everything that should've never even happened in the first place. Nick kept stealing glances at the glowing girl beside him, although there was still pieces of her that would have to be fixed after this with her family, he knew that this was the major first step and her happiness was already increasing rapidly, even though they hadn't even faced Peter or informed him of everything that they do know.
When Nick's car pulled up in the parking lot of the club, of which Miley had gave him directions to, Nick turned off his car and turned toward Miley. She looked at him with a confused face, "Take a deep breath," he informed her, taking her hand and softly caressing it. She did as she was told, inhaling a large amount of air into her lungs then releasing it through her nose. Nick smiled at her brightly, proud that he had finally convinced her to do the right thing. "Okay," he says, reaching toward the handle of the driver's side car door, "Let's go."
Miley reaches for the handle on her side of the car door, and as soon as the door swings open, she slips her feet out of the car, closing the door behind her. She walks around to the front of the car, where Nick is waiting, and grabs his hand. She swings their hands back and forth as the walk closer to the club. The nerves in her body start to act up again but she quickly pushes them away, not letting them get the best of her. Whenever they got to the door, Nick took the chance to squeeze Miley's hand. He bent down, kissing her lips quickly and then they pulled the door open together.
After they walked past the door, Miley took the lead, considering she was the one that had been to this place multiple times while this was Nick's first time exploring the place. Nick glanced over to building as Miley guided him, thinking of just how rough the placed look even without a show going on. His body shivered as he imagined Miley walking around this place.
Miley stopped abruptly, standing in front of the door that was closed and had a name plate on the front of it that says 'Peter Cole'. "Take a deep breath," Nick leans down, whispering into her ear. She looks up at him momentarily and does just as she did while she was out in the car, in through her mouth and out through her nose. Then without anymore hesitation she lifts her free hand from her side and knocks loudly on the door so that he'll be able to hear the knock loud and clear.
Miley gulps loudly whenever the door swings open, she feels a slight squeeze at her hand and remembers that Nick's right there beside her. Thank God she agreed to let him be a part of this. Peter smiled grimly down at the petite girl standing in front of his office door, "Well hello Miley, and…" he looks up at Nick, "you," he sneers, opening his door wider and motioning for them to come in. Like always, Peter walks in behind his visitors and sits down at his desk, looking over at them.
"I'm here to quit," Miley says forcefully, looking at him with hard eyes. Peter chuckles, not even phased by her words.
"We've already been through this before Miley; you were stupid enough not to read through a contract without signing it and now you're stuck here. Which I would like to know why you've been missing work so much here lately. I'd hate to have to track you down and drag you down here to work," he says. Miley doesn't bother to interrupt him while he's talking, knowing that she has the upper hand in this conversation and that no matter how many words come out of his mouth, she's still going to be able to come back.
"I may have just signed that contract but I also remember you telling me that I was underage when I first started working here, would you mind explaining that to me?" she asks, looking up at him with cold eyes. Peter gulps nervously, shifting his gaze around on his desk. It took him a few minutes, but he quickly recovered.
"You were underage at that time to be a stripper but now that it's been a few months and you've gotten a tad bit older, you're eligible to be a legal stripper," he explains, trying to convince them that what he was saying was the truth, little did he know…
"That's funny because I've done some research on these past few days when I wasn't coming to work and I discovered that it's illegal for any club to have a stripper that is under the age of eighteen," Miley explains to him, letting him know that she's got it all figured out and that there is no way for him to get away from this.
"That maybe true," he begins, "But you've only been stripping for a few months so that wouldn't add up to much in the court's view, if that's what you're trying to get at," he says, wishing at all possible he could get away from this situation. But it was his fault, he'd allowed an underage girl to work at his club and now Miley as determined to make him pay.
"Actually, Peter, that would mean a lot in the court's view and if you're still not pleased with that tiny bit of information you'll be pleased to know that in the state of California it is illegal for any person under the age of twenty-one to have possession of alcohol. Meaning that when you had me behind the bar, serving drinks to random people you were committing a felony, that's only two crimes that you've committed within the past few months," Miley tells him, keeping her eyes focused on his whenever he had the courage to look up at her.
"But you're only one person," Miley doesn't allow him to continue with his wording this time, instead, she cuts him off, wanting him to know immediately that she knows something that she probably shouldn't. But nonetheless, she does.
"Yes, I am only one person but I know from a reliable source that you have multiple people in this club working for you that are underage," she says. It was true; she'd called Mandy a day ago and asked her about all the girls that worked at the club. According to her there were around six girls, excluding Miley that worked as a stripper and were under the age of eighteen.
Peter's tongue racks over his bottom lip as he tries to come up with something else, knowing that he needs to convince them of something so that he can continue with his business. But Peter thought just a second too long and Nick stood up from his chair, looking Peter dead in the eyes.
"You now know what we have figured out Peter," he snarls his name, thinking back to everything that Miley had told him, "And we're going to be nice enough to let you off the hook this time, but if and only if you let Miley go free of that contract and all the other underage girls are fired from the work of stripping or serving drinks. You know exactly what will happen if we take you to court, so if I were you, I'd take this very kind offer and run with it," Nick says, ready to finish his speech, "I'll be back in three days to make sure that everything's been taken care of," he finishes.
"Okay," Peter says, knowing that Nick was serious with the tone of his voice, "Okay, Miley's free, she doesn't have to work here anymore and I promise sir that I'll let all my underage workers go just please, don't turn me into the police," he begs. Nick nods slightly and helps Miley get up from her chair.
"I'll see you in three days," Nick says, right before he and Miley exit the club. Miley instantly feels a giant wave of relief, a huge weight pushed off of her shoulders. She's never felt so free before in her life.
A/n: Okay, so there it is :) what we've all been waiting for xD. SHES FREE! Haha, isn't it great?
So, when I posted that last chapter I knew that I had won some NJK awards but what I didn't know until later on was that I've been inducted into the hall of fame, which is AWESOME! If I do say so myself. But, anyways, review, review. I'll love you like no other person's ever loved you before if you do. :)
