I choked. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. The gall of the man! Who on earth did he think he was?
“How dare you try to enforce rules and commands on me? I am not yours to play with, Mr. Belatoni. I am a person with feelings and opinions. Not someone you can order about like a soldier.”
“You will submit to me. I can guarantee it.”
I could feel my blood pressure rise. I hated and wanted this man with such intensity that it burned.
“It’s never going to happen. In fact, I have a date tomorrow night, and I wasn’t going to fuck him, but now that you’ve said this, I’m going to give him the best goddamned sex he’s ever had in his life. Good day, Mr. Belatoni.”
Putting the phone down, I gave myself a mental pat on the back.
He can go and stew on that all day!
The phone began its chiming again and I picked up with up with a gruff in my voice. “I thought I made myself clear to you, arsehole.”
“Clara, it’s Belinda.” I could hear the surprise in her voice.
“Oh, Belinda. Sorry. I thought you were someone else.”
“Quite,” was all she said. “I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to test all thirty alarms right now. No clients are here at the moment so I thought it would be a good time. We have Mr. Lopez arriving in one hour so we should have them all wrapped up by then.”
“Sure thing, go ahead.”
I sat in my chair and waited as the first alarm rang through the house. It wasn’t an oppressive sound, it was just enough to alert me. In addition to the alarm, I also had a light on my desk that would flash red if all else failed, or if I couldn’t hear for whatever reason. It would immediately alert me to the bedroom number from which the alarm was coming—a very handy device.
All in all, it took a good thirty minutes to go over each one, and I thanked my lucky stars that they all seemed to work. That would make me feel a little better later in the evening when the clients arrived and start disappearing into the bedrooms.
Ten minutes after, my first interviewee arrived. She was prompt and willing as she bounced her way through my door.
“Natalie?” I asked, rising out of my chair and extending my hand.
“Yes, so glad to finally meet you, Miss Murphy.”
“Please, call me, Clara. No formalities here.”
Smiling, she wrapped one elegant and shapely leg round the other. I knew I wasn’t into women in that sense, but I could still appreciate the female form. Natalie was no exception. She had beautiful golden brown hair and dark eyes. On her profile it said that she was originally from Trinidad and Tobago, was five foot six, and had thirty-four double D breasts. Based on this first impression, I liked her. I liked her a lot.
“So, Natalie, tell me about yourself.”
“Well, I have been escorting for a few years, but it’s really not my thing. I don’t like being put in situations that could be a danger to me. Meeting men in hotel rooms always carries an element of risk. It’s something I would like to veer away from if I can.
“Having said that, I do like the other aspects of my work. I enjoy sex very much, and I’m willing to try anything new.” Smiling sweetly, she seductively pushed her hair back. I immediately thought some of my clients would like her.
“I completely understand, and that’s good to hear. Can you tell me why you have chosen The Castle?”
She clasped her hands together and rested them on her lap. “Do you know Chantel?”
“Chantel Baxter?”
“Yes, that’s the one. She is a very close friend and highly recommended you.”
I smiled sweetly, remembering Chantel. She left a couple of years ago to pursue an acting career in the states.
“How is she getting on now?”
“She’s doing well, I think. She couldn’t get into proper acting, so I think she’s just doing soft porn. She enjoys it though, and that’s the main thing. She always talks about you. She said you helped her once.”
I smiled remembering how sweet Chantel was. She was one of my girls of course, but she kind of lost herself along the way. She got into drugs, and when one of the clients complained about her behaviour, I had to step in and confront her. After several tears and apologies, I got her clean. I made her promise me that she would never do that again and she held to that promise. I think Chantel was so grateful that I had kept her job for her that she knew she could never return to that life. I offered her a roof over her head to cut ties with her old life and she accepted.
“She’s a great girl who deserved to be happy. I won’t tolerate bad behaviour here, but I will always help whenever the need arises. I’m sometimes like the aunt of the place.”