Page 28 of Undercover Desires

“Yeah, I know. I just wish he looked at me the way he did you that night. It was like I wasn’t even there, but every time we got served our drinks he would come to life. Shelby’s right, he has a thing for you.”

“Well, that’s a problem for him then, I guess.” I smile toward her. “When you find the right guy for you, Summer, you will know it, because he will make you feel like the only girl in the room all the time. And then and only then will he be worth the company of someone as amazing as you are.”

She gives me a soft smile back. “Have you ever had that?”

“Nope, but I have to believe it exists.”

“It does,” Hazel says dreamily, and I see her eyes are locked with Jett across the room. I’m not sure what she sees in him, but they have it. The coupleitfactor. It makes me a little jealous.I would love to know what it feels like, to be adored and truly loved.

Xavier whistles, forcing us to look her way. There is a lineup forming at the bar.

“Shit, better get back to work,” Shelby calls, grabbing my arm.

We scurry back to the other end of the bar to help her, a cheerful smile on my face. I think I just made a couple of new girlfriends. Did I say too much? I wasn’t prepared for that kind of conversation, but it all just came out so organically I went with it. Hazel might be a good way in to finding out what really goes on around here. Not that we talked about her much, the conversation kept getting brought back to me. And Kobe.

Was he really looking at me like they say? I know he kind of did the first couple of times I met him, but since he dropped me home that night and I didn’t let him come in with me, he has been weird around me. He keeps his distance; our conversations are awkward. And I haven’t been unhappy about it. When he’s close, I have this strange urge to flirt with him, and that is just not me. Not only that, but it’s dangerous to even have the indecent thoughts I do about him. A guy like Kobe Rivera would eat me alive. I need to focus on my task at hand—bringing him and his brothers to justice.

“Why did it just get so busy suddenly?” I ask Xavier as I hurry to pour another beer. I feel bad we left her for so long, but I was distracted.

“Tonight is auction night,” Xavier says over her shoulder with an excited little twinkle in her eyes, while grabbing two drinks from the fridge.

“This week's lineup of new Queens,” Shelby explains. “The girls parade on the main stage in beautiful evening wear and get bid on by the suits. The successful bidder will go off into one of the private rooms and discuss the terms of their contract. You know, how long they will spend together, what they’re willingto do, all that stuff. Some girls sign contracts for the long-term, others just for the night.”

I have no words. This place is so far out of my realm of normalcy I can’t even form a sentence. I take orders and help get through the lineup as fast as I can. The crowd gathers closer to the main stage.

“You should try it sometime. It’s liberating. It’ll help you forget about what’s-his-name,” Shelby says as she passes by me with a tray of drinks.

Xavier shakes her head in my direction. “Don’t listen to her. She’s a bad influence.”

I drop my head closer to her. “I honestly can’t believe people really do stuff like this,” I whisper.

“They do, and it’s a big moneymaker for the club. We take a twenty percent cut off the winning bid.”

The bar quietens down, and I lean on it, watching the type of men gathering and wonder where they come from. Do they have wives or girlfriends back at home? Or are they the workaholic type who don’t have time for relationships? Or are they into kinky shit that no normal woman would be up for, so they have to pay for it?

“What’s wrong, Bella, all too much for you?” comes Kobe’s voice from behind me. I was too distracted to even notice him passing by.

My body straightens up, instantly on edge with him so close to me. “I just don’t get it. Why would you sell your body to a man to be his plaything? Don’t they find it degrading?”

“If you talked to them, I think you would find it’s the opposite. They find it empowering. Men bidding to spend time with them. They can earn enough money to pay off student debts or start businesses they have been dreaming about,” Kobe snips like I’m taking a personal dig at him.

“Or help sick family members with medical bills,” Xavier adds, like she knows someone who’s had to do exactly that. Was it her? I’m dying to know her story.

Kobe pours himself a drink, and Xavier looks him over, unimpressed. She doesn’t like it when he steps behind the bar. He positions himself next to me, looking out over the crowd. Slowly, he takes a sip. Under one arm, he has a clipboard. He probably thinks it makes him look important or something. He looks extra good tonight in navy-blue suit pants and a white button-up shirt. From this close, when I breathe in, I can also smell how delicious he is. Why do I have to be so damn attracted to the man.

“They can do what they want because in one night they have secured enough money to have control over their lives,” he says. Like it makes him some sort of hero for these girls.

I look him over, our eyes locking. “But they have to sleep with a stranger and do whatever perverse thing he wants to get said money. Not so empowering.”

He throws his head back, laughing. “Why did you sign up if that’s how you really feel?”

I glance quickly at him like he must be joking, about to burst into laughter myself.

But he has a smug smile of satisfaction on his face that makes my stomach drop. What the hell is going on?

“I-I didn't... I didn't sign up for anything. I... I didn't even know this was a thing until... until tonight,” I stutter out nervously.

He hands over a clipboard from under his arm; it has a list of names on it. Sure enough, the name Bella Jones is written on the list in black marker. My heart races with panic, and I feel like I might be sick. “What the fuck, Kobe? You know I wouldn’t have signed up for this.” I gasp in shock.

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