CHAPTER 1
Haley
Mama died like this. A face full of makeup. Trusting a man to play a game that she would never win. I should have been thrilled. What could be more exciting to be playing with knives with a man who wanted nothing more than to fuck you?
But this was Aldrich. I had known him for years. There was no attraction there.
He held the knife to my throat, using it to jerk my chin to look up at him. “Your last words?”
Always his famous ‘final’ line. “Oh, please,” I whispered in my best voice, “Don’t hurt me, sir.”
Aldrich narrowed his eyes and studied me for a moment. The gray hair at his temples seemed to wither away the longer we played there.
Get on with it, I thought.
He brought the knife over the top of my breast. The knife marked a raised white line on my skin. Some of it would scab over, and some of it would disappear by morning. Dahlia, the owner of the entertainment club, the Dahlia District, never put a limit on the types of knives or weapons the club members could use. Those limitations were up to us.
I let out a quiet huff. The knife was large, with a hook on one end and a wooden handle on the other. Aldrich had been proud when he first purchased it years ago;Custom made, he had said.A skinning knife. Just for you.The man had never gone hunting, let alone skinned an animal. He only used it in the Terrariums, these small private rooms, like the one we were in now. Each raised white line itched like a papercut. It didn’t feel like an act of desire.
“I don’t think I’m done,” he said. “Lower your bra.”
Ah. He had heard the sarcasm in my voice then. I closed my eyes, hiding the urge to roll them, and pulled the fabric, the smallest amount I could manage while still fulfilling his request.
“Take it off,” he barked. I unbuckled the strap, then threw the bra on the ground. His hand found my breast. “We can end this right now,” he said. “You know how.”
If I slept with him, Aldrich wouldn’t find sessions like this interesting anymore. He’d have more options. He could move on to a newer, younger server. But Dahlia had taught me from the beginning,If you never want to bore him, make him chase. Never give in. He was one of the best club members we had. Reliable. Dependent. Here at the club night after night. Always with the same requests.
I shook my head back and forth. Oh, the acting. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t have it in me to play along properly with his fantasies that night. “Mr. Aldrich, I beg you, please don’t—”
He brought the knife down to the top of my breast and pressed down. The paper cut turned into a searing pain, and I shot up.
“Ow,” I said. He shoved my shoulder down.
“Hold still.”
Blood dripped down.
“What the hell?” I yelled.
The smile widened across his face, his white teeth matching the hair at his temples. He hopped off the bed, but it was already too late. I cupped my breast. A thin line, an inch long, at the top of my breast marked me.
“Aldrich,” I hissed. “This—”
“I know. I know. Double the fee. Time to heal. Never again,” he said. Of course, a billionaire like Aldrich didn’t care about the added expense for breaking my terms. “You weren’t trying very hard. I have to keep you on your toes, you know.”
“Or you could tell me to try harder.”
“What fun would that be?” Blood pooled in my hand. He grabbed a towel from underneath the table in the corner, then took his time rearranging the table cloth before handing the towel to me. I grabbed it with my free hand, then pressed it into my breast. Put pressure on it. It didn’t hurt. Not really. It was more of the principle of it. Our terms dictated that there would be no wounds.
But this wasn’t the first time Aldrich had purposely broken the rules.
“Lighten up,” he said. He took a seat on the long couch stretching across the back of the room, running his palms along the plush velvet. “It’ll heal in a couple of days.”
“I still have to perform like this,” I said. He reached under the table again and found me a band-aid with some antibiotic ointment.
“No one will notice.”
Every time I moved,Iwould notice. The towel on my chest was speckled with red now. It wasn’t bleeding as much as I thought, but I pointed at the door. “Just go.”
