Chapter 6
Greyson
Ten Years Ago
The room was smoky and the lights were dim. The music was pumping at just the right level—high enough to create some excitement, but low enough so that the businessmen could relax and chat without feeling like they had to shout. The ambience of the club was spot-on—it reeked of money, sex, and a good time. I should have been happy about that. I had the hottest, most exclusive club in New York, but yet I wasn’t satisfied.
I watched as some of the girls danced in cages on the stage at the front of the room. I watched as a senator walked up to the stage and just stood there gazing at a beautiful Asian girl as she danced her way to the floor. He called over his friend, a man I recognized as a top director from Hollywood, and they stood there watching the girls dancing. They seemed to be entranced by the dancers and waited there for a few minutes before going back to their booth at the side of the room. I watched as Patsy walked over to their table, ready to take their order.
I was pretty sure they wanted the girl from the cage, but those girls were not able to be ordered. They didn’t do anything but dance. But I knew that Patsy could still make them happy. We had a bevy of girls who were ready to give lap dances, blowjobs, whatever the men asked for—if the price was right.
“God, it was a mistake to go home with Maria. You were right.” Brandon grimaced as he distracted me from my thoughts. “I didn’t realize she thought this was serious.”
“What did you think it meant when a girl asks you to go home with her?”
“I didn’t know her parents and her sister were going to be there. Shit, her little sister basically asked me when we were getting married.”
“Did you throw up?” I laughed. “Two whiskeys on the rocks, Denise.” I nodded at the girl in front of me.
“Sure thing, Mr. Twining,” she purred at me as she bounced her breasts around. I didn’t even bother to watch her as she walked away, even though she had the fittest ass I’d ever seen.
“She’s pretty hot.” Brandon watched her as she walked away, and I groaned.
“Dude, do not date another girl from the club. Do not even fuck them. It’s not a good thing.”
“How was I to know that Maria would turn out to be a psycho?”
“You know she does coke.”
“Coke doesn’t make someone a psycho.”
“Don’t mess with the girls,” I said again slowly. “This is already a mess.”
“You don’t even know the half of it.” He sighed and leaned forward. “She said she loves me. She said that she can make things difficult.”
“She can’t be making threats like that.” I jumped up as I saw Denise approaching, grabbed the whiskeys from her tray, and downed them quickly. “Two more.” I glanced at her as I put the empty glasses back on her tray.
“Yes, Mr. Twining.” She blinked her eyes at me as seductively as she could. I felt her nipples brushing against my arm as she tried to flirt with me. “Would you like anything else?”
“No.” I shook my head and made eye contact with her. “Do you like it here?”
“Yes, I love it Mr. Greyson.” She nodded eagerly, and I could see adoration in her eyes.
“It’s Twining.”
“I meant Mr. Twining.” She blushed then, and I could see the terror in her eyes. She was afraid of me. That upset me. I didn’t want the girls to be afraid of me. There was nothing to be afraid of. I’d never hurt any of them. Or slept with them. Aside from Patsy, and that had been a mistake. That wasn’t to say I was a monk. I had plenty of women. Just women I picked up from outside.
“How old are you, Denise?”
“Twenty, sir.”
“Should you be serving alcohol?”
“Don’t know.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter though. I’ve been drinking since I was 12.”
“Do you have sex at the club?” I wasn’t sure why I asked the question. I’d never really cared about the girls before or who they were or what they did. They just had to look good, dance well, have a pretty or sexy smile, and be up for the job.
“I’ve had sex with some men, sir.” She tried to smile, but it never reached her eyes. “It paid very well.”
“Did you enjoy it?” For some reason, her answer was extremely important to me. I’d always been of the thought that women thought of sex like men did. It was fun and it felt good, and it was a bonus if they got a little something out of it.
“It was fine.” She looked at the ground and took a step back. I frowned as I stared at her. She didn’t look like a woman who was happy with the perks of the job.