And with that he left me standing there watching as he and the rest of the Godivas and their men danced up the stairs to the fantasy rooms. I looked around at the bartenders and a few customers who already were too drunk to enjoy the offerings on the floors above and knew something had to change.
I had to change or I’d forever be boring Olivia standing by as the world marched by me.
Chapter Six
Cassian
Kane strolled into my office and took a seat in front of my desk. My half-brother rarely stopped in to see me, so I put my work aside and looked to see him wearing an uncommon grin as he sat leaning back, his right leg draped over the arm of the chair.
“Something on your mind¸ Kane?”
“Maybe. You look like you have something eating at you. Perhaps they’re the same thing.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I sat back in my chair. I’d just returned from a meeting with our accountant Mitch, who had once again reminded me of the financial ramifications of Stefan’s constant need to fuck the women under him. Literally. Obviously, my frustration with my little brother was written all over my face.
“I just got back from the accountant’s. Do you know what percentage of our income is now devoted to legal fees courtesy of Stefan?”
Kane shook his head. “You know I don’t get involved with that part of the business. I leave that misery to you.”
His dry humor wasn’t helping me get into a better mood. “I’d willingly trade you my misery for your duties upstairs.”
With a deep chuckle, Kane gave me a grin. “They’re not your style. You’d be surprised at how dirty I have to get up there. You’re not the strong-arm type, Cash.”
“Don’t tell me any more. I don’t want to deal with the legal issues you cause too.”
He laced his hands behind his head. “No legal issues from me. I know how to hide my dirt.”
“Nice. Well, the answer to my question is nearly twelve percent. I’ll tell you, I’m pretty fucking sick of paying for his sex antics.”
“Stop him then.”
Another deep sigh. “That’s easier said than done. Each of us is an equal partner here. I can’t just lay the big brother smackdown on him. I also can’t trade places with him since I’m pretty sure he’d run our business into the ground. And I don’t think asking you to trade places with him would work. It wouldn’t be open season on bartenders, but I can only imagine what trouble he’d get into in your area.”
Kane nodded his agreement. “Good point. My people need a strong hand to guide them. Letting him loose up there would be like letting a fat kid loose in a bakery. Hell, he’s already tried to hit on a few of the dancers. If I hadn’t made it clear to them they’d lose their jobs if I caught them anywhere near him, he’d have been all over them. Stefan’s a lot more like our father than we are.”
“Stefan’s a fucking man whore. Our father was never this bad. If he had been, we’d have dozens of brothers and sisters out there.”
“Let’s hope we don’t,” Kane said in a low voice, sending a chill down my spine. God, I hoped we didn’t have any long lost siblings out there.
“I don’t think you came down to talk about our brother’s inability to keep his dick in his pants, so what’s up?” I truly hoped Kane had something that would make my day better and not worse.
“I got an interesting request recently.”
Kane infrequently bothered to give me the details of his part of the club, usually only when a member reserved a room for something wilder or more bizarre than what he was used to. I settled in to listen to his story, happy for a reprieve from my problems with my other brother. “Do tell. I can use a good freak show story, as long as this isn’t going to involve the cops or more lawyers.”
“Nope, this one won’t get us into any trouble at all.”
“Then hit me with it. Just tell me, is it better than the guy who wanted Siamese twins? That was fucked up.”
Kane gave me one of his rare laughs before his expression turned more serious. “Yeah, Sheerer likes the weird stuff. I can’t tell you how fucking hard it is to find Siamese twins willing to hang out with a guy like that. That put a dent in my budget that quarter. Thank God he’s a platinum member. And I don’t even want to imagine how much it would have cost if he wanted them to fuck him instead of just sit with him. No, this one involves your assistant.”
In that moment, it felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. “Olivia?”
“Yeah. You gave her a membership, so she wants to use it.”
“What did she request?” I asked, my curiosity piqued more than I thought it could be concerning Kane’s area.
“She wants a room and she wants to…how did she put it? Experience being out of control. It’s just a basic level request. Nothing big.”
“Out of control?” I repeated, stunned that my relatively proper assistant had even requested a room upstairs.
“Yep. It’s no Siamese twins gig, but I thought you’d find it interesting.”
I found it more than interesting. The idea of Olivia even approaching Kane with a request like this surprised me. After giving her the tour of the fantasy rooms, I’d felt like something had changed between us. We’d been getting to know one another and then within a few days, she was all business, as if finding out what the club was really about had changed her opinion of me.
“Did she ask for anything specific?” I asked, trying not to appear too interested.
“No. She didn’t seem to understand how it all works. She filled out the request form, but she didn’t include any details about exactly what she wants. I had the feeling she was a little shy about it all.”
I input my password into my laptop and brought up my calendar. Typing in meaningless comments on a few random dates, I worked to look nonchalant. “So what do you plan to give her?”
Kane slid his leg to the floor and crossed his arms across his chest. “I have nothing planned as of yet. She reserved this Friday, so I have three days to figure it out. Any suggestions?”
He wasn’t buying my disinterested act. When the hell did I become so goddamned transparent? “I have no idea. I don’t get involved in your domain, remember?”
“I just thought you might want to be a part of this.”
Obviously, I hadn’t been as slick as I thought I’d been about how much I liked Olivia. I didn’t want to see her get in over her head upstairs. “Take it easy on her, Kane. She’s a nice girl. I don’t know exactly what she’s looking for, but don’t go overboard and scare her off. I like working with her.”