Page 27 of Chaos

Enzo laughs.

Fuck, I missed him coming in, too.

His black hair falls forward over his eyes that his smile never touches. “I’ll need lots of girls. I don’t think you boys could keep up.” The ice in his glass clinks as he sets it on the table.

The diamonds in his rings reflect the light like the cubes in his cup. “Besides, you have things to do. I don’t need you at the club standing on your dicks all day long. You’d die of dehydration.”

“There’s worse ways to go,” Alexei says before he takes a long swallow of his beer.

Enzo wags his finger at Alexei. “You, little boy, would be a flash in the pan.”

“That's why I have this.” I click my tongue bar against my teeth. “If I’m in between nutting, I can always keep them happy.”

“The only thing you know how to do with that is make annoying noises.” Nikolai taps his finger against the table in a mocking rhythm of my piercing. “All day. Like a clock that doesn’t keep time. Is that why you’re late most of the time? Your timer is broken?”

I don’t want to tell him that the person who used to keep me in line isn’t here anymore. That I feel like I’m numb and wandering and lucky when I do remember to show up.

“Nah, man. I’m just late to give your mother-hen ass something to do, keeping tabs on me.”

FIFTEEN

SOFIA

“I don’t see how this is my responsibility.” Anna’s brows furrow as her fists dig into her hips.

Maeve whimpers on my lap. Her small cheeks are flushed with a low grade fever. “Please? I can’t stay home. I just got the job.” I wipe back her curly dark hair that’s plastered to her warm forehead.

Anna sits with a sigh next to me on the couch. “I don’t know if I can? I was supposed to dance for a bachelor party tonight. I almost had to promise Gil a blowjob to get the chance. They’re always big money.” She takes Maeve’s tiny hand and strokes it. “She’s never this quiet.”

“She’s getting better. The meds the doctor prescribed are kicking in. They’ll keep her comfortable.” I grab the red bottle and dropper from the end table. “It says you just have to give her a dose every four hours. I can probably get back before three?”

The club almost always slows down by then. I’ve only been there a couple of weeks, but it’s becoming predictable.

“God, you’re killing me, girl. But I get it. I’ll tell Gil I have cramps and can’t make it.” Anna pulls my sleeping Maeve onto her lap and props her head with a pillow. “It’s kind of creepy he tracks our cycles, but luckily mine is due to start in two days.”

A shudder runs through me. That guy is strange, but he pays well. And his advice for what kind of moves to do really is an improvement.

I’ve never had someone tell me to thrust my pelvis in such a clinical way before.

If I was still working on my psychiatry major, I bet I could learn all kinds of things about his kind of debauchery.

When Maeve shifts, her chocolate colored eyes open and flick from Anna to me. “Momma?”

“Shh, baby girl. I’ll be back soon.” When I kiss her temple, I’m glad to feel it’s already cooling.

She looks so much like her daddy. It sends a pang through my chest.

I’m glad I get this reminder of him every day.

He saved me and made me realize that there are some nice guys out there.

I wonder what kind of dad he would have been?

Not like I’ll ever know, but it’s a dream to have. One day, I’ll meet someone who will accept her and me as a package deal.

I’m just not sure if that will be anyone I meet at the club. But, if I keep getting better and bigger tips, I should be able to afford to go back to college this fall part time.

A bachelor party would go a long way to helping with that.

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