Darius was temporarily flustered. He glanced at me, and I lifted my hands in surprise.
Darius visibly swallowed before he said, “Certainly. Right this way, sir.”
Chancey hopped up to guide Charlie behind Darius. We were doing a good job of keeping his blindness under wraps, for now, but eventually Darius would notice Charlie’s blank stare. Lorenzo needed to spill what he knew so we could leave.
I got into my wheelchair. Darius slithered back to me a few minutes later. “That billionaire hotshot who came in here hasn’t stopped blowing dollars on you since he walked in,” Darius said eagerly. “You might be my next hot item, sweetheart.”
“Glad to help, so long as I get my cut.” I forced a smile, which was more like a sneer.
“Oh, you got it, honey. Whatever you want. You just keep the fat cat’s wallet flowing.”
I scoffed. “I wish. I was doing pretty good, until he glanced at some stupid stock ticker on his phone. Then he started freaking out.”
Darius curled his lip. “Typical. He saw his investments falling and needed a room so he could yell at some poor bastard on Wall Street. All these rich types care about is how big their wallet gets.”
That was a bit hypocritical, wouldn’t you think?
“So what am I supposed to do until he comes back?” I pretended to whine.
“Go find some other sucker to bleed dry,” Darius sneered. “You’re on the clock. Every minute you’re not pulling in money is my time you’re wasting, and Ialwaysmake my money when it comes to the bitches I hire.”
His meaning made my blood run cold. I thought about the women who’d been fed on earlier. He sold the girls who didn’t perform well to be blood slaves.
Screw this motherfucker. I flung my hair over my shoulder. “Fine, whatever.”
I acted like I was pissed off as I rolled away, but Darius didn’t know he’d given me an opening. I fixated my eyes on Lorenzo and popped out my chest. Showtime.
He immediately noticed me. I rolled up to his table and said, “You seem like you’ve been here before.”
Lorenzo’s eyes wandered my body, then my face. “I’m a frequent flier here at the club. But I’ve never seen you around.”
“I’m new.” I leaned forward, trailing my fingers up and down his arm. “My name’s Blaze.”
Lorenzo blinked as he took me in, like he was starstruck. “You… you look like my wife.”
Ew. I flashed my teeth and asked, “Is that a bad thing?”
“Not at all,” Lorenzo promised. “She was a very beautiful woman.”
I wasn’t about to feel sorry for this bastard when I knew what kind of shit he’d done. I grasped his arm and said lowly, “Well… maybe I can help you remember her.”
“Yes. I think you can,” Lorenzo said softly. “She was a sickly, poor thing, like you.”
Don’t hit him. Don’t hit him.
“I’m sorry to hear she passed away,” I forced out, while thinking it might be a good thing she was in the afterlife and away from this asshole.
“I have a very dangerous career, with a lot of enemies,” Lorenzo explained. “Sometimes, in my line of work, the people you love get hurt.”
I was a mob wife. He wasn’t saying anything I didn’t already know, and I could guess what had happened. Lorenzo had taken a bad job, and his wife had paid the price for it.
“That’s too bad,” I said gently. “Do you come to these kinds of places often?”
“I never used to, until my wife died. Now I’m just trying to pass time and ward off the loneliness,” Lorenzo replied.
“Well, you can spend some time with me,” I invited. “I’m easy to talk to.”
My skin crawled as Lorenzo’s hands began to stroke my skin. “I might like that.”
