His Jersey Girl

Chapter 5

Alyssa

“Looks like your last client of the day is a no-show. I have a sixty-minute session getting changed right now. Once it’s done, we can take the bus to my place and get you settled in.” Lucia smiled.

It had been a long day and my lack of sleep felt like a lead blanket hanging over my shoulders. Usually, I didn’t mind taking five clients but Seth had scheduled them back to back without more than a ten-minute break between each. Lunch had been out of the question since I hadn’t been able to pack anything, and my stomach felt like it was a hungry monster gnawing at my spine.

Losing the money for the last session sucked but it was probably for the best. The only good part of my day had been Gabriel. The sounds he’d made when I worked out the tension in his back had been over-the-top sexy. I’d never been attracted to one of my clients before. The bet we’d made had been silly and I hadn’t planned on holding him to it. When I’d tried to tell him that, I’d almost cheered when he’d insisted. We were meeting in the casino lounge at six and I still hadn’t decided where I wanted to go.

Oh my god! I’m an idiot.

In the excitement of being asked to dinner by a sexy muscled Daddy I’d totally forgotten my currently homeless state. Why does fate hate me? I finally get a date with a super-hot Daddy and now I’m going to have to cancel on him.

“Alyssa, why do you look like you’re about to throw up? You don’t have to wait for me if you don’t want to. I can give you my key.”

It was 4:30. Even if I was willing to splurge on an Uber, there wasn’t enough time to get to their place, unpack, and get back. It would be rude to just ditch my stuff and run. Right? Plus I didn’t know how late the date would run. If I didn’t have a key, they would have to wait up to let me in. I didn’t work tomorrow but Lucia did. I would be the worst person in the world if I did that when they were doing me a favor by letting me stay with them.

Hopefully Gabriel would understand and if he didn’t maybe that was a sign that going out with him wasn’t the right thing to do. I sighed. “No. It’s not that. I sort of set up a date for tonight.”

I really, really wanted to go on the date, dang it. Maybe Zoe could get me a deal on a room here. No. I would need every cent I had for a security deposit once I found my own place. There was no way my ex-landlord would give me back what I’d put down there.

“What? How? Who? Why didn’t you tell me?” My friend”s excitement made me giggle.

“Today has been super busy. I was going to tell you, promise.” I gave her my best innocent look and she rolled her eyes.

“Spill.” Lucia crossed her arms and scowled. “I have five minutes and I want all the details.”

Her hard look really wasn’t as intimidating as she thought it was, but I’d been dying to tell someone my good news. “Remember the Daddy from last night?”

“The giant one you thought was Ares or the super buff one who looked like Vin Diesel”s younger brother?”

I laughed. This was why the LJGs were such good friends. Same wavelength. Though really, if one of them was going to be called super buff it should have been Gabriel. Come to think of it, the two of them really did have an unfair amount of muscles. They probably needed to relax more. I shook off my stray thoughts.

“The god.” I grinned and paused for dramatic effect. “He was my first client today.”

“No way! Wait, Daddy Gabriel is the Destroyer?” She smacked her head. “I thought he looked familiar last night.”

“Why? Do you watch MMA fights?” That was odd. My friend was a shy, gentle soul. But I guess you could never guess what went on inside people’s heads.

“No, but his face is up on billboards all over the city.”

“It is?” Had I seen a billboard with his face on it? A twenty-foot-tall image of Gabriel would probably be a danger to traffic. Especially if he had his shirt off. I would have noticed something like that, wouldn’t I have?

Probably not. After living in Atlantic City for over a year, the flashing lights and giant pictures of famous people were more like background noise, something I tuned out. I would look now.

“It is. How could you have a date with someone super famous and not know it?”

“I knew it,” I protested. Well, I knew he was a VIP, and he must be pretty good at fighting if he was a headliner. Celebrity was a crazy thing. We had plenty of them come through the casino and I’d never been impressed. Would someone ask for his autograph while we were on our date? That would be kind of cool.

“Sure you did. FYI, not cool keeping secrets. We should have gotten a group text saying ‘I have a date with ‘the Destroyer’ this morning.” Lucia was almost shouting now, and I felt bad. She was right. I should have shared my news. That”s what friends do.

I groaned. “Had. I had a date but now I have to figure out how to cancel. Stupid me didn’t get his number.”

“Why?” She said the word like I’d asked to have liver and snails for dinner.

“I was flustered and nervous! Have you seen his muscles? We set a time and place, so I didn’t think to ask for it.”

Lucia groaned. “I don’t mean why didn’t you get his number. I meant why do you have to cancel?”

“Because I have to bring my stuff to your apartment and start hunting for a new place to live.” Adulting sucked! Reason 543 why being a Little was so much better than being a Big.

“Nope Nope. Nope.” Lucia shook her head with such force I was afraid her bun would come undone. “You are not canceling. I’ll take your stuff to my place and you can start the search tomorrow.”

“Seriously?” I should probably tell her no. That I couldn’t let her go to the trouble when she was already doing me a huge favor by letting me stay at her place. But I wanted to go out with Daddy Gabriel so badly I couldn’t get the refusal to come out of my mouth.

“Absolutely!”

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. I had the absolute best friends. “Thank you!” I squished her in my tightest hug. We swayed back and forth giggling. Maybe things wouldn’t work out, but I wanted to give it a chance so badly.

“I can’t believe you’re going out with the Destroyer, you?—”

“Lucia, aren’t you supposed to be in room five?” Seth stepped around the desk glaring at us.

Ugh leave it to him to ruin a good moment. It was like his whole purpose in life was to kill fun and bully anyone he could. Between his awful attitude and the creepy way he tried to pressure us into doing things with the clients we weren’t supposed to, he was by far my least-favorite person.

“Yes, sir,” Lucia squeaked and ran away.

How much had Seth heard? Hopefully nothing. Before he came up with something horrible to say to me, I decided to try for a strategic retreat by heading toward the back.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“My last client is a no-show, so I’m going to clock out.” If I kept walking and didn’t turn around, he couldn’t ruin my day.

“Not so high and mighty now, are you? Guess someone finally found a high enough price to get you to spread your legs for them.”

I whirled around. “What?”

“I thought he looked too happy coming out of your room this morning. Is it his fame or his money? How much is the Destroyer paying you to go on this date?”

The way he said the word date made my stomach churn. I looked around, praying for someone to interrupt us, but we were alone in the hallway between reception and the therapy rooms. Did Seth really believe I’d agreed to sell my body to Gabriel or was he just being a jerk?

“He’s not paying me anything. It’s not like that.” I didn’t judge the girls here who picked up extra money that way, though I did worry about them sometimes. But as long as things were consensual, I refused to judge.

He made a tsking sound and shook his head. “I knew you were slow, but I didn’t think you were stupid. Do you really think someone with his money and fame would be interested in you for anything more than sex?” He laughed. “Do you think he wants to date a dropout who makes her money rubbing on people when he could get any woman he wants?”

His words cut right through what little self-confidence I’d developed. My whole life people had teased me for being slow. I was different from them. I couldn’t focus or learn the way they did. Once I’d figured out how to compensate my grades had improved, but it was too late. When someone had found out in high school that I still liked stuffed animals and Little things it had gotten worse. I’d dropped out my senior year and gotten my GED to escape the brutal bullying.

But I hadn’t escaped. Being different made you a target. The only place I’d ever found where I wasn’t viewed as less was with the LJGs and the people I’d met at the Dragon’s Tail. It didn’t matter that I’d worked hard to earn my certifications in massage therapy. People like Seth acted as if it was something an idiot could do. Why couldn’t people keep their judgment to themselves?

“I’m not stupid.” My voice was tight with emotion. I didn’t want to let this jerk get to me, but it was like he had a sixth sense on how to hit my insecurities.

Seth laughed. “If you somehow manage to keep his attention for more than a night, the minute his match is over he’ll go back to his mansion and forget you ever existed. If you were smart, you’d take him for everything you can, while you can. But, no, it’s not like that.” He said the last in a mocking high-pitched voice.

While his words were cruel, I couldn’t deny them. Gabriel hadn’t promised me anything and even when we’d been teasing about me becoming his Little, he’d mentioned the same timeframe limitations Seth had. Was I being stupid? Not about the money. But about risking my heart on someone who wasn’t going to stay. I didn’t even know where Gabriel called home.

“This is none of your business.”

“Isn’t it, though? Because you have to get management approval to fraternize with the guests. We get a percentage of any private booking.”

Did we? I didn’t remember reading anything like that, but it had been a long time since I signed my employment agreement. “I told you this isn’t a private booking. He”s not paying me anything.”

Seth stalked closer and fear froze my body. He loomed over me and my vision went blurry as tears blinded me. “Let me make this very clear, Alyssa. The only fraternization I’ll allow you with that man is if it is part of a private booking. So if you want to see him again, you will be paying me. One way or another.”

His fingers brushed down my arm and I couldn’t hold back my shiver of revulsion.

He stepped back chuckling like we’d been having the funniest conversation ever. When he walked away, I gasped, finally able to breathe again. Hot tears streamed down my face and my thoughts swirled in chaotic tornados. What was I going to do? The only thing I knew for sure was that I had to leave.

Now.