AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Do you like it?” he asks, approaching the one-way mirror where we can see down into the club.
“Yes, it’s beautiful. Have you ever slept in here overnight?” I ask, watching the dancers from above like a very dedicated voyeur.
“I have, but I don’t prefer it. Whenever I have to sleep here, it usually means that the owner is expecting some trouble.” He looks over at me. “Come here. I want to see if you can pick out my men in the crowd.”
I stare down into the sea of people gathered around the stage, and at first, I’m bewildered as to who his men could be. The majority of patrons at this club are men.
Just as I’m about to comment, he points toward the corners of the room
“Look closer.”
Now that I see them, it should have been obvious to me where they were.
At every corner and doorway, there’s a large, well-built man guarding it. They’re standing with their hands behind their backs like soldiers, hardly making any expression at all as people come and go in droves.
“So, what is it that they do when they’re not guarding the door? Don’t they have bouncers for that?” I ask.
“Bouncers aren’t scary enough for places like this. Sometimes when people get an invitation to a place like this, for whatever reason, they get cocky and start throwing their weight around. We’re here to keep the girls safe, primarily. Nobody’s going to try to steal a dance from a girl when Stefan is standing outside the room,” he replies, pointing down to the largest, most angry looking man I’ve seen in weeks.
I stare at him, waiting for him to show any emotion other than suppressed rage. “Why is he so angry?”
“He isn’t. He just looks that way. Lots of men are pussies when they’re being babysat by other men, and they’re a lot less likely to pull some shit if someone like that is watching at all times,” he replies, lighting a cigar.
Now that I’m starting to get a better idea of how Matteo’s business works, I respect him even more than I did before. He uses his power and influence to protect women who are just trying to do their jobs. So many other men would use their power to take advantage of women, just like the man who tried to sell me into sex slavery.
“I really admire how much you care about these women and their safety. It sucks that you have to be so vigilant in the first place though,” I say, watching the same girl with the red braids as she collects tips after her dance.
A flash of electric energy flows between us, and I wish he would just take the initiative and kiss me. If it’s his idea, then it can’t be a violation of my code of conduct, right?
I can feel my resolve crumbling by the day. Why hasn’t he made a move on me yet? Any other man would have had his hands all over me multiple times already. They can never help themselves. But Matteo? He’s playing a game with me. I don’t know what the game is, but it’s starting to feel like a game of wills.
The electric energy hangs in the air around us, and I’m so ready for him to take me and fuck me that I consider just turning to him and pulling my dress up to see what he does with me.
But for now, I have to keep myself together. I can’t give up yet. I need to believe that I’m a stronger person than that. If I’m not, then what does that make me?
13
Matteo
It feels like it was a good idea to take Iris out to the clubs with me to show her what I do for work. She’s a bit of a good girl, so I needed to make sure that she knew what she was getting involved in before she made the decision to jump all the way into it. She still has no idea what I’ve got planned for her, and I’ve had to fight my own reservations about it in the first place.
She’s been on my mind a hell of a lot more than I’ve wanted her to be, especially after I caught her masturbating. It’s been damn near impossible for me to focus on anything else, which has been cutting into my productivity quite a lot.
Not to say I haven’t enjoyed it – that’s certainly not the case. If I could, I would spend my entire day fantasizing about her. She’s absolutely beautiful, even aside from her warm, caring personality. The fact that I like who she is as a person makes it even more difficult to keep my guard up around her. She’s so easy to talk to and melt into that I fear she’ll see me as a weaker man if I give into my instincts. Does she want me to chase her? What happens if I do?
Iris isn’t even the type of girl that I would usually chase. I’m surprised that she’s been able to grab my attention the way she has. The typical woman that I find myself interested in is the blonde, fit type who spends half her time at Pilates classes and the other half lying poolside. Not interesting, not fun, but pretty enough to keep me around.
Iris strikes me as the girl-next-door type, and it makes me wonder who she was before she met me. What was her daily life like? What kinds of guys did she date? What kind of sex does she like? The idea of her being desperate enough to fuck just anyone, whether they’re good or bad for her, makes my cock twitch.
I open my laptop to begin my workday, admiring the sunlight as it casts rigid shadows across my desk. It would be a good day to take off, maybe just relax outside instead of stressing about the situation with Shimmer. From what I heard at the club last night, Shimmer was acting strange before she went home on the morning she was killed. There was a man pestering her for her entire shift, but she lacked the aggression necessary to keep him away. The only reason I can think that my men wouldn’t have intervened is because they thought he was one of them – it could only be Vitale.
I considered firing and replacing all of my men from that incident alone. They should never have been negligent enough to allow anyone to bother Shimmer like that, not even one of their own.
I can’t afford to let them all go. They might have majorly fucked up that night, but they’re still good men. I’ll have to find some way for them to make up for their lack of oversight, but right now, I need to focus on keeping myself out of prison.
Just as I’m about to pull up the spreadsheet listing all the chemical inventories for the month, I see movement in the corner of my window.
Iris has grown bold enough to drag a lawn chair all the way over to the pool to lie in the sun.
