by Sophia Gray
“Because he’s the biggest earner in the organization!” Katrina’s father yelled on the other end of the phone. “So what, he wants to fuck some other girls? You know how many women I’ve bedded, even before your mother died? It’s a part of the business. Get fucking used to it.”
All of the color drained from Katrina’s face, leaving her looking a little sick as she listened to her father’s tirade. “You’re forgetting what your role in all this is, Kat. You have to keep the earners happy. That includes Sebastian. Let him pick out a girl to fuck, and you’ll both be happier, believe me.”
“Papa…” Katrina said softly, her tone pleading. Despite herself, Nyssa felt a surge of sympathy shoot through her chest, just from looking at her boss’s sad face.
“You wanted to be a part of the business, remember?” her dad said sternly. “Well, congratulations, welcome to the family. All you’ve got to do is be professional and keep your mouth fucking shut. You should be more like your mother, you know. She always knew when to close her mouth and open her legs. Anyway, I’ve got to go. Take care of it, and stop bothering me with this bullshit.”
With that, Katrina’s father hung up on her. All the girls looked down to their feet at the same time, not wanting to make eye contact with Katrina after she was so thoroughly, publicly shamed by her father. Nyssa moved the mop back and forth over the same spot on the floor, too nervous to keep going and get even closer to Katrina. She berated herself for trying to overhear the conversation. Her stupid curiosity had gotten the better of her once again, and now she was right in the line of fire.
In the awkward silence that followed, all of the girls could hear Katrina’s heavy, labored breathing, her lungs working overtime like she’d just run ten miles. Don’t fucking look at her, Nyssa told herself, continuing to mop the same spot on the floor over and over again. Don’t fucking do it, idiot.
But she couldn’t stop herself, her eyes glancing up for a second to meet Katrina’s. Nyssa realized that she’d expected to see her eyes full of tears, but instead they were hard and mean, her piercing blue irises looking like two shards of impossibly sharp ice. Nyssa dropped her gaze right away, but the damage was done.
Katrina slowly walked over to Nyssa, stopping mere inches away from her. “What are you looking at?” she hissed in Nyssa’s face.
“Nothing. I’m not looking at anything,” Nyssa said quickly, moving her mop faster across the floor, wanting an excuse to step away from her boss.
But Katrina stepped in front of her, stopping Nyssa in her tracks. “You think you’re so gorgeous, don’t you?” she whispered, her eyes narrowed into thin slits.
Nyssa felt like her skin was crawling, all of her cells trying to escape Katrina’s penetrating gaze. But she held her head up high, swallowing her fear and meeting Katrina’s eyes head on. “I think all the girls in this room are,” she said, avoiding directly answering the question.
Katrina scoffed and reached forward to brush some of the hair back from Nyssa’s face, making Nyssa feel like her skin was on fire. “You’re a smart one,” Katrina said as she placed the strands of hair behind Nyssa’s ear. “Hold on to that, but don’t let everyone know. Smart girls sometimes meet stupid ends.”
With that, she turned and marched out of the parlor, slamming the door behind her so hard that everything in the room trembled for a second with the force of her anger.
Katrina was a hurricane of a woman, all storm wrapped up in deceptively elegant clothing. Nyssa made a mental note of that as she resumed mopping, trying to push all of her worries out of her mind. She didn’t mean anything by that, she said to herself. It wasn’t a veiled threat. She’s just upset. Everything will be fine. Absolutely everything is going to be perfectly okay.
But no matter how much she repeated that mantra to herself, she couldn’t quite force herself to believe it.
Chapter Five
“What’s going on?” Nyssa whispered into Kimmie’s ear. Ten minutes earlier, Katrina had called them all down to the parlor, where they were waiting in a strict line for her instructions.
“Don’t know,” Kimmie whispered back. “Katrina gets in some bad moods sometimes. We just have to wait it out.”
The next moment, Katrina walked through the door, slamming it roughly behind her before walking in front of the group of working girls, her face looking strained and exhausted. “Good evening, ladies,” she said, but there was no hint of warmth in her voice. Her eyes darting back and forth between each one of them, her lips curled upward in a half snarl.
“Good evening, Madam Katrina,” the girls all said back, except Nyssa, who hadn’t got the memo about how to refer to her boss. She filed away that information for later, but for now she concentrated on keeping her head perfectly straight to avoid showing any sign of nervousness or fear.
Katrina opened her mouth to respond, but before she got any words out, the door to the parlor opened again. This time, a tall broad-chested man walked in, going over to sit in a chair in the corner without looking at anyone or saying anything to announce his presence. Nyssa noticed that Katrina went stiff, her eyes narrowing as the man walked around her without acknowledging her.
The room was unbearably silent for several long moments, while Katrina breathed noisily and appeared to be chewing on the inside of her cheek. She looks nervous, Nyssa noted. I wonder what’s going on.
“Sebastian,” Katrina finally said, clearing her throat and gesturing toward the line of girls in front of her. “Go ahead.”
“I thought you were going to make them give me a show first,” said the man, who apparently was named Sebastian, a teasing smile spreading across his face.
But Katrina was in no mood to be teased, snapping her fingers impatiently until Sebastian sighed and got to his feet, walking over to the line of girls in the center of the room.
“All right,” Sebastian said as he stood next to Katrina. His eyes were alight with some inner fire as he glanced at each girl. It might have been Nyssa’s imagination, but his eyes seemed to linger over her, running up and down the full length of her body. “Take off your clothes,” Sebastian said.
The girls rushed to comply, taking off their tiny negligees to stand side by side, totally naked. Nyssa went along with the rest of them, even though she felt her stomach turn over. You’ve been a hooker for years, she told herself. You have no excuse to hate your own body. Get over it.
Sebastian started at the end of the line, inspecting each girl for a few moments before moving along to the next. By the time he got to Nyssa, her breath was caught in her throat and she was frozen in place. Maybe he’s from another brothel, Nyssa thought. Maybe they’re organizing a trade or something and he’s picking out the girls he wants for a new place. Nyssa felt a little sick at that thought; she’d just gotten used to Katrina’s place. Now she might have to adjust to an entirely different brothel?
Sebastian lingered for a long time in front of Nyssa, his eyes drifting down to her chest and his tongue coming to lick at his lips as he surveyed her body. “Hmm,” he murmured, biting his bottom lip as he reached forward and dragged his finger along Nyssa’s collarbone, making all of the tiny hairs on the base of her neck stand at attention, fully erect. Sebastian’s gaze became more intense, practically burning with some internal source of heat, as his hand drifted lower, skimming over her breasts, making her nipples grow hard under his touch. Sebastian laughed lowly, the noise coming from deep in his throat as he traced his fingernails over the flesh of her breasts, going back and forth several times until her entire body was covered with goose bumps.
“Turn around,” Sebastian said, pushing lightly on her shoulder until she complied and turned to face the wall. “Bend over.”
Nyssa’s face and neck went hot in embarrassment, but she did as she was told, stretching her arms down to her feet, sticking her ass up in the air. She tried to keep her breathing under control, her lungs practically burning with exertion even though she was standing still. Stay calm, she told herself. Stay f
ucking calm. You’re okay. Everything’s okay.
Smack. One of Sebastian’s hands collided with Nyssa’s left ass cheek, and her skin prickled hotly as his fingers trailed over her hips and the tops of her thighs.
“This one,” Sebastian said. “I’ll take this one.”
“Ha! Of course,” Katrina said from somewhere behind Nyssa’s back. “Lovely.”
“Have her ready as soon as possible.”
Nyssa was stiff for a moment, listening as Sebastian left the room, unsure if she was allowed to straighen and turn around.
Finally, after a long silent pause, Katrina clapped her hands together. “Everyone except Nyssa leave. Now.”
Nyssa’s whole body went on high alert, her heart thundering in her chest as Kimmie left her side, shooting her an apologetic glance as she exited the parlor along with the other girls.
Katrina walked across the room until she was standing in front of Nyssa, her eyebrows furrowed tightly together. “Nyssa. Nyssa, Nyssa, Nyssa,” she said in a low murmur. There was a smirk plastered across her face, but there wasn’t even a single hint of humor in her smile.
“Yes?” Nyssa said, keeping her voice steady and still even though her heart pounded insistently within her chest.
“Go get ready,” Katrina said, sighing deeply and turning her head to stare at the wall behind Nyssa’s head. “For Sebastian.”
“Is he already waiting up in my room?” Nyssa asked, referring to the space upstairs that had been established for her to deal with clients.
“No,” Katrina said, sounding incredibly annoyed. She blew out her breath and shook her head to herself before continuing to speak. “You’re going home with him, just for tonight. Go get ready and be back down here in five minutes.”
Nyssa’s heartbeat shot up to her throat, pounding inside her neck as she tried to keep her breathing steady. If she left Katrina’s brothel, that could mean letting go of the protection that came along with it. It wasn’t like Katrina was offering to send one of the bodyguards stationed at the brothel to go watch over her. “Madam… I don’t think… I mean, I don’t think I want to do that. I’d like to stay here tonight if that’s okay with you,” she said.
“Well, it’s not,” Katrina snapped. “You have to go with him. Now fucking move.”
Nyssa hesitated, staying in place and shivering from the cold air hitting her naked body.
“Move!” Katrina screamed, launching her phone toward Nyssa and just barely missing her head. Nyssa turned around to watch it crash against the wall, shattering into four separate pieces. “Now! If you want to be a part of this house, you’ll do what I fucking tell you!” Katrina screamed, sounding on the verge of tears.
Nyssa did as she was instructed, moving around Katrina to get to the door, leaving her discarded negligee behind as she exited the parlor and headed upstairs toward her room.
What the fuck is going on? What the hell am I doing? Nyssa wondered as she hurriedly picked out something else to wear and shoved it over her naked body before heading back downstairs.
Sebastian was waiting for her at the foot of the steps. “Ready?” he asked.
No, Nyssa thought. No, I’m not. “Yes,” she lied, following him through the front of the building. “Yes, I’m ready.”
Chapter Six
Nyssa sat in the far end of the limo she’d been ushered into a half hour ago, as far away from Sebastian as possible as they shot down the road rapidly toward whatever destination he’d chosen for them. She was trying to send a message right from the start. Maybe she’d have to fuck him or get him off in some other way, but she wasn’t going to pretend to care about what he had to say. God, she hated that part of hooking, the fact that all the male clients assumed she gave a single fuck about what was going on in their lives.
After several more excruciating minutes of awkwardly tense silence, the limo rolled to a stop. Sebastian got out of the car immediately, but Nyssa wasn’t sure what to do. She sat stiffly in her seat, swallowing several times to clear her clogged-up throat. A second later, the door on her side of the limo opened, revealing Sebastian, who held his hand out for Nyssa to take. “Come on,” he said.
Nyssa hesitated for a second, staring at his broad wide hand before accepting it with her own, letting him tug her out of the limo and onto her own two feet. “Where are we?” Nyssa asked.
“My home,” Sebastian said, slamming the limo door shut behind Nyssa and pulling her along to the entrance of a tall complex of condos. “Come on, hurry up.”
Nyssa fought with herself to stay calm as she was dragged into the gleaming main lobby of the condo complex. I’m okay, she reminded herself as Sebastian pulled her along into the elevator. Everything’s fine. Sure, I’m all alone with a strange man, right back to where I started. But I’ve done this a thousand times. I can do it again.
The elevator dinged and opened, and Sebastian yanked at her arm, pulling her along to his condo. “What do you drink?” he asked her.
“Uh…” Nyssa trailed off, uncertain of what to say.
“Red or white?” Sebastian asked, letting go of her hand as he entered the perfectly white kitchen. Every surface of Sebastian’s kitchen shone white, glinting like perfect teeth.
“Uh, red,” Nyssa said without thinking, watching as Sebastian dug out a bottle of wine and poured two glasses out for them to drink.
“Here, take this,” Sebastian said, handing her a glass full of red wine.
“Thanks,” Nyssa said. Her fingers trembled a little as she accepted the glass and brought it to her lips. “Um, so what am I…?” She let the sentence fade out, unsure of how to phrase her question.
“What are you doing here?” Sebastian suggested for her as she took small sips of her wine. “Come, let’s sit in the den.”
Nyssa wordlessly followed him into the next room and took a seat next to him on a deep red couch, keeping a safe distance of a foot between their bodies. “This wine is good,” she commented mindlessly, just to fill the silence that stretched between them.
“What’s your name?” Sebastian asked, turning in his seat to face her.
“Nyssa.”
“Hmm,” Sebastian said. “That’s pretty. Did you come up with it yourself?”
Nyssa shook her head. She took another couple of sips of wine to give herself something to do, feeling her anxiety rise as the seconds ticked by with nothing notable happening.
“Nyssa, do you understand what’s happening here?” Sebastian asked, raising his eyebrows quizzically as he worked at his glass of wine.
Nyssa was silent, staring up at the beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling that filled the whole room with perfectly golden light.
“You’re mine now,” Sebastian said in a soft voice. “You belong to me.”
Before Nyssa could even wrap her mind around that statement, Sebastian placed his wineglass down on the coffee table in front of them and reached forward to grab Nyssa by the throat, squeezing his fist tightly around her neck.
“You understand?” he said, his eyes dropping down to linger on Nyssa’s lips while his own tongue poked out of the corner of his mouth. “Huh? Do you?”
Nyssa shook her head, willing her heart to calm down so that Sebastian wouldn’t feel her pulse throb against the fingers wrapped around her neck.
Sebastian cleared his throat and smiled. His teeth looked impossibly sharp, like he was a beast about to rip into his prey. “You’re never going to fuck another client again. Just me,” Sebastian whispered, his fingernails sliding against her skin, making her flesh tingle despite herself. “Ever.”
Before Nyssa could come up with anything to say in response, Sebastian’s other hand came up and ripped her glass out of her grasp, slamming it down on the table before them. “Get up,” he said to her in between gritted teeth.
Nyssa didn’t have a chance to obey before Sebastian flipped her over himself, pressing her against the back of the couch so that her ass was stuck up in the air. “Yeah,” Sebastian muttered
behind her, chuckling a little to himself, rubbing his hand down from her neck, running his fingers along her spinal cord. “Why’d you get dressed again?” he murmured, sticking his fingers under the hem of the nightgown she was wearing. “I’m just going to have to tear this off you now.”
Nyssa swallowed heavily, unable to dislodge the thick lump that had formed in her throat at some point over the past several minutes. “Sir,” she said stiffly. “Sir, what are you going to do with me?”
Sebastian laughed again, a little louder this time, before he leaned in to breathe hotly against the back of Nyssa’s neck. His tongue made contact with her skin, dragging its way up from the top of her spine to the patch of sensitive skin right behind her ear. “I’m going to fuck you so hard you forget how to breathe,” he whispered into her ear before biting at her lobe, sending sparks of pleasure and pain down her tingling spine.