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At the sound of her name, my fist clenches around the glass tumbler. I struggle to keep my expression smooth and untroubled, but inside my guts roil.
“We have plenty of people to run those kinds of errands,” I say evenly. “Send one of them.”
Lucas rolls his eyes. “It’s fine. I want to check in on her.”
I narrow my eyes. “We don’t owe her a damn thing, Lucas. Trust me,” I grit out.
He turns toward the door, shaking his head. “After mom died, Anita took us in and raised us. She gave us warmth and security out of the goodness of her own heart. It doesn’t seem like something that we should take for granted, no matter how far we’ve risen in the world since.”
I know that he is ignorant of Anita’s… needs. He’s two years younger than me and I have done my best to keep him in the dark.
But damn if his words don’t rankle me.
I glare at his back as he leaves. “Anita didn’t do a fucking thing that didn’t benefit her in some way. Just because you only see the ocean’s surface does not mean that the sharks have all stopped circling.”
He gives me half a wave as he leaves, leaving me alone with my bitter thoughts.
For a second, I think I can smell the heavy floral scent that Anita used to wear. Closing my eyes briefly, I see her reaching for me, a dangerous glint in her eyes. I clench every muscle in my body against her touch. In my mind’s eye, she lets down her waterfall of dark, heavy hair. Her deep voice wafts over me. She pulls my hand up to rest on her breast, never dropping my gaze.
Don’t you want to thank me, Calum?
I shake my head to clear that image, opening my eyes. My stomach lurches. I shoot to my feet, throwing back the last of my Scotch.
Suddenly, I feel the burning need to go to Club X.
Chapter36
Kaia
Ifrown down at my cell phone as another missed call goes to voicemail. I’ve now missed seven phone calls from my dad. Taking a deep breath, I turn the phone off completely and slip it into my locker.
My dad is probably leaving me another hate filled voicemail as we speak. If he knew where I am right now, knew what I was about to do to earn money, he would scream so loudly that I’m pretty sure he would have an aneurysm.
But I have to earn money. Enough money to pay my father back for every last cent he’s ever spent on teaching me to become a perfect, graceful ballerina. I’ve calculated the cost and it is well over two hundred thousand dollars.
He’s made it very clear that unless I come up with the money, I will follow his rules and do whatever he says until the day I die.
That knowledge slithers through my stomach as I close my locker and spin the combination.
“Lily, Brandie, Misty!” A dark-suited man sits by the door, reading off names. “One minute warning, girls.”
Behind me, the dancers’ changing room is loud and busy. Huge makeup mirrors and well-lighted white desks line one wall. White director’s chairs are placed at intervals, each one of them currently supporting a stripper. They talk to each other as they lean close to the mirrors and perfect their lip gloss or apply another layer of blush.
I slide into the seat at the very end, feeling self conscious. I’m wearing what amounts to a tiny black bikini underneath a white kimono with clear six inch stilettos. My hair is teased and blown out, my makeup looks almost garish under the room’s soft lights.
For any other job, I would look insane. Sliding a glance down the row of dancers, I feel like I fit in just fine.
“Candi, Baby, Daisy,” the man sitting next door the door reads off. “You’re up next, ladies.”
The dancer to my left gets up just as Mia struts in the room. She sees me and comes over, her caramel-colored body glistening with baby oil and glitter. She clutches the top to her red bikini in one hand, tossing it on the desk as she throws herself into the chair beside me.
“Fucking cheap assholes,” she says, sounding perky even though she’s complaining.
She produces a neat wad of cash from the red triangle of fabric between her legs, shaking her head. She starts counting the cash as she glances at me. “I got a bunch of frat boys. They’ve obviously never been to a spot this nice and they didn’t behave themselves. And to top it all off? They hardly tipped anything, even when I took them back to the private rooms. It was basically a huge waste of my time.”
I scrunch up my face. “I hope you told security to kick them out.”
She chuckles. “You’re damn right I did.”
