Working Stiff(90)
Heat filled Rox’s head. “I assure you, we Southern girls can hold our liquor as well as any effete Eurotrash.”
“Did you hear that, Caz?” Arthur backhanded Cash on his arm. “We’re Eurotrash.”
“You are,” Cash muttered. “Rox, I don’t think—”
Rox continued, getting louder, “We Southerners are bottle-fed Maker’s Mark until we’re weaned onto Jim Beam Devil’s Cut. I assure you, I am up to whatever ruckus you boys think you can get up to.”
Arthur smiled a slow, devilish grin. “Then it’s settled. We’ll all go. I’ll have the pilot ready the plane.”
“We’re not staying all night,” Rox said, her voice firm. “We’re staying for three hours and flying home at midnight. You boys are barely paper-trained. Can’t have you running around a strange city all hours of the night.”
Arthur’s malevolent grin hadn’t changed. “I’ll ask Wulf to send a car to the airport to expedite our trip.”
WHAT KIND OF CLUB
Rox drove them all to the airport to get on—and she still had a hard time wrapping her head around this—Arthur’s private plane.
When they were walking out of the restaurant, Rox managed to get Cash alone outside the door for a moment while Arthur and Maxence bickered like only old school friends can: every comment was a barb pointed at painful childhood traumas.
She stood outside the door and checked, but the other two guys were far back. Cash wove his arm around her waist.
“So,” Rox put a lilt in her voice to make her question sound nonchalant even though she totally wasn’t, “Do you know what kind of club those guys were talking about?”
Cash said, “Yes.”
“So, I—seriously?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think I want to know how you know.”
“Those kinds of clubs are common in Europe. Less so here, but more common than you would think.”
“I am afraid to ask how common they are.” She looked far off into the early night, where a line of street lamps dotted a trail down the dark street.
Cash said, “There are five that I know of in Los Angeles.”
“No.”
“Absolutely.”
“That you know of?” Rox really should shut up.
“Yes. Are you sure that you want to go to this one?”
“I’m just making sure that you boys don’t get into real trouble.”
“Oh, they will.”
“I’m not going to partake.”
“Then why are you going?” He encroached on her, trailing his knuckles down her cheek and the side of her neck. His voice was lower, more baritone, when he whispered, “Do you want to know what goes on there?”
“Oh, heavens. I’m sure that I wouldn’t know what to do. I’m sure that I would make a fool of myself.”
“How many boyfriends have you had, Rox?”
“I don’t know. Six, maybe? Seven?”
“And how many of those were real boyfriends? That’s how Americans ask about sexual partners, yes?”
“Um, yes. That’s how we say it without saying it.” She watched her toes, and her restless feet couldn’t seem to stay still on the sidewalk.
“So how many real boyfriends have you had, Rox?”
“Including you?”
“Yes.”
“Oh. Well. Um. Three.”
“Including me?”
“Yes. Oh, now you think badly of me.”
“No, I don’t. Did either of the other ones want to do anything unusual?”
“No. Heavens. I never.” She desperately wished that she had never started this conversation.
“Do you want me to show you what goes on at those kinds of clubs?” he asked again. “Perhaps in a private room?”
Rox swallowed. Her whole body felt like she had the wiggles. “Yes.”
THE DOM OF THE DEVILHOUSE
At the airport, six men met them inside the terminal, all wearing nearly identical black suits and sunglasses, even inside and at night. They nodded to Maxence, who greeted them with a smile and shook their hands, and then they kept to themselves the rest of the night.
Rox kept an eye on them, but they sipped soda water and played cards as if they didn’t all smell subtly like gunpowder.
Southern girls pick up on those things. She edged closer to Cash.
The small jet seated twelve people in large, lounger-style seats. The creamy leather was spotless and embroidered on each seat with an ornate S.
Considering Arthur, Rox assumed that the S stood for Slytherin.
Two of Maxence’s security men took the first two seats, but the rest went to the rear of the plane, flanking him. They left Maxence alone so he could talk with Arthur, Cash, and Rox in the center of the plane for the rest of the flight.