Chapter 4
The fresh sting of my new eyebrow and lip piercings was still present as Sloane ushered me into her club to prepare for the night shift. Smooth saxophone riffs and gentle piano chords waft through the air, filling the space with a relaxing beat of jazz music. I feel less depressed by it tonight, my new look and ally giving me a kick in my step.
I follow along beside Sloane like I’m supposed to be here, even though I feel mighty out of place.
One of the girls who is obviously staff approaches us, handing Sloane a book, and she flips it open, checking it over. “Sally, this is Viv, make her feel at home,” she tells the girl. “Sally’s my manager, she runs this place when I’m called to deal with other issues. Anything you need just ask her.”
“Hi, Viv.” The brunette, probably in her mid to late thirties, smiles at me warmly. Her hair is in a long ponytail that hangs down her back, perfectly straight. The black fitted dress she wears clings to her curves, accentuating her silhouette. The other girl behind the bar is wearing the same exact dress, also with her hair up high. I remember noticing how stunning they all were last night. This must be their dress code.
“Hi.” I smile back at her, appreciating her warmth.
“If you’re going to hang with me, you will have to get used to this place. I spend my whole life here.” Sloane takes the pen out of the center of the book and signs at the bottom of the page before handing it back over to Sally. “Have the flowers arrived next door?” she asks her manager.
“Yes, lilies, they’re stunning as always.” Her smile is infectious as she beams, her eyes sparkling with happiness.
“What about the VIPs, is the line-up sorted for this weekend’s event?”
“Taken care of,” Sally tells her.
Sloane nods, impressed. “I’m going to show Viv around. Can you get some more lively music on and turn it up? No wonder this place is dead. I want to take a nap listening to this.”
She offers a delicate laugh and a quick nod of agreement to her boss. “See you round, Viv.” She smiles again before walking back toward the bar, her long hair swishing as she sways her hips.
“All the girls who work for you are so beautiful.”
Sloane’s attention comes back to me. “I know you said you didn’t want a job last night, but if you want to blend in, I could sort you out with something to fill the time. You will fit in here perfectly,” she suggests, implying I am just as beautiful.
I glance over at the girls behind the bar. They look happy working here. In fact, it looks like a lot of fun, but a job is the last of my concerns right now. “I can’t commit to anything; you know what I’m trying to do.”
“Some of the girls around here might be able to help you as well. There are always whispers of what Enzo is up to. I’m pretty sure he used to frequent this place just so he could try and intimidate me. Or steal my staff. You know, make his presence known. He and Syd had an arrangement, but since I took over, he’s been doing his best to manipulate me. I knew to keep him at arm’s length.”
“Smart,” I agree with her. We both know what getting involved with Enzo gets you. Dead. “Who is Syd?”
“My sperm donor, if you can even call him that.” Her heels clink along the polished concrete floor as she takes off across the room. “I’m still waiting for the backlash of banning him from this place but maybe that was Pia.”
My eyes go wide. “Shit, Sloane, you can’t take the blame for Pia. From what I saw she knew what she was doing and was a very willing participant.”
She shrugs, and I know she doesn’t believe me.
“Do you think he will retaliate somehow?”
“I hope not, but you always have to be ready for Enzo. Who knows what he will do next.” She doesn’t sound worried at all, and I guess the big dude shadowing us helps with that. But I would be worried.
She looks over her shoulder at me, probably wondering why I’m not keeping up with her large strides. “When you came here with the boys, they only brought you into the bar, right?”
“Yeah, how big is the place?”
She smirks. “It will blow your mind.” I walk beside her through the main bar. Apart from a few Iron Strykers, jacket-wearing bikers, drinking beers at the bar, and a couple snuggled together in a booth, the place is empty.
She takes me up a set of five stairs and stops moving when she comes to double doors at the very back of the room, with a suit-wearing bouncer guarding the door. “Each new space has a higher degree of security and checks that need to be made before you can enter the space. We need to take extra precautions to keep the girls safe in these spaces,” she tells me as I show my new fake ID her brother Malachi had made up for me, and the security guard pushes the doors open for us.
I gasp in shock by the expansive space that stretches out behind the club, completely different from what I pictured. Music pumps through the speakers as a couple of scantily dressed strippers dance on the two main stages. One’s female, the other male, and fuck, what a male, his chest bare and his package barely concealed. I blink away, trying not to stare.
Down the far side of the room is a fancy looking bar that runs the length. The music changes and so do the dancers on the stage, and I find my attention being drawn back to them. I stop and watch the dancers, kind of in awe at their impressive moves and their confidence. “I would never have the guts to do that.”
Sloane takes my arm, moving me along. “You would learn. If it was something you wanted to do, the girl on the stage, Page, is our dance coordinator. She’s been with me for years, and every new girl gets trained by her. They make it look complicated, but you could do it.”
I give her a look, like fuck I could. She doesn’t know I have two left feet, and when I get embarrassed, I go bright fucking red. It would be a terrible look for her business. “How long have you had this place? No offence, but you don’t look much older than me and I’m barely legal.”
“I’ve been running it since Jagger took over the Iron Strykers from Syd. I was just eighteen, but I already knew I wasn’t going to let this place be run by just anyone. I had to fight my brothers off for it, but Jagger knew I would run it better than any of them, so he backed me.”
“It’s important to you?”
Her expression turns more serious. “Extremely. This place raised me. The women in it, anyway.”
I’m not sure what to say back to her, that makes me feel sad for her. I want to ask about her mom, but something tells me I don’t know her well enough for that conversation. We make it to another door, and I show my ID again to a new guard.
“Viv’s with me, I’ll get her clearance sorted by this evening,” she tells the oversized dude on the door.
He nods gruffly, letting us through.
“Clearance for what?” I ask, dropping my head closer to her as we pass the guard and head down a long corridor. This part of the club is quieter.
“For every area of my club.”
I freeze, my heart pounding in my chest, completely bewildered by what’s happening. She wants me to work here. “I’m not going to work here, Sloane; I already told you I don’t want a job.”
“You might change your mind when you work out how much my girls get paid.” She laughs lightheartedly, not insulted by my reaction. “This place is my life, sis, I have no idea why you would want to work anywhere else.”
I raise a brow, curious, but already knowing I won’t. “What is this part of the club?”
“Private rooms, a safe place for the escorts to meet with their clients, knowing they have security and a quick way out if things take a turn. We also make sure all the clients are put through vigorous vetting before they’re allowed access to this place. The dancers out there show a bit of skin, but the ones in here will give their clients the full girlfriend experience. So, it’s only VIPs who get access.”
My mouth nearly drops open. I feel so damn na?ve. I mean, I guess I know these types of places exist. But I have never been in one before. “Whatever they want?” I ask, needing clarification.
“They have their limits all laid out so it’s clear. But yeah, they agree on what they’re willing to do or not do, and they go from there. Every experience is different, it’s part of the fun.”
I stare back at her, my mind racing, trying to make sense of everything. “Just out of curiosity, how much do they get paid?”
She smirks knowingly. “Depends on what they’re offering, but for the full girlfriend experiences, it’s upwards of one thousand an hour.” She pushes open one of the doors to what looks like an up-market hotel room. A brass chandelier, dripping with crystal pendants, hangs in the center of the room, casting a dim glow on the velvet curtains that shroud the window. The dark charcoal wall panels, accented with gleaming gold trim, set off the luxurious, soft-looking bedding.
“Have you ever…?” I motion to the gorgeous room.
She scrunches up her face. “I run the place, that wouldn’t be very professional.” But the way she says it doesn’t convince me. Sloane’s such a mystery in so many ways. “So, what do you think?” She wiggles her eyebrows.
“I think I have a million questions.” I laugh, still looking around the place.
“I bet. I grew up here, so this place all feels so normal to me, but I could see what it would be like to an outsider.”
Something occurs to me, something that makes me feel a little uneasy. “You know the boys’ club, Flamingo Hotel, do they have rooms like this?” I ask, unable to hide the nervousness in my voice. I’m not sure why it makes me feel so uncomfortable. Maybe it’s the thought that they could be there right now, fucking some escort to get me out of their heads.
“You’ll have to ask them what business they conduct in their space, sis, that’s not for me to say.”
“They don’t tell me anything.” I sigh heavily.
She takes my hand. “You need to get your own life and stop thinking about the Moretti brothers. You could have a lot of fun in this place and make great money. Cashed-up dudes would go crazy for your look, you’re so hot, Viv.”
I shake my head, not able to help the smile on my face. “Not going to happen, Sloane. I have enough complications in my life, thanks.” My imagination gets away from me, and all I can see is me tied up to some bed post and one of the guys finding me and beating the shit out of the dude who dared to touch me. Yeah, that shit wouldn’t go down well. Besides, I couldn’t do it. I think now that I’m out on my own, my lady parts will just have to shrivel up and die because I’m done with sex. There are only four men I want to fuck me, and they’re all out of bounds. And are probably never going to talk to me again.
“Your loss, sis.” She shrugs it off, walking toward the end of the long hall. Then she pulls out a set of keys and unlocks the door.
We walk through to another space, the scent of vanilla and coconut lingering in the air. This place is like a rabbit warren. “What’s this place?” It’s lighter and brighter than the rest of the club, with relaxing music playing through the air. A nice-looking girl in a white lab coat slung open with a tight black dress underneath, smiles up at us from her spot at the reception desk.
“Our day spa. The girls who work at the club have all their needs taken care of here, one of my more legitimate businesses.” She walks me through the space and out the front door that has street frontage. It seems we have come full circle. Right next to the neon sign for The Raven’s Nest is a sign for Nestled Serenity Spa. I didn’t even notice it at night, but I guess this place would be locked up tight at that time of night. I have been here in the past.
“The girl who did all this for me?”
“Drew, yeah, she works here.”
“Does the general public come in here as well? Or do they have to be a member?” I ask, just because I’m curious.
“Depends on what they want. We can take walk-ins, but I have a couple of girls who only service a special list of clients. They offer something a little more.”
We walk back through the front of the club. “Like a happy ending kind of thing” I ask, needing all the details.
“Something like that.” Her lips flick up at the sides. “Did you get all your questions out?”
“How many staff work for you?”
“A lot. You could be one of them. Something to do with your time until you work out your next move.” She tries to convince me again.
I walk with her back toward the bar, thinking on it. I’m not entertaining the idea of stripping or being an escort, even though I know that’s where the money is. “I guess I could help out at the bar if you need another set of hands,” I finally offer. She’s right, I’m not sure what else to do. I need to track down Enzo and work out how exactly to get close enough to him that I can start destroying his life, but until I work that out, I could do with a way to make a little cash.
“I can always use another set of hands.” She smiles, happy. “Get to know the other girls in here, who knows what they might have heard on the streets.” She looks me over, grimacing. “And for God’s sake, get some ice on to that lip.” She passes me a cube of ice.
“The piercing was your idea,” I remind her, pressing the cube to my lip that’s now stinging like a bitch.
“Yeah, and it will look hot in a few days.”
I take a seat at the bar, icing my poor swollen lip. I’m lucky I can still talk okay.
“Sloane, what’s this I hear about some chick mooching off you?” comes a male voice from behind me. I cringe because I know I’m the chick he’s referring to.
Glancing over my shoulder, I find Asher Stryker striding toward us.
I catch Sloane rolling her eyes. I smirk back at her and let out a little chuckle. “Brothers,” I mutter under my breath, and she grins back, a knowing glint in her eyes.
Asher stops when he notices me. His eyes, curious and intense, scan my appearance. I raise a brow.
“Ash, this is my new friend Viv, she’s going to be working behind the bar and living with me for a bit. Didn’t realize I need to run my living arrangements by you.” She kisses her brother on the cheek then continues lining up the glasses like she had been.
His eyes run over me again, settling on my face. “What’s wrong with your lip?”
“Fresh piercing,” I mumble with the ice still pressed to my lip.
“Ouch.” He smirks cheekily.
“Yeah.” I look him over in the same way he is me, not ready to let her brother intimidate me. “We good?” I ask, sassy as fuck.
He flicks his hair back. “Yeah, we’re good,” he says, a playful smirk dancing on his lips, a flirty edge to his tone. He’s all charm, and I knew he would be. Kind of reminds me of a certain doctor I’m missing the hell out of right now.
When she’s done with the glasses, Sloane moves toward her brother, placing a hand on his forearm. “She’s fucking taken, Brother, get your eyes off her.” He raises his hands in defense and backs away, coming behind the bar to pour himself a shot of tequila.
She hooks her arm with mine. “Come on, I’ll get you a uniform and leave you in Sally and Myriah’s very capable hands while I sort out some shit with the VIPs.”
I lean into her so only she can hear me. “Are all your brothers massive flirts?”
“Nope, just the two you met. Malachi is shyer, you’ll like him, and Cruz, well, let’s just hope you don’t have to meet him. He’s a fucking ass, even though I love his guts.”
“Stay clear of Cruz, noted.”
“You’re going to have fun working here and fit right in.” She nods, agreeing with me, before handing me a short black dress. “This should be your size. Normal hair is a high ponytail for this part of the club, but let’s just say yours is too short. Don’t want to mess with that wig.”