“Hi,” was all she could come up with to say.
“What’s up, Belle. You all right?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” she answered.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m glad to see you made it back in one piece. Your whip is outside, and the keys are on the dashboard. I put a couple of miles on her, but she still drives smooth.”
Next to her, Gene looked from Belle to Kidd curiously. When Kidd noticed, he returned the stare and added a little iciness to his. They held their glares for a few moments before Gene cleared his throat.
“Have all of my girls gotten off of the bus?” Gene asked him.
“Yeah. Phil is taking it to get cleaned now.”
“Good. And where are the girls?”
“In the count room, getting ready to pay Lady Passion her cut of the tour.”
“Very good.”
“Did you need me for anything else?” Kidd asked.
“Actually, yes,” Gene said, looking back to Belle. “I was just about to take Belle here to my office, but come chat with me for a moment. Fellas, why don’t you show Belle to my office.”
“Okay, boss,” one of them said and motioned for Belle to follow them.
With one last look at Kidd, Belle complied and left him and Gene behind. The two burly security guards led her through a few doors until they reached a spiral red carpeted staircase. Once they went up it, there was yet another hallway, that one shorter than the rest with a gold door at the end of it. When they got to it, one of the men opened the door for her to go through, but they didn’t go in after her. Instead, one flicked the overhead light on while the other pointed at a chair.
“The boss will be in shortly.”
“Well, what am I”—the door slammed before she could finish her sentence—“supposed to do?”
They didn’t hear her question because they were gone. Belle sighed and let her duffle bag fall from her shoulder onto the ground. She looked around the big office and knew instantly that Gene had a severe God complex.
On two of the four walls were two big murals of himself. It went without saying that they were beautifully painted. Still, it was a little much. The room was set up almost like a king’s chamber, and on either side of his desk were two tall golden lions facing her, almost like they were guarding something. She contemplated snooping through his things but thought better of it. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing straight up, and just in case she was being watched, she thought it was best to do what Gene’s security said.
Keeping the duffle bag of money close to her legs, Belle sat down and waited patiently for Gene to come into the room. She just hoped that he took it well when she told him that she would be leaving. If what Aria said was right, she would hate to see what happened to anyone who got on his bad side.
* * *
“What’s going on, Unc?” Kidd asked, but Gene ignored him to wave to the bartender.
“Thunder!” he called.
“Yes, sir?” she answered in a sweet voice.
“Bring my nephew and me two rum and Cokes, please.”
“Of course, sir.”
“Sit,” Gene instructed.
Kidd did as he was asked and sat in an empty booth with his uncle away from everyone else. He couldn’t tell by the way Gene was looking at him what he was thinking. It, however, was a stare that made him uncomfortable. Just as he was about to break the ice, Thunder had come over with their drinks.
“You know I love my girls, right?” he said to her as she served them.
“Yes, Gene,” she said with a robotic smile.
Her breasts were so big that they were close to both men even while she stood an equal distance between them. Thunder was a nicely shaped white woman who tanned so much she was probably giving herself cancer and she didn’t realize it. Her dark hair draped over her shoulders and brushed her bare backside. The six-inch stilettos she wore made her body sit up in all the right places and made her butt seem plumper than it actually was. She stared lovingly down at Gene like he was her lover and made sure he had extra napkins with his drink.
“Do you belong to me?” Gene asked her and took a sip of his drink.
“Yes, Gene.”
“Are you happy here?”
“Very happy, Gene,” she told him with a concerned look. “Have I done something wrong? Am I in trouble?”
“No. No trouble at all,” Gene said, reaching to touch one of her nipples. He pinched it ever so slightly and bit his lip when he saw the hint of pleasure enter her eyes. “I’m glad I can make you happy. You can go.”
Upon exiting, she took Gene’s hand in hers and kissed the rings on his fingers. When she sashayed away, Gene watched her until she was back at the bar. He smirked to himself and turned his attention back to Kidd, who hadn’t touched his drink at all. “You know what I like most about the Bliss Lounge?”
“What’s that?” Kidd humored him.
“Everybody knows their place.”
“Really? I heard you had a little run-in with something like that while I was gone.”
“Oh, you mean Anthony? Well, he quickly learned what happens to those who mix what’s supposed to stay apart,” Gene said, giving Kidd a knowing look. “As they all do.”
“‘What’s supposed to stay apart.’ You say that like you own these people.”
“I employ them. Same difference. While inside or affiliated with the Bliss Lounge, they are mine. Speaking of affiliated, is there a reason why you downplayed Belle to me when I asked about her last night?”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Kidd said, finally taking a gulp of his drink.
“I mean, why didn’t you tell me what kind of man trap she is? She has a face and a body worth millions. Not at all just ‘all right’ as you like to put it.”
“Maybe I didn’t look at her like that.”
“How did you look at her then?” Gene asked, and Kidd saw that he’d fallen into a trap. “Did you look at her for her brain? Or her intellect? Or maybe she made you laugh while you were on tour with her. Maybe . . . That’s the reason you left the tour, isn’t it? You started liking this girl Belle, didn’t you? Couldn’t stand to see Lady Passion turn her into what you knew she’d become.”
When Kidd didn’t object, Gene’s eyes opened wide, and he wagged a finger at him. The satisfied look on his face made Kidd want to slap it away, but he couldn’t. Everything Gene had said was right.
“Dear boy, there’s so much you need to learn. What you are feeling toward her is an infatuation that only a beauty like that can bring. What have I taught you?” he asked and waved around toward all the naked women around them. “All women are whores. They are all disposable. As a man, you need not get attached to one when you can have them all.”
“What are you going to do with her?” Kidd came right out and asked.
“With Belle? Why, I’m going to offer her a new home. Being that she doesn’t have one.”
“No,” Kidd corrected with a scornful chuckle. “Being that you murdered her whole family.”
“Correction, that was Percy, not me.”
“Same difference. He was there on your orders. Regardless of how it happened, their blood is on your hands.”
“Either way, the fact is that she needs a home. And what is a better place to call home than the Bliss Lounge?”
“You’ve already destroyed her life.”
“I’m giving her a new one.”
“And then what? You’re going to drug her up and keep her high as a damn kite so she doesn’t even know you’re using her to get what belonged to her father?”
“Enough!” Gene commanded. “It’s clear to see that this girl has you wide open. You’re talking to me like you have a big-ass pair of balls between your legs, but need I remind you who the fuck I am? Belle is no longer your concern, and due to that big bag of money she brought in, she’s also now off-limits to you. Any hope of getting your dick wet is out the window. If I find out you’ve been anywhere near her, I’m
going to forget that you’re my nephew, and you’ll find out what happens to those who cross me. Understand? Now, aren’t you on break? Get out of my sight.”
Kidd answered him by knocking his glass violently to the ground, shattering it and causing glass to go everywhere. A few of Gene’s security started to approach them, but Gene held up a hand to stop them.
“No, let him go. My nephew is just having a bit of a temper tantrum right now.”
Kidd glared at them all before standing. When his eyes fell on Gene’s face, it didn’t feel like he knew him at all. Percy whispered in his ears like a ghost haunting him.
“He’ll take anybody out who gets in his way. Even you.”
Kidd turned his back and stormed out of the building. His entire body was on fire, and there was no amount of water that could have put him out. It wasn’t until he reached the parking lot that he remembered that he had driven Belle’s car there and didn’t have a way to get back to his condo. He thought about calling Ollie, but he didn’t feel like being bothered with his happy-go-lucky friend.
“Fuck!” he shouted and punched the air.
He plopped down on a random car and looked to the sun. He hadn’t felt a gush of anger that big since the day he saw the federal agents take his mother away. Suddenly he remembered the piece of paper in his wallet and pulled it out. He stared at it for a few moments before deciding to call the number on the bottom.
“What the hell,” he said. “I have nothing to lose.”
He dialed the number and placed the phone to his ear, listening to it ring. He was just about to hang up when somebody on the other end answered.
“Hello?” a woman’s voice answered.
“Who is this? I found this note at my old house. Did you leave it there?”
“Andrew?” the person asked, and that proved that she knew who Kidd was.
The only problem with that was that he didn’t know who she was.
“Who is this?”
“I can’t say over the phone. Is there a place I can meet you?”
Kidd paused, not knowing if it was a setup. Gia was his mother, but it had been too long since he’d seen her. Still, she was his mom. He had to hold on to the hope that she wouldn’t snake him. He looked around at the nothingness surrounding him. Gene had chosen the most rural area he could find in Miami for the Bliss Lounge, knowing that the nearest building, a gas station, was about an hour’s walk down the road.
“Yeah,” Kidd said finally. “Can you meet me in an hour?”
Chapter 13
Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction.
—Erich Fromm
“I see you’ve made yourself comfortable.”
Gene’s voice startled Belle, causing her to jump in her seat. She hadn’t even heard him come in the office behind her. He shut his office door behind him and went to sit behind his desk. She didn’t know what to do or what to say, so she did and said nothing. She felt as if his eyes could read every movement of her face, so she sat as still as possible. There was something about him that made her spine tingle and not in a good way. He was every meaning of the word “intimidation.” It didn’t matter if the expression on his face was a kind one. He had a lethal aura hanging all around him.
“Do you want something to drink?” he asked courteously. “If you don’t want an alcoholic beverage, I have some waters in the fridge behind me.”
“No, thank you. I’m fine,” Belle declined even though her mouth was drier than the Sahara Desert.
“Suit yourself,” he said and smiled. He didn’t say anything else. He just kept looking at her in a way that made her fidget.
“Is there a reason you asked me to come up here?” she asked when he didn’t speak for a few moments.
“You really are stunning. Do you know that?” Gene asked, ignoring her question.
“I’ve been told.”
“Your whole life?”
“Most of it.”
“Good. How was your time spent with my lovely ladies?”
“It was good.”
“Good, not great?”
“Well, I never danced before,” Belle said. “I mean, in the club with my old friends from college. But never . . . like this.”
“Really?” Gene said and somewhat raised the skin on his forehead. “To my knowledge, you were quite good at it.”
“Pleasing a roomful of drunk and high men wasn’t too hard.”
“Interesting. Did you make a lot of money?”
“Yes.”
“And how much did you make?” Gene asked.
“About fifty thousand dollars.”
“Whoo! Fifty thousand bones, huh? Wow. There’s somebody out there who doesn’t even make that per year’s salary, and you did that in a few weeks.”
“Yeah,” Belle said and glanced over her shoulder at the door.
“Well, I can see that you’re in a rush to leave, so I’ll cut straight to the chase. I’m assuming that while on tour with the girls you’ve learned a little bit about how the Bliss Lounge works.”
“I’ve learned enough,” Belle told him. “And I don’t want to sign a contract. I don’t want you to own me for five years, or ten. So if that’s why you called me up here, I just can’t do it. I’m sorry. I just want to go on about my life.”
There. She’d said it. The worst was out of the way. Still, watching Gene’s blank facial expression made her feel like she was waiting for a great white shark to attack. His lips were in a straight line, and the look in his eyes was a menacing one. Belle was almost certain that she was about to die, but then something appalling happened. Gene smiled so big that she swore she could see all of his teeth.
“Then I guess you’re in luck. If you leave, I will grant you the courtesy of letting you take all the money you’ve made with you after Lady Passion gets her small fee,” Gene said, getting up from his chair.
“Th . . . thank you,” Belle said, shocked.
“No, I should be thanking you. To be in the same room as something so exquisite has certainly made my day. I can see why my nephew took a liking to you.”
“Oh, I don’t—”
“Please,” Gene said and held his hand up. “That is none of my business. You’re free to go. Be sure to see Lady Passion on your way out.”
Belle couldn’t believe it, but he didn’t have to tell her twice. She grabbed the small suitcase with her clothes in it by the handle and placed the duffle bag over her shoulder before standing up. She sashayed over to the door and was just about to place her hand on the handle.
“But before you absolutely make up your mind, might I ask, what are you going to do when that runs out? Because it will run out and you’ll be back at square one.”
His words made Belle stop in her tracks. She could see her own puzzled expression in her reflection from the gold doorknob.
“I know that by now, my girls’ luxurious lifestyle has rubbed off on you. The shopping sprees, the five-star restaurants and hotels. Are you really ready to go back to living a regular life? Having to pinch pennies just to make sure you don’t deplete your savings too soon? But even if you do that, even if you get a job, no amount of money is going to come in faster than you spend it. Unless, of course, you stay. I can assure you that you’ll be taken care of and you’ll have more money than you can count in a day’s time.”
Belle slowly turned back around to face him. The expression on his face showed that he was genuinely concerned about her well-being. But how could she be so sure? Maybe it was an act.
“You say that I will be taken care of, but what you really mean is someone will be watching me at all times. I don’t want to live life like that, and I don’t want to be under contract. I would want to be able to leave whenever I wanted to.”
“And I can make that happen for you. You don’t have to sign a contract to be employed by the Bliss Lounge. However, it would always be my duty as the employer of something
so fragile to keep security around you. Even if you choose to live off-site, security detail is something that is not up for debate. You want to leave with fifty thousand from two weeks’ time. If you stay, I can guarantee you double that in two weeks. I can also promise you that nobody will lay a hand on you.”
There was something about the way he added that last part that made her look over her shoulder at him. Her jaw tightened as she remembered Cream’s face when Aria was done with her. There was something Aria said, the day she caught Russian Roulette on the bed talking to her. Something that had stuck with Belle.
“And if I say no?” she finally asked, staring intensely with her amber eyes.
“I don’t think you want to,” Gene said.
“I can’t say you’re lying,” she said, and he smirked. “But I have one condition.”
“That is?”
“I want to be a lady. Lady Beauty.”
Chapter 14
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
—Oscar Wilde
By the time Kidd got to the gas station, he was a hot, sticky mess. The sun was glaring down on him the whole time, and he was positive his already-brown skin had gotten even darker. On the way, he’d removed his shirt and used it as a rag to wipe the dripping sweat from his face. He got a few weird stares when he walked up to the gas station in a wife beater with a gun on his hip, but those people weren’t his focus. He was there for a reason. The person on the phone had told him to look out for a gold Lincoln Navigator, and sure enough, when he arrived, there was one waiting for him.
Upon approaching the car, he prepared himself for what he might find when he opened the door. The windows were darkly tinted, so he couldn’t see who was driving. That made him more cautious. The doors unlocked when he got close enough to grab the door handle, and he placed his other hand on his hip. He opened the door, and when he saw who was driving, his mouth almost hit the pavement.
“You?” he asked, astonished.
It was Luella, the server from the restaurant. Except right then she wasn’t the server from the restaurant. She was his contact. She was wearing a plain pink blouse and a jean skirt with her hair pulled back. When she saw him standing there looking at her with a dazed and confused expression, she returned it with a look of annoyance.
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