Page 82 of Scarred King

I take off my clothes and allow the guys to dress me in a lot of weird clothes. One nods and the other makes a face, they undress me again and try something else. This goes on until I start losing my patience. Finally, they both clap enthusiastically.

“Don’t look yet,” Victor points his finger at me in what’s meant to be threatening. He asks me to close my eyes, and spends a long time applying my makeup. After that, he combs my hair and I bite my lips but don’t say a word. All I can see right now is my goal. Leo shoves my feet into shoes that make me eight inches taller and they walk me towards the bed and open the door of the closet next to it. There’s a mirror inside the door.

“What the hell have you done to me?” I ask quietly and look at the image reflected in the mirror. I’m wearing a tight, buttoned down blouse. The buttons reach the top of my neck, making me look swan-like. There’s a thick belt with a gold buckle around my waist, holding up a gorgeous linen skirt. The layered skirt adds volume and weight. My straight, thick hair is greased and shining, parted in the middle and drawn up into a bun at my nape. My eyes are smoky and look bigger than ever. My cheek bones are defined with delicate blush and my lips are red like blood.

“Tiger!” Leo squints and claws the air with his fingers.

“Duchess,” Victor corrects him, and Leo nods enthusiastically and looks at my straight posture proudly.

I smile in embarrassment and they both shake their heads in a panic. “Not like that!” Leo gasps. “Like this,” he fakes a stern expression that I try to copycat.

“Elena,” Victor rearranges my hair again. “I really hope you can act. Because no matter how good our costume is, it’s all up to you now.”

“I’ll do my best,” I try to reassure them calmly, but there’s a storm deep inside me.

“Don’t let them see any weakness,” Leo applies more blush to my cheeks. “And act crazy.” He rubs the brush over my nose.

I walk to the dresser by the bed and find what I'm looking for. A small pocketknife. I lift my heavy skirt and slip it inside my panty’s waistband. I find another pocketknife in the desk's drawer and shove it under my belt. I have no idea why I’m doing this, but it seems to calm the panic raging inside me a little. Victor and Leo wait for me to finish and hook their arms inside mine as we go downstairs. They stop at the last step and out of a bag he is holding, Leo takes out a black hand-held fan, and snaps it open dramatically. “If you feel that your face is giving you away, this will help.” He pushes it into the other side of my belt, and I exhale heavily.

I look around me in surprise. The room looks perfect, as if nothing happened the night before. Three bouncers are standing around with their weapons drawn, and the girls are standing still and staring at me.

“Duchess Elena,” Victor announces and bows to me, as I keep a stony expression on my face. “See?” He turns to the girls in excitement. “The show is on.”

I choose not to correct him. I’m not acting, my body is paralyzed with stress. I go to the connecting door of the club and peek inside. The club also looks amazingly tidy, but there are no customers.

“Charlie, where are our customers?” I ask him angrily.

“Nobody will come,” he says in frustration. “Nobody sane would risk coming to a war zone by choice.”

“So, what are we going to do?” I ask and start pacing. “Don’t you have any friends who owe you a favor?”

“There are no friends in our world. Just interests.” He wipes the counter.

“We have to make it look like business as usual,” I mumble, and stop in front of Victor and Leo. “You must have some friends,” I narrow my eyes at them tensely.

“Of course!” Victor laughs, “We have a lot. Our community is huge.”

“Would they agree to do you a great personal favor?”

“Sure,” Victor is still laughing. “We do so much for them.” He winks at Leo.

“Good. Then get them here.” I order.

“Are you crazy?” Now Leo is laughing. “What would our friends do in this place? They’re not into tits, they prefer…”

“Shhh,” I hush him. “Nobody needs to know what their sexual orientations are. Just get them here to try and act the part.”

“Oh, this will be hysterical,” Victor says to Leo. “Can you imagine them sitting here with the girls dancing around them and shaking their big tits at them?” they both grimace in disgust and laugh nervously.

“Leo,” I raise my voice and they both try to look serious. “We don’t have a lot of time. Do what you can.” They rush to the club and I sit on a barstool and close my eyes. I have a half hour before chaos begins and I don’t really know what I’m doing. I’m putting everyone at risk… they’ll be onto me in seconds and what will I do then? I’ll just start crying like a little girl. I take a deep breath and try to calm my pounding heart.

There are fifteen minutes left, and I'm staring at the door, muttering every prayer I remember for it to open and for Ralph to enter.

“Duchess,” Victor calls me from the connecting door and signals me over. I sigh and stand up. He swings the door wide open and I see about twenty men in fancy clothes, sitting around on the couches, giggling.

“Amazing!” I say in excitement. One of the girls is giving a private dance to a short, chubby guy, and he closes his eyes and raises his hands in horror. “Victor!” I scold furiously, “Tell them to act like they are straight.”

“But they can’t,” he answers in frustration.

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