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hold on to his dream, he felt the futility of his hope.
    Tally brought him a glass of wine, which he downed rather faster than he had intended to. “You feeling better now?” the white cougar asked, taking the glass back. Jonas, his head recovering from the brief spin it had taken, nodded. “All right. Room two.”
    Once Jonas had nodded his acknowledgment, Tally smiled and patted his cheek. “We all have bad days, dear. It’ll pass.” And then he was gone, back into the main room.
    Jonas sighed, pushed himself up out of the chair, and went out to only the third disaster of his three-year career.
    It wasn’t as bad as the time he’d come right across the muzzle of the cougar beneath him, nor was it as bad as the time he’d let his teeth press down on the huge member of a noble bear— that one would’ve gotten him fired, or worse, if Tally hadn’t intervened, telling the noble how young and new Jonas was, practically a virgin , and how the noble’s enormous and impressive equipment had intimidated the poor young cat. The bear had left with a full refund, grumbling, but hadn’t taken any other action (for fear his wife would find out, Tally said), and had even come back a few months later.
    This client was another cougar, a soldier or something, one of the ones who came to the Jackal’s Staff perhaps once or twice in their lifetime, having heard of its reputation for servicing nobles. Usually it was enough for Jonas to be well-groomed and meet them in an insect-free room. This particular cougar’s fantasies went a bit beyond that, which was okay with Jonas (he’d done stranger things) except that part of the cougar’s fantasy involved Jonas coming in his mouth.
    Usually this wouldn’t have been any trouble either. Unfortunately, the combination of the wine and Jonas’s mood, together with apprehension about his earlier near-mishap, proved impossible to overcome. Not only did he not come at the proper time, he was not even able to stay fully erect.
    The client refused to listen to his apologies, and so Jonas stopped offering them, taking several cuffs across the muzzle as the soldier ranted on about how much he’d saved up, and how this had completely ruined everything, and this place was no better than the seedy Open Hole brothel down the river, just more expensive and pretentious, and on and on while he pulled his clothes on. “Your owner’s going to hear about this,” the soldier concluded, shaking a fist at Jonas, and then he slammed the door shut behind him.
    Jonas sank back onto the bed and curled up, hiding his head in his arms. He didn’t pause to examine the thoughts that whirled through his mind, just let them pass by while he waited for Tally.
    The door opened and closed. “Done for the night?”
    Jonas sat up with an effort and looked at Tally. “I’m sorry.”
    “ It’s all straightened out. I’ll keep your tips for tonight and you just go to bed and don’t worry about it. Take the day off tomorrow. Okay?”
    “ Thanks.” The word sounded hollow, but he wasn’t even sure if Tally had heard. The door was closing before he was finished.
    Jonas lay back. The bed was more comfortable than his, but he knew the cleaners would be in to freshen up the room before too long. Indeed, once he finally forced himself into the corridor, he passed one of the cleaning mice, keeping to the wall and walking quietly. He ignored it, as he always did, and walked back to the lounge.
    Alicar was there, getting dressed and chatting with Pike, who was already dressed. As Jonas entered, Pike’s eyes flicked to him and then away. “I guess I’d better get going and get some sleep,” he said. “Goodnight, Jonas.”
    “ Night.” Jonas waved.
    As Pike slipped out, Alicar said, “I thought you were sick.”
    “ No, just thinking about a lot of things.” Jonas sighed. “I screwed up with a client tonight.”
    “ Oh, okay, that’s probably what he meant, then.” Alicar pulled on a shirt.
    “