Page 62 of The Boss

It’s like… IknowStu is there. IknowJulianna has told him to keep guys off me. I know he’s been told that I have a no-fraternization-with-other-people clause in our stupid relationship contract. But damnit, I’m twenty-one and wanna party!

No way am I gonna sleep with anyone but Julianna. I’m barely going to dance in between them. Maybe accept a compliment if they tell me that I’m hot. Hey! Julianna can’t be the only one who thinks I’m a beauty! Maybe a girl likes to hear it from others once in a while? It’s good for my confidence, damnit.

All it takes is one guy brushing against my ass, and suddenly the party is over.

“Excuse me.” Stu puts a firm hand on the guy’s arm. “I don’t believe you have permission to do that, sir.”

Everyone stops dancing around us. Except for me. I’m still happily hopping to the beat and hoping for someone else to compliment me in my hot dress.

When I finally stop moving, it’s only because I’ve realized that everyone else isn’t moving anymore. Nobody except the guy Stu has put his hand on – because he throws a drunken punch.

At least my Friday night is interesting?

Chapter 28

Julianna

I’m enjoying dinner with Presley when I get a call from my head of security. I know it’s not good.

“Got into an altercation at the club,” he candidly reports. “Everything’s taken care of. No police. Your girlfriend’s pissed, though.”

“What happened? Did someone touch her?”

“Some frat guy tried to move in on her while she was dancing. I attempted to put a stop to it, and he slung a wild one at me. No damage done. Nothing but his pride, ma’am.”

“Good work. How’s Alessa?”

“Like I said. She’s pissed. Ruined the fun for her and the other girls.”

“She’ll get over it. Make sure she’s put into my car and taken straight to my residence.”

“Roger that, ma’am.”

I hang up and shove my phone into my purse. Presley looks up from her dinner, still chewing. “Problem with your girlfriend?” she asks.

“Nothing Stu couldn’t take care of. A few men didn’t know how to keep their hands to themselves at your newest club.”

“Is that a specific jibe at my expense? Because I’ll have you know that the bouncers at that place are top-notch. Or so my manager there assures me.”

Typical Presley. Beyond the initial preparations, she has nothing to do with her properties aside from dropping in once in a while to party and ensure her coffers remain filled. I don’t have anything to do with them. The only reason I was so blasé about “letting” Alessa go out with her girlfriends tonight was because Presley owned the club Alessa name-dropped. I should have known better. Then again, maybe I subconsciously did… hence why I sent Stu after them while I kept to old haunts.

I stand, politely asking the server who swings by to box up the remainder of my dinner. I do not doubt that Alessa will be heading back to my place shortly, especially if Stu is in charge. I need to beat them there and make sure she comes home with the perfect image already in my head.

Alessa needs to learn a few lessons. Sometimes I forget how young she still is since I’m at a point in my life where I don’t usually fool around with women whose brains haven’t fully developed yet. I should have known this would happen. A group of young women at a nightclub full of men loaded up on testosterone and alcohol. The only way this night could have ended was with them being flirted with to the point of depravity.

I don’t care what those other girls do. I only care that Alessa knows she is not to fraternize with others.Ever. That is one of the hardest lines she could think about crossing around me. Otherwise, I don’t ask for much, other than her time and attention. She wants to clear going out with friends, studygroups, or family? That’s fine. I’m willing to work with that. But the moment a man in her vicinity starts sniffing around her… and she humors him? She needs to know how to recognize those moments and shut them down.

Looks like I’m going to have to show her how.

I call Vern the moment I’m in the back of a cab to my place. I tell him what I need, and when I hang up, I already feel a ton better.

I’m not calling Alessa. I also don’t get a text from her. I don’t need one. Stu briefly calls me back and confirms that she and my driver are about to arrive at the lobby of my building.

Before I continue, let me make one thing clear.

I had not planned on digging into this level of our relationship so soon. If at all.

I enjoy a lot of unconventional pleasures in my life. I don’t see other women as beneath me, but I do recognize the unique place they have in the world. Now, whether that place is because of the intrinsic fates of our society, I can’t say. Nor do I desire to jump deeply into it. That’s for those in other fields of academia to explore. I’ll sit on the sidelines and absorb what they decide and apply it to my life however I please.

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