Page 18 of Tantalizing Kings

Not trusting myself to speak, I nod my head, willing myself not to cry. I’m too sensitive to be around Preston. As much as I think he’s attractive, he scares the living shit out of me.

“Wonderful. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a client waiting for me.” He gives me a once over before dismissing me as he walks past and out into the main part of the room. I watch as he goes over to a girl. She gives him a flirty smile as he gets close to her. He plays with her hair, making her blush before stepping to the side, giving me a view of his seductive smile. Nodding his head to the left, he steps away from her. She follows him into another room and my stomach sinks.What are they doing that they need to leave the room?

“You have got to be kidding me.” Grayson lets out an annoyed growl. “Is he serious?”

I look over to Declan, who’s the direction Preston went in, a flash of hurt taking over his face. “He’s going to do what he always does. You know this,” Declan states, then looks over at me for a moment before leaving, heading over to his client. She seems to be a shy girl, blushing profusely at Declan. They share a few words before they each take a seat on one of the couches.

“So.” I look over at Grayson. “Who’s the lucky lady you're spending your lunch with?” I ask, knowing that he’s gonna leave me too.

“No one important.” He steps closer to me, but unlike with Preston, I don’t step back, letting him crowd me. He grins, lifting a piece of my hair. “You wore it down, just how I like it.” He lifts his eyes to mine. “Good girl,” he practically purrs before winking.

I stand there, stunned and very horny at being called a good girl.I liked it.I liked it a bit too much. And coming from Grayson,holy shit!

He’s a flirt, it’s what he does. But that doesn’t lessen the effect he has on me.

Shaking myself out of the moment, I take a few deep breaths before plastering a friendly smile on my face.

For the next hour, I do everything the Host Club men ask of me; fetching them drinks, getting them food. My eyes keep drifting to one of my guys. Yes, until our deal is completed, I’m going to call them mine.

Preston hasn’t come out of the room with that girl yet, and I’m not getting a good feeling. The girls said the Host Club members sometimes sleep with their clients for the right price. Did that girl offer Preston a price he couldn’t turn down? I don’t even want to think about it—it makes my stomach turn.

Declan is still with the same client. From the bits and pieces of conversation I’ve picked up, they spend their time talking about books. Listening to Declan talk about his love for reading has me hiding a smile every time I walk by him.

As for Grayson, he’s just how I expected him to be; flirting away with his client, making her blush and giggle. Every time she places her hand on his shoulder, I get the urge to rip it off.

But the way Grayson’s attention keeps drifting to me, like he can’t keep his eyes off me for very long, settles me in a weird way.

Overall, I’m already not a fan of my duties here. One girl even spilled her juice and stared at me like I was some kind of lower-class help as I cleaned it up.

Kingston Academy had never made me feel less than for not having money like the rest of the students do. But right now, it’s obvious that I’m not well off. Because if I’m cleaning up after these people, then I don’t have the money to pay to be here as their client. They most likely don’t know about the deal I made, so they probably think I am the hired help. That still doesn’t give this girl who’s giving me the stink-eyeing me right now any right to look at me like I’m less than.Guess not everyone can be nice.

The bell chimes, signaling the end of the lunch hour. I watch as the guys say goodbye to their clients, some even walking out with them, offering to take them to their next class.

“Not bad for your first day,” Grayson comments as he saunters over to me.

“Thanks.” I smile. “It wasn’t horrible, but I could have lived without the stink eye from that one girl.” I look towards the door, watching as she leaves.

“Ah, yes, Lacy. She’s... she’s something.” He chuckles. “Been trying to work her way up to me since I started.” He turns to me with a devilish grin. “I make sure to up my price to something even daddy’s money can’t buy.”

My eyes widen, and I snort out a laugh. “Is she really that bad?”

He grins. “Oh, yeah. Poor Brent over there”— he nods his head to the guy who was working with Lacy. Dude looks like he aged a few years within the last hour. “needs the money bad enough.”

“Yikes.” I cringe and look back at Grayson. “So, am I good to go?”

“Yup. See you...” he pauses, a sly smile I don’t understand taking over his face. “Tomorrow.”

I stare at him oddly for a moment before nodding. “Tomorrow. Bye.” I look over and wave to Declan who’s standing near the couch he was sitting on. He smiles and nods before turning around and heading up to the balcony.

As walking out, my belly growls due to the fact that I didn’t eat beforehand because I was so nervous. I stumble to a stop as Preston exits the room he was in.

He looks different. His hair is ruffled, his shirt is unbuttoned and untucked. And is that... lipstick on his neck? His client comes out of the room after him, a very satisfied look on her face. This girl does nothing to try and hide what they just did.

“See you later, Preston. Thanks for the... talk.” She winks before spinning away and practically skipping out of the room.

“I trust your lunch hour was productive.” Preston glares down at me.

“Not as productive as yours,” I reply, crossing my arms, trying to push down the uneasy feeling I have.

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