Lifting my chin, I looked Rex square in the eyes and shook my head. “Not a problem at all. Where are the other girls? I would like to meet them and have a run-through of what is expected of them, what kind of training you would like me to conduct, and form some sort of a schedule. Is the club running now?”
A grin spread across Rex’s face from my “eagerness” to start my roll.
“Only a few members are testing things out right now. Since we have you on staff now, we can start really training the girls and getting them ready. We are looking to officially open in two weeks, to see how things might run so we can prepare for our new space.”
“How many do you have on staff?”
“Three girls, four including you, and one bartender, Blane.”
“Blane?”
“Yes, he is also in charge of the demonstrations.”
Interesting, I thought. I didn’t like Rex grouping me in with the other girls, that terrified me and I promised myself that by opening day, I would be taking down Rex’s operation, because I didn’t want to come close to that stage.
The clunk of a bag hitting the bar sounded, and both Rex and I turned around to find a very muscular man with tattoos running up his forearms standing behind the counter. His hair was blond and cut stylishly, while his blue eyes stood out against his tanned skin. From what I could tell, he must be Blane because he had Dom written all over him.
“Speak of the devil,” Rex said. “Blane, please come over here and meet Goldie.”
Blane looked up at me and gave me a wicked grin, as if I was fresh meat. Instantly, I put up my guard. I didn’t trust this guy one bit. He reeked of trouble.
With a swagger that was unfortunately sexy, he walked over to us, while eyeing me up and down, sizing me up. Once in front of me, he stuck his hand out and offered his name.
“Blane, nice to meet you, Goldie.”
I gripped his hand in mine and was frightened to feel such a tight grasp when he shook.
“Nice to meet you,” I lied, as I pulled my hand away. “How do you know Rex?”
“Rex and I go way back, isn’t that right, buddy?” Blane said, while clapping Rex on the back.
“It is.”
The way Rex smiled had me wondering what the hell their history was. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Right about now, I wanted to run back to Jett and bury my head in his shoulder. Things were getting a little too intense for me, and I was for sure in over my head.
“Why don’t we let Blane show us what he does up on stage?”
Rex led me off the stage and back into my chair. He kept his hand on my thigh while we watched Blane prepare for his “show.” I wanted to flick Rex’s hand off of me, but reminded myself to keep the illusion, to make it look like I was here for Rex, not for Jett.
The way Blane spoke softly into the girl’s ear reassured me that what I had seen Rex do wasn’t close to what Blane was going to do, and I was right. Instead of pain, I saw pleasure cross the girl’s features. Blane wasn’t cruel or hard on her. No, he was gentle, yet commanding, he sort of reminded me of Jett.
Lord help me…
5
“Unfaithful”
Jett
“I didn’t expect to find you in here, boss man,” Babs said, as she walked into the gym wearing her Jett Girl gym attire. “Working off some pent up frustration?”
I huffed at her, wiped my face with my towel, and turned up the speed on the treadmill I was working on. I usually worked out with Kace, but he was out recruiting this morning, so I was on my own, which I was enjoying until Babs walked in, breaking my concentration.
“Not talking today? Alright, then I’ll talk,” Babs continued. “She loves you, you know that? Maybe if you showed one ounce of love for her, she would have stayed.”
“It’s not like that,” I gruffed out, as I continued to run on the treadmill, increasing my speed to a sprinting pace.
“But, isn’t it? You’ve always been a prideful man, an emotionless man, and then Goldie comes along and turns your world upside down, shows you what it’s like to have someone truly care for you, truly want you not for your body or your money, but for your mind and your kind heart. But what do you do? You go and fuck it up.”
“Enough,” I said, while slamming my hand on the treadmill and stopping the conveyor belt. “I suggest before you start slamming your boss, you get the facts right first, Barbara,” I seethed, using Babs’ God-given name.
Flustered from my tone of voice, Babs started backtracking. “What do you mean? Is there something I don’t know?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, you don’t know everything that is going on in this club like you think you do.”
I walked over to the little fridge in the gym and pulled out a water for myself. Without chancing Babs a glance, I opened the cap and started draining the liquid. The workout that I was hoping would give me a little escape from the torment running through my head did nothing but irritate me more.
“What’s going on?” Babs asked, with her hands on her hips, gaining confidence in her defiance once again.
Babs was my first ever Jett Girl. I found her one day, offering up her services, saying she could blow me for only ten dollars, and it would be the best blow job I ever received. At that moment, I knew she needed help; she needed someone to take care of her, so I took her in. It took me a while to tame her, to dominate her, since she was dead set on pleasing me constantly for the “fancy digs” I was putting her up in, but I told her she didn’t have to pay me back, but just to work hard on her Jett Girl skills and education.
Now that she was months away from graduating and launching her makeup line, she had gone back to her old self, not throwing herself at me, but defying me every chance she got. She was just as mouthy as Goldie, but where Goldie spoke randomly about things that popped up in her head, Babs was more forthcoming with putting me in place. Ever since Goldie arrived at the Lafayette Club, Babs had made it her mission to butt into my business and make sure I wasn’t screwing up my chance with Goldie.
“This doesn’t concern you, Babs. So drop it.”
I tried to walk past her, but she placed her hand on my chest and said, “Oh, no you don’t. Everything about this club concerns me, Jett. I helped make this club the way it is today. You, Kace, and I built this club together, so when one of my girls goes missing, I get to know why.”
The unsaid mother hen of the group spoke; she was right. Without her and Kace, I would never have been able to start the Lafayette Club and make it the success it was today, a success for the women involved.
Running my hands over my face, I said, “Goldie left me. She returned her collar. There, you happy?”
“No,” she answered honestly. “Why did she do it?”
This was the part I didn’t like talking about. What did I say? She left me for another man? Once again, I’d failed? I would rather just tell people she left me because I was a bastard, because the thought of telling people she was out doing who knew what, trying to protect me, drove me insane, it made me feel inferior.
She was trying to protect me, me! Fuck, I did the protecting; I was the one who took care of the ones in my life. I wasn’t the one who had to be protected. It gutted me knowing I wasn’t able to do my job, and my Little One was forced to go out into the world on her own to take matters into her own hands.
It gutted me that her “protecting” led her to Rex.
Fury started to run through my veins once again, as I thought about Rex’s text. Last night I had tried to figure out why Goldie would run to Rex, what could she possibly do with him? Yes, she knew about Lot 17 and my dad, but how the hell could she make things better by being with him? All she was doing was ripping us apart.