Page 18 of Velvet Sin
At the moment, not everyone approved of that.In particular, the woman who slipped away from the desk when Chloe returned from her break.Lenny offered a brief explanation that sent Chloe’s eyebrows well up over the top of her mask.She was probably labeling me a shithead, overreacting, throwing my weight around.My eyes narrowed at the idea as I bolted back the rest of my scotch and set the glass aside.
She didn’t disappoint, knocking hard against my door within moments of disappearing from the feed.“Come in,” I called out, perching on the corner of the desk and folding my hands as she flung the door open and greeted me by throwing her hands into the air.
“What the hell was that about?”she demanded, barking out a laugh.“Did you seriously throw those guys out because one of them touched my hand?What is wrong with you?”
Fuck me, she was blistering.Cheeks flushed, eyes blazing, scorching me from across the room as she yanked off her mask.I did my best to get a grip, but I could only last so long.“Since when is there something wrong with enforcing a very specific set of rules intended to keep my employees safe?”Let her throw all the tantrums she wanted.I was right about this.
“I was perfectly safe!”she insisted, laughing again.“There’s a counter between us, for one, and all he did was ask if I had time to join them later.”
“And there’s nothing wrong with that?”
“Oh, Dante, grow up,” she snapped.“You honestly think this is the first time that happened?Get your head out of your ass.Men proposition us all the time, and not just me… Chloe, Naomi, Zoey.Name a woman who works here, and I’ll show you a woman who has to turn down at least two or three offers a night!”
Like I gave a shit about Chloe, Naomi, Zoey.“They are not my concern.You are.You think I’m going to sit by and let someone put their hands on you?That goes a little further than making an innocent offer, doesn’t it?”
Some of the fire left her eyes as her hands landed on her hips.“I admit, I wasn’t all right with being touched.But they didn’t hurt me or anything, and?—”
“Absolutely not,” I spat, cutting her off.“There is no excuse.You’re wasting your breath.”
Her head tipped to the side.“Oh, there’s something new.Hang on, let me put on my surprised face.”
“And what does that mean?”
“It means you’ve been a complete bastard to me all week!Oh, don’t deny it,” she snarled when I scoffed at the idea.“It’s the truth.I can’t do anything right.People are starting to notice, you know.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, sure,” she muttered, nodding.“That’s the way to solve a problem.Tell somebody they don’t know what they’re talking about when they are explaining their actual, literal experience.You said I take too long to process newcomers when really, I take just as long as Chloe or anybody else.I talk too much to people when they come in, even if all I’m doing is following the example that was already set for me.I don’t see you telling Chloe to get her shit together and stop chatting up the customers, but those were the exact words you used in front of Dave and Mike and Naomi last night.I get that you’re pissed at me,” she concluded.“Please, don’t humiliate me in front of my coworkers.I actually like them.”
A small part of her tirade stuck in my craw.“Why would I be pissed at you.You’re just like anyone else here.”
Her mouth fell open.
“You’re going to have to grow a thicker skin if you hope to continue working for me.”The truth was, I had been hard on her.It got under my skin, watching her get along so well with people, smiling at them in a way she never smiled at me.All because I punked out one night when I was twenty-two and feeling overwhelmed, dead certain I would never be the man Lenny wanted—he pillar of the community, the dependable, trustworthy sort who belonged to a country club and all that shit.
Cheating on her was the coward’s way out.I could be honest with myself.At the time, it seemed like the only way to spare her what would only be misery if she stayed with me.Not to mention my own misery, knowing I would never measure up, refusing to turn myself into what she wanted.
“You know what?I don’t want to continue working for you,” she snarled, throwing her mask on the floor.
“Pick it up.”I grunted.
“Fuck you,” she snapped.“Pick it up yourself.”
Nobody spoke to me that way.Not even her.I was across the room in the blink of an eye, grabbing her by the hand she couldn’t get away.“You want to be touched so badly?Here, I’m touching you.Is that the attention you need?Does it make you feel better?”
“You are vile.”She yanked her hand free from mine, her lip lifting in scorn.“And jealous.”
She wanted to take it back.I saw it, felt it the way I felt the inferno raging in my head, all through my body.The way her eyes crinkled a little at the corners, her slight frown.But she held her head high, defiant.She wasn’t going to back down.
“Come here.I’ll show you something.”When she wouldn’t follow on her own, I took her by the arm and pulled her along with me across the room to the bank of monitors detailing everything going on except in the private rooms.“You see that?If there is anything I’ve learned after hours, weeks, and years of witnessing what goes on in these clubs, it’s how cheap lust is.Forgettable.You think I’m jealous of some nobodies thinking they had a shot with you tonight?They’ve already forgotten you,” I assured her, watching her watch the action playing out on the screens.
“Maybe I would be forgotten if you hadn’t thrown them out.”She turned her head slowly, one eyebrow lifting like she had the audacity to challenge me.“Did you ever think about that?”
No, and that was the problem.I wasn’t thinking.I could not remember a decision I’d made in the last ten years that didn’t involve planning.Careful consideration.
Until now.Until her.Hiring her, bringing her into the fold, into my life.
I couldn’t help the way my gaze landed on her mouth.Short, sharp breaths slid out from between her parted lips.Her chest rose and fell in time, practically begging to be touched.Licked.Worshiped.
