8. Hercules
HERCULES
T his isn’t going at all how I expected.
Not with Leda. Not with Meg.
The path seemed so clear before, but by the time someone knocks at my door, I’m a bundle of nerves.
I have no idea what I really signed on for.
Fucking Hades, sure. Something that I shouldn’t want, but there’s no denying the anticipation that zings through my veins.
He’s nothing like the guys I messed around with in high school and college.
He’s got an edge about him that says he wants to hurt me. I’m afraid I’m going to like it.
I open the door to find a cute, curvy blond standing there.
She’s wearing a short skirt and a cropped, lace top thing, and I blush at the sight of her pale pink nipples showing through.
In the second it takes to pull my gaze to her face, she’s started laughing at me.
She props a hand on her generous hip and smirks.
“Gods, you’re precious. They’re going to eat you up with a spoon.
” She turns and starts away, which leaves me scrambling to shut my door behind me and keep up.
I finally catch her right before she hits the elevator. She’s fast for such a little thing. “I’m Hercules.”
“I’m aware.” She punches the button and gives me another look, finally settling on my jeans. “First up is wardrobe. That will not do.”
I follow her into the elevator, feeling like a kid tagging along behind an adult. “What’s your name?”
She sighs like it’s an intrusive question. “Tink. I’m handling your training because obviously I’ve pissed off the big guy in recent weeks.”
“You mean Hades.”
“I mean Hades.” The elevator slides to a stop, and she leads the way down the hall and through a door into another smaller hall.
Tink doesn’t wait for me to gawk. She just opens yet another door and strides through.
Inside is the largest closet I’ve ever seen.
Or maybe it’s a store? I honestly can’t tell as she moves to the right side and starts sifting through the racks.
She shoots me another look and frowns. “Take off your clothes.”
“I’m sorry?”
“I can usually eyeball measurements, but the baggy T-shirt is throwing me off.” She made a vague motion. “Strip. We don’t have a ton of time, so save the bashful virgin act for the members.”
Members?
Somehow, in all this, it never occurred to me that I’d be dealing with other people . I’d braced for Hades. Had prepared myself as much as was reasonably possible. Nothing could prepare me for this. “I’m not sleeping with strangers.”
Tink pauses and gives me a long look. Whatever she must see on my face makes her sigh.
“Wow, you really are a baby. Look, Hades isn’t a pimp.
I mean, I guess technically he could qualify since some of us like to fuck the customers.
But it’s not part of the contract. Submission or domination, depending on our terms, but not fucking. ”
It’s like she’s speaking a different language. “I don’t understand.”
She mutters something about hazard pay and comes to stand before me. She’s so short, she barely hits my chest, but that doesn’t make her presence any less intense. Tink taps my chest. “Strip.”
There’s enough snap in her voice that I obey without thinking, pulling my shirt over my head with one hand. She snatches the fabric from my hands and tosses it to the side. “That thing you just did, how you felt so right in obeying me? That’s submission.”
“I know what submission is.” I’m not an innocent, no matter what she obviously thinks.
“I know what Hades is too.” King of the Underworld.
Someone with his hands in all the right pockets, because from what I could glean in my rudimentary research of this place, the clientele is the elite of Carver City.
They’re what the Thirteen are back in Olympus: powerful and rich beyond measure, with a total lack of morality.
“Then why are we having this conversation?”
I try to articulate the strange feeling inside me. “After I made the deal, he acted like he owns me now.”
“If you made a deal with him, then he does own you.”
That’s what I thought. “Then why…” I motion at the room.
Understanding flares and she rolls her eyes. “Hades doesn’t fuck anyone but Meg. I mean, he does scenes with others sometimes and he enjoys watching, but just because you sold yourself to him doesn’t mean he’s going to, like, make you his sex slave or something.”
Except that’s exactly what Hades implied when we sealed our deal with a kiss. I barely manage to keep myself from asking how Tink sealed her deal. It’s none of my business, and she obviously doesn’t like me that much already. “So we all just work in the club?”
“Pretty much.” She moves back to the racks and pulls out a pair of shorts. “These should work. Put them on.”
This time, I don’t bother to argue. I’m obviously not going to get much in the way of explanation, and I gave my word to Hades.
I won’t let something as mundane as modesty get in the way of keeping it.
I strip out of my jeans and pull on the shorts.
They’re smaller than I expected, barely covering my ass in the back and hugging my cock and balls so snugly that they create an obscene bulge in the front.
And except for the front panel, they’re made of see-through mesh.
“Hades can be something of a traditionalist, so he likes us barefoot.” She considers me a full second longer and shakes her head. “I can’t really blame him for taking the deal now that I see what I’m working with. You’re pretty.”? 2
The way she says it makes it sound like it’s a bad thing. “Thanks?”
“This way.” Tink leads me deeper into the room and through another door that takes us into what I recognize as an employee dressing room.
She stops in front of an empty locker. “This will be yours. We don’t use locks because nobody is suicidal enough to steal from one of Hades’s people.
” She opens the locker and pulls out a thick, black leather collar.
“We wear these while on shift.” She dips back into the locker and pulls out a thick, green ring and I have a horrified moment of wondering if she’s going to demand I wedge it onto my cock, but she just snaps it into the hook at the front of the collar.
The one that looks like it attaches itself to a leash.
Just like that, I can picture it. Kneeling at his feet in this ridiculous fucking outfit with a chain attached to the collar, its leather handle dangling from his graceful fingers.
My gut goes tight and I have to fight not to physically respond.
It doesn’t seem to matter. Tink sees it.
She gives me a sad little smile. “Welcome to the Underworld.”
Then she drags me along to training. In the next few hours, I get a crash course in kink, submissives, safe words, and what exactly is expected of me working here.
The first couple of weeks will be observing and basically acting in a role similar to what I did back at my old job—serving drinks, working the front lounge.
I’ll also be doing more hands-on training… with Hades.
I don’t know if I look forward to it or dread it, but I’m too nervous right now to know the difference.
Tink glances at her watch. “It’s time.” She surveys me.
“No one will touch you without permission, but that won’t stop some of those assholes from messing with you verbally.
Don’t play into it, because if you snap, Hades will punish you and he’ll do it publicly.
Just keep your eyes down and mouth shut.
And listen . We do a recap at the end of each night with the information gathered, so pay attention, even if you don’t recognize the players. ”
It’s too much and too little all at the same time.
I don’t know what I expected when I said yes to him, but this isn’t it.
He’s throwing me in the deep end, and there isn’t a single person who will help me if I drown.
Tink might feel a little bad, but honestly, I can’t get a good enough read on her to know for sure.
She could just as easily shrug and move on to the next new recruit with the same amount of crankiness.
But as I fall into the familiar rhythms of taking drinks orders and moving through the tables and bar, things start to unwind for me. This is familiar. I know how to do this , even if it’s a relatively new skill. The rest of it will figure itself out, but I can get through tonight.
Or so I think, right up until I catch a familiar profile out of the corner of my eye.
I turn to find Meg standing near the bar. She’s wearing a pair of tailored slacks and a deep purple bra-like top that I can almost see through. Why is she here? She should be well on her way to freedom. Not haunting this place where I’m currently trapped.
Unless…she came for me?
My chest feels tight as she strides toward me on wickedly high heels.
There’s no familiarity on her face, nothing to indicate her thoughts.
The warmth she showed me in that apartment above the restaurant is nowhere in evidence.
This woman could be a stranger for the cold way she studies my body, lingering on my chest and cock before trailing down my legs.
“What are you doing here?” I don’t mean to speak. I really don’t. My intentions don’t seem to make a difference. “If he broke his word…”
“Hades never breaks his word,” she says absently.
“I’m here because I want to be.” Meg tilts her head to the side, causing her hair to cascade over her shoulder.
I want to run my fingers through it, to tug her face up to meet mine, but I know better.
I still have to clench my fists at my sides to keep myself from doing it.
“He wants to see you.” She turns and walks away, leaving me to follow in her footsteps.