What They Don't Know (Won't Hurt Them Trilogy #1) (25 page)

He has no children but
what gets me is this. He's in this line of work for two reasons.
Women of power pay for escorts and sex. The other tears my soul to
pieces; it's the truth because I performed a background check on both
men. Mike's mother’s cancer is in remission. He wants it to stay
that way, so he's paying for research, cures, and medication for her.

Frank, on the other
hand, I figure is a borderline nympho... He's not going to work out;
he's a bit too young. He's freshly twenty-one and may have a drinking
problem. He's incredibly handsome, GQ model handsome and possibly a
shit starter. I can’t have a weak link or a problem child in my
business. I let him down very nicely as I give him a card to a very
prestigious modeling agency that is one of Mr. Wilke's clients he has
had around for a while; they bring in stars. I also gave him my card.

“Make sure you give
me a call on Monday, Frank,” I say as I see him to the door. “Drink
on me tonight if you want to stay. One lady only can drink with you,
okay?”

“Cool, B,” he says.
I shake my head as I close the door.

“And then there was
one,” Mike says. His chiseled chin is so masculine I can't stop
looking at it. He stands to re-greet me. “So am I the lucky
candidate?”

“Yes, you are, Mike,
but tell me why the need to seek a Madame?”

“Well, I wouldn't say
Madame,” he says.

“Whew, me either, I
don't think that title justifies me.”

He laughs, “No, it
doesn't.”

“Let's see. Why the
need to seek a procuress.” He laughs a fully belly laugh. It fills
the room. I feel butterflies in my stomach.

“Mike, I have a few
friends here. If you don't mind, I'd like to get back to them.
However, you can drink and eat on me tonight. Let me rephrase that.
You can drink and eat on my tab tonight. As Frank, one lady can drink
with you as long as you are here.” He stands and I notice how fit
his body is. His slacks hug his ass neatly. Oh, he smells good, just
like fresh linen. I have to leave this room; get away from this man.
I stand as he takes my hand and kisses it again, the way he did when
he first greeted me. His lips linger a bit longer this time,
seductively. Oh, God, I need to leave this room now.

“Are you sure you
have to get back to your friends?” He's looking into my eyes. I
look away from the intimate gesture.

“I do. I apologize.
I'm surprised they haven't come for me.”

He sighs. “Okay. This
very gorgeous lady Procuress has granted me access to enjoy the night
on her with a lady of my choice. I hate to waste it on just anyone.
Is she sure she can't be persuaded to spend a few more minutes with
this gentleman? I'm sure he'll make it worth her while.” He kisses
the inside of my hand and I'm hot.

I gently pull my hand
back and step away. He is good... too good. “I'm sure on whomever
you decide, it won't go to waste.” I walk to the door to open it;
he's standing there, the stature of a Greek icon. I look over my
shoulder.

“You have my card,
Mike. Please call me tomorrow, so we can go over specifics.” He
nods.

“Will do, B, I look
forward to it.”

I exit the room. As I
round the corner, I run into the doorman who helped me out tonight.

“I was coming to
check on you. Are you okay?” The concern in his voice has caught my
attention. I look up at him to reassure him I am.

“Yes, I am. Thank
you.” I hand him another bill.

“No, thank you, B,”
he says. “I appreciate that you offered me more.”

“What's your name?”
He looks down at me as he escorts me back to my VIP section.

“Ford,” he yells
over the music.

“Is this your full
time job?”

“No, this is just
part time.”

“Oh, okay, where do
you work?”

“Here,” he says.

I laugh. “Okay,
listen, here's my card. Call me Monday.” He stuffs the card in his
pocket on the way to the stairs. When I get up to our V.I.P. section,
Cruz is M.I.A. and Bryant is in Tracey's face. Shanna is standing on
the balcony overlooking the dance floor. Immediately I know where
Lisa is. I walk over to stand next to Shanna.

“Are you having a
good time?” She jumps. “Sorry.” I give a sad face look as she
turns with her hand over her chest. “Sorry,” I mouth again.

“I am. I really
appreciate the invite.”

“I apologize I wasn't
a good host tonight.”

“No, no, everything
is fine.”

She can't seem to stop
looking on the dance floor. I lean over to see what she's staring at.
There, on the dance floor is Lisa grinding her ass on Cruz. “She’s
a little drunk,” I say. Shanna wide-eyes me.

“Clearly, she is.”
I look at Shanna with a side eye because Lisa is my friend. I can say
what I want, but she can't. She hasn't earned criticism about my
friends. She notices my facial expression.

“Sorry, just calling
it like I see it,” Shanna comments again.

I chuckle to ignore her
comment. “Cruz can dance,” I say aloud. Shanna nods her head.

“How long have you
known him?” Shanna asks continuing to look down on the dance floor.
I turn and look over at her full frontal. I feel like I'm being
interrogated. Instantly, my female intuition kicks in.

“Not long, why?”

“Oh, I was just
asking.”

“That's not a getting
to know you question. That's more like a getting to know him
question.” She laughs, but I don't. We stare at each other for
about a minute before I'm handed a shot glass of tequila. I knock it
back and hand the empty glass back to whomever handed it to me. What
I thought was a night going good, this chick has just ended it. Cruz
and Lisa are walking up the stairs. Lisa grabs my hand to pull me
away, but Cruz stops me. He holds up one finger to Lisa for her to
stop pulling on me.

“Who was that guy you
came out of the private V.I.P. rooms with?” I step back to look at
him. He's been drinking. I've never seen his eyes glassy in this way.

“Work related,” I
say as I look straight ahead at Shanna staring back at me.

He shakes his head.
“There were two. Are you going to tell me that both were work
related?”

“Yes, I am Cruz; have
you been drinking?” He grabs a glass from the high table and drinks
the amber liquor while giving me a mean, sarcastic stare. I snatch
away from him, not making a scene.

“Come on, Lisa,” I
yell. She jumps up and grabs my arm and we head toward the restrooms.
I push the door open so hard the person coming out gives me an angry
stare. I yell, “I'm sorry, damn.”

“Please don't be
angry, Bria.”

“Whoa, wait a
minute.” I check all stalls before she talks. “Why am I upset?”
I ask her to confirm why she thinks I’m upset.

“Cruz and I dancing.
That Shanna bitch was trying to hold a conversation with him without
anyone noticing, but I noticed it. So I pulled him away to the dance
floor to get him away from that sneaky bitch. The dancing was just a
distraction.”

I scoff, “The dancing
isn't what has me in a pissy mood. He's questioning what I'm doing.”

“Wait, who Bryant?”
Lisa questions and I know she’s drunk. She can’t keep up with the
conversation.

I scoff again. “No,
Cruz. I'm not even speaking to Bryant.”

“Yeah, I noticed
that, what's with that?”

“That bitch ex of his
is why I'm not speaking to him. If he's back with her, he and I no
longer have a friendship.”

“Whoa, Bria, that's
major. But why the hell was very delicious Cruz questioning what you
were doing?”

I stare at her with a
‘you know’ look.

“I knew it. I knew
there was something between you two.”

“No, it's not like
that. I think he's taking Bryant’s place in my life,” I lie. I
can't bring myself to tell her that his mouth has been between my
thighs. He's been around and Bryant hasn't; but as soon as this deal
is done, I'm going to force all interactions down to emails. “Right
now, I'm just making Mr. Wilke happy. And get this. Shanna is also
questioning how long I've known Cruz.”

“What! I told you,
Bria, there's something up with that one.”

“I don't know, Lisa.
I can't go out and just have a good time without drama.” Lisa
shakes her head entering a stall. I go into the next stall, might as
well while I'm here. We both exit the stalls when we’re done. I
wash my hands and touch up my lip-gloss.

“I have to get on the
dance floor once tonight, Lisa.”

“Dancing it is,”
she yells as we head for the door. We exit the restrooms, and Lisa
pulls me to the bar.

“Give me four double
shots of tequila.”

“Four?” the
bartender confirms.

“Yes,” I shout.
Lisa and I take our shots.

Arm and arm we head out
to the dance floor. Something from Maroon 5 is blasting through the
speakers. The shots have started to make me hot. I feel sated. My
body is feeling the music, and I’m on the dance floor rolling my
hips. I feel eyes on me. I glance up; both Cruz and Bryant are
staring down on us. “Fucking idiots,” I say. Lisa grabs my hips
and we both begin to grind our hips to the music. I can see that
Bryant has left our V.I.P. section.

Before I can whisper in
Lisa's ear, I'm being spun around. Bryant has placed his hand on my
hips while I'm trying to dance toward Lisa. She takes my hands and
spins me again to change places to where I am. Now she's in front of
Bryant grabbing his hands so I can make a quick getaway. I'm being
pulled by strong hands. It’s low lit in the club so I have to wait
until the strobe light reveals my mystery hands. When it does, I see
Mike Stone. He’s turned so my back is to his front.

He whispers in my ear,
“Thank you for a lovely night.” He grinds on my ass. He is rock
hard; his cock is poking me. He has both my hands in his. He lifts
our hands then slides one of his hands around the front of my neck.
I'm getting aroused by the second. He kisses the side of my neck.
“Until tomorrow, my Procuress,” he says softly into my ear. He
spins me then kisses me on the cheek. He turns and walks away.

I look up and see Cruz
no longer there. Instead, he's on the lower lever staring me in the
eyes. I can see his eyes have darkened when the light reflects on his
face. He looks primal again; I can tell his breathing is erratic.
Shit, he's actually intimidating me right now. I don't want to walk
in that direction to go back to our V.I.P. section. I'm a brave chick
though; besides, I have to go see what this mysterious Shanna is all
about. I start to walk towards V.I.P. I get Lisa's attention to let
her know I'm going back up. She nods in acknowledgement.

I quickly try to make
my way to the stairs without having an altercation with Cruz. He is
hot on my feet as he grabs my waist to guide me up the stairs. When I
get to our section there's a note.

Thanks
for a great time tonight.

Shanna
& Trace.

“Ohh, Trace,” I
say.

Cruz is in my ear. “My
cock didn't get hard for her, Bria,” he says gruffly.

“I don't care about
that, Cruz. It was only dancing, right?” I tell him.

“So you care?” He
smiles at me. I think I'm drunk because I'm smiling at him when
clearly I'm pissed about his questioning. I feel relieved that Shady
Shanna is gone. I'm even content with Bryant being around. Just as
the thought enters my mind, he and Lisa come back up to our section.
I like this area, very secluded and private.

“
Evil
Lynn
and her side kick are gone?” Lisa asks. I hold up
the note.

“Yes,” I shout
back.

“Bria, we need to
talk.” Bryant speaks loudly over the music. He removes Cruz's hands
from around me.

“Cruz, give me a few
minutes.” He's clearly not cooperating tonight. He gives Bryant the
coldest look I've ever seen. Bryant hasn't been drinking that I can
tell, but he says something that leads me to believe he could be
drunk.

“Look, man, let me
have five minutes. I handed her to you with no arguments; you owe me
this.”

Cruz winces and shakes
his head. He removes his arms from around me.

“What is he talking
about, Cruz?”

“Nothing, Bria,”
Cruz answers.

“Bryant, what are you
talking about?” I turn to question Bryant.

“Never mind, Bree.
Just please, we need to talk.” Lisa is between the two of us. She
has a horrified look on her face.

“What did you just
say?” she shouts at Bryant like she's his mother.

“Lisa, this isn’t
any of your business.”

“What the fuck,
Bryant? She’s my friend. What do you mean it isn’t any of my
business?” She's getting louder by the minute. I'm standing here
with the feeling that my inner body has just stepped out.

“Did you say you
handed her over to him? She's no whore, Bryant!”

“I didn't mean it
like that, Lisa,” Bryant yells. He reaches for me. “Bree, you
know I didn't mean it that way.” He’s trying hard to redeem
himself for that statement. Everything is a blur. I'm not sure if
it's the liquor or that fact my body has been shocked.

All I know is that my
feet have carried me down the stairs with Lisa on my arm to the
ladies’ room.

“He did not say
that,” I say to Lisa barely audibly. We have both crammed ourselves
into a one-person stall. Well, at least it doesn't smell bad.

“I have to get out of
here, Lisa.”

“We can catch a cab,”
she says. “Shit, your car.”

“I'll deal with it
tomorrow. I'm too intoxicated to drive. Stay with me tonight, please,
Lis.”

“Okay, I will,” she
says as she hugs me. We both use the stall we are in because our
state of mind hasn't grasped the concept of either of us going into a
separate one. That's the type of mind frame we are both in right now.
Nothing matters; only going home matters. We wash our hands and exit
the restroom. “I'll settle the tab; you can grab a cab, okay,
Lisa?”