Page 28 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

“You think it’s Nico?” I asked.

“It’s Gloria.”

We all got quiet and nodded. Gloria Salazar was a former debutante and pageant queen who’d defied her parents to marry Carlos, a young Spanish immigrant with hardly a penny to his name. But they’d created an empire together and ruled the city’s social scene.

Gloria was the unofficial queen of West Bay, and she knew it.

“You are so right, Madeline. Gloria is definitely the scariest,” Bethany agreed. “The looks she gives me? They could kill a girl. She knows I’m fucking most of her sons, and I get the strong sense she’s not a fan of me.” Bethany laughed, but there was a touch of nerves in the sound.

“This is all good to know,” Glory interrupted, “but can we get back to the problem at hand?”

Everyone turned to look at her. She was painting her nails.

“Why don’t you come with me to get a mani-pedi tomorrow?” Madeline asked.

“Please,” Glory waved her hand in the air. “I’m better at this than any salon you could take me to.”

Her nails did always look amazing. She speared me with her dark eyes. “You,” she pointed at me with one of her long, wine red nails, “need to get laid. This Jack guy will be perfect. Go out with him.”

Satisfied that she’d solved the problem she dropped her head back down to concentrate on her nail polish.

Everyone agreed, even Abbi and Nora.

“But I don’t like the whole one night stand thing…”

“That’s fine,” Abbie said, a sweet smile on her face, “but you need to let loose and have a little fun. Just go out with him. Sleep with him if you want to, and if it doesn’t go anywhere, that’s okay. You just need to get back out there, honey,” she said gently. “You’re thinking of doing the auction soon. I don’t think you want to go into that after being celibate for a long time.”

She wasn’t wrong. I hadn’t thought of that.

There was a chorus of agreements, and then, thankfully, Jelly changed the subject.

But I was still thinking about it. I bit my lip. Maybe they were right. Maybe I should go out with Jack Lancaster and not worry about the consequences.

***

The next day, Jelly and I were sitting nervously in front of Carmen’s desk after being summoned to her office.

“Are we in trouble or something?” Jelly popped her gum, and Carmen Salazar narrowed her eyes at her.

“Only if you don’t stop doing that shit.” Carmen was glamorous, brilliant, beautiful, and, well, kind of bitchy at times. But I still liked her and respected the hell out of her. She was the only girl in the Salazar family, and she commanded just as much respect as any of her brothers. There were six Salazar siblings, and most of them hung out at Sugar at some point each night.

Nico and Carmen owned all the Salazar clubs together. They were pretty much equal partners on all of them, except Nico’s baby was Cayenne, the sex club. Carmen’s was the Cinnamon Auction. But her main office was at Sugar, and she and Nico were both often here.

And the rest of her siblings loved coming to the strip club to watch the dancers, utilize the VIP rooms, and flirt with the hostesses.

“No, y’all aren’t in trouble. Leo and Joaquin need some help at Bahia Del Sol this week. The women who work there have a certain look, and I thought the two of you would fit in the best.”

Jelly, and I gave each other a look. The two of us were close friends, but very different in looks and attitude. Jelly, who Carmen insisted on calling by her real name, Ray Ann, was beautiful with pale skin, blue eyes, and black hair that swung just past her shoulders. She also had extreme attitude. A lot of the wealthy patrons at Sugar loved her. She treated them like they were regular people, not caring how rich or famous they were.

Jelly and I were similar in height, but the similarities ended there. I had big boobs, an ass on the large size, anda tiny waist. I had to work to stay toned, and any extra weight I added went directly to my boobs and butt. I tanned easily, had green eyes, long brown hair with natural red and blonde highlights in it, and was considered to be the nicest out of all the hostesses.

A flutter of nerves hit my lower abdomen. I knew Carmen would be asking me about the auction soon, and I was nervous about it. Still, wouldn’t it be better getting naked and having sex in a sugar baby-style relationship with one man than getting naked for a room full of them?

I knew I could make good money as a stripper. I’d trained in dance for years. But I’d never wanted to strip for a room packed with men, no matter how wealthy and well-behaved they were. And hot. Most of the clientele at Sugar were good-looking and fairly young. Most of the patrons were in their thirties or forties, and I didn’t know of any over sixty. And the ones who were that old were very well kept. You’d never know they were that age.

“Earth to Daisy,” Carmen said waving a hand to get my attention.

“Sorry,” I said, sheepishly. “What’s up?”