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They filled my every thought, plagued my mind, until I found myself actually shaking my head from side to side to try and rid myself of their ghosts.
Thinking about them wouldn’t help me. I had to act like they didn’t exist.
Our destination wasn’t the Gypsy Brothers clubhouse, but a burlesque club.
I’d referred to it as a strip joint, but Dornan assured me it was more upmarket than that. The girls wore glitter-encrusted circles pasted onto their nipples and performed routines that didn’t involve humping a pole. Somehow that made it different, though I wasn’t entirely sure how.
I was ushered into a small, windowless room on the second floor of the club and almost choked when I saw who was waiting for us.
‘Good morning, cholita,’ Emilio greeted me. His smile looked more like a grimace, especially with his gold tooth glinting under the fluorescent office light, and I had to fight to compose myself. What I wanted to do was scream and run away, but that would only earn me a beating, or quite possibly a bullet.
‘Sounds like you had quite the weekend,’ Emilio said, playing with a toothpick between his teeth.
Was he talking to me? I wasn’t sure. I stared at the ground and tried to appear docile. I was kind of hungover, and no amount of concealer had been able to cover up the after effects of last night’s tears.
‘Answer him.’ Dornan snapped his fingers in front of my face. I jumped at the foreign tone in his voice, and focused on not shrinking away.
‘Tell him how you were used and abused,’ Dornan said jovially, ‘by one Gypsy Brother after another.’
Oh. He was lying for me.
Wait. He was lying for me?
Emilio snickered, turning away to pick up his briefcase from the ground. As he did, I glared at Dornan. A question in my eyes that I knew he understood.
We didn’t even need to speak. He had lied to his father to protect me.
Was this some kind of test? An elaborate ruse to catch me out?
Dornan turned and grabbed a stack of manila folders from the desk, thrusting them at me. ‘Here,’ he said.
‘Uhhh . . . thank you?’ I replied, taking the large pile of haphazard papers and cardboard.
I looked around the room, wondering where I should sit.
Dornan pointed to a small table in the corner. ‘Set up over there,’ he said.
I started to walk towards the desk, stopping when Emilio addressed me.
‘You’ve become very compliant in just a few weeks, Ana,’ he said appreciatively. ‘Seems like the Gypsy Brothers have fucked the fight out of you.’
I was about to open my mouth and reply when Dornan beat me to it.
‘I’ve been reminding her about her poor dead boyfriend,’ he said, trailing his fingers through my hair and giving a hard jerk on the ends.
A chill swept over me and I stumbled as he pulled at my hair. The folders in my arms went flying, landing in a mess all over the floor.
‘I’m sorry,’ I stammered, getting to my knees and collecting papers. Emilio stepped on one that I was about to grab.
‘Skirt up,’ he said. ‘We need something to look at while you clean up your mess.’
Gritting my teeth, I let go of the papers and sat up on my knees, hiking my pencil skirt up above my hips so it sat bunched around my waist. Cool air rushed around my ass and I felt my cheeks burn in embarrassment. I had been expressly ordered not to wear panties this morning. Now, I knew why.
So I could be humiliated.
I continued to collect the papers as quickly as I could, feeling two sets of black eyes staring at my ass.
After I’d rearranged the stack of documents I went to stand up.
