Chapter 19
Nineteen
ROME
When I walk into the lounge, Rita’s already here, taking inventory of the bottles.
“You’re here early,” she says to me.
“I was thinking the same about you.” I slip onto a stool to stay out of her way and watch her hustle back and forth, stopping only long enough to write notes on a sheet of paper. “I don’t like that you’re putting in twelve-hour nights.”
“I’m fine.”
I narrow my eyes at her. Rita’s been with me since the beginning, and she’s like a sister to me.
To all four of us. We saved her from a sex trafficking ring, and she just never left us.
Not that we’d let her leave now. She runs this lounge impeccably, and the employees and members love and trust her.
Given her history, Rita has no interest in the sex club. She’s never set foot in the playroom or private rooms and doesn’t attend the special shows we put on. Not to mention, she’s the best at deflecting interest from members.
And I can respect that.
“You work too much,” I reply.
“Hi, pot, I’m kettle.” She laughs and pushes her hair—blue tonight—over her shoulder.
Rita is a colorful woman, and not just her hair falls in that category.
She’s tattooed all over her chest and arms, and she has more metal in her face than anyone I’ve ever seen, but it doesn’t look out of place on her.
“Let me guess, you’re here to talk about Lulu. ”
I lift an eyebrow. “Why do you think that?”
Rita laughs again. “Come on, Rome. You’ve never looked at someone the way you look at her. Not to mention, you let her touch you and didn’t take her hand off.”
“I rarely do that.”
But it’s not unheard of.
No, I don’t like to be touched. That’s why, when I do fuck, I like to tie the woman up so she can’t reach me. Yet earlier today, I couldn’t get enough of Eloise’s hands all over my skin.
It was unsettling and addictive, all at the same time.
“So you’re going to break your rule for her? The no-touching-the-employees rule?”
“Looks that way. Has she been given a tour of the facilities?”
I know she hasn’t.
“No, we’ve been so busy when she comes on shift that she’s mostly just been behind the bar and in the locker room.”
I nod. “I’m going to have Scarlett give her a tour tonight. Can you do without her for an hour?”
“Sure, especially if it’s at the beginning of her shift.”
“I want her to go after midnight.”
“Are you trying to see if you can scare her off? She seems like a tough cookie to me.”
“No, I don’t want to scare her.” But she should see what happens here. She needs to know all of it. I don’t have that many kinks, but there are a few, and I will want to explore them with her. I want to see her reactions, so I’ll be watching on the screens. It’ll tell me what she’s into.
It better not be threesomes because I won’t share her. Man or woman, no one touches her ever again but me.
Looks like my threesome kink has officially ended.
The thought of being with anyone other than my firefly makes my gut clench.
“You can have Scarlett come get her anytime,” Rita assures me. “We’ll make do.”
I nod, head up to my office, and find Luke waiting for me.
“Do you just hover in the hallway outside my office, waiting for me to appear?”
He smirks. “You wish. I just got here. We have a shipment coming in tonight.”
I nod and sit behind my desk. “Two o’clock. Are we ready?”
“I have eight men lined up,” he assures me.
“Good. I have a meeting in thirty with the boys.”
The boys is code for Julian, Mateo, and Carson, and Luke knows this.
“How’s Lulu?” he asks.
“She’s safe,” I reply. “If she needs to go anywhere, she’s driven with a four-man detail.”
He nods and pulls his phone out of his pocket to make notes. “For how long?”
“Forever.”
His head whips up, and he stares at me. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. I need you to get her a phone and program my number into it. Add yours as well, and when you’ve finished assigning her detail, add those numbers, too. I want it tonight.”
“Good thing this is Vegas, where you can get anything twenty-four seven.”
“Isn’t that convenient?” I check the weapon at the small of my back, then slide on my suit coat. “Let’s go. We’re meeting at Carson’s.”
Luke nods, leading me out of the building to my waiting SUV.
I want to get work wrapped up so I can get back to Rapture and escort my firefly to work.