3. Felix
3
FELIX
“ F elix, get the fuck up,” Issy Alessi, my agent yells at me, pulling open the curtains and letting the light into my bedroom. I hiss like a vampire as the rays hit me. My head is throbbing, and my mouth is full of sand. “Enough is enough. It’s been weeks of you drowning yourself in bottles of tequila and puck bunnies.”
“I don’t have to be anywhere.” I groan, pulling the covers back over me. Issy yanks them off then gasps when she realizes I’m naked underneath. You’re welcome.
“Ew. Get dressed, we need to talk right now,” she says sternly, and I can tell from her tone she is serious.
Shit.
Reluctantly, I get up out of bed, have a shower, and eventually come downstairs into the kitchen where she’s prepared breakfast for me of eggs and bacon with a side of coffee.
“Eat,” she says, pushing the plate at me. I dig in. “Did you know I was summoned into the offices of your new bosses at the Manhattan Mavericks this morning?” I swallow slowly. Oh shit. “They are not happy with you and your antics.” It’s the off- season. Most players go a little wild, my drinking and partying shouldn’t be a cause for worry. “This week’s video of you getting a blow job in the VIP area of a club was the last straw.”
“What? She told me she was with the make a wish foundation and her wish was to blow me. You told me I needed to do more charity.”
Issy glares at me, if steam could come out of her ears, it would be. I try to contain my laughter. “I’m glad you think this is funny.”
“It’s a little funny.”
Issy pinches the bridge of her nose. “They are reconsidering your contract. You know the one you signed that said you wouldn’t do anything to bring the team into disrepute.”
Everything in me stills.
Shit.
“Yeah. That’s what I thought,” she says, crossing her arms. “I get that you want to lose yourself because you’re heartbroken.”
“I’m not heartbroken,” I bite back.
Issy raises a dark brow at me. “Stop being so fucking proud. Cynthia and Stephen broke your trust, they betrayed you, and now they are happily showing off their love for all the world to see. While you look like a desperate dick.” That’s harsh. “I don’t care if you want to drown in women every single night of the week, but when you do it so publicly where people can video you and sell it to the media, that’s when I have a problem.”
“I’m sorry,” I grumble.
“I know you are and that’s why I’ve organized something for you.”
“Is this an intervention? Are you sending me to rehab?” Panic races through my veins.
“Rehab? You’re not that bad, yet ,” she warns before pulling out a box and handing it to me.
“What is it?”
“Open and see.” She grins.
Pulling the lid off the box, I reach in and see a black credit card, but it has the words The Paradise Club written in gold across it. “What is The Paradise Club?”
“It is a secret celebrity sex club,” Issy explains. I choke on my own damn spit. Did she say sex club? “It’s invite only.”
“Sex club?” I question her because I swear, I’m having an outer body experience at the moment. “Like a secret sex society?”
“Yeah, kind of like that. Not everyone gets in.”
“How the hell did I get in?” I ask her.
“I know people.” She grins.
My brain is exploding right now. “You’re a member?”
“We’re not going to talk about that,” she says, brushing my question away. “I had to supply them with your medical records and the sexual health checkup you did recently.” She did what? “Look, I know that is stepping over a line, but I do think this is the safest place for you.”
“This sounds like you are sending me to rehab but telling me it’s a sex club to get me to go.”
Issy bursts out laughing. “It really is a sex club. They have an island down in the Caribbean and I thought maybe a week there might help.”
I stare at her in disbelief. “Don’t you think the media will have a field day if I go holidaying at a sex resort?”
She shakes her head. “They will never know, security is that tight. This club is not just for athletes, we are talking billionaires, royalty, politicians, actors, and anyone who doesn’t want the world to know what they are getting up to. That’s why the rules are so strict.”
“And you thought this would be a good idea for me?”
Issy bites her bottom lip. “Yeah, I thought it might be,” she replies, now sounding unsure.
I rush over to her and pull her into a hug. “Best present ever,” I say, swinging her around as she giggles. “I had no idea you were this cool or kinky,” I tease her, loving seeing her cheeks turn bright red.
“My sex life is none of your concern,” she says, swatting me away.
“I’m just seeing you differently. They do say the ones that are wound up tight are the freakiest.”
“I’m not wound up tight. What the fuck, Felix,” she shrieks at me. I give her a look. “If I am wound up tight then it’s because I’m putting out fires for my client who wants to implode their career.” Message heard loud and clear, Issy.
“And you think this sex club is going to cure me?”
Issy sighs. “No. But you can go crazy getting whatever it is you need out of your system in private.” She’s right. “Or you can just enjoy a vacation in the sun.”
Issy was right about this place being off the map and a heavily guarded secret with the level of security I had to come through to end up on this multi-million-dollar speedboat. I’m welcomed by the captain, and one of the staff hands me a beer. The sun is shining, and I’m surrounded by nothing but the bluest of blue water, I really am in paradise.
“Thanks, gentlemen,” a female voice comes from behind and the sound of heels follows. I turn to see who has arrived, and I see a beautiful blonde bombshell boarding the boat wearing a barely there black dress that dips low, showing off her ample cleavage. She has no bra on, so I can see her pert nipples pressing against the sheer fabric, a split that ends at her hip, showing off long, tanned legs, and blonde hair that is like cascading strands of gold around her shoulders. She’s wearing dark sunglasses so I can’t tell the color of her eyes, but her lips are pink, glossy pillows that would look good wrapped around my cock. Then she turns around to say something to one of the staff members and the dress split exposes a slither of peachy ass. Her dress is practically backless as it stops right above her ass. Who the hell is this goodness? She turns back around and stops as she takes me in. I’m wearing navy shorts, chucks, and a blue and white striped tee that hugs my muscles, with a pair of dark glasses to escape the sun’s glare.
“Hi,” she smiles before it stops, “you look familiar.” She does too. I didn’t think we could know who each other was, that it was all anonymous or something. “I’m Harper,” she says, holding out her hand.
“I’m Felix,” I answer, shaking it.
She pushes her sunglasses to the top of her head and now I can see her gorgeous blue eyes that are the same shade as the ocean. “You don’t have a brother called Pierre, do you?”
“Yeah, he’s my older brother.”
The gorgeous woman rolls her eyes and plonks down beside me with a sigh. “I’m not a fan of your brother, no offense,” she adds at the end.
Her comment makes me burst out laughing, breaking the secret anxiety I’ve been feeling about turning up to a sex island. “Please don’t tell me you dated or something because that would be a shame.”
She scrunches up her face as if the idea of fucking my brother is repulsive. Which is not the response most women would give about him. I think I like her. “Ew, no. We went to high school together. We used to be friends until he cheated on my best friend whom he was dating.”
“Who, Tina?”
She shakes her head. “No, Iss …” She clamps her mouth shut as if she realizes she’s just given away a secret she didn’t know she was keeping.
“Issy?” I question her.
She waves her hand as if she could swat away my question. “I don’t remember.”
Lies, because it’s your best friend.
“Isabelle Alessi, my agent?”
“Issy is your agent?” She gasps, giving it away.
“My brother broke Issy’s heart?” I throw back at her.
“Shit,” she curses. “Can you forget I ever said that? You were never meant to know.”
I shake my head. “Nope. I need to know. You’ve opened that can of worms.”
“She’s going to kill me,” she grumbles to herself.
“Yeah, she probably will.” I grin at her.
“Fuck,” she curses again. “Look, if I tell you, you can’t tell her that you know, okay? I mean it. If you tell her I will hunt you down and make your life a living hell,” she warns me.
“It already is,” I mumble.
Harper adjusts her glasses on top of her head. “I heard about what happened with your girl and teammate, that was shit.” Someone at the event leaked the information to TMZ and it blew up. They tried to play it off that Cynthia and I had been broken up for a couple of months because I was moving to New York, and she was staying in LA, and they decided to give each other a second chance. It was a whole article about them being high school sweethearts, blah, blah, blah. “I don’t blame you for losing yourself in all that pussy. You deserve it after dealing with all that bullshit,” she says. Thank you. That’s exactly how I feel. “You’re not alone in the heartbreak club, my relationship wasn’t years, only months, but walking in on my boyfriend fucking his intern is not an image you can get over so easily.”
“Your boyfriend cheated on you?” I question, looking her up and down. What kind of asshole cheats on a woman as gorgeous as her?
“One of many.” She sighs, giving me a small smile.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. Cheaters are the worst people.
She waves my condolences away. “It’s okay. He’s not the first and, unfortunately, probably won’t be the last man to mess me over.”
“That sucks,” I tell her.
“New York men are trash.”
“Not all New York men.” She gives me a look that says, ‘Yeah, all men.’ I might be dealing with a man-hater here. Dammit. But she looks so hot, such a shame. But she is on her way to a sex club island. So … “You really believe that?” I ask her.
“Yeah, I do. But also, it’s probably me. Apparently, men think I’m a lot.” She then tilts her head and gives me her full attention. “You’re a guy, let me ask you this. Do you think it’s a turn-off if the woman you’re seeing likes sex, is career driven, independently wealthy, owns her own home, loves traveling, raises money for charity, is bubbly, and loves to party?” I stare at her. Is she being serious? Then I see it on her face, she is genuinely asking me the question. She isn’t looking for compliments, she’s confused about why the men she’s been dating cheat on her. I’m going to assume these are some of the reasons men have given to her as to why they have cheated. I think all those things she said about herself are kind of hot.
“She seems like a woman I would like to get to know.” I smirk, giving her a wink.
“Oh.” She chuckles as if the notion that I might be interested in her is a surprise. “I’m way too old for you.” She chuckles.
“You look pretty good to me,” I say, eyeing her up and down.
“We’re both heading to a sex island, you don’t have to flatter me.”
What does that mean? “I’ve never been before,” I confess to her.
Harper’s jaw falls open. “You mean you’ve never been to the island before?” she asks.
“Is there more than the island?” I question her.
“Wait, you’re serious?” she asks in disbelief. I nod. “How did you know about this place then?”
“Issy said she knew someone and got me a membership. She thought this would be better for me than what I was doing.”
“The public blow jobs? Yeah. I’d have to agree, it’s not a great look,” she says matter-of-factly.
“How did you know?”
“I work in PR. I know everything,” she explains. “So, Issy gave you membership to The Paradise Club and then didn’t explain to you what it was?” I nod. “Fucking, Issy,” she curses under her breath just as the boat launches off and catapults us a hundred miles an hour across the ocean. Everything is so loud you can’t hear a thing and so we don’t bother with the conversation we were just having. Fifteen minutes later, we are no longer hurtling across the ocean and are slowing down as we make it toward the dock.
“Were you being serious when you said this is your first time?” she asks. I nod.
“And Issy didn’t prepare you?” she asks.
Now I’m worried. “Do I need to be prepared?”
Harper smirks. “Oh, you are in for a treat. I can’t believe you’ve started at the resort as your first time.”
“Is that a bad thing?” I ask, slightly concerned now. What the hell has Issy gotten me into?
Harper shakes her head. “Not bad at all, just … it’s like the clubs but ten times more in your face.”
“There are clubs?”
Harper rubs her forehead. “There are sex clubs all around the world and they cater to the elite. The rules for these clubs, as well as the island, are super strict. There is an etiquette surrounding the island that isn’t easily explained. I mean, the hosts will explain how everything works, but you might be confused at first.”
“Hosts?”
Harper’s blue eyes widen. “You really know nothing. Did she tell you anything?”
“Maybe, but I don’t think I was listening,” I tell her truthfully.
“They are going to eat you alive here,” Harper mumbles to herself. Now I’m starting to panic. “Guess you’re lucky you ran into me.”