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“Certain things?” The question falls from my lips eagerly in my rush to think of anything other than a boy I once knew. Still, I’m taken aback at the color in Scarlet’s face. She’s hiding something from me. “What certain things?”
Scarlet glances around us, checking to see if anyone is listening. She leans in close to me and drops her voice. “Look, some of these guys … they’re hot. And they’re willing to pay for other things, you know?”
Heat rushes to my face. Oh my God. I must be as red as she is. My imagination spins through all the possible scenarios of the rooms downstairs. “Certain things” sounds illicit and maybe illegal. The question comes out in a hushed whisper as I grab her arm, pulling her in closer. “You sleep with them?”
“Not all of them. Some of them I like to … enjoy, and I do.” Scarlet glances around the club, taking in the women laughing over their wine and the reclined men in expensive suits. Her gaze lands on a couple across the room. They can’t take their eyes off each other. “Sometimes couples come, and we … take them down there to enjoy themselves. Sometimes they want company, sometimes not. There’s also the entertainers.” Scarlet straightens her back. “This is a judgment-free zone. If you want to do something here, you do it.”
My immediate response comes out in a single breath. “Well, I don’t want to.” Is that what they expect of me? “This isn’t what—”
Her hand lands on mine as she reassures me, “Relax, it’s not … it’s not required. It’s just something that happens sometimes.”
“I don’t want to—”
Again she cuts me off. “You say that now,” Scarlet murmurs, a smile playing at the corners of her lips, “but when it’s late, the liquor is flowing, and these men look at you like they’ve never wanted anything more … sometimes it’s tempting.” She shrugs and adds, “If we want something, and they want it too …” her words drift off as her gaze lands on a man in a gray suit, seated by himself. Her tongue sweeps across her lower lip and she says, “All I’m saying is,” it’s then her eyes meet mine again, “don’t knock it ’til you try it.”
“I’m not judging, but if I still don’t want to?” I question although I can’t get the rest of it out. My mind is spinning and I can barely focus on anything. I need to know whether she’s telling the truth. If it’s a requirement that I sleep with men … or couples … in those rooms downstairs, then I have to find another job.
I can serve drinks and take orders, I can flirt even and have a good time in that regard, but I draw the line there. Even if Scarlet thinks I might like more.
Scarlet puts her hand on my arm in a comforting gesture. “If you still don’t want to, you don’t have to. But you do need to go to the boss’s office.”
Fuck. Heat rises to my cheeks hotter than before. I swallow hard. “So why does he want me to go down there?” I nearly choke on the question and again, a little voice whispers in the back of my head.Which Cross brother?
“That’s just where his office is. You’ll see. It’s straight ahead once you get down the stairs. His door is the red one.” Her eyes dart to my lips then back up to meet my gaze. “It matches your lipstick.”
“Does he expect me to sleep with him?” If his office is downstairs, with all those other rooms, then …
“No.” Scarlet shakes her head. “No. Mr. Cross doesn’t … he keeps his dick off the table.” Her arms cross over her chest as she makes the statement, giving her cleavage an added boost.
“What does he want?”
“I don’t know.” Her answer comes out with less patience than before. Scarlet takes a few steps to the bar and stacks her tray there. She’s always taking inventory of the club, making sure no one needs anything. “He doesn’t usually ask for anyone, but maybe it’s just ’cause you’re new. I’ll watch your tables while you’re down there.”
With her easy tone, I give her a short nod and take in an uneasy breath.Faux courage all the way.
“Okay.”
Time slows down as I open the door, and when I close it, the world that feels like something else is muted and I’m met with only descending stairs and silence. Taking the steps one at a time, I go down the staircase. It’s heavy iron in a spiral shape and my heels seem to wobble with every step. At the bottom is a hallway. Expensive paneling lines the walls. It’s not like a basement. It’s less like a fancy speakeasy that the upstairs resembles and far more like private property. It feels like someplace you’d need a password to get into. A passing thought is haunting. If the devil owned real estate on the East Coast, and a sinner perished, I imagine this could very well be the modern gates of hell. Sconces line the walls, the pattern mimicking the spiral staircase. Every small detail drips of wealth.
I swallow thickly and head toward the dark red door near the end of the hall. My heels click in the quiet hall in a menacing way. The echo mocks my racing heart.
Again I wonder which brother I’ll see. Vaguely, I imagine it’ll be nothing like the dreams I’ve had occasionally for years.
The door is in front of me before I know it and I hesitate, my nerves churning in my gut. I knock as confidently as I can.
“Come in.” His voice is deep, his command firm and my body obeys.
The glass knob is cold as I open the door. The door swings easily, not protesting what feels like a sinful act. My dress has ridden up from walking down the stairs and I tug at the hem as I walk in, thankfully hidden by the door. I take a quick glance down to make sure my hem is in place, then look up to see the man at the desk.
My heart skitters, forgetting its beat when his eyes find mine.
I know him. A chill runs down my skin and time pauses, only for a moment.
It’s the youngest brother, Declan. I’d recognize his eyes anywhere. The curve of his jaw is sharper and lined with a five-o’clock shadow.
He’s no longer an impoverished boy with dark clouds in his eyes.
The man looks more expensive than the office, and this office … Dark wood gleams underneath framed prints of cityscapes, and all the neutral colors work together to highlight the man at his desk. He stands up from his seat, revealing a tall, muscular body in a tailored button-down. He strides slowly around to the front of his desk and leans against it. Heat crawls down the back of my neck. I knew him before, but this isn’t the person I knew. This man is radiating power and control.
