Josie pointed her finger at me and cocked one perfectly shaped dark eyebrow. “You’re holding out on us, girl. I know. I deal with witnesses all the time who have that same face you have on right now. Spill it or we’ll never let you have any peace.”
“Yeah and don’t leave any of the details out,” Erin added.
“There’s nothing to tell. I swear. Yes, Cassian is very good looking. Yes, Stefan is funny and hot. The third brother, Kane, is a little scary for my taste, but he’s definitely got a sexy vibe to him too. Other than that, I don’t know what to tell you. No one asked me out or bent me over the desk while the other ones interviewed me. It was just a boring, run-of-the-mill interview. I swear.”
Both women had leaned forward in anticipation of hearing all my salacious details, but now they sat back crestfallen with a look of disappointment on their faces. I must have looked like I told the truth because Josie didn’t appear to want to grill me anymore.
“I’ve never heard of the third brother, Kane. What’s he do there?” Erin asked, almost as an afterthought.
“He’s in charge of the fantasy part of the business,” I explained, suddenly realizing there was something I could tell them that I hadn’t. “Oh, I forgot! I get a free membership to Club X, and that includes the fantasy stuff, not that I’ll ever use it, I imagine.”
Josie’s and Erin’s jaws dropped. It was one of the rare moments in our friendship that I, Olivia Lucas, got to shock them instead of them shocking me. It wouldn’t last, but for the time being, I basked in the limelight of being cooler than everyone else in the room.
“So what fantasy do you plan to have them fulfill? You know what they say about you quiet types—still waters run deep. And dirty. I know you have some deep, dark desires inside that business suit look you sport,” Josie said with a wink.
“Oh, I love this! Liv, you have to do the fantasy thing. It costs a fortune, and you get it for free,” Erin said.
“I don’t know, guys. It might not be a good idea if I want to keep my job. You shouldn’t mix business with pleasure. You know, no shitting where you eat.”
“You have a scat fantasy?” Erin asked, her eyes huge with shock.
I couldn’t help but laugh when Josie elbowed her for being so dumb, splashing wine down the front of her shirt. “No, I don’t want someone to shit on me. Jesus, Erin! What the fuck? I’m boring, remember?”
As she grabbed a napkin off the coffee table to blot the wine, she tried her best to explain. “Well, Josie said your kind runs deep and dirty and then you mentioned shitting. I just thought…”
“Well, don’t.”
“In all seriousness, Liv, they wouldn’t offer you the club’s services if they didn’t expect you to take advantage of them,” Josie said in her legally solemn voice. “I think it might be good for you too.”
“Why do I get the feeling you two spend your time pitying me, like I’m some nun or something compared to you guys?”
“How many dates have you had since you and Mark broke up?” Josie asked in her interrogator voice, making me feel like any answer I gave would only validate their sad opinion of me.
I didn’t want to admit that I’d had just a handful of dates in nearly a year, and only one of them had included any sex whatsoever. And that hadn’t been anything to write home about either. Quietly, I admitted, “A few. You know how it is. When it doesn’t click, there’s no point in going any further.”
Josie turned to look at Erin, and they both gave me their best pity faces. “Honey, you’re twenty-seven years old and you spend more time in this apartment alone than any healthy woman should. You’re gorgeous and you could have any man you want. You just choose not to. I know the whole Mark thing was tough, but there are more fish in the sea and you need to put your pole back in the water,” Erin said, her voice full of sympathy.
“I think you have your sexual metaphors mixed up. Seriously, I’m fine, guys.”
Shaking her head, Josie frowned at me. “You’re not fine, but I think you might have a good chance at fine if you find some happiness at this new job and take the chance on their fantasy services.”
“I don’t know,” I said, lying. I knew all too well I didn’t want to get involved in any fantasy business at Club X.
Erin tilted her head and smiled. “We’re not saying you have to try to fulfill a fantasy of having sex with an entire soccer team or anything wild like that. Just try something small that feels good. Will you at least consider it?”
I was never going to see an end to this conversation if I didn’t agree, so I forced a smile and nodded. “I’ll think about it. Good enough?”
“That’s all we’re saying,” Josie answered. “Just keep an open mind, okay?”
“I will. And if I ever come up with something I think Club X can make come true for me, I’ll consider it.”
* * *
Opening the heavy steel door to Club X, I paused as my eyes adjusted to the dim light of the club. The place was quiet and deserted, but I suspected the three owners were nearby. Unlike the day before, I took a good look around my new workplace, imagining my best friends having the time of their lives there. The club was really just a large space lined on the side with metal walkways to the upper floors and an enormous bar on the main floor, but I envisioned when it was filled with people and the lights were flashing to the beat of the music it transformed into the place my friends had bragged about.
I waited for someone to come out and greet me, but after a few minutes no one had appeared so I decided to investigate a little around the main floor. The bar looked like it was made of glass and seemed to go on forever down the left side of the room. Reaching out, I ran my fingers over the top of it and felt the coolness of glass. Above me, hung from the ceiling, hung frosted curved pendant lights. Behind the bar was more glass in shelves and refrigerator doors. Bottles of red, blue, and even a neon green liquor sat on the shelves that reached what looked like ten feet in the air. Craning my neck, I wondered how the bartenders reached the top shelves and the liquor up there to make drinks.
“You came back, so I guess my brothers didn’t scare you off. Good. I bet you’re thinking you can’t imagine how anyone gets to the top shelf stuff, aren’t you?”
I lowered my head and saw Stefan standing next to me. Dressed in what I imagined was his usual look, he wore a black Club X T-shirt and jeans and looked incredible. His hair looked tousled, as if someone had been running their hands through it in the heat of passion just moments before. I imagined it was entirely possible that had actually just happened, likely with one of the many women he had in his life. He had a look that said he was rarely alone and liked it that way.