Page 16 of The Dollhouse

Autumn walked out of her office, her dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She wore a sleek, form-fitting suit, standing beside me as I stared at the wall where the schedule hung. “You can thank Roman Russo for that,” she said, folding her arms across her chest. “He was very adamant about you not getting any weekend shifts.” Her dark gaze studied me, as if she could pry into my head and see what I was thinking. “You caught his eye, somehow, more than any of these other girls have.”

I shook my head. “But I—”

“An animal takes what it wants when it wants, and that’s what Roman and Carter do when they come here. They have the money to make it worthwhile, and now we’re all under their rule.” Autumn sounded bitter, especially as she said, “But even an animal knows what belongs to him.” She said nothing, returning to her office, the door slamming shut by itself.

My shoulders slumped. Great.

Jamie, the Dollhouse’s bartender, must’ve hung back and listened to what Autumn had told me, for she stood near the door to the rest of the club, giving me a concerned look. “She’s right, you know,” she said. “I’d be very careful when dealing with the both of them, hun, because they’re not the kind of men who treat their girls with flowers and chocolate. They might give you diamonds, but they’ll give you those pretty stones stained with blood.”

I blinked, watching as Jamie left the backroom, leaving me all alone with my thoughts. I wanted to either scream or bang my head against the wall, ask why the fuck everyone was so dramatic when it came to Roman and Carter. I mean, sure, they were sex on two legs—literally—and rich as a fucking corporation that used child labor in a foreign country to make its profits, but that didn’t mean they were as good as God himself.

My eyes darted to the schedule again, and I felt myself growing irate. He’d forced Autumn to cut my hours, keep me on Tuesdays and Thursdays only? The bastard wasn’t even a set figure in my life and yet, somehow he saw fit to control me.

What the hell? I could not stress that enough.

Since tonight was Tuesday, I worked. As the night wore on, I half expected Roman and Carter to roll in like they always seemed to do when I was working, but neither of them showed up. That was fine, though, because I was fuming, so mad I could hardly think straight, let alone see straight.

It was a damned good thing the Tuesday night clientele were different than the weekend ones, because I was out of it. So out of it that Jamie pulled me to the side and had me help her at the bar rather than let me wander around the floor, even though I wasn’t twenty-one yet, so I shouldn’t be touching or serving anyone’s alcohol.

A stupid rule.

Everything was fucking stupid, actually. The under twenty-one law, the way Roman thought he could control me. From what it sounded like, he never did anything like this for any of the other girls, so what the hell made me so special? I didn’t want to be. He might be the finest-looking man I’d ever met with a stare that could kill, but that didn’t mean he could take control of my life like this.

I mean, what the ever-loving fuck?

Crystal wasn’t working tonight, otherwise I would’ve pulled her aside and had a little chat with her. If I would’ve known how Roman would react after doing what I did with Carter, I wouldn’t have done it. Yeah, it felt ridiculously good to let go while knowing Roman was watching, but this was my life, and no man was going to fuck with my life unless I let him.

Roman might make my thighs clench and my pussy drip, but he didn’t mean anything to me. I only met the guy twice.

My thoughts ran wild as I worked with Jamie, and by the time I was off for the night—er, the next morning—my blood pressure was so high I probably should’ve been admitted to a hospital. I walked home, frowning to myself all the while. The sun was an hour or two before its rise, but that didn’t matter. When I got back to the apartment building, I planned on waking Crystal’s ass up and having a long chat with her.

Call me crazy, but I didn’t think she adequately warned me about Roman.

The building was quiet when I reached it, its parking lot empty of all people. Not a single person other than me was up, it looked like. Though it might be calming any other night-slash-early morning, right now it wasn’t, because all I could think about was what the hell I got myself into when it came to Roman and Carter.

Seriously. It wasn’t like I signed up for anything. Just a little dick. That did not mean Carter’s dick was the only dick I wanted for the rest of my life. I wanted to tell those two to get over themselves.

Once I reached Crystal’s door, I knocked. I knocked so hard on her door it was more like pounding than knocking. Since this entire place was full of studio apartments, there was no laying down in bed and ignoring it; you were forced to hear it. If she was in there, she’d be wide awake, now.

I heard her swearing inside her apartment—and then I was pretty sure I heard her trip on something and then swear some more. By the time she reached the door and opened it, another minute had passed.

Crystal’s bedhead was… well, let’s just say she wasn’t gorgeous all the time. Without her makeup, really, she looked rather plain. The curse of wearing so much makeup every day. I’d much prefer to wear minimal makeup normally, then when I want to stun, do a bit more.

“What the hell, Zoey?” Crystal said, rubbing her eyes. She held open the door with her foot, inviting me in without another word. “It’s too early for this.”

I walked in, finding her place was set up much like mine, only she had an actual bed on an actual frame, along with a dresser where her TV sat. Crystal even had a tiny table near her kitchenette and two chairs for it. Her place looked quaint, cute almost, while mine just looked barren and empty, like a vagabond had taken up residence there.

Sitting at her tiny table, I said, “I didn’t mean to wake you.” A lie, but whatever.

Crystal slouched into the chair opposite me, shooting me a tired look. “Right. You were just knocking loud enough to raise the damn dead for no reason.” She ran her hands through her hair, fixing her bedhead somewhat. “What’s going on? Did something happen?” Finally, she sounded less miffed and more concerned. Like, duh, I wouldn’t come bothering her for no reason this early.

“You could say that,” I started. “Autumn put up next week’s schedule.”

She nodded.

“I was supposed to get more hours, but I didn’t.”

Her blonde brows came together, and she asked, “Why not? Autumn always starts the new girls out slow, but you’ve caught on—”

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