“Yeah. She told me I was allowed to speak, so I asked what it would entail. I mean, I know the Kings work security, but there always seemed to be more to the gig from what I could tell. So Rouge told me the Kings are her confidantes, and they also serve as her personal assistants. They do things like pick up her dry cleaning. Apparently the King of Hearts is the King she depends on the most, so it was a big deal to ask me. I guess the last guy didn’t live up to her expectations.”
I press my lips together. I remember the last King of Hearts. I didn’t interact with him a whole lot, since he mostly stood in the corner of the Hearts section staring ahead stoically like a Buckingham Palace guard. I have no idea what he might have done to get fired.
“She went on, telling me I would no longer be expected to sell my body to the club patrons, that my compensation from just serving as a King would double the current amount I’m making.”
“But don’t the Kings… Don’t they service Rouge herself? Like…sexually?”
“Yeah. She mentioned that. But she told me she was aware of my sexual orientation, that I wasn’t into women. She said the other three Kings could take care of her in that way. She would just need me to be emotionally available, the way I am to you.”
My eyebrows nearly fly off my forehead. “She’s aware that we’re friends?”
“I don’t think there’s anything that goes on at Aces that Rouge isn’t aware of,” he replies. “But anyway, after that it started getting weird. She pulled out a little red pouch, a little bigger than a coin purse. She then produced this stringy-looking mushroom.”
I cock my head. “What?”
The sound of the front door of our room opening knocks me out of my thoughts.
My pulse quickens, but it ebbs as I realize it’s Harrison, back from getting breakfast.
He’s been gone a while.
I started rousing right as he left. I found the note he left for me. It’s been nearly a half hour since then. Did he go halfway across town to get breakfast?
But no. He’s holding bags from Jubb & Jubb Bagels, which is just around the corner.
Maybe they were slow this morning.
I wrap my arms around his neck and give him a kiss. “Morning, handsome.”
“Morning, beautiful.” He sets the bag on the table. “This place claims to be the best New-York-style bagel in Chicago.”
“They’re pretty good,” I say. “I’ve gone there before.”
He pulls out an everything bagel. “They put a lot of cream cheese on this one.”
“I’ll take it.” I giggle. “You’ll find I’m able to consume an unnatural amount of cream cheese.”
He grins. “My kind of woman.”
I take a bagel, bite into it. It’s not quite the quality of my favorite place in midtown Manhattan, but it’s pretty damned close.
Maybe it’s just the company.
I like Harrison. I love Harrison.
And even though we have plans to accomplish the unthinkable this evening, I’m not going to let that ruin the entire day I have with him.
I chew through my bite and swallow. “So, Doctor. We have the whole day to ourselves. What would you like to do?”
18
HARRISON
You, is my first thought.
Even with sesame seeds on her lips from the everything bagel, even with the onion breath she’s going to have after eating the whole thing, even with the adorable smudge of cream cheese in the corner of her mouth…
Bianca is the most beautiful woman on this planet.
