Completely shocked at the man’s actions, I just stood there, completely immobile. Francy continued to perform because one of the first rules of presentations was, no matter what happened, the girls were always supposed to perform.
Another guy tossed his drink toward me and said, “Fuck, I think I got your piss poor Scotch, George.”
The man who originally spit all over me, looked at me with complete and utter disdain in his eyes. “You dumb whore, is it really that hard to get drinks correct?” he yelled over the stage and said, “Kace, I would like this girl removed for tonight. She has ruined my time tonight and I pay a lot of money to relax.”
Kace walked over, grabbed me by the arm and escorted me to the back of the curtain as I tried to comprehend what the hell just happened.
I was shoved into a chair by Kace as he said, “Don’t move.”
Warm amber liquid dripped down my face and chest as I watched Kace walk away. “Wait, who is going to take care of the drinks?”
“You sure as hell aren’t,” Kace said, before he went back out to the main room.
Fuck.
How the hell could I have screwed that up? I had everything lined up. I knew I was slightly distracted for a second while I talked to the girls and watched Francy, but I never screwed up drink orders, ever.
The other girls joined Francy out on stage and were getting ready for lap dances, so I sat in the back, alone and sticky, trying to figure out where I went wrong. Then it hit me, Jett saw everything. Instant mortification ran through my body as I thought about what he must think of me. I put my head in my hands and tried to slow down my breathing that was now escalated.
I couldn’t believe my first presentation ever turned out to be a humiliating showing and I was dragged out of the room in a matter of seconds. Would I ever be invited back? They knew my Jett Girl name. Was this it for me?
After a while, Kace came storming through the curtains and looked down at me.
“Babs and Tootse are both giving free lap dances because of your fuck up. You owe them.”
“I don’t know what happened…”
“You weren’t focused; that’s what happened. I told you this was serious shit. These men are powerful and they will tear you apart if they don’t like what they see.”
The music died down as the girls started trickling to the back. Depending on the night, presentations could be as short as half an hour, due to a private meeting the men needed to have, or a couple of hours. We did our job and left for the night, no philandering, no mingling. Apparently, we were done for the night, now that the girls were in the back with Kace and me.
“Good job, girls,” Kace said as he looked at all of them. “Babs, Tootse, sorry about the free dances.”
They shrugged their shoulders as Babs looked at me and asked, “Are you okay, Lo? Those men were completely out of line.”
“No they weren’t,” Kace cut her off.
I felt a tear fall down my face and forgot I didn’t have my mask on anymore, so everyone could see it. Babs got down on her knees and wrapped her arms around me.
“It’s okay, Lo. We all have messed up at one time or another. I have fallen on my ass while doing a pole dance. Pepper fell off the stage once.” I looked over at Pepper as she nodded her head. “Francy, I believe, passed wind while giving a guy a lap dance once.”
“Yeah, I definitely didn’t get tipped that night. I thanked the tacos I had for dinner that night for that pleasant mishap.”
A snort escaped my mouth as I thought about beautiful Francy blowing a warm one on a man while trying to be all sexy.
“And before we had no-slip grip on the stage, I was known for sliding down the stage on my heels,” Tootse added.
“See, it’s okay,” Babs added.
“Enough with the after school special,” Kace interrupted, but was stopped by a text message alert. He pulled out his phone and quickly looked at it then looked at me. “Babs, Bourbon Room.”
My heart felt like it got pushed down into the ground at the thought of Babs being able to please Jett so much tonight that he wanted her up in the Bourbon Room and he probably wanted nothing to do with me.
Babs started to move when Kace stopped her. “Hold on, Jett wants me to meet with him first about tonight. I’ll text you when to come up, Babs.” Kace eyed me and said, “You’re dismissed.”
I couldn’t help but wonder if Kace meant I was dismissed for the night or for the rest of my time here.
I pulled off my heels, grabbed my mask and headed back to my bedroom. As I got to my bedroom, the overwhelming aroma from the flowers that were delivered earlier filled my room, but I refused to look at them. I didn’t deserve them. I was a complete failure. I failed someone who believed in me to represent his name and his club and I completely failed him.
I turned on the bath, tore my clothes off, and soaked my sorrows away. If this was my last night in this beautiful house, I was going to enjoy it.
Chapter Sixteen
“Madness”
Jett
The minute I saw Goldie sound off for the first time, I was enthralled. For some reason, the little honey-haired girl had captured me and there was nothing I could do about it. I yearned to touch her and feel her soft skin, but I knew it wasn’t time yet. She wasn’t ready, so I continued to tell myself to have patience and I would eat up my anxiety with another girl for now.
I just sat down in my chair to enjoy my dinner when I saw George spit his drink all over Goldie. I stood up out of my chair and looked closely at the TV as I watched the whole scene play out. I zoomed in on Goldie’s face and she looked completely humiliated. A tight vise wrapped around my heart when I thought about how she might feel.
The man screamed for Kace and Kace took Goldie to the back room, not using much grace. Rage boiled through my blood as I thought about how poorly Kace handled the situation. We never let members treat our girls like those two men did, by throwing their drinks at her and demanding that she leave.
Most businesses run by the motto that the customer is always right, but I didn’t. I ran with the idea that the Jett Girls were always right. They came first above anyone else, no questions asked. The way I saw it, Kace escorted the wrong person out of the room.
I sent a quick text to him to let him know I wanted Babs tonight, but also to have him get his ass up to my office as soon as possible.
I sat back in my chair, finished my dinner, and waited for Kace to arrive.
There was a knock at my door. “Come in,” I said, as I wiped my face with my napkin.
Kace walked in and slouched in the chair that was sitting directly across from me. He folded his arms over his chest and looked at me as if he didn’t do anything wrong.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I asked, trying not to reach across my desk and punch a hole through his face.
“She fucked up; she needed to learn her lesson. She wasn’t paying attention.”
“We don’t punish the girls, Kace.”
“She wasn’t doing her job; she was too distracted. You can’t just have her go out there, completely unprepared. What happened to her is nothing compared to what could have happened.”
“What should have happened is you should have kicked those two men out of the club for disgracing one of our girls. When have we ever let that happen?”
“They had all the right…”
“They had no right,” I said, as I pounded my desk with my fist. “What is this really about Kace? If it was Francy in Goldie’s place…”
“Lo,” Kace interrupted.
“What?”
“Her Jett Girl name is Lo; don’t forget it.”
I sat back in my chair and watched as a tiny smirk spread across Kace’s cocky face.
“What is your problem with her?”
Kace sat up in his chair and leaned toward my desk. “She’s not cut out to be a Jett Girl, simple as that. You aren’t with her everyday like I am. She’s not Jett Girl material. The minute you take
her in the Bourbon Room, she is going to cling to you. She is looking for comfort in her life; she doesn’t have the same mentality as Babs and Pepper. You can’t just fuck her and then call on another girl the next night. She’s not going to take it well. The minute she feels you hold her, touch her…fuck her, she is going to become attached and then what the hell are you going to do? You will break her; is that what you really want?”
I sat back in my chair as Kace went off about Goldie. In the back of my mind, Kace confirmed all the suspicions I had about Goldie. Going into this, I knew there was a possibility that she wouldn’t be able to handle my kind of lifestyle, but I ignored that feeling and, if I was going to be honest, I was going to continue to ignore that feeling because I was a selfish son-of-a-bitch and I wanted her.
“Do you like her?” I asked, trying to gauge Kace’s true feelings.
Kace sat up straight with a stunned face, but quickly washed it away and said, “I wouldn’t say we’re friends but…”
“No,” I interrupted, “Do you like her…physically?”
Silence met the end of my question as Kace looked down at his hands.
“No, I don’t,” he responded.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Well that’s your problem, not mine,” he said, while looking back up at me with determination in his eyes.
Thoughts of Kace and Goldie ran through my mind and I instantly started to get antsy at the idea. I didn’t like it. I had been known to back off a girl for Kace before, but not this time. Goldie was mine.
“Tomorrow, you are to call up the two men who tossed their drinks at Goldie and end their memberships. They are no longer allowed in my club.”
“But…”
“They are done. They don’t treat our girls like that, no matter how they might have screwed up.”
“Dude, you are seriously going to get rid of two powerful men for a girl that means nothing? They could destroy you.”
“I don’t give a fuck. They need to show some respect. Just because they have money doesn’t mean they can treat people with no regard. Their kind of behavior will not be tolerated. We have to set an example, or else all the men are going to start acting like bastards.”
“Whatever. Do what you want, but I’m telling you right now, Lo is never going to make it. You are only setting her up for failure. She is going to leave the Lafayette Club worse off than when she came.” Kace got up out of his chair and started walking toward the door. “You should get over your infatuation because you are only going to end up hurting her, just like you hurt Natasha.”
“She wasn’t the one who got hurt,” I shouted back at him.
“You sure about that?”
“She was the one who made the choice. She was the one who left me.”
Kace just shrugged his shoulders as he closed the door behind him.
I seethed in my seat as I thought about how wrong Kace was. If anyone was a victim, it was me, not Natasha and it sure as fuck wasn’t Rex who stole her away from me.
Taking a swig of my bourbon, I felt the warm liquid slip down my throat as I thought about Goldie and what Kace said. There was no way I could let her go, especially if I hadn’t had her yet; there was no way. She was an itch I needed to scratch and, until I did, I was going to be extremely uncomfortable.
Chapter Seventeen
“The Monster”
Goldie/Lo
Sleep eluded me as I lay awake in bed, staring at the wood-paneled ceiling that spanned the length of my room. The square cuts of the molding boggled my mind because I thought, who the hell would spend so much time on a ceiling, which was barely looked at, except at times like this? Maybe that was why people decorated ceilings in precise square formations, for those who couldn’t sleep.
There was also a dull pounding that kept me awake. At first I thought it might be coming from the Bourbon Room, but knew that wasn’t the case because all the girls came and said goodnight to me before they tucked in for bed. That was the good thing about being surrounded by girls, they all cared for each other, which I still couldn’t get over because, given the situation, you would expect everyone to be a bunch of catty-ass bitches, but they weren’t at all.
The pounding was starting to get on my nerves and there was no use in trying to go to sleep, so instead of being a good little Jett Girl in-training and putting myself to sleep, I decided to follow the sound. I put on my robe, slipped on my yellow fuzzy slippers that were provided for me and walked out of my room. I followed the back stairs so I didn’t have to wear a mask, just in case, but I knew no one would be around at this hour. However, the last thing I needed was Kace kicking me out of the house for not wearing a damn mask.
As I got closer to the pounding, I noticed it was coming from a room next to the gym I frequented almost every morning, thanks to Kace’s strict regimen.
I walked closer to the room and, before I pushed the door open, I took a second to think about what I was about to do. What if Jett was in there? Would he be mad if I walked in on him doing who knew what?
I was about to turn away when I heard the music stylings of Eminem come through the wall. I was intrigued and I had to see what was happening on the other side of the wall.
Slowly, I opened the door as a bright light shown through. My eyes had to adjust from the dark hallway I was occupying, but when they did, I saw the most gorgeous back I had ever seen. It was tan with rippled muscles spanning every inch. The man who belonged to the gorgeous back, wore low riding gym shorts that showed off the waistband of his black boxer briefs.
Taking my eyes off the pert ass that went along with the muscular back, I saw what the pounding noise was, he was boxing and, good God, was he good at it.
I felt myself walk inside the room and sit down on a box that was facing the bag and watched the man take all his aggression out on the hanging punching bag.
It wasn’t until he turned around that I saw it was Kace.
Shit, I knew he was hot, but after seeing him pound the fuck out of that punching bag, my lady folds wept at the sight of him.
He continued to punch the bag with more force than I thought was possible. I watched as his pecs flexed with each blow and then pulled back quickly. His biceps were sculpted precisely to every corded muscle God gave him. He had a tattoo that ran along his ribcage, but it was in such loopy cursive that I couldn’t make out what it said. It didn’t matter because it was fucking hot no matter what it said. It could say cat poop face and I wouldn’t care.
Kace continued to punch the bag until he turned and faced me. That was when he stepped back from his bag and looked me up and down, I returned the favor and I knew I was rewarded with a better view than he was. His skin glistened with sweat and was rippling in every direction you could think. Mother of God I had a lady boner.
Turning off the music with his foot, he looked at me and said, “What the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m pretty sure you could blast someone’s face off with that punch. Remind to never make you mad.”
“Too late,” he said, as he used his mouth to tear off the tape from his gloves that held them on tight. Fuck, I was so horny; I wished I was the tape that his mouth caressed…That instead of him tearing off the tape, he was tearing my panties off and devouring my pussy with that sensual, scruff-covered mouth of his. There was something seriously wrong with me.
“Seriously, you’re good.”
“I know.” He pulled a water bottle from the fridge, splashed water on his face, and then swallowed some. I just watched like a creepy pervert as the water ran down his sculpted body and tried not to finger myself right then and there from the erotic scene unfolding in front of me. Now I knew why there were jerk off booths in the Toulouse room, holy shit.
“You’re pretty sure of yourself.”
He peeked over his water bottle and said, “Well, since I used to be one of the top professional boxers in the country, I’d think I should know I’m pretty damn good at punching a bag that hangs
in front of me.”
“You used to be a boxer?” I asked, ignoring that snarky tone I was so used to him using with me.
“Yeah.”
Okay…
“Care to elaborate?”
“Nope.” He grabbed a towel and wiped down his body as I continued to enjoy the show.
“Are you always this moody?”
“Are you always this nosy?” he countered.
“If I said yes, would you answer my questions?”
“No.”
It was standoff. He expected me to ask something else, but I didn’t. I wanted him to stop being an ass and actually try to have a decent conversation with me. We stared at each other and I saw his eyes roam over my body. He stopped at my legs, where my robe rode dangerously high. His eyes blazed with heat and, at that moment, an aching throb took place between my legs.
Holy shit, I wanted Kace to fuck me right here on this damn box that was starting to cut through my ass.
The tension was extremely thick in the room and it wasn’t because Kace had been working out. No, it was undoubtedly the sexual tension that had been building between us ever since the moment we met at the café in the French Quarter.
My breathing began to pick up as Kace continued to take in my entire body, from head to fucking toe. I could practically feel his breath on me as he caressed me with his eyes. I wanted him and I wanted him badly. The strange thing was, I knew he wanted me too.
I got up from the box and started toward him, but that was when Kace looked away and turned his back toward me. As if my movements snapped him out of the lust-induced coma we were just in.
“Kace…”
“Don’t,” he said, as he set his boxing gloves on a shelf and then turned back around. There was a good couple of feet between us, but it still felt like he was only inches away. “Stay away from me, Goldie.”
It was strange to hear him use my real name, since now I was used to everyone using my Jett Girl name. My God given name almost sounded foreign to me now.