8. Chapter 8 – Sloane
Chapter 8 – Sloane
I huffed, sucking in every ounce of willpower I had as I zipped up my dress. Well, not my dress, the loaner dress that magically appeared in Tamen’s office. You know, the one that looked as though someone had sculpted it, stitch by stitch, to fit my body and personality perfectly.
Yeah, that one.
The one I was standing in admiring in the also magically appearing floor-length mirror in his office as well. The dress was gold, because of fucking course it was the exact same shade as my peculiarly light hazel eyes. But it had an iridescent sheen to it that made it look like it was liquid as I moved, changing shades and flowing to move with my body, almost like I was wearing a waterfall.
Similar to the one between my thighs as I put it on. Why did the man have to feed into my sick obsession with getting gifts? I was a shallow person, everyone knew that; I liked shiny stuff.
And here was the shiniest, most beautiful gown I’d ever seen before. From the man I wanted to hate the most.
Did hate.
I did hate Tamen Bryce. Even if I wanted to put a bag over his head and ride him like a donkey all the way to Bethlehem. I was a sexually expressive female, after all. And he was as sexy as sexy could be, aside from his arrogant, snarky, cold, British personality.
I turned in the mirror and admired the way the back of the gown draped right above the start of my ass crack, billowing down the back of my legs but leaving the entirety of my back bare aside from the tie at the back of my neck.
The front fell between my breasts and stretched across my wide hips. God, it fit like a second skin. My body hummed with arousal from the way the fabric slid across my skin with each movement as I pinned my hair up off my neck in a fancy twirl.
Thank God a show girl went nowhere without a full kit of makeup on hand for unexpected events like this. I ran the tip of my finger over my bottom lip, crisping up the line and then blew my reflection a kiss. I was delectable.
Tamen didn’t mention where we were going tonight, and originally I had contemplated leaving the building altogether with the other girls after training to test his patience with me for the fun of it. But one peek at the outfit he left for me, and I was hooked. I had to wear it.
Even if it was just for one night.
Shallow, remember.
The door clicked open, and I looked in the mirror as Tamen walked into the room, with his causal grace I envied and leaned his shoulder against the frame.
Fuck, that man could wear a suit.
Sure, I’d seen him in a dress shirt and slacks every day since he announced himself as the new owner, but tonight, the three-piece suit he wore felt more personal somehow.
Like it made him more human somehow.
His deep voice traveled across the room, “Does it fit?”
I raised one brow at him, still looking through the mirror at him as I fussed with my lip again, although it was already perfect.
Bending over at the waist would simply give him a better view of my best asset. “Borrow it off your girlfriend for me?”
He grinned almost hauntingly and tilted his head against the door frame. “Fishing for information, are we? I thought you had more skills than that.”
I hummed like I was uninterested. “It fits.” Turning to face him, I picked up the matching purse he provided and stood still while his eyes slowly roamed over my body. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll find out when we get there.” He leaned up and then walked back out of the room, without even a follow me.
I held my hands up, mimicking what it would look like to strangle the man from behind, and followed him. Did I want to strangle him more or fuck him more?
Sighing and forcing myself to take a deep breath to level out my rage at his infuriating self, I settled on the answer. I wanted to strangle him while I fucked him.
“You have to be shitting me.” I cursed, sliding from the back seat of his hired town car. Tamen, of course, didn’t hold his hand out to help me, but was I even surprised?
Maybe. I thought the English were supposed to be proper.
“Just do as I say, and we’ll be fine.” Tamen adjusted his jacket and walked toward the bouncers at the door, who immediately moved the rope and let us in.
As we stepped inside the building, a loud thumping bass from the music caressed my body, reminding me of my early years in the business. “Oh yes,” I hissed, ticking off the steps to his plan on my fingers in a hushed, angry whisper. “Step one, pretend we’re together.” I shuddered, “I’d rather throw up in my handbag and then eat it.” He glared at me over his shoulder as he moved around a few people mingling at the entrance. “Step two,” I continued, “Distract anyone who might take notice of you wheeling and dealing with the staff. I’m not going down for you.” I grabbed his jacket to stop him as he kept going, “And the last step of the plan, do whatever it takes to close the deals you make. Fuck all the way off. This entire plan is as flawed as your style is.”
He stopped and faced me, looking appalled at my diss toward his suit. My statement was a lie, his suit was immaculate. It was the man beneath the fabric that was flawed. “Don’t fuck this up, Rainbow.” Tamen went to walk deeper into the club, but I held firm on his jacket sleeve and pulled him back.
“I’m not helping you at all until you tell me the truth about why we’re here.” I demanded, “I deserve to know what’s going on if you want my help.”
He rolled his eyes and pulled free of my hold, “The new girls I hired won’t make the cut.” He admitted, holding my stare from above for the first time since we left Prism. The man hardly ever made actual eye contact with me unless it was to glare at me. But he was giving me his full attention finally as he explained himself. “I didn’t realize how fresh they were until they showed up tonight. They will not make the cut, and if they do, we both know they won’t make it the first week we’re open. Which leaves me way understaffed and us both in a do or die situation. I have the opening planned, but not enough girls to supply the demand.”
“And we’re here,” I glanced around the fancy strip club that sat just outside of the city but managed to gain popularity over the years. A lot of girls who worked at the Den started at a strip club just like this one. “To recruit?”
Tamen scoffed, “We’re here to steal.” He turned his body, caging me into the wall as a bouncer walked toward us, leaning his arm against the wall over my head and putting his hand on my hip. His lips hovered right at my temple as he spoke, while I tried like hell to pretend his proximity didn’t affect me. “We’re going to steal women from this club for ours. And we’re going to do it without getting caught.”
I put my hand on his chest to push him away, but he moved faster and grabbed me by the wrist, lifting my fingers to his lips as the bouncer lurked behind us. “Tam—”
“Not here.” He cut me off, pressing a sensual kiss to each fingertip as I finally tilted my head back to stare up at him. “No real names here.”
I caught the edge of the bouncer’s shadow as he moved away from us, but Tamen didn’t pull back. “Then what the fuck do you want me to call you?” A bitter hiss escaped my lips as I asked, the anger a burning coal in my chest, fueled by his deceit and my own gutless agreement to play along with it.
“I don’t care, call me Daddy if it makes you happy. Just pick something and stick to it.” He backed up, pulling his body away from mine, and I fought the urge to throw my knee up into his balls for the fun of it.
“You’re more likely to call me Mommy than the other way around, toots.” I stood up and flicked my hair over my shoulder in a power move. “Now, let’s get to work.”
He grinned like a cheshire cat and adjusted his jacket before turning away. “Let’s go get some lap dances.”
Silently watching Tamen work was—entertaining to say the least. It gave me a better understanding of how the man so effortlessly exuded the confidence to run a high-end brothel. The man was smooth, drawing women to his lap repeatedly, regardless if I sat right next to him, pretending like we were a dysfunctional couple, out on the town for some fun.
Each time he had a new girl on his lap, he’d use the guise of chatting them up to invite them to Prism for a working interview. Most of them had heard the name by now, and even if they hadn’t, I could tell by looking at the way they stared at him, they’d show up and check it out firsthand, anyway.
He currently had a pretty blonde in his lap, looking down at him while she played with the hair on his nape while he covertly told her about his new club. The bouncers didn’t have a clue what he was up to, because he was paying the women well and kept them moving fast enough not to draw any attention to himself.
If anything, I was pretty sure I was drawing more attention to our private spot next to the stage than he was. I wasn’t used to being left out of—anything. And being left out of picking women to invite to Prism to interview for the spots he was trying to fill wasn’t sitting well with me. I was the manager after all, and I’ve done the job for years. I should know what kind of women to invite better than anyone else.
I also noticed a theme to the women he was extending invitations to. The women who sat on his lap all looked similar to each other. Leggy, thin, and all in varying shades of blonde.
With massive tits.
Tamen Bryce had a type. And no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t stop picking apart the differences between myself and them.
The longer I sat by, chatting when it was expected and playing the role he wanted me to play like a good little girl, the bigger the fire in my gut burned. I tried to keep my lips sealed, pulled up into a pleasing and approachable smile like he expected, but I couldn’t play the role anymore.
“Can I get you another drink?” Our waitress leaned over my shoulder to get my attention, and I looked up at her as an idea struck me. She was probably in her late twenties, with light brown hair and tattoos up and down her body.
She was beautiful. But she was only working at the bar, though something about the way she watched the other girls on the floor made me think she wasn’t happy serving just drinks. “What’s your name?” I leaned back in my chair and crossed my legs, letting the slip of my dress fall over my knee as I laid my arms on the arms of the chair like a queen.
“Mya.” She answered and glanced over at Tamen as the blonde of the moment tipped her head back and laughed like he was the funniest thing in the world.
“Mya.” I purred back and felt Tamen’s gaze turn away from the girl on his lap for the first time all night and move to me. “Are you just a server?”
She swallowed and leaned her hip against my chair, “For now, the roster of dancers is full right now.”
“Hmm.” I hummed, looking out over the crowd momentarily and then back up at her. “And what if a paying customer, someone lingering over an empty glass of wine, wanted something more from you than just a drink for twenty minutes?” I ran my fingertips across my collarbone and, as expected, her eyes followed it. Sexual seduction didn’t know limitations, and even if she was straight, sexual tension flowed in the air all around us, drawing her in. “Would your boss let you switch roles?”
“I could ask.” Her dark brown eyes flicked over my shoulder to Tamen, and she licked her lips. “Do you want me to ask for your—boyfriend?”
Smiling, I trailed my fingers across her black leather skirt, grazing my chair. “I’m the customer in question, sweetheart.”
“I’ll be right back.” She turned and walked away toward the bar as I glanced back over at the suddenly attentive man at my side.
“What are you doing?” He asked with an interested look on his face.
“Diversifying your surplus of blonde barbies.” I lifted my new glass of red wine and took a sip as I watched him. “I thought the whole motto was a kaleidoscope of variety. Yet, all the girls you’ve paid attention to tonight appear to be related.”
“I should hope not.” He scoffed, “One offered to have a threesome with two others so I could watch them in action.”
I rolled my eyes and took another sip. “Did you know that seven out of ten times at the Den, a blonde was picked second behind a girl with some other characteristic?”
His eyes squinted slightly as he looked over toward the bar to where Mya was now in discussion with a manager. “Characteristics like tattoos?”
“Anything to make them stand out in a crowd, yes.” I clarified as I waved a hand over my colorful hair, “One could say something to make them different from the rest.”
“Is that why you choose to look like a sticky kid’s treat? To stand out?”
I tightened my lips to keep from biting back at his dig and took another sip of wine as I caught Mya coming back. “It got me off the floor and into private bookings only,” I challenged, “Didn’t it?”
He didn’t have time to reply before Mya kneeled next to my chair, “I’ve got the all clear to give you a dance.” She smiled excitedly, “But it has to be in a private room, so the other girls don’t get fussy about it.”
“Mmh,” I purred seductively as I uncrossed my legs and rose, “VIP treatments are my favorite.” Glancing back at Tamen, I winked, “I’ll be back.”
But the man was already standing up from his chair, towering over me and Mya. “Like hell am I going to miss this.” He said, in a voice thick with desire as Mya took my hand and started leading me toward the private wing of the club.
Fucker.
He wasn’t going to ruin this for me.
When we got to the room, I sat down on the loveseat in the center as Mya selected a song on the console. “You have to sit over there.” I instructed him, nodding to the chair in the corner. “You can’t talk or touch.”
Mya chuckled and looked over at him. “Yeah, this is all about her right now. You’ve had enough attention tonight.”
“Fine by me.” Tamen unbuttoned his jacket and sat down, spreading his legs wide like a dominant male did, and stared at me. “I’m going to enjoy this.”
I scoffed and looked away from him to Mya, “Not as much as I will.” Mya closed her eyes and started moving to the music in between Tamen and I, sliding her hands up her body and into her dark curly hair. “Have you done this before?” I asked her.
And she smiled as she turned around and glanced at me over her shoulder, “I’m from Vegas, I’ve done so much more than this.” She giggled lightly, turning back to face me. “It almost seems more exciting to simply dance for someone again after so long.”
“This club isn’t the only one in Boston.” I stated as she moved closer and slowly started touching my body with hers. First it was with her fingertips as she leaned over me. Then it was with her legs as she slid one between mine. And then it was with her torso against mine as she straddled me on the couch and got to the actual lap dance part. “You’re a beautiful woman, you have options.”
She rolled her eyes as she took my hands and ran them down the front of her body, under hers. “The competition is stiff. It’s way crazier out here than in Sin City.”
I leaned my head to the side when she grazed her cheek against mine so I could speak softly in her ear, “And what if I told you that you’re showing the owner and the manager of Boston’s most elite sex club exactly what you could bring to our roster without even knowing it?”
Mya pulled back and stopped moving as she stared down at me. I wasn’t dumb enough to think there wasn’t some sort of security device in the room, either a camera or a mic, so I tapped my fingers on her thigh and whispered, “Keep moving.”
On autopilot, she resumed swaying, but stared directly at me, no longer merely trying to entertain me. “There’s only one that I can think of to match that title, and they’re not even open yet.”
I grinned up at her, “We’re recruiting tonight. And now’s your chance to get on the roster above all the other girls you’ve been stuck behind in line here. That is, if you’re interested in doing more than just dancing.”
“I’m interested in making more money for my time.” She replied quickly. “The rumors make it sound like that club is going to be bringing in the big whales.”
I nodded to where Tamen sat as Mya brought my hands to her ass, to keep the illusion of a lap dance going. “He’s the biggest whale out there. And the new club is going to be very profitable for girls like us.”
“Sign me up.” She thrust her hips and rolled them. “I’m so ready to get back in the game.”
“Good girl.” I purred and then glanced over at Tamen, regretting it instantly.
His blue eyes were on fire as he stared right at me. I recognized that look on a man’s face without hardly even trying.
He wanted me so badly; he was nearly salivating over it.
And I licked my lips as I leaned back further into the chair, giving Mya all the access she needed to my body. Let him fucking watch and wish it were him instead.
Tamen Bryce could do with a little envy. Maybe it would humble him a bit and make him more human. More personable.
Nicer even.