“Yes, she’s upstairs. No, she’s not wearing a collar. I know. No, I didn’t take her phone, why should I? She said she’s no longer with him, that she wants nothing to do with him. Because I can trust her. She’s desperate Leo; she’ll do anything to not have to live on the streets again.” He paused for a second and then said, “No, she will not be a girl, not just yet. I gave her a manager position at first…” He paused again, but then raised his voice, malice lacing it, frankly scaring me. “Because, I can’t just force her to be the main attraction of the club at first. I have to gain her trust, give her everything she needs, and then break her down, take away her entire life in exchange for what we want. It’s all about manipulating your subject. I know what I’m doing; we’ll get what we want. We’ll be sure to prove to Jett never to fuck with us.”
Heavy footsteps rang across the hardwood floors, making me jump out of my listening position and scamper back to my room. Carefully, I clicked the door shut and then sat on my bed.
So, I wasn’t as clever as I thought I was. Rex didn’t want me; he wanted to use me to get back at Jett, but why? Were they still convinced Jett and I were an item?
No, they couldn’t be. There was something I was missing.
With a new understanding of what I had gotten myself into, I turned out the lights of my latest bedroom and thought about what tomorrow was going to bring and how long it was going to be until I was able to see Jett and hear his voice once again.
There was a reason I was doing all of this; there was a reason why I was in Rex’s house, depriving myself of the man who had stolen my heart. I was doing this for Jett; I was doing this for us so that we could live the life we wanted to live, not under someone else’s rules.
With a flip of the bird to Thomas, the creepy perv, I shut my eyes and went to sleep.
2
“Bang Bang”
Rex
The phone rang in my ear and I impatiently waited for Leo to pick up. Kitten showing up at my door was exactly what we wanted. We knew only time would tell when Goldie would come running from Jett. We pushed him to his limit and made him drive her away. Who was he trying to kid? We had seen his passion for my Kitten ever since Leo called Jett out on his new girl. It was written all over him. I wasn’t sure if he loved her, but he had deep feelings for Kitten…that was unmistakable.
“Yes,” Leo grunted into the phone.
“She’s with me.”
There was a pause on the phone before Leo spoke. “Goldie?”
“Yes, she came over tonight, asking for a place to stay, a place far away from Jett.”
“She’s in your house?” he asked with a little bit of disbelief. We were hoping she would find her way to me when she was ready, but we weren’t sure it would actually happen, especially since she left the Lafayette Club a while ago.
“Yes, she’s upstairs.”
“Is she still attached to Jett? You know we can’t have any complications.”
“No, she’s not wearing a collar.”
“She’s not? That’s interesting. He must have really done a number on her. That bastard of a son of mine never knew a good thing when it smacked him in the head. He’s willing to give up Goldie for Lot 17. Never thought I would see the day.”
“I know.”
“Did you take away all of her communication?”
“No, I didn’t take her phone, why should I?”
Leo blew out a frustrated breath, and I could envision him running his hand through his hair. Like father like son. “Because, what if she’s playing you? What if she’s lying? We can’t be too cautious right now, Rex.”
“She said she’s no longer with him, that she wants nothing to do with him,” I responded with confidence. I saw it in her eyes; she was done with Jett Colby.
“And you believed that? Why?” Leo asked, growing irritated with me.
The moment I went into business with Leo, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. He was just as stubborn as his son, but when it came to trusting someone else, Leo had zero trust. He was constantly checking on me, making sure I was making the right moves. It had started to get annoying…the fact that he thought he could make all the decisions in our partnership. I was not one to be micro-managed, especially since what we had was a partnership, something he often forgot.
“Because I can trust her,” I spat back. “She’s desperate, Leo, she’ll do anything to not have to live on the streets again.”
“Desperate enough to be one of the girls?”
“No, she will not be a girl, not just yet. I gave her a manager position at first…”
“Why the fuck would you do that? You know the plan. She is to be one of the girls, not some damn manager.”
Rage boiled inside of me from Leo chastising my decisions, once again. I knew what the hell I was doing. I didn’t need him riding me about it. Even though he thought he knew everything, he really didn’t. The one thing he didn’t know was Goldie. She was headstrong, stubborn, and could be flaky. I wasn’t about to act on our plan the first second she walked through my door. No, I had to ease her in, show her that I can give her everything, and then when she’s settled, when she thinks she couldn’t have it any better, I would take it all away from her.
Taking a deep breath, I answered, “Because, I can’t just force her to be the main attraction of the club at first. I have to gain her trust, give her everything she needs and then break her down, take away her entire life in exchange for what we want. It’s all about manipulating your subject.”
This was true, it was how I had done it with the other three girls who’d signed on to the club. I promised them a life they couldn’t possibly dream of, lavished them with everything they could want, learned their innermost secrets…secrets that were not to be spoken of, and then when they were content, I turned their secrets against them. I forcefully threatened to expose their misdoings, had them sign a contract, and then took all of their privileges away. It was the only way I could get them to do what they would be offering to the men of my club. It was either fuck or get fucked for them.
“You better be right. We have plans for her, Rex. She is the key to bringing Jett to his knees, and you and I both want that.”
“I know; we’ll get what we want. We’ll be sure to prove to Jett never to fuck with us,” I replied, while walking down the hall.
“Very well. Don’t fuck this up, Rex. Goldie is in your hands. Be sure to show her who’s in charge of this city…who owns this city.”
“I will.”
We both hung up the phone and I walked up the stairs to my bedroom. Things were finally starting to fall into place. Lot 17 was so close to being in our grasp; we had the winning pawn to the game we were playing with Jett, and I could see the total destruction of the man in the near future. It wouldn’t be too long until we had Goldie under our command, only to annihilate Jett.
3
“Gone”
Jett
I’ve suffered losses in my life, losses that have shaped me into be the man I am today, that have taught me valuable lessons, and that have inspired me to be a better person. But I’ve never experienced such a loss as I did the moment Goldie took off her collar.
From the window of her bedroom, I watched as a cab pulled up outside the back of Diego’s club and took my Little One away, leaving me a broken and bitter man.
Her words kept resonating through my head, “Have faith in the power I have.”
From the very beginning, when I asked her to stay with Diego and trust what I was doing for the both of us, I asked her to have faith, faith in me and faith in us, but now with the tables reversed, with her doing the protecting, my faith was non-existent and the main reason was because the one hold I had over her, the one object that gave me security in our commitment to each other was now lying neatly in a box in my hands.