Page 18 of The Dollhouse

As I moved my hips a bit, basically a toned-down practice of what my real dance would be, I saw Autumn walk up, staring at me with eyes of fury. She folded her arms across her chest as she stood beside Crystal, not even glancing at the busty blonde, her attention all on me. “Get down,” she said.

“She wants to dance,” Crystal spoke, glancing at her. “I taught her a bit.”

“I don’t care what she wants to do. I don’t let any new girls dance—”

I slowed to a stop, clutching the pole as I listened to Crystal and Autumn go at it.

Crystal shook her head. “That’s not what this is about, is it? It’s about him. Just admit it, it’s okay. Roman doesn’t want her up there, and anything he wants he gets out of you like a bitch in heat.”

The girls prepping the tables froze, their eyes widening. No one, it seemed, could believe Crystal went there.

Autumn forced a smile. “As soon as the banks process it, Roman will own the Dollhouse. He’ll own you, and he’ll own me.” She glanced around the dark club, making sure to give every girl a glare, landing on me last and saving the worst one for me. “Right now, his attention is on you, Zoey, so you will do nothing that makes him upset.”

“I’m dancing,” I stated, letting go of the pole and setting the same hand on my hip, cocking it out with as much attitude as I could muster. “You’re going to let me dance, or I’m going to quit. Do you think Roman would like hearing how you forced me to walk out?”

I was actually pulling this from my ass, not knowing what she’d say or even if Roman would be angry I walked out and quit. Go big or go home, you know? All in or all out, nothing in between.

Autumn glared at me, her dark gaze narrowed. It was a tense, long moment before she muttered, “Fine, but any repercussions for this will be on your head, not mine.” As she spun on her three-inch heels and stormed away, I could’ve sworn I heard her mutter something about how we were all stupid girls.

Jamie walked over, shaking her head. “Damn. I’ve never seen someone put her in her place before. That was something else.”

Almost begrudgingly, Crystal said, “She could be right, though.” Those blue eyes turned to me. “Roman might get pissed at this, especially if he wants you to be his personal girl.”

His personal girl. Was that what this was about?

Oh, well. It was too late now. I was going to dance, and I was going to dance my ass off until Roman walked in and saw me on this stage, shaking it in front of everyone. Defiance had never been my specialty, but for Roman I made an exception; he made me feel the indescribable need to rebel.

Something which I’d never admit to anyone, a secret deep within my soul… I wanted to rebel, and then I wanted Roman to put me in my place, show me who’s boss.

That was wrong, wasn’t it? I wasn’t even sure what kind of kink that was, but I can say with certainty that Bryan had always been so vanilla. Yeah, vanilla with me while screwing my little sister behind my back. As vanilla as a cheater could possibly be.

The only reason I got off the stage was to help finish setting everything up before the front doors were unlocked and opened for the clients. I saw a few middle-aged men funnel in—more than were here on Tuesday, but still nowhere near the number of people who came on Friday or Saturday night.

No Roman, though. Not yet.

My nerves were anxious, my stomach in knots. I’d never done anything like what I was prepared to do, but I guess there was a first time for everything. A first time for rebellion, for running away and trying to find myself a new life; a first time in falling for the danger and the dark. For a man like Roman.

I wanted to show that man I wouldn’t just sit back and do whatever the hell he wanted me to, that I refused to allow him to literally control aspects of my life when I hardly knew him. Roman thought I’d take it like a good girl, but I guess that was the problem. All my life, I’d masqueraded as a good girl, doing what I was told when I was told, constantly proving myself to my parents, doing whatever I could to avoid their disappointment.

And look at where it got me: here, in the Dollhouse, basically alone.

No, fuck being good. I wanted to be bad, so naughty it would hurt.

Another woman swung herself around on the stage, undulating her hips with the beat when Roman and Carter walked in. Roman wore a sleek black suit, and he was in the process of adjusting his cufflinks when he strolled in, looking as intense and sexy as ever, his dark hair and stare like a magnet to me. Beside him, Carter was just as handsome, the tall, well-built muscles between the two.

Any straight woman would melt under the stares of those two. Any woman would want to be on the receiving end of their carnal lust, even if it wouldn’t last. And, hell, I knew whatever strange fascination he had with me wouldn’t last long, but nothing worthwhile in life ever did. All the good things, all the passion and the heat, ended faster than you ever wanted it to.

It was officially time for me to embrace it.

This was my life, and I would never be the good girl my parents had groomed me to be. The old Zoey Marbella was dead.

I stood near the backroom, where Roman and Carter usually disappeared to. It didn’t take them long to find me, making a beeline to me. Straight to business, I bet. I acted as if I wasn’t waiting for them, taking my time in meeting their stares.

Roman made no moves to hide how he watched me, and neither did Carter. Carter’s green eyes twinkled in the dim lighting, traveling from my feet, all the way up to my chest, and finally resting on my face. Wearing what I was wearing, I was just another object of desire; I wasn’t stupid enough to think I meant anything to them.

“I’d say fancy meeting you here,” I spoke above the music, “but apparently you know my schedule, and you won’t let me work weekends.” I folded my arms over my chest, hoping I radiated an attitude that told both Roman and Carter I wasn’t having it, that I wasn’t happy with the intrusion into my life.

Shrugging beneath his black suit, Roman said, “What can I say? I don’t like the thought of anyone else leering at you.”

---