The life on the Grand Bahamas was not the same routine of Nassau for she was just asked to shill at some of the gaming tables and cater to special customers, including the boss, of course. She had time to spend with David, but they had to be careful of their relationship and more than once it appeared that they would be caught, but Mr. Carl never said anything to her.
She really found that she didn't mind when he asked her to make love, however bizarre, to the men that would come into the club. They tipped her well, even though most of her money had to be turned over to him and the more men she slept with, the less desire she began to feel for David.
One night David came to her cabin while she was "entertaining" and she asked him to wait and she would be with him in a few moments. He paced up and down in front of the door, knowing full well that she was inside with another man and he wondered if she moaned and writhed under that stranger as she did with him. The thought angered him and he could not take the suspense any longer.
He pounded on the door and finally in utter frustration, kicked a hole through the thin plywood and grabbed the man who was on the bed caressing her.
"David," she screamed, "get out of here, you'll get us both in trouble!" But he could not hear her in his anger and threw the man soundly to the floor. The man got slowly to his knees and looked at him with hate in his eyes.
"Well, how long have you two been trysting?" he demanded. It was Mr. Carl! David's face drained of color and he grabbed Candace by the shoulders and slapped her until she broke into uncontrollable sobs. "You weren't satisfied with the customers he sent to you, were you. Now you're swinging with the boss just for fun!" His voice cut into her like a knife and all she could do was to sit there and stare at him with fear and anger in her eyes.
Mr. Carl got to his feet and walked to the door and yelled back at Candace, "I'll see you in the office in fifteen minutes, and you'd better have a good excuse dreamed up or there will be serious trouble." He turned to David and told him that he would see him right away!
David looked at Candace, all the light had gone out of his eyes and he didn't know what to say. He felt foolish and he knew that he had ruined any chances for them to get away, at least together. She kept her eyes downcast at the floor, tears running in a torrent down her cheeks, and sobbing hysterically. She walked to the bathroom to put some cold water on her face and dry her tears, but she couldn't stop crying. She wasn't sure whether she was crying for David, for herself or for the last chance of getting free of the corporation. In looking back she wondered if she ever had really loved him, if she had ever really loved Jim and whether she really did want to go back into a straight life. She had lost her self-respect, her hope and the one person who knew what she had become and had still loved her, but it didn't matter, nothing mattered now.
She knew that David would be forced to leave Grand Bahama; she would be forced to stay and satisfy the whims of the corporation, even though it was not as bad as what she had originally been through, in fact, now it didn't even seem so bad. She had a place to live, food to eat, nice clothes to wear and all she had to do was to go to bed with a multitude of men. Even that didn't matter anymore.
She watched David walk down the path to the main club with Mr. Carl, his head hanging down and his fists tightly clenched.
Had she ruined and destroyed the one person who had cared for her? Would she ever be able to care again in a healthy, normal way for some man who may come in the future and take her away, or would she remain there until her youth and beauty began to fade and she was turned out, a seasoned whore? She didn't have the answers to any of the questions that were now haunting her, but even that didn't matter in any great proportion. She had become one of those jaded, hard girls David had told her about on the trip to the island and there was no going back. The only future she could see was a new man in a new bed, old men in old, familiar beds, new tricks… maybe, old tricks, certainly, and she looked at herself in the mirror. Her dress was wrinkled, her make-up smeared over her face, stained by tears and suddenly she began to laugh. So this is how it all begins! She couldn't believe that it had happened to her, but there was no going back and she had accepted her life as a "working girl." She had once heard someone say that ex-hookers made the best wives, but who would want her after they had finished with her. She would be old, worn and unfeeling, even if a man would care for her, she would not be able to love in return, it was no longer within the scope of her world, her tiny, whorey realm.
She left the cabin and walked slowly to the office where Mr. Carl would be waiting for her explanation and she had it all ready… a hot, ready cunt between her legs.
"And so what," she thought dryly, "I was a woman who once loved a man… why make faces anymore!"