Page 62 of Lake
Well, mostly. I had a feeling that we both had backbones of steel and wouldn’t take shit if we didn’t want to. For that, I mentally gave her a respectful nod.
My eyes never left hers as she slowly but swiftly moved across the room and around the desk. She lowered herself down into the red chair with an air of grace and power. I tried like hell to keep my eyes on hers and not look at the million screens behind her.
“Your business?” I said with a raised brow. “You mean your…” and because I couldn’t help it, my head tilted to the side and I flicked my gaze to one of the screens, “brothel?”
She said nothing.
“Super kinky sex club?”
And still nothing.
“Do you rent the rooms or the girls?” I asked because I couldn’t stop myself.
“I provide a service here,” she said unruffled. “It is a legitimate business and everyone that is here, is here willingly.”
“Good money?” I asked raising a brow and looking around the room.
“It doesn’t come without its costs. I take care of my people.” Her tone was cold, but I got the sense it was because that was how she felt she needed to be.
I started to wonder about her. How was she when she didn’t have eyes on her? What was she like when she let her hair down? Did the Ice Queen ever cry?
“Good for you,” I said and made no attempt to quell my eye roll. “Well, I had no idea this was… a thing and now that you know I’m not scoping your place out or whatever, I can be on my way.”
“No,” she said tapping one of her painted nails on the desk.
“Okay, this conversation is great and all. But can we hurry and get this cleared up so I can get the hell out of here?” I was getting agitated and too tired to put up with bullshit.
And that was when one of her fucking perfectly sculpted brows raised at me.
“Miss,” one of her henchmen said behind me causing her gaze to shoot over my head.
In a split second, she whipped her chair around and faced the millions of screens. Okay, it wasn’tthatmany, but there were a fuck of a lot of them.
Again, my head tilted to the side to see what she was looking at. There, the one with the street view. The club’s SUV was surrounded once again, only this time, I knew these faces.
Oh, thank God my call had gone through.
“Yours?” she asked whipping back around to look at me.
And a smile tugged at my lips when I noticed Lake there on the screen.
“Ehhhh…” I said with a small one-shouldered shrug.
Because, we weren’t really a thing. We’d had sex once. Not once, more like five times, but it was one night. One. Night. That didn’t mean anything. Not for me and I was sure not for him, as well. Just two people in need of a release that also happened to not hate each other. And kind of, maybe, understood one another a little more than other people did.
My response earned me a sad, disapproving look before she turned her attention to her men.
“Bring them in,” she said clearly not talking to me. “Check them before you bring them up.”
I didn’t turn around but I could hear the fast shuffling of a few sets of feet.
“All of you,” she said sharply.
“You sure?” someone asked hesitantly.
There wasn’t an answer. Unless you counted that deadly look she was shooting over my head.
And then, strangely, we were alone.
