Page 27 of Room Six

Papers fall, old takeout coffee cups topple to the floor as I shuffle through the mess on my desk. I spot the bright screen and automatically answer.

“Hello, Miss. Lafleur speaking.” I tuck the phone against my shoulder and cheek. Hello?” I am expecting it to be Rune confirming our plans for the evening or the delivery guys, but it’s a stoic woman’s voice void of emotion on the other end.

“Miss Lafleur, this is the Department of Corrections Victim Services. You left your phone on file for contacting. We are calling you to inform you…” My head comes up causing my phone to drop among the scattered party plans.

What day is it?

I grab my agenda.

Son-of-a-bitch. Oh, my God. How could I forget?

My heart clenches, and it’s hard to draw in a deep breath for a moment. I stare straight ahead, my mind blank. Every limb and muscle locks up, and I take several focused minutes to convince my body I am not in immediate danger.

I grab the phone, but I can’t get my brain to engage. The lady’s voice sounds like it filters through a vacuum. I don’t realize the woman on the other side ends the call until I hear the line go dead. I kill the screen and fasten my fingers around the edge of my desk.

Involuntarily, my gaze flicks to the laptop on the end of my desk. I could have a plane ticket out of here in fifteen minutes. I could buy the tickets from petty cash and no one could trace my credit cards. I know a few members who can get me new papers and I can fade into the wind. It would cost all my savings but it would be worth it.

Lashes fall to rest over my cheeks. Deep breaths do nothing to calm my jitters. An urge to flee wants to take hold, but I fought tooth and nail to prove myself to the owners of Club Sin, damn it. I would lose everything I’ve worked so hard for. They had no reason to trust a twenty-year-old with their business. They humored me when I said I could bring them five hundred new members in one month and then told me to prove it. I did. It’s been two years and I’ve brought in nearly one million members to all the clubs nation-wide. They trust me with their bottom line. I can’t betray them by vanishing.

I’ve had two years to disappear. I haven’t done it yet, because deep down it would meanhewins by ruining my life.

Years of living under the radar and hiding out in the most secretive of locations has paid off. I don’t need to run.

If I did, it would also mean I would lose them. Danika, Rune and Oliver have become an important part of my life. These past few weeks feel sort of like I have stepped out of my old life and into a new one where the past can’t touch me.

I press my trembling hands over my abdomen.

I don’t need to be scared. He’s in Georgia for God’s sake.

My life is no longer recognizable to what it was just two months ago. Can I give that up?

Do I want to, is the better question.

No, I don’t.

And more changes are on the way. We haven’t taken a pregnancy test yet, but if I am not at work, one of them is trying to breed me. It’s only a matter of time before they knock me up. We’re fine just letting it happen and taking this new direction of our relationship one day at a time. Or one fuckfest at a time. I swear they can’t keep their hands to themselves which might be why they talk little about themselves when we are together. And I admit, it is also a bad case of me avoiding hard topics like their criminal life choices or the fact that if I ask them about their lives, they will turn the tables on me and ask right back.

What that says about me is glaring. Until now I have dodged any chance of them peeling back the layers of my past. Why should I dwell on the ugly when something beautiful spreads out in front of me? But I can’t run anymore and they deserve to know where I come from before it’s too late.

They will see you as trash,the voice in my head whispers conspiratorially.

The hard truth of the matter is that I am, to some that is. I grew up in foster care and bounced from one trailer park to another. One house to another and then ended up abused before I could age out.

I have spent my entire life sequestered in the darkest of shadows. And now that I have forged a path to the light, I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize my new life.

Rune wants to take me for a ride through the city and then we have an early breakfast planned with everyone since I get off work a little before sunrise. An idea forms. It will be our first time alone without Danika and Oliver. Rune teased them earlier this morning that he is taking me to one of their safe houses, tying me to his bed and sending nude pictures. I don’t put it past the teaser. Maybe after we have some fun, we could talk. It would be easier to share details with one at a time versus all three at once.

“What are you smiling about?”

My gaze lifts off an empty coffee cup on my floor to see the owner’s intermediary, Raja, walk through my office door. One of his jobs is to help the owners of Club Sin get fresh talent into the adult club. A little sweet talking and he has agreed to bring the show from New Orleans here before Belle gives birth. He’s also the major reason I have a job and a man I consider a friend. He believed in me and convinced the owners I wouldn’t screw up their business.

I give Raja one of my practiced smiles meant to hide my true thoughts. I don’t mean to be secretive, but old habits die hard. “Raja! I didn’t realize I was smiling. Just happy about the turnout for the Christmas gala.”

Raja’s slight middle eastern accent clings to the English consonants as he fluidly speaks. “AKA mind my own business. Got it,” he says casually, his dark brown eyes glittering with amusement. I’m sure he’s seen me leave with one of my men or all three of them the few times he’s flown up from New Orleans, his favored location.

He leans against the doorframe of my office, his hands shoved into his pockets. He’s around Danika’s age with the slightest of gray dusting his temples and decked out in a suit tailored to fit his tall, muscular frame. If he’s not careful, he’ll become a member of some lucky lady’s harem with those killer dimples and easy going vibes. His billionaire status helps, too, but I don’t see dollar signs when I look at him.

I see a man who never found the love of his life. Or not yet anyway.

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