Three Hard Lessons (6 page)

“Why?” My voice broke on the word. I think my shattered self was unnerving to Joseph.

“The only reason you want that money right now is so you can return it.”

“Yeah, so what? It’s my money, I can do what I want with it.”

I’d never seen Joseph upset before. We’d had some intense situations, but he was always calm and collected through them. The man in front of me was not calm. His face flushed with anger.

“I can’t have the girls giving back money either. Same issue. This only works as a business, not a fucking charity.”

The walls closed in on me. “I can’t . . . please, Joseph. I need this.”

Even as I was falling over a cliff into the unknown, my thoughts were on the man waiting in Room One. I didn’t want to be gone too long and have him investigate where I’d run off to.

“What happened in that room?” my manager asked. “Did he threaten you?”

“No, no. He . . . I don’t know what happened. I lost control and it, like, meant something. It felt real.”

“It wasn’t real.” There was a shift in the man before me as his spine lengthened him to stand his full height. His voice was dark and shocking. “Get on your knees.”

What the fuck was this? Cold dread filled my belly. I craved command, and occasionally Joseph would satisfy that need when a client failed. Underneath, Joseph was ultra-dominant. We had a fucked-up, symbiotic relationship at the “office.” But now?
Please, not tonight.

“What? Why?” I said.

“You shouldn’t have to ask why.”

“Joseph—”

His face streaked with authority, and in the darkened room, lit only by the monitor and a soft desk lamp, it was terrifying. Any other night, I would have been on my knees in an instant. I would have thought this was the hottest it had ever been with Joseph. Instead, I wanted to run.

“Payton, get on your fucking knees. Now. You’re going to suck my cock and forget all about him. You belong here.
That’s
what’s real.”

I wanted to cry, if I was capable, but I wasn’t. I didn’t cry. I understood why Joseph was doing this. His grip was tightening on me as he felt me slipping away.

Joseph’s hand undid his belt. It worked the button.

“No,” I whispered. “Please, no. I can’t do this.”

“I don’t want to lose you, but if you can’t do this . . . what are you doing here?”

He undid his zipper and shoved a hand inside his pants, stroking himself. My gaze drifted from his fly, working its way up to meet his eyes. This moment showed me that I couldn’t do this anymore. Any of it.

“I can’t.”

He stilled and took a deep breath. “That’s such a disappointment.” Hands did up his pants. “I’m sorry, I’m going to have to ask you to get dressed and Julius will escort you to your car.”

“No, the guy’s still waiting for me in the room, I need–”

“I’m no longer interested in what you need, Payton. You’re fired.”

The air drained from my lungs. “I get that, but I’m going back to that goddamn room first.”

“There’s no point.” Joseph tapped the earpiece he was still wearing. “Marquis took him to the payment room already. It’s over.”

I’d stormed to the door in the back and banged my fists against it when the cashier refused to buzz me in. There weren’t windows, so I couldn’t tell if Dom was still there. Julius hovered nearby like he was afraid of me. He was an enormous black man and built like a truck, but he was also a giant teddy bear. He had a not-so-secret crush on me, and even though I flirted endlessly with him, he never asked me out. He was loyal to Joseph’s no-dating, no-fucking policy between employees, even when Joseph himself was not.

My next plan was to get dressed as quickly as possible and wait for Dom outside the club. I hurried into the oversized cashmere sweater and leggings, yanked my knee-high boots on and rushed to get the buckles done. I snatched my purse and coat off the hook in the dressing room and thundered down the stairs.

The winter Chicago night air assaulted me, and I pulled my wool pea coat closed when I hit the street. It was empty.

“Where is he, Julius? Still in the payment room?”

He stared at the cracks in the sidewalk like there were naked women in them.

“Look at me,” I said.

“Where you parked at?” He set his hand in the small of my back, guiding me down the street. I tried to dig my heels in.

“Come on, help me out. I have to talk to him.”

Julius sighed. “Girl, he paid and Marquis put him in a cab.”

“Shit, no.” I dug for my phone in my purse, intent on calling Evie, but Julius’ face was haunting. “What? What is it?”

“Joseph . . . he, uh, wasn’t real happy with the guy.”

No, probably not. Dom had made Joseph lose one of his best girls, and Joseph wasn’t the type to let that go easily.
Marquis put him in a cab.
Not “got him a cab.”
Oh, no.

“What did Marquis do?”

“He fucked him up. Only a little.”

Anger, coupled with more crushing guilt, turned almost immediately to concern. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah. Not rough enough that the guy would think about bringing charges, just enough for him not to come back.” A thick, muscle-bound arm wrapped around my waist in a brotherly gesture of comfort. “Marquis told him you skipped out.”

“Marquis’s a fucking asshole! I didn’t.”

“I know you didn’t, girl. This shit sucks for you, I’m sorry.”

We were suddenly at the door of my Jag. We’d been moving this whole time and I hadn’t realized it. I felt like a zombie when I produced my keys and unlocked the door.

“Damn, I’m gonna miss you,” Julius said, shivering in the cold.

I turned to face him, and threw my arms around his hulking frame. “God, me too.” I drew back so I could see his face. “You should have asked me out, you know.”

“Joseph don’t like his people–”

“Fuck Joseph. We could have had fun together.”

He gave me a sad smile. “Shit, girl, you would have destroyed me. Good luck to ya.”

Julius was so much smarter than he let on.

I didn’t need luck, though. I had Logan Stone. He’d given Dom the details to this club and upended my life, which meant Logan also knew how to put me in touch with Dom. He owed that to both of us.

As the engine warmed in my car, I pulled out my phone and something sharp bit into my fingers. It had been smashed, the screen white with spiderweb cracks, and wouldn’t turn on. It wasn’t personal why he’d done this. I had passwords to the club website and phone numbers of the staff, but still. Fucking Joseph.

Even if I could find a payphone in this city, it’s not like I had Evie’s number memorized. I couldn’t drive over to their place because they’d never hear the intercom from their bedroom to buzz me up, and it was two in the morning.

I went home. I tried to contact her through email, then Facebook and Twitter, which I knew was pointless. Every hour that passed was making this worse. How had Dom been hurt by Marquis? Had he been hurt by my assumed rejection?

At four thirty I started to get really desperate. I drove to a Walgreen’s and bought a prepaid phone, then raced back home to comb through old emails on my laptop. At five thirty I had one terrible option. I had Amy’s number in an email chain Evie had copied me on between her and Blake.

Blake was Evie’s friend, not mine. For a long time, right up until the point Logan stepped into the picture, Evie had been in love with Blake. I had no idea why; the guy was so beneath her. He’d strung Evie along for months, even while he was living with Amy. Confused, he’d said. Bullshit. His dick wanted two women. The only confusion was why he couldn’t have both. He’d also let the W word pass his lips while addressing me. His apology afterward did nothing to help. I didn’t even acknowledge it.

It had worked out, I guessed, for Blake. Amy was preggo with Blake’s kid and they were getting married in a few months, shotgun-wedding style. It had most definitely worked out for Evie. There was no confusion who Logan wanted.

As I contemplated calling and waking a pregnant woman I didn’t really know, I kind of got mad at Logan. Did he realize what he’d done by setting Dom in my path? This was all Logan’s fault. My eyes burned with exhaustion as I’d been up almost twenty-four hours, and in my weakness, I was okay with assigning all of the blame squarely on him and not myself.

“Hello?” a female voice said.

“Hey, is this Amy? It’s Payton. I’m not sure if you remember me, I’m one of Blake’s friends.”
Liar.
“Is he around? I need to talk to him and it’s urgent.”

There was a noise as the phone fumbled in hands. In the background, I heard muffled voices. He asked who it was and she said, “Some girl who says she’s your friend.”

“Hello?” Blake said on a sleepy voice.

“Blake, it’s Payton. My phone’s broken and I need Evie’s number.”

“What the fuck? It’s like five thirty in the morning.”

I tried to remain calm. “I know, I’m sorry, but it’s really important I talk to her right now.”

He sighed, and after a few seconds where I assume he was scrolling through his contacts, he rattled off the number.

“Thank you. I’m sorry I woke you guys.”

“Yeah, okay.” He hung up a second later. Dick.

chapter

SIX

The emotions caught up with me before I dialed her number. My job was gone. In a few short months, I’d be out of money. I wasn’t really big on saving and I couldn’t exactly file for unemployment, either. What was I going to do? My worry for Dom and my need to explain what happened got tabled as this new fear took hold. My whole life had changed when Dom walked in that room.

I went into full panic mode when I called her.

“Who’s dead?” she asked, once she realized who it was.

“I am,” I said. “I need to talk to you, I’m kind of freaking out. And I’m coming over.”

My ass was dragging as I headed for my car. Caffeine was required. I got two coffees at Starbucks on my way to her place. Oh, shit, not her place. It was Dom’s. Would he be there? Why didn’t I think of that before?

I flew into the apartment when Evie opened the door. The couch was empty, and she looked at me like she didn’t know what had happened, so, no. He wasn’t here.

“Are you pregnant?” she demanded. Her deep brown hair had been pulled back into a damp bun from her shower, her blue eyes large on mine.

“What? No.” I slung coffee on the counter when I pulled my cup from the cardboard tray and she instantly went to clean it up. How Logan had changed my best friend. When we’d roomed together in Amsterdam, she’d kind of been a slob, but creative types usually were.

Evie was girl-next-door pretty. She had a normal, real body-shape to her. Hips that flared, a slim waist, and large boobs. I loved and envied her curves. She wasn’t a gym freak like me, but still stayed in shape. She was effortlessly beautiful. I’d been attracted to her from the get-go. The threesome had sort of been her idea, but just as much mine, too.

Women were sexy. I liked what we’d done. Up until Dom, Evie’s was the only kiss I’d felt something in. Yet, the threesome with Logan proved to me that while women were fun, I swung much more toward the males when it came to sex.

Ugh. I actually didn’t want to think about sex right now. That had to be a first. I felt unglued. My arms and legs had been pulled out and stuck back in at awkward angles. I was rambling about the money, about how I should have been warned, or some shit like that. I probably sounded like a crazy woman. It drove Evie to abandon me in the living room and go wake her fiancé.

I stared out the enormous glass wall. We were forty-four stories up, facing North Beach. The view was to die for. Dom’s view. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to hold myself together. When were these emotions going to wear off? Maybe I should have tried to sleep.

“Payton.” Logan’s deep voice made me turn.

He looked like hell. His eyes were bloodshot and his nose red. Logan had on a pair of sleep pants and no shirt, his brown hair askew. Sick as a dog, but still hot. It amused me to no end that Evie had been oblivious to him until her night at the club. Of course, he was her boss and she thought he was off-limits, but seriously? That wouldn’t have stopped someone like me. Evie had been such a good girl, but was recovering nicely.