Page 22 of Titan

I snorted. Gael, Will, and Cas, better known by their stage names Lynx, Aries, and Pegasus, were the only three men in the club I engaged in scenes with. We trusted each other implicitly. I got on with almost everyone who worked here, but it didn’t mean I was okay with engaging in sexual acts with them. We all had our boundaries.

“I’m sure, especially Cas. He got to call me a dirty little whore, suits his degradation kink down to a tee.”

Gael laughed.

“Don’t start pretending you didn’t like it too.”

I batted his arm before turning away to pull tonight’s outfit out of my locker so I could change. Having checked my client list, I decided on something a little more demure than my usual short skirt, tight top, and skimpy underwear. No doubt it was Remi who slipped the name ‘Jordan Brown’ onto the list. That was Gil. I was equal parts nervous and excited about seeing him.

“I’m admitting nothing.”

“Yeah, okay, Theia. You keep telling yourself it isn’t one of your proclivities. I’ll just be over here knowing the truth.”

As Gael retreated to his locker, I threw one of my high heels at his head. It missed, making me curse. He grinned at me from over his shoulder. The little shit was always giving me a hard time. He knew me far too well. Both Gael and I had been through some incredibly difficult shit in our past. I never talked about mine, but he’d opened up to me about his own. Most of the sex workers here had had a bad time of it. It was the thing that bound us all together. We knew what it was like to hit rock bottom and have to dig ourselves back out of it.

I changed into my chosen outfit of a little black dress with a matching black underwear set, before slipping on my heels after Gael tossed me the one I’d thrown at him. He left with a wink after he’d changed, and I was alone in the staff changing room.

Taking out the envelope he’d given me from my locker, I sat on the bench and opened it with trembling fingers. I set it out on my lap and stared down at the small keyring charm that was in the envelope. Dread and horror settled into my stomach. It should be innocuous, but to me, it wasn’t. No, the charm signified the worst experiences of my life. It was a raven. It brought back images of the room I’d been held in for two years with the raven painted above the door. A symbol I’d seen plastered all over the fucking building.

Who the fuck sent me this?

I pushed the charm back into the envelope and took a deep breath. I stood up and stuffed it into the back of my locker before slamming the door shut. There was no time to think about it. I had to get to work. It would make me forget about it and keep me from falling apart until I got home.

You can do this. You’re safe here, don’t forget that. You’re fucking safe, Theia.

No one could get me in Desecration. No one.

I strode out of the staff room. There was no need to freak out. It was merely a stupid charm. It didn’t mean anything.

It means everything and you know it.

Instead of allowing my fears to get the better of me, I dived into work and before I knew it, I’d seen three clients and now I was sitting in room four awaiting my fourth one. The one I was most nervous about. I’d told him it was okay for him to have more sessions with me, but it’d been a week since I’d seen him. I thought perhaps he’d changed his mind.

The moment he entered the room, my breath got caught in my throat. Did Gil know what kind of effect he had on people? Probably not. He appeared completely oblivious to my admiration, not that I’d tried to make it obvious or anything.

Today he was in a black shirt and dark chinos with smart black boots. His hair was wind-ruffled, and his dark eyes roamed across me with no emotion in them.

“Hello, Theia.”

I bit my lip before smoothing the skirt of my dress over my thighs.

“Hi.”

He looked back at the door before moving closer.

“Should I call you Pisces? I should have asked last time.”

I smiled and shook my head.

“No, it’s okay. Please call me Theia.”

If it had been anyone else, I would have insisted he use my stage name, but the thought of not hearing him say Theia in that deep voice of his made me feel sad. I wanted to hear him whisper it in my ear over and over because I was clearly fucking insane when it came to Gil Villetti. I was making concessions I never normally would for someone I didn’t know very well.

He dug his hands into his pockets. It shouldn’t be sexy, but his sleeves were rolled up and I could see all the corded muscles of his forearms.

Dear fuck, I’m so screwed.

“Okay.”

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