by Jami Denise
I could hear him as he fucked his hand, his breath harsh and ragged as he tirelessly slid his palm over his cock. I lay there as still as possible, fighting the blackness so I could sneak a peek.
I knew it was spectacular. Everything about him was. I felt so stupid that I wanted to giggle. I hadn’t been that giddy to see a dick since the day I’d finally laid eyes on my first. He was turning me into a flushing teenager.
“I want you to stand in front of me,” he said suddenly. “I want to see you... closer. In that red.”
I slid off the bed quickly, loving the way the rich satin fabric caressed my skin, and stood in front of him.
It was still dark, but I could make out the outline of his body. The way he slumped down in the chair, his long legs straight out in front of him, his shoulders so broad and strong, and the way his shirt stretched across his chest made him look like an angel fallen straight out of the sky. His profile was sharp, rugged but definitely handsome, and his chiseled jaw line, aquiline nose, and dark, heavily shaded eyes mesmerized me.
He was without a doubt the most beautiful man I’d ever seen in my life.
I slipped my thumbs into the sides of my panties, sliding them over my thighs and down my legs, shaking my feet to rid myself of them. It was a little awkward standing there—a first for me. I wasn’t a self-conscious person, but there was something about him that threw me off. I’d stood in front of countless men, laid beneath them, above them, wrapped around them, and yet, Flynn made me feel like a newborn fawn.
Flynn made an indistinguishable sound, somewhere between a growl and a groan, and leaned forward, close enough that I could feel his warm breath on my skin.
“Beautiful.”
That one word, a word I’d been called millions of times, sent shivers up my spine. The tone of his voice, the way he said it—he meant it. He wasn’t trying to get anything from me in that moment. He was giving, and I’d never wanted to take something so badly.
With his eyes on mine, he continued working himself with his hand. I, in turn, stood stock still and nervous as hell. It was awkward, and I wanted nothing more than for the date to finally begin.
“You want to leave, don’t you?”
I blinked rapidly, shaking my head. I was slipping. That wouldn’t do, so I pulled out my smile, the one that worked rooms full of power hungry men and brought them to their knees. I was better than that. A professional. There was no way this man, no matter how gorgeous he was, was going to put a chink in my armor.
“Do you want me to leave, Mr. Maguire? I thought we were having fun.”
Turn it around, girl. You can do this.
He smirked, and when he twisted his hand around his cock and moaned, I knew I had him in the palm of my hands—figuratively, of course. The fact that I was beginning to feel some kind of resentment toward his hand proved my point. I was off my game, and it was all because I was entranced with his pretty face. Falling for a hot guy was not part of my M.O. He was a client, and the more I reminded myself of that fact, the better off I’d be.
“What do you want, Miss King? Why are you here?”
I wanted to laugh. Was he serious? Maybe he was on something because I was pretty sure the fact that he’d called Vince and requested my services meant he knew exactly why I was there. He’d dictated three pages of instructions for me, and here he was asking stupid questions.
“I’m here for you, Mr. Maguire. I believe you requested me, in particular, so I think that’s a question for me to ask you, isn’t it?”
“Stop talking,” he seethed. “Stop talking, and turn around.”
His tone shocked me. I wasn’t even sure what it was that pissed him off. Regardless, I turned, slowly, with my tush facing him and stared at the wall in front of me. There was a rather intriguing painting on the wall, so I focused my attention on it, blocking out the grunts and groans behind me. In a way, I felt slighted, and I didn’t like it at all. I was used to calling the shots, and this bossy asshole was making me nervous as hell.
Suddenly, his breathing labored and the sounds coming out of him intensified. When I felt warmth hit my back, I knew he was done. There was some rustling and then I heard him zip his pants.
“You can go now, Miss King. Collins will see you to the door.”
Well, that wasn’t what I expected at all, and I was a little pissed. Usually, they begged me to stay another hour, or maybe have a nightcap or two. I was being dismissed, and I didn’t like it.
I turned, looked over my shoulder, and covered my breasts. I suddenly felt uncomfortable, and… cheap.
But, I was a professional. I had a job to do, and Jayne King always got the job done. This one wasn’t any different than any other date. I did what I came to do, he got off, and once I had my cash in hand, I was done.
“The pleasure was all mine, Mr. Maguire.”
My smile stayed in place as I grabbed my coat out of Collins’s hand, slipped it on, grabbed my purse, and walked out the door.
TWO
The night was one I’d never forget, even though I wanted nothing more than to file it away and pretend it never happened. I stayed up half the night, thinking and wondering. I’d also spent quite a bit of time counting the money in the envelope given to me as I walked out the door. It was far more than I expected, and Lord knew I wasn’t complaining. I was just confused. It’d been the first time a client refused to touch me, and as hard as I tried not to feel insulted by it, I was. Big time.
I was exhausted from lack of sleep, agitated by the rejection, and pissed off that I had to go deal with my father’s situation so early in the morning. I’d always been under the impression that men like the ones holding my dad kept night hours. I had a feeling they did it to irritate me. Whatever their intentions were, I hated them with a passion, and after spending the remainder of my evening tossing and turning thinking about Flynn Maguire, I was in a foul mood.
At least the evening ended in a huge payout—the biggest I’d ever had. As frustrating and humiliating as it’d been spending an untouched evening with Flynn, I was hoping he’d call on me again, and soon. With cash like that, there was a good possibility of getting out of the mess I’d found myself in by the end of the month. The sooner I was out of the clutches of the bastard holding my father, the better. I just wanted to free him and get the hell out of Vegas.
My father, Sammy King, was never the father he should have been, but he was my dad, nonetheless. He’d taken care of me in all the ways that mattered and taught me how to survive in a world too cruel to care. Not many people could appreciate the things my father did, and Vince thought I was crazy to risk my neck to get him out, but at the end of the day, he was my blood, and the only family I had left.
Dad moved us to Vegas shortly after my mother died. I was six years old. We were a team, and I’d been running hustles with him for as long as I could remember. Sometimes it was as simple as conning kind tourists out of cash at gas stations, but as I got older, the games were more complicated and dangerous, and the money was much more than pocket change.
He’d had a gambling problem far longer than our time living in Vegas, but it only got worse once we were living in the land of sin. It took him no time to find his ticket into the games with high rollers and gangsters. He belonged there, in that dim, dark corner of society where the stakes were high and the scruples were low. He was good. Damn good, but he was getting old, and getting greedier and sloppier as the years went on. And that’s how he ended up in the situation he was in, the one I was working my skinny ass off to get him out of. He’d screwed over a rather powerful player in the shady world of cards, and I was paying the price.
Stepping into the shoes of a Vegas call girl wasn’t much different than anything else I’d done in my short life, but it was definitely not on my list of things to continue. For a long time, I’d managed to stay off that cliff, and I’d prided myself on that. All that pride took a backseat, however when my dad came up missing. Same thing went for my promise to never return to Vegas.
With no money and no means to make a living, I found myself working at a strip club, living off my tips. I was bitter that I’d ended up in the same situation I’d left behind, and it didn’t take me long to get sick of shaking my ass for peanuts. So, using my skills as a hustler, I quickly reinvented myself and my future and opened King Escorts.
It was easy talking the girls from the club into working for me. The promise of hundreds of dollars for mere hours of work was very enticing. Most of them were already arranging special engagements with customers, so I took the dirty work out of their hands. At the end of six months, I had five girls on the books and had moved out of the single apartment I rented in West Hollywood and into a three bedroom bungalow. I was on top of the world, but it hadn’t been enough. I found that I wanted more. Normal. Something I’d never had before.
And then I got that damn phone call.
My father hadn’t been what you’d call a supportive parent about the whole “going my own way,” but there wasn’t much he could do about it. I’d spent the better part of twenty years being a pawn in his games, and I was sick of it. I’d done too much, seen too much, and lost too much to go on that way any longer. I could see the toll it was taking on him, and I just couldn’t do it. Stepping into Sammy’s shoes was burning holes in my soul.
But, in pure Sammy King style, he found a way, albeit unwittingly, to lure me back into the black sea of deceit and debauchery of my legacy, and I was in a big hurry to get myself the hell out of it.
That’s where Vince stepped in to help. He’d been a part of my life for as long as I could remember and was the big brother I’d always wanted. He’d fallen under my father’s spell and had been a prodigy of his for years. Time and time again I’d warned him about getting involved with my father, but he always assured me he had it under control. Until the day I got that phone call, I’d had my doubts, but he proved to be the backbone the King family needed, and someone I couldn’t live without.
When I proposed my idea to him, he rebuffed immediately, not wanting me to put myself in that position. I finally convinced him, and he’d come through like a champ. He helped me reinvent myself, and once again I stepped into Jayne’s shoes, the most sought after and highest paid escort on and off the strip.
After a long, steaming hot shower, I quickly got ready and called Vince to come pick me up so we could drop off payment and get an update on my father’s well-being. I still had no idea where he was or who was holding him, and it was frustrating having to deal with a bunch of middle-men.
The sun beat down relentlessly, which was normal for an August day in Las Vegas, and I was glad I wouldn’t have to spend much time in the heat. I had a date that evening, so once we were done with our business, I planned on spending the remainder of the day resting up for it.
Vince pulled up in front of my townhouse at exactly eight o’clock. He was reliable like that, and I appreciated that he never made me wait.
I slid into the car and threw my purse on the floor. “You went all out today, Janie,” he chuckled.
I looked down at my casual tank top, shorts, and flip flops. I wasn’t interested in impressing those goons, and besides, it never hurt to show a little skin to get your way.
“It’s hotter than blazes out here. I’m not putting on a power suit just to hand over my well-earned money, thank you very much. They can kiss my ass.”
He chuckled again. “Good attitude. So, speaking of well-earned money, how’d it go last night?”
I blew out a harsh breath and pushed my sunglasses up over my head as he veered into traffic. “It was… strange.”
He looked over and raised an eyebrow, clearly confused. “Strange? What’d he do to you?”
I laughed humorlessly. “That’s the strange part. Nothing. He had me strip, and then he jacked off.”
“What?”
I shrugged. That was the gist of it, and I wasn’t sure what he wanted me to say. “Yeah, exactly. He barely touched me. He jerked off, and then told me to leave. I was caught off guard, but it was hardly the worst date I’ve ever been on.”
He chuckled and I joined him, remembering some of the crazy things I’d come across in my short career. There’d been a few odd ones, but it was the nature of things. After all, that’s why they came to me. I was the key to their fantasies, the keeper of all their dirty little secrets, and fulfiller of their raucous whims. Most of the time, things were as simple as sex with a stranger, scratching an itch, or just a little companionship, but occasionally, there was something different.
“I’m surprised,” Vince mused. “Flynn doesn’t seem like the passive type. Why the hell did he call a hooker if he didn’t want to fuck?”
I glared over at him, narrowing my eyes. “That word, Vince. Watch it.”
“Noted.”
As he pulled onto the freeway, I rolled down the window and enjoyed what there was of a breeze on my face. I was sweating already, and it wasn’t just the sweltering heat making me feel hot. Just thinking about Flynn had my blood pressure rising and my nipples hardening. Trying to pinpoint what it was about him that turned me on so much was driving me nuts.
“Well, at least you made five grand for your time. Not bad for a night’s work.”
I reached down and pulled the envelope out of my purse, holding it up in his periphery. “Try ten grand.”
His head snapped in my direction and I almost laughed at the expression on his face. “Yeah, ten grand for letting him come on my backside. It’s definitely not a bad night on the job. I’m hoping he calls for me again because I could get used to those kinds of paydays.”
He pulled up in front of the building, and I was surprised we’d already arrived. I’d been so lost in thought that I wasn’t paying attention. The butterflies in my stomach churned, as they always did when I met with those men, and I took a couple of deep breaths to get myself together. It wouldn’t do to let them see me stressed out.
“We’re in and out. Hand over the cash, ask for the tape, and we bail. Don’t get into it with them again, Janie.”
I nodded and clenched my eyes closed tight. I was trying my best, but it was so hard. Sammie King hadn’t raised me to keep my mouth shut. If I had something to say, I said it, and watching those tapes killed me. Knowing that every time I piped off they’d take it out on my dad was enough incentive to bite my tongue.
“You got it. I want to hurry this along today. I didn’t get much sleep last night, and I have a date tonight.”
As I exited the car, I pushed my sunglasses back down and took a deep breath, following Vince. As much as I appreciated him taking the lead, I always felt like I needed to show my strength in front of them. They already had me by the balls, so to speak, but it didn’t mean I had to give them my dignity. My money? Fine. My pride—no way.
Walking into that building always gave me the chills. It was one of those modern designs with sleek lines and shiny chrome. It was cold, desperate for some soul to be pumped into it. There were no signs, no outward or obvious distinguishing clues as to what kind of business it was or who was doing business there, and it drove me crazy.
Aside of busting my ass trying to come up with the ransom for my dad, I’d also done my homework. I worked tirelessly trying to figure out who was holding him, trying every angle in order to get a leg up on them and their intentions. I came up empty every time. Whoever it was, they were good. There was nothing, not one clue.
“Miss King. You’re late.”
Vince grabbed my elbow and pulled me toward him, a kind reminder to shut my mouth. The goon that greeted us scowled, nodding toward the elevator. We followed quietly, riding up to the tenth floor, same as every Saturday. It was a dull routine, one I was getting sicker of every time I had to do it.
He led us into the room, and the man behind the desk waved us to take a seat. He
stared at us for a moment, and I made sure I straightened my spine, chin up. I wasn’t going to let them see that they intimidated me, even though they did.
They were dangerous, and I wasn’t dumb enough to pretend they couldn’t hurt me. I was sure they could. Their guns were visible, and they made no qualms about their display.
The man, Sullivan, cleared his throat, leaned across the table on his elbows, and gave me a wicked smile. “So, Miss King, I hope you have what we agreed on last week.”
I nodded, my face neutral and calm, and reached into my purse to retrieve the envelope. “It’s all here. Fifteen thousand.”
His eyebrows rose, and I smiled as I handed it over. I could tell he was surprised, and I really wanted to tell him to eat shit.
“I’ve been a busy girl, Mr. Sullivan. Now, I want to see my dad.”
He pulled the envelope from my hands and emptied it onto the table. “Count this out, Milo. Make sure it’s all there. Danny, get the video ready.”
The men scuttled around, counting money and pushing the DVD into the player on the table. I squeezed my hands together tightly to stop the shaking. I never knew what to expect. Proof of life did not guarantee my father would be in one piece, and each week, I could see him getting weaker and weaker.
“It’s all there, boss.”
Sullivan nodded, then smiled. “Good job, Janie. Your father would be proud, wouldn’t he? His daughter whoring herself out to get his lying ass out of debt. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it?”
I glared at him from across the table. “Screw you,” I snapped.
Vince grabbed my arm again to stop me from lunging at him, and the bastard laughed.
“I bet you’re worth every penny.”
He smiled salaciously and I shuddered with disgust. He was vile, sickening. He was on a power trip—all men like him were. I knew better—he was nothing but a grunt doing a coward’s job.
I turned my anger into a smile and leaned forward, giving him enough of a view to make him wish he could touch me.