Page 11 of Unlock My Heart

Five hundred bucks an hour? The solo male guests with no luggage and the beautiful girls are starting to make more sense.

“Smart. I’m about to join my client for the girlfriend experience. Listen to him bitch. Tell him no one understands him like I do. And then have the most vanilla sex imaginable while pretending he’s blowing my mind,” she says in a mocking tone.

“Here’s to your award-winning performance,” Chantelle muses.

“Thanks. Talk to you later.”

I exit the stall, with only one of the women remaining.

“Oh, I didn’t realize anyone was in here.” The voice belonging to Chantelle.

“I want in,” I tell her point-blank.

“In what?” she challenges, capping her lipstick and tossing it in her designer bag.

“In your five hundred an hour ‘profession.’” Forget about student loans; this kind of cash would cover my apartment and tuition in no time.

She looks me up and down, unimpressed. “Don’t falter yourself. The highest you can aim for is bargain bin street walker.” She smacks her lips together before giving herself a kissy-kiss in the mirror and strutting out.

Chantelle thinks her mean girl routine is going to stop me?

Ha! I grew up around girls who thought they were the chosen ones. And nobody can out mean girl a bunch of self-righteous bitches.

Fabien

Twenty-one-years old

“Michele, tell me why kickups from your racket have been smaller than projected for the past two months?” Earlier, the redheaded beauty accused me of being drunk. I’m not, but I am exhausted from being up all night dealing with an arms shipment. And now, I’m having to play the role of auditor. If my brother Angelo didn’t dip out like a little bitch, this sort of thing would’ve been right up his alley. Instead, he’s playing Mr. Ivy League and acting like this family means nothing to him.

“Look, I’m not sure.” He squirms in his seat. “You know I rely on Jade and her bookkeeping.”

“If Jade handles everything, then what the fuck do you do?” I point out. “Besides sampling the merchandise?”

He puffs out his chest. “I’ll remind you, Fabien, that I’m a capo in this family.”

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my ice pick, placing it on the edge of his desk and giving it a spin. “If you want to get into a pissing match with me, Michele, I’m happy to remind you who I am.”

He holds up his hands in surrender. “Of course not, Fabien. But whether I fuck the girls on their downtime is my business.”

“I was talking about the other merchandise,” I say, eyeing the white residue glistening in his nostrils.

Michele runs the back of his hand over his nose. “It was just a little pick-me-up. You want a bump?”

“No, I want you to get your head out of your ass. You’re on thin ice,” I tell him, smiling at my little joke as I continue to spin the pick.

Sweat drips down his brow; whether from my threat or the cocaine, I’m not sure. “Look, I’m dealing with a situation…”

“What situation?” I ask with a suppressed sigh. Out of all the capos, Michele is the most high maintenance.

“There’s a newcomer who’s been lurking around the bar.” He pauses dramatically. “The man smells like a fed.”

“Get me security footage of the man in question, and I’ll have our friends over at NOPD check into it.”

“Sure, I’ll have Jade⁠—”

I cut him a warning look.

“What I meant to say is, I’ll get right on that.”