1
Darcy Winters
“Youwillgoon the stage when your name is called,” I growled out under my breath at Mark Fenson. The little bastard furrowed his red brows, though he didn’t say anything rude. At least he’d flattened his hair respectably so the usual blazing curls weren’t a hot mess. His arms were firmly crossed over the thin black tank top he wore.
“No.”
“You’re going to be auctioned off for the night along with everyone else back here. Look—” I pointed at the group of scantily dressed men and women huddled together near us. Nervously they waited their turn, and as they did, they talked and laughed. Every now and again they would shush one another as their conversations got too loud. “—they’re excited. Theywantto do this. Theypaidto do this. It’s a privilege.”
“It’s not, and I didn’t pay,” he shot back with a crooked frown that someone else might find cute; however, it only made me want to throttle him.
I’d never thought I’d meet anyone as annoying as Mayor Vane Elwood, the king of special requests, but it turned out New Gothenburg’s city hall must be full of overinflated egos, because Mark was doing a good job of making me want to knock him down a peg or two. The red velvet curtains at his back ruffled and shifted, closing after Mother as she went onstage. Her golden dress flashed in the soft lighting and the trailing fabric pulled through the thick red material of the stage drapery to disappear in her wake.
Of course she would leave me in the wings to clean up this mess.
It was my job, after all. Everything and anything that inconvenienced my mother and had to do with the Courtesan Hotel was somehow my duty to rectify, and while I loved her, I wanted this particular escapade to be finished already. “Youabsolutelywill go out there.”
“No, I won’t.” Mark cradled his elbows with his hands and tossed his head in a way I could only describe ashuffy, and I pinched the bridge of my nose, heaving in a deep breath. I would have thrown the idiot out headfirst when the moment for bidding on him arrived, but I could spot the fear in his attractive hazel eyes. It was the same anxiety every one of the professionals had before their first working night. I’d seen it more than once. Part of me felt bad for him, the rest of me was simply infuriated that somehowthis was my life.
“Yes,” I snapped.
“No.” Mark narrowed his eyes. He patted at his already perfect red hair. He was honestly stunning, especially dressed in almost nothing—a pair of black ass-clinging shorts and a matching tank top that glued itself to his stomach. My gut clenched. I saw attractive people day in and day out, but there was something about this one. Maybe the fact that he was like me—an unwilling yet resigned participant in this madness—had me paying more attention to him than I normally would a man who worked for Mother. Professionals, or whores, as Mother would say, were a whirlpool, and I’d learned long ago not to get sucked in.
“Yes.”
“No.”
Jealousy had me gritting my teeth. Unlike me, Mark could leave whenever he wanted—after this event, anyway—but the hotel was my whole existence.
I was stuck here at the Courtesan, and as such, I’d be damned if he would put a crimp in Mother’s plans. That would not be happening on my watch. I would do my job to the fullest because it was the only one I had and would likely be the only one Ieverhad.
“Yes, you will,” I argued.
“No.”
I seethed. Mark was a royal pain in the ass and had been since Mother had locked him in one of our nicest rooms. While I appreciated her sense of overarching justice, which had motivated her to force this stuck-up, kid-gloved, man-child into the summer auction—ostensibly so he could get a taste of everything he’d turned up his nose at—I just couldn’t fucking stand thatIhad to be the one to carry out the gritty details.
Everything always fell on my head.
There were times I thought the Courtesan Hotel would implode if I wasn’t here to hold it together. Mother assured me that wasn’t so, and yet…. I heard her begin her introduction to the auction and growled for real now that there was some cover for my voice.
I hadn’t actually left the grounds for something unrelated to the hotel or its workers in… I had no idea how long. And Mark was just one more grating problem that needed to be solved. And then he’d get togo.
He rolled his pretty red lips in a toothy sneer. “You’re part of every disgusting problem in this city, do you know that? You don’t get to tell me what to do.”
The flawless control I exercised over my temper cracked apart, and I grabbed him by the back of the neck. His eyes flew wide. Loredo, one of Mother’s men, mumbled a “fuck” and stepped forward, but I held up a finger in his direction.
Mark blinked at me and cringed, but I only dug my fingers into the tight muscles of his nape.
“You will go out there.” I jabbed a finger toward the curtains. “You will smile. You will remember the lessons you were given.” At my final words, his glare intensified.
“Lessons? You mean the wholedon’t let anyone fuck you without a condomspeech Romeo delivered in less than two minutes?” His cute nose wrinkled in an endearing way that made me want to punch him. I gave him a shake, and the giggles from the others nearby quieted. I needed to end this or they’d go out there looking nervous, and that would kill the take for the night.
“That wasyourfault. Romeo was there to tell you about common occurrences on the job, and you wouldn’t listen. You wouldn’t listen about prepping yourself, either, from what he said. You were also given the option of spending a night with him to learn a few tricks and have a nice time, to make up for any unpleasantries that might occur with your customer. You refused. All your decisions. And now you’re going out there anyway.” I pointed at the curtain again and tried to keep my voice down, but God knew I wanted to scream. Half my life was soothing the wounded fucking pride of someone—either our prima donna workers, who made more money than any other professionals this side of New York City, or the fucking customers, who thought they were better than everyone else on earth because they could afford to pay to fuck.
“I won’t. I won’t do it!” Mark said. He cast a nasty glance at Loredo, Mother’s current favorite bodyguard, who up until this point tonight had been ensuring Mark stayed exactly where we put him. Loredo was a big man with a long, well-groomed beard. He rode his motorcycle with the Kings of Men MC sometimes and looked the part, even though he’d stuffed his wide shoulders into a blazer tonight to “blend in.”
He did anything but.
