The apartment sits quiet in the late afternoon. The front door bangs open, shattering the stillness. Ethan jolted slightly in his chair, fingers pausing over the keyboard where he'd been half-heartedly tweaking a freelance pitch, a logo for a startup he doubted would even reply. The air conditioner hummed faintly, no match for the heat seeping in. Vegas sun spilled gold across the carpet. He glanced up just as Mia burst inside, her cheeks flushed pink, her hazel eyes sparking with an energy he hadn't seen in months, maybe longer. She kicked off her sneakers with a little hop that sent her red ponytail swinging, her sweater shifting with the motion. The sight of her, vibrant, almost radiant, hit him like a sudden breeze, cutting through the stale tension that had hung over their weekend.
"First day was wild," she said, her voice bubbling over with excitement as she crossed the room in a few quick strides. She dropped onto the couch with a bounce, tucking her legs beneath her. "You wouldn't believe it, Ethan. It's like stepping into a whole other world over there."
He swiveled his chair to face her, nudging his laptop aside onto the cluttered desk. The screen dimmed, casting his sketches into shadow, an abandoned taco logo mocking him from the corner. "Yeah?" he said, keeping his tone light, cautious, though a familiar unease was already twisting low in his gut. "Tell me about it." He forced a small smile, trying to mirror the brightness in her face, even as his mind braced for whatever might come.
Mia grinned, leaning forward, her hands animated. "Okay, so it's chaos, like, organized chaos, you know? There's this guy, Jake, one of the workers. He just struts around naked like it's no big deal. Nothing on."
Ethan's smile stiffened. "Wait, naked?" The word caught in his throat, his fingers tightening around the armrest, the cheap vinyl creaking. "You're telling me there's just, guys walking around with no clothes on?"
"Well, yeah," she said, shrugging as if it were as ordinary as the weather, her ponytail swishing over her shoulder. "It's a brothel, Ethan. They're getting ready for clients or coming off shifts, it's just part of the routine there. Not a big deal."
He nodded, swallowing hard, the unease coiling tighter. "Right. Go on."
She laughed, bright and airy, the sound chasing away the stale air for a moment. "Jake's hilarious, though. Kept flexing his arms, asking if I thought he needed more push-ups, waggling his... self at us girls. Total goofball. And then there's Lola, who's super nice, and Jess, of course. I ended up helping them with wardrobe stuff today, picking outfits, fixing a zipper on Jess's latex suit thing. Oh, and the phones never stop ringing. I swear I made fifty cups of coffee before lunch."
His jaw clenched as he pictured it, her laugh echoing in his head. Once, she'd blushed just asking a waiter for extra napkins, now she was joking with naked coworkers. "Sounds, busy," he managed, his voice even but strained.
She fished her phone out of her pocket, grinning wider as she tapped the screen. "Check this out," she said, scooting closer until her knee brushed his, her warmth stirring him despite the tension. "They record everything for security, we can access it on this app. I snagged a clip from today, just wait." She held the phone out, tilting it so they could both see, and Ethan leaned in, his throat tightening as the video flickered to life.
