The door hadn't even clicked into place yet before both women gasped and started protesting.
Rapunzel's back was almost bare, partway through pulling her dress down for the night, and she stared back over her shoulder at Flynn and the woman he had just led into their room. He hadn't knocked. She held her dress up against her chest protectively but stayed turned away from them, in between the bed and the wall. The light was dim- as many oil lamps as were available were lit, but the room was still shadowy. It was late.
The first inn they had come across was bustling. The bar was raucous. Men and women filled every area, shouting, laughing, drinking. The dark wooden interior smelled heavily of straw and beer and leather, all unfamiliar. It was overwhelming to her. So many people all at once, when she was so used to solitude, made her head swim. The noise was a shock.
The woman Flynn had brought in with him had painted lips and kohl-lined eyes, dark hair twisted up and away into an elaborate series of braids and spirals, but her dress was clearly old and seemed threadbare in places, patched in others.
The woman reached behind her for the doorknob but found Flynn blocking her, leaning against the closed door and refusing to move.
"You didn't pay for a threesome," she protested uneasily, looking between Flynn and Rapunzel. Rapunzel's eyebrows shot up. Rapunzel could see and feel the woman's dismay and the fear rising in her, and her own heart sped up. This was what she worried he may do.
"I said I'd pay you for your time," he corrected. "By the hour, as agreed."
"I don't do women."
"Different services needed," he soothed, taking her by the elbow and leading her toward Rapunzel, hand tightening when he felt her tense and try to shift backward, stay put, move back toward the door. He wouldn't let her leave, and she could feel it.
He reached Rapunzel by the bed and took her by the naked shoulder to turn her fully toward the dark-haired woman, standing them in front of each other, and Rapunzel's cascade of blonde hair that had initially been hidden from the woman turned with her and fell into view, pouring down the front of her body over her bare shoulder, ends resting and dragging against the floorboards.
She shrugged her shoulder out from under his hand, still holding her dress up high against her chest, hands at the hollow of her throat, glaring at him, upset with his over-familiarity with her. He seemed to think it was alright to touch her. He had been 'guiding' her movements since they left the tower. An insistent hand at the small of her back pushing her through the crowd in the bar downstairs, a tense hand cupping her elbow to lead her up the stairs, rough fingers on her bare shoulder to turn her now- he treated her like she was either slow or about to run away from him. Probably both.
He also seemed to think it was fine to bring strangers into the room. The only room available. She had promised herself she wouldn't sleep tonight because she wasn't sure if she could trust him, and he was proving her right immediately.
He ignored Rapunzel's petulance and watched as the woman's eyes followed the long line of Rapunzel's hair from her face down to the floor.
"I need you to do her hair."
The woman pulled her gaze away from Rapunzel and back to Flynn, mirth spreading across her face and mouth cracking into a disbelieving smirk. He shrugged.
"Something to get it under control. Up. Off the ground. Out of the way."
Rapunzel opened her mouth to protest, but wasn't sure what to say. Before she could speak, the incredulous woman had reached out to take a fistful of blonde hair in hand, rubbing strands between her fingers, as if testing it.
"That's it?" she worried, darkly, shooting Flynn a furtive look. "Just do her hair?"
"Show her some different ways," he confirmed.
The dark-haired woman set her jaw, and sighed, apparently relieved but not fully comfortable with the situation. "Fine. If you want to go back downstairs to the bar while I-"
"I stay." He sat down on the edge of the bed, pulling off his vest, face turned up to both women expectantly, mouth smiling but eyes unreadable.
"Are you-"
"Does it cost extra to watch?" he joked darkly. "I'll pay extra."
"Wh-"
"I need to learn this too."