“You will return to the club four times.” When she pulls in a breath, ready to start begging again, I hold up a hand. “I’m not finished. You’ll return four times, and we’ll play out my kink.”
Her delicate brows knit together. “You and me?”
“Don’t make assumptions.” I lift a shoulder. “Otherwise, my brothel is one of the finest in the tri-state area… but it’s still a brothel. The choice is yours. Let me remind you, though, that the debt will be paid one way or another.”
Then a wave of generosity washes over me. “I’ll include an extra ten thousand dollars for you as payment.”
“I’ll do it,” she blurts out nearly before I finish the sentence.
Something told me that would help her decide.
Chapter 5
Rowan
Here I am again. And I still have no idea what the hell I’m getting into.
He didn’t tell me how to dress this time, something I didn’t realize until after I got home. After I sat in a hot bathtub long enough that my fingers pruned, and the water went cold. And still, I sat there, knees drawn up to my chest, my arms wrapped around them. I didn’t keep track of time. It could’ve been hours, for all I know.
Even after all that, I didn’t feel clean when I got out.
That guy with the knife, whatever his name is, didn’t hurt me as badly as he could have. I know that. The cut on my chest is shallow, hardly anything, really. Just enough to draw blood. I’ve had worse from a pissed-off cat. That cut wasn’t the scary part. It was the possibility of what could have happened. It was me being utterly helpless. Even more helpless than I had been with Eric. It was the look in that guy’s eyes.
Something tells me he wasn’t taking pity on me, that psycho. He was only warming up, testing my reaction. I hope he got what he wanted. And I can’t help but wonder who he ended up going to after me, who Lucian sent him to. What’s that girl’s story? How did she end up in Hell, and did she make it back out in one piece?
The name makes me snicker darkly as I walk to the door. Whoever was in charge of naming the levels in the club knew what they were doing because I got a glimpse of hell last night. Not my first glimpse, and probably not my last.
I hope the more modest dress I chose for tonight is okay. I get the feeling that if it mattered, Lucian would’ve said something. It’s not like we spent a lot of timetogether, so I haven’t gotten a total read on him yet, but he strikes me as somebody who controls everything he possibly can. Everything that matters, anyway.
If he didn’t mention it, I doubt it matters.
Besides, something tells me I won’t be wearing clothes for long. It was one thing to wear what I wore last night so he could get an idea of how I look and whether I was worth the asking price.
Now? He’s seen every inch of me. I shudder at the memory of that table, being strapped down and completely helpless. Maybe it’s the fact that he didn’t touch me. Maybe that’s why I came back tonight. He didn’t take advantage of me when I was right there—his for the taking.
Not that I have much of a choice. I had to come back, especially since ten thousand bucks magically appeared in my checking account this morning when I checked online. How it got there so quickly, I have no idea. I only know it’s there, so he’s fulfilled his part of the bargain. That means it’s time for me to fulfill my part.
I could’ve tried to run away. Ten grand can put a lot of distance between a girl and the shit she wants to get away from. But if the man could afford to wire me that much money on a whim, something tells me he could find me if he felt like it.
Nobody is waiting for me outside tonight. I open the door and let myself in, peering through the near darkness. I’m early, and it looks like only one or two customers have come in before me. A pair of men are sitting at the bar in the room beyond the entrance, and a few mostly naked girls walk around.
“Can I help you?”
I have to keep myself from jumping in surprise at the sudden voice coming from beside me. The girl is beautiful, with glowing ebony skin, wearing only a see-through bra and thong. I feel like yesterday’s leftovers all of a sudden, which is ridiculous since I’m not even trying to compete with her or any of the girls who work here.
“I think so? Um, I’m here to see Lucian. He asked me to come back tonight.”
“He’s right there.” She nods toward the bar, and now I realize what I missed before. One of the men sitting at the bar, sipping on something in a rocks glass, is Lucian. I didn’t imagine he would ever socialize with his customers, but then who knows if the guy’s actually a customer? It’s not my business, anyway.
And I don’t really care, either—it’s a defense mechanism, trying to distract myself by fixing my attention on random things. Trying to make sense of them so I don’t have to make sense of the nightmare running through my head.
It’s something I’ve had a lot of practice with.
I walk slowly from the reception area, my head held high. I won’t let him break me down—as it is, I’m ashamed of how I acted last night. How I whimpered and begged him.
Though deep down, I think it turned him on. It makes me wonder for maybe the millionth time since he told me to come back just what his kink is. He never did say. I really wish he had now.
What if it’s the same as what happened to me last night? I don’t know if I could live through that again without losing my mind.
