Page 69 of Crushed
CHAPTER 23
Scarlett
Sitting in the small lobby of the Greenhouse, I looked around at the servers. Many of them were still in sweatpants and oversized shirts, but some, like Iris, were dressed. Iris wore a black tank top with ripped black pants that showed off her tattoos. Teagen, like myself, was wearing a plain, oversized shirt with leggings. Teagen waved to me. I sat beside them.
It had been a few days since I had left Cormac’s estate. But the weight in my heart wouldn’t go away. It hurt less during the day, when he wouldn’t be at the club anyway. Still, I had to force a smile.
“I heard you took the last few nights off,” Iris said. “What were you up to?”
“She means we heard rumors,” Teagen said, winking.
“I—”
Dahlia opened the door to the lobby and the servers cooed as she entered.
I didn’t have any ties to the Dahlia District anymore, and yet I didn’t know where else to go. Lizzystillwasn’t answering her messages, even though I had texted her about ending the assignment and breaking off the relationship with Cormac. It was starting to worry me, but I held onto the idea that if she was in trouble, she had a smart-security system that she could use to call me. In all likelihood, it was probably just her being stubborn.
I should have left the Dahlia District. Found Lizzy. Moved on with my life. But deep down, I held onto the hope that maybe Cormac would show up. At least here, he would know where to find me.
I know. It was pathetic.
“Ladies, ladies,” Dahlia said. She put a pink cardboard box down on the table. A few servers surrounded the box, and a few ran to give Dahlia a hug. I turned to Iris, raising an eyebrow.
“Cupcakes,” Iris said. “Really good though.”
Teagen wrinkled her nose. “They’re notthatgood.”
After the crowd dispersed, the remnants of the few leftover cupcakes were passed around, and I took a blueberry pancake one for myself.
“I have an announcement to make,” Dahlia said. “Some of you may have heard that the club received an offer for purchase.” Dahlia glanced over at Iris. “I’ve accepted an offer from the real estate developer and nightclub owner, Roland Price. You may have heard of him.”
“Roland Price?”
A hush of murmurs sounded through the room, and I turned to Teagen and Iris. The sale of the club didn’t matter to me; I was going to leave eventually, but it affected the two of them. Teagen pressed her lips together and looked at Iris. Iris sucked in a deep breath.
Dahlia continued: “I’ll be here as your ‘house mother’ until—”
“Don’t you mean ‘house madam’?” Teagen muttered. Iris jabbed her in the ribs. “Hey!”
“Anyway,” Dahlia looked around, making eye contact with Iris, “I will be here, as your ‘house mother’ until Mr. Price comes to take over in a few months. Until then, the club will run as usual. If you have any questions, please let me know.”
The servers swarmed Dahlia with questions, but the three of us stayed still. Iris fiddled with her fingers, her eyes bobbing between her hands and the group now surrounding Dahlia.
“A fucking man?” Iris muttered. “I can’t believe she’d sell the club to a man.”
Once the group cleared, Iris and Dahlia left the lobby and went to Iris’s bedroom to speak privately. I sat with Teagen.
“Iris really wants to take over,” Teagen explained. “She thinks she can save this place. Kudos to her. I think most of us just want to survive it.”
I had no idea what they had been through in the years that they had served there, but if it was anything like the emotional mayhem I had experienced with Cormac, then they had been through hell and back. We ate our cupcakes—Teagen had finally taken one after the announcement was over, with the excuse being that she didn’t want it to go to waste—and made small talk. Iris came back into the lobby shaking her head.
“Get in here,” she said, pointing to her bedroom.
The three of us sat on her twin bed, the cupcakes now gone. “I just can’t fucking believe it,” Iris kept muttering. “A man. A man. A fucking man. She sold this place, owned by a woman since it first opened, selling women’s services, to a fucking man.”
“I know!” Teagen groaned dramatically.
“He doesn’t have any experience in entertainment clubs!”
