Page 12 of His Jersey Girl

Probably not. After living in Atlantic City for over a year, the flashing lights and giant pictures of famous people were more like background noise, something I tuned out. I would look now.

“It is. How could you have a date with someone super famous and not know it?”

“I knew it,” I protested. Well, I knew he was a VIP, and he must be pretty good at fighting if he was a headliner. Celebrity was a crazy thing. We had plenty of them come through the casino and I’d never been impressed. Would someone ask for his autograph while we were on our date? That would be kind of cool.

“Sure you did. FYI, not cool keeping secrets. We should have gotten a group text saying ‘I have a date with ‘the Destroyer’ this morning.” Lucia was almost shouting now, and I felt bad. She was right. I should have shared my news. That's what friends do.

I groaned. “Had. I had a date but now I have to figure out how to cancel. Stupid me didn’t get his number.”

“Why?” She said the word like I’d asked to have liver and snails for dinner.

“I was flustered and nervous! Have you seen his muscles? We set a time and place, so I didn’t think to ask for it.”

Lucia groaned. “I don’t mean why didn’t you get his number. I meant why do you have to cancel?”

“Because I have to bring my stuff to your apartment and start hunting for a new place to live.” Adulting sucked! Reason 543 why being a Little was so much better than being a Big.

“Nope Nope. Nope.” Lucia shook her head with such force I was afraid her bun would come undone. “You are not canceling. I’ll take your stuff to my place and you can start the search tomorrow.”

“Seriously?” I should probably tell her no. That I couldn’t let her go to the trouble when she was already doing me a huge favor by letting me stay at her place. But I wanted to go out with Daddy Gabriel so badly I couldn’t get the refusal to come out of my mouth.

“Absolutely!”

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. I had the absolute best friends. “Thank you!” I squished her in my tightest hug. We swayed back and forth giggling. Maybe things wouldn’t work out, but I wanted to give it a chance so badly.

“I can’t believe you’re going out with the Destroyer, you?—"

“Lucia, aren’t you supposed to be in room five?” Seth stepped around the desk glaring at us.

Ugh leave it to him to ruin a good moment. It was like his whole purpose in life was to kill fun and bully anyone he could. Between his awful attitude and the creepy way he tried to pressure us into doing things with the clients we weren’t supposed to, he was by far my least-favorite person.

“Yes, sir,” Lucia squeaked and ran away.

How much had Seth heard? Hopefully nothing. Before he came up with something horrible to say to me, I decided to try for a strategic retreat by heading toward the back.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“My last client is a no-show, so I’m going to clock out.” If I kept walking and didn’t turn around, he couldn’t ruin my day.

“Not so high and mighty now, are you? Guess someone finally found a high enough price to get you to spread your legs for them.”

I whirled around. “What?”

“I thought he looked too happy coming out of your room this morning. Is it his fame or his money? How much is the Destroyer paying you to go on this date?”

The way he said the word date made my stomach churn. I looked around, praying for someone to interrupt us, but we were alone in the hallway between reception and the therapy rooms. Did Seth really believe I’d agreed to sell my body to Gabriel or was he just being a jerk?

“He’s not paying me anything. It’s not like that.” I didn’t judge the girls here who picked up extra money that way, though I did worry about them sometimes. But as long as things were consensual, I refused to judge.

He made a tsking sound and shook his head. “I knew you were slow, but I didn’t think you were stupid. Do you really think someone with his money and fame would be interested in you for anything more than sex?” He laughed. “Do you think he wants to date a dropout who makes her money rubbing on people when he could get any woman he wants?”

His words cut right through what little self-confidence I’d developed. My whole life people had teased me for being slow. I was different from them. I couldn’t focus or learn the way they did. Once I’d figured out how to compensate my grades had improved, but it was too late. When someone had found out in high school that I still liked stuffed animals and Little things it had gotten worse. I’d dropped out my senior year and gotten my GED to escape the brutal bullying.

But I hadn’t escaped. Being different made you a target. The only place I’d ever found where I wasn’t viewed as less was with the LJGs and the people I’d met at the Dragon’s Tail. It didn’t matter that I’d worked hard to earn my certifications in massage therapy. People like Seth acted as if it was something an idiot could do. Why couldn’t people keep their judgment to themselves?

“I’m not stupid.” My voice was tight with emotion. I didn’t want to let this jerk get to me, but it was like he had a sixth sense on how to hit my insecurities.

Seth laughed. “If you somehow manage to keep his attention for more than a night, the minute his match is over he’ll go back to his mansion and forget you ever existed. If you were smart, you’d take him for everything you can, while you can. But, no, it’s not like that.” He said the last in a mocking high-pitched voice.

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