Page 32 of Dancing With Lies

“You’re lucky, River.” Kitty drawled with envy. “I didn’t have a protector and now I’m stuck at the Pussy Shack. Hang on to your couple and that apartment with the unlimited credit card they gave you as long as you can.”

“Shit! I forgot to call you! Do you want the instructor job I was offered? You’re as good as me and you’d be able to get out of that hellhole.” Roxie cringed as guilt swamped her for forgetting to call Kitty. She’d called Amelia to recommend Kitty, but it had slipped her mind to call her friend and tell her.

Too much stress, that was the problem. Hopefully, Lincoln would lay off a little now and she’d be less stressed out.

“That sounds perfect, actually. I can’t take too much more of that shit.” Kitty looked as eager as she sounded and Roxie wondered what else she’d missed lately.

She’d been so consumed with worry about where Nathan was and trying not to quit working for Lincoln that she’d missed out on her friend’s lives.

Their food came and everyone went quiet as they started to eat. Once most of them were done, Emily re-started the conversation.

“What’s it like working for Lincoln, Roxie?” She asked with a gleam in her eye.

“He’s a pain in my ass.” She mumbled and bit back the ‘and he always has been’ part just in time.

“But you can deal with men like that.” Emily nodded as she spoke. “You’ve always been good with assholes.”

“I suppose I have,” Roxie answered quietly.

Roxie thought back to her life at Elmo’s, the club she’d had a stake in before it burned down a year ago. She’d been more than just the star attraction, an award-winning exotic dancer. She’d been a sub and a dom, with exclusive contracts for the men she chose in her years there, fulfilling the duties of each contract in private rooms at Elmo’s. She’d learned the way to keep men happy because she’d had to. For a moment, she remembered how good it had felt when she was dancing ballet at Kai’s house while Lincoln played the piano.

In seconds she was an innocent girl again, with huge dreams that didn’t pan out, but it was okay. She was free and happy, without the memories of the fire that took her parents or the men that visited her father that day, men that she was still afraid of. She was free of the memory of how she’d ended up where she was now. Which wasn’t such a bad thing considering she was eating out with her friends on Lincoln’s dime.

“I’d have him in my bed any day of the week,” Kitty spoke up and grabbed Roxie’s attention.

Was that jealousy she felt? But she had a boyfriend. Kind of. And she didn’t want to be in Lincoln’s bed, even if she’d had a vivid dream or two about just that. He was too vanilla for her and she didn’t have the patience for training a man right now. The vanilla life went by the wayside the minute her parents died, the minute the men that she was certain set the fire took their lives. Whether the police wanted to call it a suicide or not, she’d seen two men beating up her father only for those men to later appear at the blaze.

“I have an idea. What if we get some of the girls over for a housewarming party for him?” Roxie said, which grabbed all of their attention.

“You mean the other girls from Elmo’s?” River asked, even though that was obvious, Roxie thought.

“Yeah. We’ll invite some of his friends, Dylan and Kai can handle that. We’ll get some of the girls over and introduce him to our world. He’s, um, asked me about it all, so I know he’s curious.”

“I think he likes you, Roxie.” Emily cut in to say. “When he came over to our place for dinner all he asked me about was you. It was sweet, really.”

“Hmm.” Roxie narrowed her eyes at Emily and tried to brush off what she’d said. “He probably just wanted to know if I’d bring trouble to his business.”

“No, it wasn’t like that at all.” Emily shook her head and looked over at Kitty and River with glee in her eyes. “It was almost like he’s in love.”

“Ugh.” Both women made faces and shivered, perfectly in tune with Roxie.

“Heaven forbid, that’s the last thing I need. Some missionary-position-loving newbie sniffing around my panties.” Roxie cringed and shook her head vehemently. “Not for me, thank you.”

“Oh, come on, Roxie.” Emily teased, delight in her eyes, and Roxie couldn’t help but smile back. “He’s so hot!”

“He is, but he’s not for me. He needs some sweet, little, innocent thing that will give him equally sweet little babies. I’m not that kind.” Roxie said, even if she’d dressed up today in one of the Chanel dresses Emily bought her last year. She wanted to look the part when she’d walked into the exclusive shop earlier and Kitty and River had both dressed in their best too.

Still, she was more comfortable in her shorts and tank tops than she was in these fancy dresses.

“You mean someone like me?” Emily asked, a hint of hurt in her eyes.

“No! Fuck no, Emily. You have a backbone made of steel and would have Dylan’s balls in an instant. Plus, you’re kinky as fuck.” Roxie grinned, hoping to see the hurt disappear from Emily’s eyes. It did and Roxie breathed a sigh of relief.

“You’re right. I just ordered this, by the way.” Emily pulled out her phone to show them all some kind of machine that promised the most glorious orgasm of a woman’s life. The Sybian, that sex machine, as Roxie thought of it, was expensive and she’d had heard a lot about them, but she’d never tried one.

“You could have ordered me one too, my sex life doesn’t exist at the moment.” Roxie sighed with longing. Sex would be so nice.

Lincoln’s face popped into her mind and she cringed. Dammit, not him, she reminded herself.