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“Guess so, come to think of it. We were always in the same orbit. When the regular dance clubs didn’t scratch the itch I had, I worked my way up to the kinky clubs. If you’re at the right place at the right time and have the right look, you get invited to the craziest private parties. Even if you’re not sleeping with anyone, you meet people. That’s how I met Ms. Lister. She invited me to work at one of her lounges. When it eventually closed because of the market shift, she asked if I wanted to work the brunch hours instead. Shortly after that, I started working at Night. She really knew how to read who I was.”
Mitch slowly stirred her straw in her drink. “You once told me that you were jealous of the attention she gave me. Does she not give you the same? Haven’t you ever… you know…” She dropped her volume as if they were two girls trading secrets at a party. “Pleasured her?”
Thalia fell into another fit of ecstatic giggles, and Mitch had to put on the front that she also enjoyed this kind of gal pal bonding. In truth, she was faking all of it for the investigation.
She didlikeThalia as a person… but Mitch was more invested in protecting her over the long term, not being her best friend.
“I’ve always wished,” Thalia said. “She’s got her groups of girls, you know. There are the ones she singles out for different roles, and she wants me in the open service industry. When she saw my potential as a hostess in her club, it was natural for me to fill that role. Sometimes she introduces me to her friends in the hopes we’ll sleep together. I don’t mind, but I’ve been rabidly jealous of the girls she personally trains for years. The ones who work in her house. Did you know that a lot of them live there while she trains them? Like a revolving door of subservient women in her room. Ugh. So jealous, but I get it. I guess.”
Mitch stored that information away. “Is it true that she brands them?”
Thalia gasped. “Where did hear that?”
“From one of the Club Night clients I met elsewhere.”
“That’s right. She took you to that party in Mexico or something.” A flash of resentment briefly overcame Thalia, but it quickly dissipated. “I’ve heard rumors. The ones she moves around the most are completely in a class of their own. They makesomuch money and are totally indebted to her. So loyal. You love to see it.”
“Indebted?”
“Well, sure. It’s because of Ms. Lister they’re so rich in their thirties. Oh, you know about that, though. You’re with Ms. Richards. She’s brilliantly wealthy, isn’t she?”
“That’s a bit different. Vanessa is my partner. We are in a genuine relationship. These girls you’re talking about… are they like her harem?”
“No, no. Don’t you get it? They owe her everything, and she provides.”
“You want in on it, don’t you?”
Mitch gently chided her, because she had been reading Thalia long enough to know that the girl wanted nothing more than to be acknowledged aswantedby Candace Lister, the last person someone as vulnerable as Thalia should be entwined with.Bit late for that.Even if they had never slept together, Thalia was so infatuated that Mitch couldn’t tear that apart for Thalia’s own good in one afternoon. Mitch had met plenty of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes who would be happy to have a girlfriend like Thalia, but if she hadn’t moved on…
“Of course I do. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard of.” Thalia cupped her hands around her peppermint hot chocolate. Between her choice of drink and the soft ringlets in her hair as they fluffed atop her pink sweater, Mitch saw a girl who still clung to her adolescence in the hopes that there was a chance for normality.She said so herself… her childhood was rocky.Mitch met many submissive women like Thalia. They gravitated toward dominant, sometimes older lovers who promised to take care of them forever. One of the few kinks in that circle that Mitch couldn’t get into, though, was the Big Dom, Little Girl dynamic.It takes a lot to turn me off once I’m in the mood.She could see Thalia going for it, though. She was basically built for it.
Most of those people were still better for her than Candace.
“She’s dropped a few hints,” Thalia divulged. “That I might be up for a promotion.”
“Really?”
“I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but how do you keep something like that to yourself? Ms. Lister has been talking to me more lately, and not just in the capacity of my boss. She’s taking me shopping next week. Can you imagine? Just me and her.”
“Shopping for what?”
“She claims I need a new look for the club. Instead of giving me the money to shop for myself, she wants to oversee it so it’s perfect. I can’t wait. Her taste issoimpeccable. Oh, my God, I’m drooling from thinking about where she might take me.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“Does your Mistress do that for you?”
That was the first genuine laugh Mitch had all day. “No, but only because I’m not into that. I’ve bought all my stuff. Sometimes she surprises me with a gift. I detest clothes shopping, so the whole montage of buying dresses and blouses makes me break out in hives.”
“Let me know if she needs someone to spoil at the boutique because I’m available.”
There was another laugh. Mitch liked how silly Thalia was.
Keep your hands off her, Lister.That might be easier said than done. All the more reason for Mitch to end this investigation before anyone else got hurt.
Part 3
Into the Dawn
