Page 2 of Until Daddy

The bartender scooped up an empty glass and took it behind the bar as Carissa stepped up.

“How can I help you?” Another handsome man smiled at her. Was it a requirement for the club? Although she’d met the bartender a few days back, when she’d taken it upon herself to check out the club before bringing Jade.

“A Shirley Temple, please.” Jamison had said to put it on his tab, but she pulled out a bill from her small clutch and handed it over.

“Coming right up.” He went about making the non-alcoholic drink while she watched. She’d met men at the clubs before—almost every kinky boyfriend she’d had, she’d run into at a club—but this meeting felt different.

Shaking her head, she cleared her mind of any sort of fanciful notions. Her type of relationship wouldn’t last long. They never did. And not just hers, but all kink relationships she’d seen barely made it out the gate before the shine started to wear off.

“Here you go. And here’s your money. Jamison said it’s on him and to go sit at the far table in the corner.”

Carissa plucked the five-dollar bill from his outstretched hand and looked over her shoulder. She noticed Jamison right away. His eyes made contact with her and he smiled, waving his little walkie-talkie in the air and making a pointing gesture. Where was her anger at his behavior?

“Thanks,” she mumbled to the bartender and found the table Jamison had mentioned.

He’d been right. The lounge wasn’t crowded at all. The sign hanging on the wall stating that in order to sit at a table, you needed to have purchased a drink, probably had something to do with it.

Carissa was a few sips into her drink when Jamison arrived, wearing a wide grin. He handed the walkie-talkie over to the waitress who passed by and took his seat across from her.

“A Shirley Temple.” He nodded at her drink with another approving grin. “Good choice.”

“Did you want to order a drink?” She pointed at the bar when he leaned back and unbuttoned his jacket.

“Not right now. I already had a drink, and I don’t over indulge…” His sentence trailed away into the rumblings of the crowd, who were starting to move.

“They opened the doors.” She looked over his shoulder, trying to find Jade.

“Yes. We were supposed to wait a bit longer, but the crowd was too tight in the waiting area so I had them open early.”

“You?” She twisted her neck. Where had Jade gone off to?

“Yes.” He reached over and captured her hand in his. “If you’re looking for Jade, don’t worry about her. Garrick is planning to take care of her tonight, so you are off the clock.”

Her eyes snapped back to him. “Garrick? You know Garrick?” Garrick and Jade had been close friends since near childhood. Jade wouldn’t like running into him, and how did Jamison know him?

“He and I do business together.”

Apparently, he read minds as well as owned kinky night clubs.

She looked at him again, closer this time. “I think I’ve heard him mention you.”

“I was a little surprised Jade didn’t recognize me. We’ve met a few times,” he said.

“She’s a little preoccupied—did you say Garrick was here?” She started to stand from the chair, but Jamison tugged her back down into her seat.

“Yes. And you’ll stay out of it.”

And the twist in her chest began. “Oh, I will? And who exactly do you think you are to go ordering me about?”

The corner of his mouth twisted up and his eyes sparkled with glee.

“Did he send you to babysit me?” Garrick would do something like that if he was trying to get Jade alone. Carissa had always known he was into kink, little things he said and did, but she’d never broached the subject with him.

“Do you need a babysitter?”

The way he said the words, the little bit of levity mixed with the heaviness of curiosity, made her gulp back her initial irritation. His eyes narrowed in on her, as though taking stock of her reaction to his question, and if the slight heat of her cheeks was any indication, she had a full blush starting to take over.

“I don’t need anything.” She gave her standard response when putting up the brick wall, but even she could hear the weakness in her tone.

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