Chapter 3
Iheaded down to the underground level, where our staff had lockers and breakroom space, not to mention where housekeeping supplies were stored next to a laundry room we housed.
Originally, when we’d opened the doors to this place, we’d outsourced the laundering of bedding and towels and the various uniforms our staff wore.
But we’d grown enough to where there was a whole department of people who took care of it.
It was crazy to see how far Elysium had come.
“Mary.” I nodded at the older woman who reminded me of my sister.
“Griffin. How are you?” she asked, the surprise clear in her eyes as she looked over my shoulder, no doubt probably wondering what the hell I was doing down there and where the fuck Stone was.
“It’s going. I’ll be doing the meeting about being discreet,” I shared, scratching my inked-up arm.
I wasn’t sure why the fuck this needed to be said.
Stone hadn’t told me a whole lot after discovering his temp was over one oh two and he rushed to take an ice-cold shower before gulping down some Nyquil when Cruz had returned.
So, I was unfortunately going to have to wing it.
“Oh. Okay. I’m sorry, I thought my email said Stone was going to head it.”
“He was, but the poor fucker— I mean sap— I mean guy—” I winced.
Mary was a nice woman who didn’t need me cursing.
I usually didn’t mince words around anyone, male or female, but there was something about the woman that commanded respect.
She reminded me a lot of my older sister.
“He’s down with some kind of bug,” I shared.
“Figured it would be better I come down here than Stone spreading his germs to everyone.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that.” She smiled, obviously trying to hold back a snarky response.
Like I said, she reminded me of my sister. Something inside my chest tightened. I missed Crystal. It’d been over five years since I’d heard her voice. I shook the thought away, not letting my frame of mind go in that direction.
“Well, uh, anything I should know?” I asked. Her head tipped to the side as she studied me for a moment.
“You should know?” she repeated with obvious questions in her eyes.
“About the situation,” I explained, or thought I had, considering she was looking at me like she thought I had just been born yesterday. “About discretion,” I reminded her. A muscle under her eye ticked with annoyance.
“Stone didn’t talk to—“ She wasn’t able to finish her sentence when people started to walk in.
Mostly women who ranged in ages from twenty-two to sixty, everyone wearing their uniform as they stood by the edges of the small breakroom that was ill-equipped to hold everyone in the housekeeping department.
I wondered for a moment where they got together for birthdays or holidays if it was this tight for the meeting with just the second shift of the day.
A sinking feeling hit me that wasn’t something they got together for.
I tried to remember if we’d done anything for them for Christmas and made a note to ask Pope about it.
“Don’t worry, I’ll wing it.” I shrugged and felt her hand touch my forearm. There was a warning in her eyes for me to heed, had I been paying attention.
“Griffin—“ she started, but I ignored her. I hated public speaking, so it was better to get this done and over with. Like ripping of a Band-Aid, nice and quick. I cleared my throat and walked into the middle of the breakroom as everyone turned quiet.
“Thank you so much for meeting with me today.
I know there is a lot of work to do and––“ My eyes moved through the room as I spoke only to come to a complete halt when I spotted her. Short and curvier than my favorite back road to take my bike on with dangerously dark brown bedroom eyes. It had my brain fritzing out. Who was she? Mine, a voice answered in my head. Something stirred inside of me, and I couldn’t seem to get my head on right.
“Umm…” I cleared my throat and forced myself to look away.
I felt the loss of her like a dismembered limb but kept talking out of my ass.
“I know everyone has a busy schedule, so I will make this quick, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
” Though I hoped to fuck they wouldn’t since I didn’t even know what the hell I was talking about.
“I know you usually work with and speak to Stone, but he’s not feeling well, so you guys got me. Apologies in advance.” I shrugged, and a couple of people chuckled. I was dying to see if I’d made her smile. Or laugh. Fuck, what would that sound like?
“Pope wanted us to talk to everyone about the incident last week.” I swallowed, trying to keep my train of thought clear, but it was difficult as shit.
My eyes skidded back to the beautiful woman who I could have sworn was glaring daggers in my direction. Huh, attitude didn’t usually do it for me, yet I had to fight from getting hard. An erection in front of the entire housekeeping staff was the last thing I needed.
“With the members of Elysium, I think we all know how important discretion is. Not just for them but for the casino and the club. So… let’s just…” My attention drifted back to her. She was staring right at me, and I felt it like a touch.
My eyes dropped to her mouth, and there I was once again, fighting myself from going hard.
Had I ever seen a more perfect pair of lips before?
Someone cleared their throat, snapping me out of whatever fucking trance the dark-haired beauty had put me in.
What the hell was I supposed to say? Discretion. Right.
“Keep your heads down and get to it, yeah?” I said and looked around. One of the few men in the room made a look of disgust while the women looked… shocked? Surprised even. How could that be? Wasn’t discretion something they knew was needed? Hell, every employee and member signed NDAs.
“Get to it?” a raspy feminine voice perked up, and when I looked, I realized it was her talking to me.
“Marty,” Mary warned, and my girl shot her a look. Wait, my girl?
“Mary, get to it?”
“I don’t think Griffin realizes—“
“What an ass he’s being?” she cut Mary off, and I felt my own brow rise. Her attention moved back to me, and her hands turned to fists at her sides. “You’re telling me if a man corners us, talking about us wearing little sheer French maid outfits and buying us—“
“Marty,” Mary interrupted, but I could tell my little spitfire wasn’t having it.
“We should just get to it? Are the Steel Sinners into selling women now? I mean, Mr. Monopoly hinted at it, but I didn’t think—“
“What? No!” I answered, taken aback by her question. Sure, we did a lot of shady shit, but we weren’t into pimping.
“Then how should we get to it exactly?” the tall, slim blonde woman standing next to Marty asked, her hand clasping onto Marty’s elbow to keep her in place. Did she think my girl would launch her body onto me?
Marty. Huh, I liked it. Part of me wanted to say her name, see how it sounded and felt as it rolled off my tongue. Her name suited her.
Wait a second. Incident last week? I’d heard about a member getting his ass kicked and then having his membership revoked, but I hadn’t been listening since I’d been too hung over to pay attention from a party the night before. Had Marty been cornered by that arrogant fuck we kicked out?
“If issues like that arise, we always have your back.”
“Yeah, right,” Marty scoffed, rolling her eyes and not trying in the least to hide her disgust.
“You can always come to—“
“You? You specifically? Or the Sinners? Because either way, I think you guys are full of—“ The blonde pulled Marty back and covered her mouth with her hand. Mary moved between Marty and me before she looked around at her staff.
“I think what Griffin is trying to say is, if anything ever happens like what happened last week with Mr. Mono—“ She caught herself and pressed her lips together. “I mean the member and staff, you don’t hesitate to come to me or any of my managers for help. Discretion is not just for the members but to keep you safe.” She turned to look at Marty, and a knot formed in the pit of my gut.
Fuck, had someone tried to put their hands on my girl? I kept calling her mine in my head, and I had only known her for a handful of minutes.
“You can always come to any of the Steel Sinners. We are always going to have your back,” I promised, never taking my eyes off hers while she stared back at me like I was the lowest of the low.
The staff nodded politely, quietly recognizing what I’d just said.
The awkwardness of the room started to fade away as Mary quickly called out everyone’s assignment for the day, much the way I’d seen her do when I’d come down with Stone before a ride or something.
Everyone got moving. All while ignoring me or avoiding making eye contact.
Shit, I’d really stuck my foot in it this time. Made a great first impression with the beautiful spitfire, who had somehow been in the same building as me without me knowing.
Is she new to the casino? I doubted it with how she silently communicated something with Mary or the way Mary had stood between us as if she worried I’d get upset and want to get rid of her myself.
As if. If anything, I wanted to keep her, wrap my inked-up arms around her tiny curvy body and protect her from the world.
Protect her from... What the fuck is wrong with me?
I didn’t do the whole feelings shit. I shook the thoughts away and tried to focus.
“I think that went as well as could have been… expected,” Mary said politely. I winced.
“I’m sorry about that, Mary,” I apologized, and someone snorted behind me.