"The next time J hit me I slapped him back and got a beating. I complained to Cleo and she warned me to do what I was told. Then he reached across the table at a Chinese restaurant to slap my face. I ran out and jumped into a taxi, and spent the next few nights with my friends on Mercer Street. They’d only seen me with him that first night, I never told them who he was.
A week passed.
Nothing. Not even Cleo called.
Already booked at Baby’s the following week, I went to work as scheduled. She knew about the fight, and although she was full of advice, I knew she was afraid of J. But my shift passed without incident, I took my money and went home.
Another week passed. No evening dates. No afternoons with Cleo. No ringing phone. I went to the gym, had my nails done, poked around a few museums pretending I had a normal life.
Because of the J problem, I didn’t work for a month.
It was great."

A sequential installment from the woman in the prologue of J'S GIRLS.