Page 8 of Gold Digger
I blinked at her. Was she the duke’s girlfriend? She certainly looked like she could be. Blonde, stunning, impeccably dressed.
“Er… sorry, lady, but I’m still gonna go.”
She shook her head. “You can’t go, and he said you need to sit down.”
My eyebrows went up. “Listen, maybe your boyfriend can tell you what to do but?—”
“Sit down, Lottie,” the duke said as he strolled through the office door, back to full commanding, master of the universe mode. Now I’d been bossed around, manhandled and talked down to all night. This was the final straw.
“I’mnotsitting down,” I said through gritted teeth. “I’ve said thank you for what you did, but my only good white shirt is ruined, I stink of wine, my ankle and wrist hurt, I’ve been totally humiliated and I need to go home now.” Ugh, my voice would have to break over those last few words. I really was pitiful.
“I know, Lottie,” the duke’s voice was back to soft now. Without me even really realising what he was doing, he’d gently manoeuvred me into the chair I was standing next to, pulled up another one, put a cushion on it, lifted my foot up onto the cushion and laid an ice pack over my throbbing joint. It was all done in the space of a few seconds. I tried to protest, but the weight off my ankle and the cold surrounding it felt so good that the words died on my lips. “My car’s being brought around now, alright?”
“You should really listen to him,” his stunning, maybe-girlfriend added. “Olliealwaysknows the best thing to do.”
I gritted my teeth. I did not want to be lectured on Ollie’s virtues by his girlfriend of all people. The white-hot jealousy actually scared me a little. What right did I have to be jealous over a blinking duke for flip’s sake?
“I can get an Uber home.”
The duke looked down at his phone, muttering, “No need. Car’s here.”
I was just about to speak again when the office door flew open.
“Your Grace,” Thomas the D-word said as he burst into the room. When he saw me he froze. “Er…” he swallowed, then looked back at the duke. “I was told there was a problem with one of the staff?”
The duke straightened up from crouching next to me and I could feel a dangerous energy filling the room as he turned to Thomas the D-word. “No, that isnotwhat I said,” he told him, his voice low and lethal. “I said there was a big fucking problem with the way this shithole is being managed.” I blinked. This was one of the most exclusive bars in London. Actual royalty was here tonight. Most of the wine cost £500 a bottle. The Nag’s Head round the corner from me, nowthatwas a shithole. This place, not so much.
Thomas the D-word cleared his throat. “I’m not sure what you?—”
“There is no security.”
“Oh, no, we’ve got security. They’re?—”
“You’ve got security on the door. There is no security on the floor.”
“On the floor?” TTD repeated in confusion. “Why would we need security on the floor?”
“To police the dickheads you let in here.”
“Police the…” TTD trailed off and then shook his head. His voice dropped to a whisper when he spoke again. “Y-you don’t police these people.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” snapped the duke, clearly losing patience. TTD was shaking his head.
“The security is to keep the bar exclusive. The members inside the bar, on the floor. I-I-I-I… you don’t police these people. I wouldn’t dream of… I mean, there’s no way I could set bouncers on any of them.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” the duke’s voice was rising now. “Those peoplehave been routinely making one of your waitresses feel uncomfortable all night until one bastard touched her.” He saidtouched heras if it was a capital offence. I rolled my eyes.
“Honestly, Your Grace,” I said. “You must know that policing your mates out there is not an option. They pay an exorbitant membership fee to this place, and they’re used to people putting up with their BS. They are not used to being told what to do. Give TTD a break, for flip’s sake.”
“TTD?” the duke asked, but I kept my mouth shut and he frowned. “Look, I don’t care who they are. Nothing gives them the right to treat you like that.”
“That’s not the way the world works,” I snapped, aware that my voice was rising but beyond caring. “People likemeserve people likeyouand we do it with a smile on our faces, putting up with all manner of manure. Now, I don’t have time to sit here listening to this nonsense. If I’m not working and therefore not earning, I want to go home in an Uber, and, seeing as I’ve very likely lost my job, I want to be paid for tonight before I leave and given my tips in cash. Because, Your Grace, there’s a reason people like me work for unbelievable self-pleasurers like TTD here. Weneed the money. You might think you’re the ruler of the entire known universe, but you can’t upend the pecking order of this country on a whim.”
“I might not be able to ‘upend the pecking order of this country’, Miss Forest,” the duke said in a carefully controlled voice, “but I sure asfuckcan tellmymanager how to runmybar considering I bloody well own it.” There was a pause. Okay, I did not know that he owned this place. Come to think of it, hadn’t he said “my bar” in the bathroom earlier? Not that it should have surprised me – he did own half of London.
I cleared my throat. “Oh,” I said. “Right, well, in that case, carry on.”
“Thank you,” he said in a dry tone before turning back to TTD. “Security on the floornow, and I want the rest of those dickheads ejected from the club with a lifetime ban. Understand me?”
