Violet (Club Nymph Book 1)

by Abby Gale

  “Fabien Dumont is the best investigator in America and Canada. He didn’t decline my offer and came here.” Xander said behind me.

  “Thank you again for coming in such a short notice, Fabien,” he said with very business-like tone.

  “Your offer was worth it, Mr. Vincent. Thank you for your generosity.” Fabien said.

  What? Did he pay for an investigator, for me?

  “Xander…I don’t want you to pay for it. It is something about me. You don’t have to do that,” I turned to him in panic. I heard Fabien’s soft chuckle behind me but didn’t care at that moment.

  “It is about you? You say, that’s not my business? Come again, Flame.” Xander told me. His voice was daring, his eyes were challenging. I knew he was already bothered with Gary and I didn’t want to frustrate him more but…

  Uggh…

  “I don’t want you to pay a fortune to take care of my problem.”

  His eyes roamed over my body and he stood up to walk toward me.

  He placed his hand on my neck when he stopped in front of me. His fingers were digging into my skin almost painfully. His fingers were tangled in my hair as he pulled my hair to lift my head.

  “Your problem is my problem. Everything about you is my business. If I want to pay for a fucking investigator, I’ll pay. If I want to buy you a jet, I will and you will accept it. Got it?” he growled onto my lips.

  Arrogant…bossy…annoying… hypnotizing… hot…caring…what?

  Uggh…even my thoughts betrayed me when I was close to him.

  “Got it, Flame?” he asked again but this time, his eyes were softer. He knew his effect on me, he knew when I was under his spell.

  “Yes, sir,” I said between my gritted teeth. But it only caused him to smirk.

  “I like the way you referred to me, Flame,” he winked at me and turned to Fabien.

  Shit!

  I totally forgot he was there when I was bewitched by this manipulative asshole.

  “Fabien, like I said earlier…we want you to find out what happened to Angel. Where she is and whether she is alive.” His voice dropped when he reached the last part of his sentence.

  “I understand clearly, Mr. Vincent. Miss?” Fabien turned his gaze to me.

  “I’m Dawn Darcia.”

  “Okay, Miss Darcia. Mister Vincent told me about your sister and the story you told them, but I need to hear it from you, as well. Can you please tell it again?”

  “Mr. Dumont! I told you she wouldn’t handle well explaining same things again.” Xander snapped but Fabien didn’t even flinched at his outburst.

  “I understand your concern, Mr. Vincent. But this is required for what I’m doing. I need to listen to the story from the first person,” he answered calmly.

  “Xander, it’s okay. I’m okay,” I assured him and though he didn’t seem convinced, I sat down to the loveseat on the opposite of Fabien.

  “Flame.” Xander protested. I would gladly accept the pain if that might bring me my sister.

  “I want to do this,” I told him with determination and he only sighed as an answer. It was clear he wasn’t happy with my decision, though.

  An hour later and I’d told Fabien the story a few times, from different perspectives and answered all his questions. After the first round of re-telling everything, my voice became robotic. My tears froze on my cheeks.

  There was one thing I was sure of—Fabien was good at his job. He asked lot of questions even the police didn’t bother to ask. He took notes as I told him everything again and again.

  “Xander, you’re keeping her all to yourself, asshole?” Alex barged into the room without a knock. His playful grin froze on his face when he saw my stiff posture and the stranger in the room.

  “Shit,” he breathed out.

  “Fabien Dumont is the investigator, brother.” Xander said in a clipped voice. I didn’t have to look back to know that he was furious.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Dumont. I’m Alex. Sorry for the interruption.” he said totally unaware of Xander’s anger or he was ignoring it, I wasn’t sure.

  “Same here, Mr. Vincent.” Fabien answered shortly with a nod. His mohawk style hair was distracting.

  “Dawn, do you need anything babe?” Alex turned his attention to me, acting like Xander wasn’t in the room.

  “No, Alex. I’m good, thank you.” He looked so cute when he was guilty.

  “After this meeting, can you stop by my office to share your thoughts about the photos?”

  “I’ll be there,” I answered him with a smile and he got out of the room without a second glance at Xander.

  “Cocky bastard,” I heard Xander say under his breath but I didn’t turn to look at him.

  “We are almost done, Miss Darcia. As I said earlier, I want you to call your friend to ask for your sister’s last photos. Will you go to the club, tomorrow?” Fabien said.

  “No, she will not.” Xander answered matter-of-factly.

  “What? Of course I’ll go, Xander.”

  “You’re saying someone is responsible for your sister’s absence and you want me to let you go there?” Xander asked sharply.

  “I didn’t ask for your permission.”

  “It is dangerous in that damn club, Flame.” Xander told me calmly. He was controlling his frustration. But I wouldn’t take a step back about my decision.

  “I won’t give up just because I may be in danger. I’m working in the club. I have so much access that could help me find Angel.”

  “Actually... I think, Miss Darcia is right, Mr. Vincent. I want to go to the club with her so I can make some observation. I remember you said the club is private. I’ll need Miss Darcia to be my reference.” Fabien said.

  The air in the room was charged with tension more each second passed with Xander’s silence. Fabien waited for Xander’s approval. Even though I didn’t need his permission, I wanted him to be on my side, too.

  “Okay, Flame. Call that police friend of yours. I’ll talk other details with Mr. Dumont.” Xander dismissed me. He didn’t like that I won or had the last word but I didn’t care about his grumpiness while enjoying this little victory.

  As I walked toward Alex’s studio, my stomach growled. I knew I had to eat something but I didn’t feel like it.

  Instead, I dialed Kevin’s number before I got to the studio. Pacing back and forth in the hall I was annoyed that the line went to voice mail.

  “Kevin. It’s me, Dawn. I need your help. Call me as soon as possible,” I said after the message tone and ended the call.

  When I got into the studio Alex He was too busy with whatever he was doing on his computer to notice me. I liked watching him work. He was focused on the screen. His tongue was popped out and he was biting it with deep concentration.

  He managed to look cute even when he was deeply involved in his work.

  “You really love what you do, don’t you?” I asked leaning back to the wall.

  He lifted his head with surprise and his usual grin found its place on his face.

  “Yes. I do love it. Come and sit here,” he motioned to his desk.

  “When I was seven, my mom gave me a Polaroid camera. She told me not to miss the life but try to see everything from a different perspective. And ever since I’ve been taking photos. I don’t think my mom meant for me to take photos of naked women but…well, everything doesn’t happen the way we want it to, right?” he shrugged with a smile on his face.

  “That is a great gift for a seven year old boy. Your mom sounds pretty cool. Does she know about your profession now?” I asked.

  “Of course she does. She supports me, but it is a little weird to talk with your mother about a woman’s body and its art.” Alex chuckled and popped a cookie into his mouth.

  “Can I see the photos?” I asked and grabbed a cookie from his plate.

  “Hey! If you eat my cookie I eat yours,” he wiggled his eyebrows.

  “I’m hungry and please don’t make jokes, okay? I don’t lik
e you when you make jokes.”

  “You like me either way,” he sent me a kiss.

  “Alex…photos?” I rolled my eyes at him.

  “Yeah, yeah…sure. I’m still working on them. But I already have a few flawless photos I want to use at the exhibition,” he told me and turned the computer screen toward me.

  “A few? You took…like hundreds of pictures.”

  “Yeah. I took over two hundred photos but I have to choose the bests of the bests. So today, I have less than ten photos. But I’ll show you all the good ones.”

  In the next hour, I looked at the pictures again and again. He was a magician with that camera. Some photos were black and white, some of them were focused on my hair, some were like a rainbow and some looked untouched.

  “Alex, I love them. You’ve done…Wow. Great! If I didn’t know I’d think these were from a totally different photo shoot,” I praised him.

  “Thank you. You’re natural. See, how your body curled seductively? See this photo? You’re just standing but it looks so hot.” Alex said while showing a few photos.

  To be honest, I liked what I saw in those pictures.

  “I think, I like being your model.”

  “Good, because I really want you to be my model for a long time.” Alex said and moved his chair to sit between my legs.

  “I’m nervous to let you down. What if as I focus on Angel, I wouldn’t make the photos look the way you want them? What if I cannot get in the mood? What if I won’t be able to spare enough time for you? This is so important to you, Alex. I don’t want to ruin it.” I didn’t want to bring him down because of my problems.

  “Hey, don’t stress yourself over it, okay? We have enough time, so I think we can make it but if we cannot…Well, I don’t care. Your sister is so much important than any exhibitions.” Alex kissed the back of my hand. He was so caring and cute. I didn’t want to disappoint him.

  “Your exhibition is in two months, right?” I asked. I tried to see if we could really make it on time. Tried to think possible mistakes I could make.

  “Yes,” he answered, grabbed the small camera from his desk and stood up from his chair.

  “What if-” I stopped in the middle of my question, with a frown on my face, when Alex started to click his camera.

  “What are you doing?” I asked confused.

  He didn’t answer my question. He smiled and continued to take my photos instead. I didn’t know what to do. Should I have posed?

  I just sat there and watched him walk around me with a smile on my face. Out of the blue, he started to tickle me and I shrieked. He didn’t stop taking photos even then. After a few more clicks, he stood in front of me and lifted my hand to his lips. He didn’t lose eye contact with me and I was fully aware of the camera waiting near my face.

  His lips found its way from my knuckles to my forearm and to my shoulder. He peppered my arm with kisses and caused goosebumps break out on my skin. All the while he took pictures of my face. I let my head fall back with the tingling sensation and he abruptly sat back down in his chair.

  “Hmm. What?” I murmured with the sudden loss of his lips.

  “Think of these photo shoots as something fun to distract yourself from stress. It’s to ease your nerves, to make you feel better and to have fun. Deal?” Alex told me while caressing my legs.

  He set my mind at ease in a few minutes and I realized that was exactly what I needed.

  I smiled and kissed his cheek before answering.

  “Okay-” I started but when my phone rang I jumped from the desk to answer it.

  “Kevin, I need your help.”

  “Whoa, Dawn! Calm down.” Kevin said with his usual cocky way.

  “Kevin, this is serious.” Alex was pointing me to put it on speaker but I couldn’t trust Kevin to talk appropriately. I shook my head and smiled to reassure him.

  “Okay, okay. I’m listening.” His voice was slightly more serious.

  “Look, I’ll send you an e-mail that includes names. Can you do a background check on them?” I asked. I knew Fabien would be searching but Kevin might have reached the information faster. It wouldn’t be as detailed as Fabien’s but at least I may have had something to work with. That was what I hoped, anyway.

  “I am police, Dawn. Of course I can do that but why do you need it?”

  “It is something I need for my project. Please, Kevin,” I said without giving him further detail.

  “Dawn…I’m using my job on your behalf, you know that, right?” he said arrogantly.

  “I know, Kevin. You’re the best. Will you do that again, for me?” I asked him sweetly.

  “Okay, Dawny. Tell me what you need again,” he sighed.

  “As I said, I need a background check. Make it detailed, please. And I need one more thing. I heard that Angel had sent me some photos before she…umm, disappeared. The police has got that as evidence. Since the case is closed, can you give those photos to me?” I told him.

  “What? No, the case isn’t closed-it is cold case, there is a big difference. I cannot steal any evidence, Dawn. And are you still thinking she’s alive? Don’t be naïve,” he exclaimed.

  I ignored his question about my belief in Angel’s well-being and focused on having the photos.

  “The case is closed, Kevin. They don’t mean anything to the police but they mean so much to me. Please, Kevin…” I begged him.

  “You need to come to the department. I cannot give them to you, but you can copy them without anyone seeing.” Kevin sighed.

  “Thank you, Kevin. Thank you so much. Yeah, I’ll come in a few hours.”

  “But you owe me, Dawny. You know that, right, beautiful?”

  He was making me sick.

  “I know, Kevin. Thank you. I’ll send you the e-mail in a few minutes. Please, make it detailed okay? It is so important to me,” I said one last time.

  “Have I ever done a bad job, Dawny? Consider it done. Just send me the names as soon as possible.”

  “Thanks, Kevin. Talk to you later. I’ll come today. Bye,” I said and ended the call.

  Alex was frowning when I sat back on his desk.

  “Is everything okay?” Alex said.

  “Yeah…Yeah. I just need to go to the department today. Can I use your computer to send an email?”

  “Sure. Do whatever you want.” Alex said and leaned back on his chair.

  When I was done, I sighed. A smile appeared on my face.

  “What? Why are you smiling?” Alex asked but he was also smiling.

  I kissed him on his cheek and answered with a smile.

  “I’m one step closer finding Angel.”

  I wished to find my sister, not bad news about her.

  “I’m starving! Is there any food in this house?” I asked Alex.

  “I’m hungry, too. Let’s go to the kitchen. Is Xander still home?” Alex asked and opened the studio’s door for me.

  “He was still in his study when I came here. He said he needed to talk some details with the investigator,” I replied.

  “I’m so sorry I barged in like that earlier, Dawn. I didn’t want to embarrass you in front of a stranger,” he said sincerely.

  “It’s okay and I’m not embarrassed by being with you two. I mean, it’s my business and I don’t care what anyone will think about it,” I answered him.

  I knew my choice wasn’t appropriate for common sense but I liked the two of them. They were like the missing puzzle pieces in my life. Alex was the sweet, caring, playful, colorful piece of it while Xander was the domineering, intense, brooding and grey part. I knew I couldn’t separate the two of them even if I wanted to.

  A delicious scent filled the air, made my stomach growl as we strolled down the hallway.

  “Do you have a housekeeper? Who’s preparing the breakfast? It smells divine!” I turned to look at Alex.

  “We have Stacey who takes care of our home and prepares dinner for us. But she generally doesn’t make breakfast.” Alex explained.
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  “Why?” I asked him.

  “Because I prepare breakfasts, Flame,” Xander answered my question.

  My mouth went dry with the vision before me. Xander was like a GQ model while leaning against the doorframe in only his black sweatpants. I’d seen him only in suits or naked but even in sweatpants he looked so in control, powerful…like he was about to give a briefing in a meeting. It wasn’t fair.

  I was getting used to his way of showing up in the conversations by now. I passed him to step into the kitchen without a second glance to his way. Mostly because as much as he looked serious, he was also dangerously sexy in his sweatpants. I wanted to yank those pants down and feel him deep in my throat.

  I swallowed and focused on my stomach instead of my pussy.

  The table was full of everything: pancakes, bacon and omelets, different kind of syrups, fruits and nuts.

  My stomach growled, again, in a disgraceful way and my mouth watered like I was starving to death for days because of the view.

  “Wait a moment, did you prepare all these things? No one helped you?” I asked him shocked.

  “Don’t question him, gorgeous. He has a secret talent for cooking breakfast. He sucks at dinner, though.” Alex explained and sat one of the chairs at the table.

  “I have so many talents on different subjects, brother,” Xander said arrogantly.

  “Eat your breakfast then, you’ll take a shower with me,” Xander said to me in a matter-of-factly as he poured a glass of coffee.

  “I need to go out after breakfast. I don’t want to take a shower,” I protested.

  “Where do you need to go?”

  “To the police station. Kevin, my police friend, will give me the Angel’s photos. And then, I’ll stop by my house to change my clothes. Thanks for all that you’ve bought, by the way. But they are too much. Anyway…after home, I need to go to the gym.”

  As soon as I felt like a teenager who was trying to get a permission from her parents I stopped myself.

  “Why am I giving you a report, remind me, please?” I asked sarcastically.

  He rolled his sapphire blue eyes to my question and simply ignored it.

  “You didn’t take a shower after your play with Alex and I can still smell your arousal. You won’t go anywhere like that,” he said like I didn’t say anything, at all.