He really was just a kid. Probably no older than twenty or twenty-one, but he walked into my office with enough swagger and self-assurance to choke a horse. He was chatting with Chuck about some game that had been on TV last night and didn’t seem to pick up on the tension wafting off the big man or the irritation that I was sure was leaking from me.
He caught sight of me watching him from behind my desk and his friendly grin kicked up a notch as he moved toward me like an eager puppy. This was a kid that was used to getting by in life on his looks and his affable personality, and if he had been smarter he would’ve reminded me of Race. As it was, he had no clue what he was doing in my office or why I had summoned him.
He reached out a hand as he approached, his words coming out too fast as he moved.
“Hey, it’s nice to finally meet you, man, I’m Tyler. I’m so stoked that I passed the background check and got the job. This club is so dope and the girls!” His eyes got huge as I reached for his outstretched hand. “The talent is off the charts.”
I leaned forward and pulled on his hand a little so that he had to come closer to the edge of the desk. He gasped out a shocked little noise as I started to squeeze the palm clasped in my own.
“Tyler, is it?” He nodded jerkily as I continued to squeeze. He tried to subtly pull away from me, but I just hauled him closer, making him hit the edge of the desk until he grunted in pain. He put his free hand on the glass surface and tried to tug backward, but I had him and I wasn’t letting go. “Did you leave two cases of very expensive champagne on the cooler floor yesterday during your shift?”
His eyes got even wider in his now flushed face and he was panting in earnest. He shook his head back and forth in the negative almost comically. He was panicking for real and I couldn’t blame him.
I knew if I applied just a little bit more pressure, bones would start to snap. I squeezed just a fraction tighter until I heard a distinct pop as bone dislocated.
“Funny because I have video footage of you doing exactly that because you were distracted by—what did you call it, the talent? Do you think I keep people around that don’t respect my business or my money, Tyler?”
I squeezed again and another knuckle slid out of place. The kid was straight up crying and turning purple. If it was up to me I would keep going. I would break all his fingers and kick his sloppy, snotty ass out to the curb, but Chuck was watching me carefully, so I stopped. I let go of the kid’s hand and sat back in my chair while he fell to his knees on the other side of my desk.
“I should fire you, but my associate seems to think you can learn from your mistake. What do you say, Tyler, are you ever going to be so careless with my product again?”
The kid cradled his hand against his chest and behind his watery gaze I saw a flash of something that looked oddly familiar. Hatred.
He was humiliated and furious about it.
“No. No, I won’t make that kind of mistake again, sir.”
I nodded and indicated his hand with a wave of my own. “I don’t have to tell you that a handshake is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how I handle disappointment with my employees.”
The kid gulped. “No, sir.”
“Good. Now get out of my office.” He clambered to his feet and rushed away from me, toward Chuck, and disappeared into the elevator.
Chuck shook his head at me and turned to follow the kid out. “You’ll never be a real boy.”
I rolled my eyes at him. Of course I wouldn’t.
Chapter 7
Keelyn
“You need to give it life.”
I had no idea what Nassir meant by those words until the club opened its doors a day after I returned to the Point. I thought I was going to throw on something outrageously sexy, slick down my newly unmistakable hair, gloss on some ruby-red lipstick, wear the highest heels I could find, and mingle with the crowd. I was sadly mistaken.
I was used to selling sex to customers that knew they were going home alone. It was an entirely different ball game when the customers knew that every fantasy, every desire they had, was within reach. The air vibrated with anticipation and the waves of excitement that poured off the eager men and women as they entered the club were enough to drown in. I still had my doubts about Nassir’s system of locks and keys, but he had a small army of security staff mingling unobtrusively among the clubgoers and the hired help. It was an anything-goes atmosphere, but the men in black suits wired up with headsets and sporting sharp-eyed stares reminded even the most outrageous customer that there were still rules that needed to be obeyed.
For the first hour I was unsure what to do with myself. I was stunned by how normal and how average most of the people that had forked over so much money to be a member of this exclusive club appeared to be. I was equally stunned by the number of couples that were milling about in the crowd. I threaded my way around the bodies, some dressed like they had just come from the office and some dressed a hundred times more scandalously than I was. I stopped to talk to a few young men that recognized me from my stripping days, told them no when they asked if I would be available for any “extra services” the club offered, and said a quick hello to a couple of girls I recognized from Spanky’s that were now working here. I stopped to ask them how it all came about and was surprised when they told me Nassir made it happen. They didn’t want to strip anymore, didn’t want to be naked onstage, so he set them up in the lavish bar and told them they had a place in his juggernaut of sex and industry as long as they wanted one.
Pondering this new insight into the man who was forever surprising me, I made my way to the bar and asked the very cute bartender to pour me a shot of tequila. Drinking at the old Spanky’s had been a terrible idea. The customers there were already handsy and grabby, so keeping your wits about you was a must. Here everyone seemed relatively well behaved and so excited to finally be inside the doors that no one was even really paying attention to me, so I figured a little liquid fortification wouldn’t hurt anybody. I tossed the liquor back and hissed out a breath around the burn. I caught the eye of a pretty young woman standing next to me at the bar who was watching me closely. I lifted an eyebrow at her and signaled for another shot.