Page 6 of Toy No More

My heart skips at the message from Jasper.Two minutes ago.Must have gotten it when I was in the shower.

Done working. Waiting in my office.

A smile makes its way onto my face. I wonder if I could get away with finishing early.

“Gotta go and speak to the handler to check if there’s anyone else who wants to see me today,” I tell Sadie. She hums in agreement while messing around with her blush again. She really should put it lower on her cheeks. For a moment, I hesitate to say something but end up not being able to help myself. “It’s blended up a little too high.”

While she raises her brow, I stand behind her to show her in the mirror. “I finished another one of those online courses yesterday,” I clarify while she lets me wipe it off.

Sadie smirks. “I’ve been wearing my makeup like this for ages. Are you telling me I’ve looked like shit that whole time?”

The part of me that always needs to please everyone pulls at something inside my chest. When I meet her gaze and see her playful expression, I smirk back.

“Course not. It just talked a lot about using blush. It really will make a difference, even if it’s subtle.” I continue applying it the way the video showed. “It’ll make the face look more cohesive. Otherwise, if you put it too high, your face can lose definition. Not that youneedany of this. It’s only…an extra step to make you extra gorgeous.”

She chuckles. “Hmmm…Cohesive, you say. Look at you and your fancy words,” she mocks me, but as I finish up with the blush, Sadie stares at herself in the mirror, turning her head up and down and left to right before pursing her lips in surprise. “That… Huh. Thatismuch better.”

Smiling to myself, I go sit back down. I play with my hair for a bit before putting on one of the many lacy sets sitting in my wardrobe. Over it, I throw a sheer, bell-sleeve top and put on a tight pair of leather pants.

“Seemed pretty dead out there, honestly,” Sadie continues our previous conversation the moment I come out dressed. “You probably won’t get much trouble from the handler. I will see if I can have some quick fun before going home. Still got plenty of energy,” she says with a devilish glance.

Shaking my head and chuckling, I briefly touch her shoulder before walking away.

“Be safe.”

Having to leave the calm safety of the backroom, I put on my mask of flirty allure before stepping into the main area. Sadie was right—things seem to have slowed down at this time of the night. I see a bunch of men sitting at the bar, getting drunk, and a few couples getting it on around the room.

I glimpse Esme in one of the private booths.Must be the creepy, tall alpha again.He is weirdly obsessed with her. He’s also Jasper’s most precious business partners currently, which means he needs to be kept satisfied. So…he can do whatever he wants.

Poor Esme.

I push those thoughts out of my head and hurry on my way to find the handler. She’s where she usually is, in her office right by the music stage. She sits with her legs crossed and a stack of papers in her hands, her thin, wide glasses resting at the very tip of her nose.

She looks up the moment I step into the doorway. “Apollo.”

“Hey. Is there anyone else that needs taking care of?” I ask, leaning against the wall next to me. Rya darts her eyes to the computer screen and back at me. Something on her face shifts ever-so-slightly before she puts on a polite expression.

“No. Jasper said you are done. Enjoy your evening,” she says in that deep voice of hers that gives me shivers sometimes. I know what she thinks of me. That she doesn’t like this—even minimal—favoritism Jasper provides me. She can hide her disdain only so well.

“Thanks.” I put on a thankful, sweet smile and leave.

The further away I get from the play area, the crisper the air is. The cool, now mostly bare hallways calm me down. Or maybe it’s the knowledge of heading into the arms of someone whose touch I actually crave.

I walk up the stairs and notice some familiar faces in the little rooms to the sides with the doors cracked open. Some men hang around there between jobs. I hear a sports match overlapping with chatter. Once I get closer to Jasper’s door at the end of the hall, I see two men standing guard, as always. One is on his phone, lazily leaning against the wall, and the other…I don’t recognize.

He stands there like a soldier; back straight, expression intently focused. For a moment, I meet his brown eyes that have a hint of green at the outer ring, before he blinks and quickly moves aside. He looks somewhat out of place compared to the people normally surround Jasper with his clean-shaven face and his shiny, dark chestnut hair curling wildly on the top of his head. He most definitely lacks the plethora of crappy prison tats and scars.

He’s tough looking but also…pretty,despite that. Not exactly like he’s super conventionally attractive—his jaw is a little too wide and square, and his nose is quite prominent—but his eyes are big in a cute way, and his lips are plump and perfectly symmetrical.

The other guy notices me and mumbles something, swiftly opening the door for me before I can say anything.

Nodding and putting my head down, I step in. Jasper is at his desk, feet up, while Vince leans on the other corner of it, playing with his pocketknife in his hand. He turns to me lazily and smirks before glancing back at Jasper.

“Guess that’s my sign to stop yappin’,” he says playfully and stands. Despite his threatening, unnaturally large build, Vince is among the few of Jasper’s men who don’t make me feel on edge. He must have been one of his first associates, long before I came around or even before Jasper’s father let him get fully involved in the business. At least that is the energy I sense when I see them together. Not like Jasper ever really talks to me about his friends…

While Jasper chuckles in his chair, I put on a crooked smile and walk toward them.

“You said it, not me.”

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