Page 29 of The Dollhouse

We would wait and see what Zoey would do, if she would cross the line with her neighbor or heed my words, take them to heart.

Chapter Nine – Zoey

Crystal pulled me aside the next time I worked at the Dollhouse. Roman and Carter were there, though they hadn’t dragged me—or, by extension, anyone else—into the backroom. Instead, they sat at one of the side tables, away from the stage, where I had to cater to their every whim and wish all night. The bastards.

But, anyways, Crystal got me when I was near the bar, getting refills on their drinks. Her blonde hair was wavy, kinky, falling past her shoulders. Her eyes were done in smoky makeup, their hue blue and sparkling. Her huge breasts were held back by a thin, shiny strap of fabric, just one bump or shove away from having a nip slip. Some of the girls worked topless here, but she didn’t do it often.

“How’s it going?” she asked above the music of the club. She threw a look over her shoulder, staring at Roman and Carter, and I could’ve sworn I saw a wistfulness cross her gaze. “I haven’t really seen much of you lately.”

As Jamie got their drinks ready, I forced out a smile. “It’s going good.” Good was probably an understatement; that, or good wasn’t a way to describe how things were going with me at all.

“I can’t believe Roman owns this place now,” she muttered, and I nodded along with her. Really, besides my hours, nothing had changed. To the other girls who worked here, it was life as usual, but for me? Things were a little more complicated for me when it came to Roman. “I hear you’re the only one he wants now. How are you holding up?”

I should be happy that I was the only one Roman wanted to see, but I was a strange type of conflicted. He was basically controlling every aspect of my life; how was I supposed to be happy about that? Granted, I came from a household where my parents chose all they could for me—they’d even tried to get me to forgive Bryan and Willow for what they’d done—so I should be used to someone else pulling all the strings.

But when it came to Roman, when it came to Carter… things were different. I wanted to have a backbone, to be strong, to not let either of them control me like I was just some plaything they could use and eventually discard.

I… I didn’t want to be tossed out like trash, once they were bored of me. Was that stupid? Was I only waiting for the inevitable when it came to Roman? RomanandCarter, because they were a package deal; you couldn’t get one without the other.

“I’m fine,” I said, shaking my head once. “I’m sorry, I never meant to steal him or anything—”

Crystal waved my words off, not even letting me finish before she said, “Don’t be sorry, girl. Every woman here knew Roman wasn’t forever. We just… we never thought a new girl would walk in and sweep him off his feet. The way he acts around you, the things he’s done since you started working here—I mean, it’s just crazy. Heboughtthis place for you.”

He bought this place for me.

No, see, that’s where Crystal was wrong. Roman didn’t buy this placeforme; he bought it tocontrolme. There was a huge difference, but I could understand why she didn’t see it. Crystal wasn’t privy to all of the conversations Roman and I had, to how Carter had dragged me to his house the other night and threatened Lake.

Poor Lake. I’d been avoiding him ever since that day he stayed with me, ever since we almost kissed. When Roman threatened him, it was the last straw. I liked Lake, he was super kind, super sweet, and ridiculously cute with his dimples. He didn’t act like a guy who’d use me up and dump me when he was finished with me, unlike Roman. Even though I had walls up, Lake seemed nice.

Too nice. So nice he didn’t deserve to be caught up in my shit. I didn’t doubt that Roman would follow through with his threat, and something like that I didn’t want on my conscience.

I shrugged as Jamie set two full glasses on my tray. “I’m okay, really.” This life wasn’t something I was used to, but I grew up around people who constantly thought they could use me or my family’s name for their own gain. I might be new to the slums, if that’s what you wanted to call this area, but I was not new to people trying to use me.

What was new, however, was the fact that IwantedRoman to use me. I wanted him and Carter to help bring me back. I’d felt like such a zombie after discovering Bryan and Willow together, after my parents had tried to tell me that I’d get over it, that everything would just go back to the way things were before, when I was blind and ignorant.

No. Things were different for me now, and even though I might take issue with how Roman went about claiming me, I couldn’t deny the heat that spread through me every time I thought about him or Carter, any time I pictured Carter bending me over the nearest table and fucking me senseless. There was an art to what that man did with his cock, and I had become a connoisseur of sampling it.

Crystal lightly touched my arm, giving me a soft smile. “If you ever need anything, don’t be afraid to ask, okay? I’d hate to see those two swallow you up.”

I said nothing as she walked away, returning to pick up the empty glasses two patrons had left near the stage after the last dance. Was she genuine in her concern for me? I honestly had no idea, and I didn’t really care.

She didn’t want to see them swallow me up? I guess that’s the thing, huh? I wanted to be swallowed up, I wanted to forget everything I ever was and become someone new, someone who didn’t care about labels or boyfriends or anything like that. Where my last name meant nothing, and no one knew I was born and raised in green.

Roman buying the Dollhouse didn’t impress me, but him making my heart beat again did.

How fucked up was I to crave his darkness?

I took the drinks back to them, and after setting them down on the small glass table near their seats, Roman grabbed my hand, stopping me from walking away. His eyes, pure black pits of void, stared right into my soul, reminding me of everything he’d said, everything he’d done to me—and everything he would do to me, if given the chance.

“Sit with us,” he said, more of an order than a suggestion.

I glanced to the tray I still held onto, and he probably figured I’d try to use that as an excuse to either walk away or ignore his order, so he grabbed it with his free hand and set it on the floor near his chair. Before I knew what was happening, he pulled me down—though not towards him. Roman tugged me down onto Carter’s lap, and Carter’s strong, muscular body accepted the embrace with a grunt.

Roman released me, and I squirmed a bit, feeling anxious to be sitting on Carter’s lap in the Dollhouse, where anyone who was here could look upon us, but as I surveyed the area around us, I found no one was even paying attention to us. A Tuesday night, it wasn’t the Dollhouse’s busiest night by any means; a few men sat near the stage, a few talked near the bar, trying to get Ruby’s number, and a few were at the tables on the other side of the stage, far away from us.

Nestled in the corner as we were, we were as alone as we could get here.

“Keep squirming like that,” Carter’s deep voice whispered into my ear, though I could hardly hear him over the music, “and I’ll take you in the backroom and show you exactly what you can do with that ass.”

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