Chapter 3
Madison could combust; she was so hot. It was like she had walked into a fire.
She had been ignited from the inside out and the outside in.
She didn’t even feel the weight of her dance duffle as it swung across her body and her feet ate up the ground between her and the bus stop.
How could he do this to her? Who was he?
And where was Enzo? She had been so pissed she hadn’t bothered to look for Enzo.
Or to tell Zoe she was leaving. Her shoulders slumped. At least she had those tips. Enzo always came around when she was there, so she figured he might have been out for him not to come to her sets. She needed that money.
How was she to pay her landlady that night when she got home? She had hoped with what she had made from her sets, she could slip it under her door and cross her fingers that she wouldn’t need to pay the extra two hundred dollars.
Madison also needed to work at il Signore as a sub. They had the best splits of the places she worked, and the customers were always generous with their tips. They even let her bartend before and after her sets.
She wouldn’t build her nest egg back up anytime soon at this rate.
She knew Enzo from high school. He had always been nice to her and she trusted him, and he hadn’t given her a reason not to.
Until now.
He had been dependable and trustworthy with payments, and he made sure the patrons followed the special rules they had for her. And this other guy had come and screwed her over. She looked up and noticed she had passed the bus stop.
As heated as she was, she could have walked the five miles to her place no problem, but she wasn’t headed to her place. She wanted to go to the hospital. Madison turned around and headed back to the bus stop.
She took a deep breath and willed herself to look happy. She didn’t want to cause her brother any distress. He was already asking where the money was coming from and how she got so much from just bartending tips.
She also viewed it as bad for not staying to help Zoe out. She hadn’t even told her she was leaving.
“Madison, wait.”
She looked up to find Enzo sprinting towards her. “Did you bring my money?”
“No—Wait, listen.” He held his hands out in a pleading fashion. “Dante is majority owner in the club, and I was in charge of it while he was out on other business. He has the final say on what goes on, and he says he doesn’t want the deal.”
“You know I’m never coming back, right?” She was screwed. She wanted to throw her hands up in the air and scream. She should be celebrating not in this mess.
“Listen, I know it looks bad, but Dante says he’s willing to make a deal with you if you come back.”
“I know what kind of deal he wants, and you know I’m not going to take it, so there is no point.”
“No. I told him that, and he said it wasn’t that.”
Madison’s gut told her something was wrong, and she should just go see her brother, but if she could get her money. It would be the last time she stepped into that bar, but it would be worth it to go back and miss visiting hours.
“Ok.”
“Let me take your bag for you.”
“No need. I won’t be staying long.”
****
Dante waited for Enzo to bring her back.
That was where the profit spikes had come from.
It had been Madison moonlighting at their club.
Even with the normal club split, they made five thousand more on nights she was there.
He was a businessman first, and he couldn’t let that money slip through his fingers.
Not with the information he had learned from the call he received.
He would need that money and more if he was to beat the clock.
Now he just had to figure out what type of deal he could offer where they would both get what they wanted.
The door opened and Madison came in behind Enzo.
“Enzo says you have an offer for me?”
Right to the point he liked it. “Yeah. Enzo, you can leave.”
“I’m not fucking you if that’s why you want him to leave.”
“Enzo told me. It’s just this deal is between the two of us.
Take a seat.” Enzo stood rooted to the spot before Dante gave him a look, and he left and closed the door.
Would she tell him off again? She stared him down before she lifted the strap from between her breasts and set her duffel down before she sat in the chair.
He showed her his palms. “See, we can work together.”
She crossed her legs at the ankles and pulled them under the chair. Interesting. He was used to most women crossing their legs when they were together. Not this demure gesture.
“Are you going to tell me what the deal is or not? I have someone waiting for me.”
A man? His chest tightened. There was something that drew him to her. He wanted to make her his. Well, at least until he was done with her.
It shouldn’t take long. It never did, before he got bored and moved onto the next one.
They were all the same, wanted to be seen out with him and for what he could give them.
The women that he was around weren’t real, and he didn’t show the real him to them either.
The man behind the mafia ties. He had presumed Monica did, but she didn’t.
In the end, she was just like everyone else who had come before her and would come after her.
Enzo said Madison had come to him and needed money bad, but she didn’t say what for. She didn’t look like she was on drugs. Was the money for her? Or the money had to be for someone else. Maybe the one who waited for her.
“You got a man?” Had her boyfriend sent her to work on the pole? It seemed like she wanted to be there and wasn’t forced. Hell, some of the girls him and his cousins were seeing worked the pole, but it was to get money for themselves.
“If it’s a deal I’m going along with, that won’t matter.”
He gave a slight nod of his head. She had him there. He would have a guy find out. Maybe they were on a break. He just wanted to fuck her for a while and be done. Hell, with her attitude she might be a bad lay and just starfish. But the memory how she worked the pole replayed in his head.
“I’ll give you the money if you’re exclusive.” He leaned back in the chair and picked up a pen, his thumb poised over the button. He studied her face for her reaction.
“No. I’m won’t follow the rules of the club.” She stood. “This was pointless.”
“Under the same deal you made with Enzo. No one touches you.” His grip on the pen tightened.
She lifted her bag halfway over her head before she stopped. “Does that include you?” Her voice was breathy.
He opened his hands up again. “I won’t touch you until you ask me to.”
“No problem then. Will the split be different?” She sat back down in the chair.
“No, the same one.” He leaned forward. He had her.
“I just can’t work at any other club. For how long?” Her ponytail swung as she cocked her head.
“What do you mean?” He hadn’t planned that far ahead. He leaned back in his chair. He had only been thinking of how to get her to come back.
“For how long does the arrangement last? I don’t want to give up my other jobs if I can tell them I will be out for three months or so.” She pulled out her phone.
“Why do you think it’s only for three months?”
She looked into his eyes, and her pupils dilated. She was feeling what he was feeling. “They will get bored when they can see me every day and won’t pay as much as they do now.”
Dante steepled his fingers. “You think so?”
“Yes.”
“But you said they never know when you come in?”
“For the most part if I’m a sub for someone. I used to come twice a month.”
“Why’d you stop?”
“Some people didn’t want to accept that I didn’t follow club rules. I don’t know if you noticed what happened when I first came in with Eric. Besides.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “There were rumors the mafia ran it, but since you said you’re the owner, I will take the deal.”
Dante choked. This girl didn’t know who he was. Or who his father was. Eric. That was the name of the prick he wanted to kill. Would have killed on the spot. Nice and slow. If the bouncer hadn’t intervened.
From the moment he’d seen her, he had wanted her for himself.
“Can I have my money now please?”
Dante held out the wad of cash but didn’t let go of it.
“I do have another separate offer from this one if you’re interested.”
“Nope.” She pulled the money from his grip and stuffed it into the back of her jeans. “Tell Enzo to let me know what my schedule will be for the next three months and I’ll be here.” She turned for the door, but looked back over her shoulder. “By the way, I have a day job.”
“Enzo told me you need money. I have a way to help you.”
“I won’t sleep with you or anyone else to earn money.
” She turned around to leave, and he jumped out of his seat and stopped her from opening the door.
He had seen interest flash across her face, when she mentioned not sleeping with him and also in the middle of their conversation on the floor.
He had her caged in between his arms. She backed up into his erection, and he sensed her stiffen.
“Are you going to take the money away from me?”
“No. I want to help you earn more.” He moved closer to her body, and she inched forward as close as she could to the door with her bag in the way.
“And I said, I’m not interested.” Her voice hitched.
“Come on, don’t be like that. I know you feel this between us.
” He dipped his head. Her ponytail tickled his nose.
“I’m not the only one.” He wanted her to admit that she experienced something too.
He didn’t believe in love at first sight.
That was only in the movies. Lust was a given, but there was something in the way she spoke to him.
The fact that she didn’t know he was a Bianchi.
He didn’t think it was an act.
“Even if there was something, it doesn’t mean we have to act on it.” Her voice was throaty.
“So you admit that you feel this?”
She turned her head, and desire was there in her eyes. “I didn’t say that.”