Page 38 of High Roller

Gracie’s eyebrows knit together. “What did she see?”

“A ghost,” Lili whispers.

Gracie frowns. “I don’t understand.”

“One of the men in the club reminds Lili of someone,” I explain, hoping to keep the questions to a minimum.

“And I take it the memories aren’t pleasant?”

Lili’s eyes water and she shakes her head. “He tried to rape me or kill me or… hurt me. It’s hard to say for sure.”

Gracie’s hand flies to her mouth. “Victor, you have to do something.”

I stroke her damp hair. “We’re working on it. I’ve already talked to Matteo, and we’re going to look into him first thing in the morning. He’s staying the night with his partner tonight, so it will be easy to catch him before he leaves and have a word if we need to.”

Lili trembles. “He… Here. He’s staying here? I can’t be here. I… please let me leave. You have my word I won’t say anything to anyone. Just please don’t leave me here alone overnight.”

Whoa. Her level of spooked is far more concerning than I first realized.

Gracie immediately puts her arms around Lili. “I’ll stay with you. Whoever this person is won’t even know you’re here. If he sees Victor and I going into this room, he’ll just think we’re staying together.”

“I’ll stay too. You and Gracie can have the bed, and I’ll crash on the couch.”

“We should get you both dried off and in something warm. Why was the water so cold?”

Lili shakes her head. “I was hoping to snap myself out of the panic attack that was brewing, but I think it made things worse.”

Gracie jumps up and goes to the bathroom for more towels and then to the closet for Lili’s pajamas.

“I’ll find pajamas for you and me, also, butterfly.”

“After the club is closed. I’m part of the closing team tonight and you still have a few people to say goodnight to. Shit. My dress is soaked. I’ll need to borrow something from Bellamy. She usually keeps clothes in her office.”

I grip her shoulder and make her face me. “Stop stressing. I’ll get you out of closing. Stay in here with Lili so she isn’t alone.”

“Thank you,” Lili whispers.

I admit I’m a little jealous of Gracie getting to sit and watch over her. And that thought makes me feel like ass considering the conversation Gracie and I were just having in my office.

“I should help. We don’t want people asking you nosy questions,” Gracie insists.

But I can tell that scares Lili, so I shake my head. “I’m final say on what you do here each night, and my decision is you’ll be in here. If anyone asks, I’ll tell them you are handling club business on my behalf. And anyone who wants to argue is probably in need of a trip to my office anyway.”

“Oh, please let Master Owen argue,” Gracie teases, earning herself a stern look. At least she isn’t arguing with me.

She follows me into the bathroom where I put my shirt on. It catches me by surprise when she pulls it together and begins buttoning the buttons without a word. The towel that was loosely wrapped around her falls to the floor and she doesn’t pay any attention to it. Halfway through, I capture her wrists and pull her closer to me. “Thank you, butterfly. You were right to get me. She was fine when I left her a little while ago.”

“Everything is so strange right now. I’m just glad to be helpful.”

“You’ve never been anything but helpful. And I promise we’ll have that talk soon. I like this look.” I pull her naked form in front of me and turn both of us to face the mirror.

“Me naked and looking like a drowned rat and you barely messed up in your expensive shirt and pants?”

“Mostly just me dressed and you naked. But yes. The drowned rat look is totally doing it for me, too,” I tease.

She glares at me in the mirror but can’t hold it for long before she’s laughing.

She turns and completes the buttons on my shirt, and I tuck it back in.

---