Vanilla and Vice (Empire Sevens Book 1)

by Tabatha Vargo

  “You shouldn’t be rude to someone trying to help you.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled, ignoring the sudden thump in my chest. “I was taught not to talk to strangers.”

  He chuckled. “Strangers, huh? I can take care of that problem. We could get to know each other real good, real fast.”

  His words turned my empty stomach once again, and I held back the urge to gag.

  “The lady said she was good.”

  Another deep voice sounded, surprising both the unwanted intruder pretending to help and me.

  I turned my head toward the newcomer, and my breath caught. Saliva pooled in my mouth as my eyes moved over the gorgeous stranger. I swallowed before I drowned myself and watched quietly as the drifter turned and faced the gorgeous stranger with foolish determination.

  “And who are you? Her bodyguard?”

  The new stranger grinned down at him, but there was nothing friendly about his grin.

  “I’m someone who rarely gives warnings and doesn’t fucking repeat himself.”

  The foul smelling man stood, facing the handsome newcomer. My heart was still pounding as my eyes moved back and forth between them. I’d never been in a situation like this, and I had no idea what to do other than sit here.

  Seconds passed before he lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “Your loss, doll face.” With the flick of his cigarette, he left.

  I slumped against the car, my head falling back as the ability to breathe became easier again.

  “Do you need me to call someone to haul this piece of shit away?”

  Remembering I wasn’t alone, I lifted my head, squinting against the sun.

  Once again, I was struck by how good looking he was. His dark jeans fit with perfection, and the white button-up looked like it had been custom made for him. He had left the top few buttons undone, and his chest was bare and tanned. His dark hair was cut and styled, and my only complaint was the sunglasses that covered his eyes.

  His mouth tilted into a grin, this one much friendlier, and I realized I was still staring at him. My cheeks burned, and I hoped he thought it was from the sun.

  “This piece of shit is just out of gas. I’ll be fine, thank you.”

  “Suit yourself, but I only feel like I must warn you that guy wasn’t the only one of his kind. There will be more like him.”

  I bit my lip, and my eyes shifted around me.

  “Look, I can give you a lift somewhere? Where were you headed?”

  While I didn’t get the same creepy vibe from him as I had from the other guy, he was still a stranger, and I didn’t know how much I could trust him. Just because he was gorgeous didn’t mean he wasn’t a serial killer.

  I sighed, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders once again before I finally answered him. “I’m headed to Empire Sevens. It’s a—”

  “I know what it is.” He cut me off. “It’s only a few minutes from here. What business do you have at Empire Sevens?”

  He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Working one free, he put it to his lips and lit it with a golden Zippo.

  “My aunt works there.”

  “Who’s your aunt?” He took a long pull from his cigarette before letting the smoke free in the air around him.

  He made the simple act look incredibly sexy when I had just found smoking disgusting only minutes before.

  “Her name’s Kennedy.”

  “No shit? Kennedy Vaughn?” The shock was apparent in his tone.

  “Yes. Do you know Kennedy?”

  He chuckled a bit, the sound deep and smooth before he leveled me with a sexy smirk. “I know her.”

  I’m not sure what it was about him. Maybe it was his no-nonsense attitude, but I believed him. It made accepting his offer for a ride much easier.

  “Could you take me there?”

  He nodded as he tossed his smoke to the ground and put it out with his shoe.

  “My car’s over there.” He pointed off to the side. “First, let’s move this piece of shit out of the way.” He rolled up his sleeves, his tan arms shining in the sun as he moved toward me. “You steer, and I push, deal?”

  I nodded.

  It took no time at all for him to push the heavy car out of the way and into the empty parking spot where I steered it to.

  Rolling up the window, I locked the car and turned toward the handsome stranger. It was only then I realized I was about to get a ride from a person without even knowing his name.

  “What’s your name?” I asked.

  “My name?”

  “Yes… unless you want me to keep referring to you as the helpful stranger.”

  He grinned. “When have you referred to me as the helpful stranger?”

  “In my head.” I tapped the side of my head and attempted a friendly smile.

  “My name’s Kade King. And you are?”

  Of course.

  Even his name was attractive.

  “Eden.”

  “Nice to meet you, Eden. Now, are you ready?”

  I nodded, tucking a piece of sweaty hair behind my ear and wishing I had a hair tie to pull its weight off the back of my neck. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

  “Good, but first, coffee.”

  Following him into the air-conditioned coffee shop, I sighed in relief. The vent above the front door blasted each newcomer with cool air, welcoming them inside and away from the heat.

  “Want something?” he asked when we reached the counter.

  My stomach rumbled with just the thought of coffee, but still, I couldn’t accept his kind offer.

  “No, thank you.”

  I stared at the muffins and breakfast sandwiches behind the glass while we waited for his cup of coffee. Once they called his name and he got his cup, we were on our way.

  I followed him to his parked car just outside the coffee shop, and my eyes went wide when he pressed the unlock button on his key fob, and the lights on a black Lamborghini flickered when the alarm chirped.

  “You’re not serious with this?” I said, backing away from the expensive car. I was too afraid to touch it, much less ride in it.

  “What do you mean?” he asked, looking around confused. I could see the reflection of my surprised expression in his shades.

  “You drive a Lamborghini?”

  He laughed, his head going back and his perfect teeth showing. “Yes. Hop in.”

  I stared at the door, unsure of how to open it, and again, he chuckled before jogging around the car and opening my door for me. The door lifted, and he tapped the edge of the door as I slid into the seat. Once I settled, he pushed the door closed.

  After sliding inside, he lifted a red thing in the center console and pushed a button, making the pricey engine roar to life. I had never seen a car so expensive, much less ridden in one, but it was beautiful, and the sound it made was incredible.

  “This is crazy,” I said, giggling when he peeled out of the parking lot.

  He didn’t respond.

  Instead, he looked over and grinned before turning his attention back to the road.

  I wasn’t sure if it was the speed of his car or what, but it seemed we were seconds from the casino where my aunt Kennedy worked. Honestly, I could have walked there in less than thirty minutes. After realizing how close I was to making it on my own, I felt a little foolish for asking for a ride.

  The place was enormous, towering over the other hotels and casinos around it. The building was a massive green castle reminding me of Emerald City on The Wizard of Oz. The stories of the building stretched to the sky, windows of green-tinted glass dotting each floor providing a view from what I assumed were the hotel rooms.

  A grand sign centered on the building, glittering with green and gold neon, let everyone know where they were.

  Empire Sevens Casino and Resort.

  He started toward the parking garage as if he would stay with me, and I stopped him.

  “You don’t have to park. You can drop me off at the f
ront.”

  He didn’t respond as he made his way toward the front of the casino, but instead of pulling into the parking garage, he pulled up to the front doors.

  A valet opened my door, but as I was about to climb out, Kade put the car in park and got out, as well. He handed his keys to another valet before he joined me on the passenger’s side.

  I frowned, looking over at him. “What are you doing? You don’t have to come inside.”

  He shook his head, again pinning me with one of his sexy grins. “Yeah, I kinda do.”

  Then he finally pulled off his sunglasses, and I was able to see his eyes. They were the color of pure gold, and against his tanned skin, they glowed from within.

  Kade King was beautiful, and he knew it.

  I let him usher me toward the giant revolving door at the building’s entrance, but before we entered, a thought crossed my mind.

  “Do you work here or something?”

  He smirked. “Or something.”

  He was pulling on a suit jacket with one hand and holding his coffee cup in the other. “Come on. Your aunt should already be busy bossing everyone around.”

  I followed him through the lobby of the casino, feeling as if I were inside a green bottle. Everything was glass trimmed in gold. It was by far the most luxurious place I had ever seen.

  Women in short skirts and heels followed Kade with their eyes, biting their lips like he was a piece of something sweet they wanted to sink their teeth into. I looked up at his expression, and he had this cocky and confident air about him as he walked through. The set in his square jaw, the laser focus, gave them something to watch, to remember.

  We stopped at a door at the back of the lobby that I almost didn’t notice. It was green as well and blended in with the walls.

  Kade pulled out what looked like a credit card and waved it in front of a black box next to the door. A clicking noise sounded, then he reached out and pulled the door open. Once inside, the sounds of the casino and lobby disappeared, and everything went silent.

  Finally, a familiar voice sounded.

  “It’s about time you got here, Kade. What took you so fucking long? With Zander on vacation, I need you to arrive on time, or else I’m going to …” She stopped when she spun around and saw me standing beside Kade.

  Her eyes went wide, and her mouth popped open in surprise.

  I’d never been so happy to see my aunt Kennedy.

  “I was busy saving your niece’s ass, and I’d appreciate a thank you,” he said before he fell into a large leather chair and propped his feet on the desk she was standing behind.

  She swatted his feet off her desk. “Fuck you very much, Kade,” she said before turning her attention back to me.

  “I can’t believe it’s you.” She moved around her desk and started toward me, but before she reached me, she stopped. “Wait. Is everything okay?” she asked, worry pulling at her perfectly shaped brows.

  Kennedy was a younger, shorter version of my mother. She was once blond, as well, but had opted to dye her hair red over the years.

  It looked nice.

  The red made her blue eyes pop. She was curvy, carrying a tiny bit more weight around than her tall and slender sister, but she wore it well and dressed just right to show off all the essential parts.

  When I was younger, she had always been a jeans and T-shirt kind of girl, but seeing her now, surrounded by the lavish hotel and wearing a sharp white pants suit, I knew the girl she used to be was long gone.

  Kennedy Vaughn was all business now, and it fit her perfectly. She was a magician with numbers and smarter than anyone else I had ever known. “Eden?” she pushed when I took too long to respond.

  I shook my head, feeling tears push at the back of my eyes. I had never felt so much relief in all my life. “No. Everything’s not okay, but it will be.”

  “What do you need? Name it, and I’ll take care of it.”

  Kennedy had always been a ball buster. She was always the one to take charge of every situation even though she was younger than my mother. I had a feeling she would help me if I ran to her, but hearing her offer of help lifted the extra weight off my shoulders.

  “I need to have my car towed, a place to crash for a bit, and I need a job. I’ll take care of the rest,” I said.

  She nodded. “Done and done,” she said before turning toward Kade once again. “Kade, say hello to your newest waitress. Keep your hands to yourself, or I’ll break your fingers. Got it?”

  He chuckled and held his hands up palms out.

  “Got it, but it’s not me you’ll have to worry about,” he said, his eyes dipping over my legs before moving up over my stomach. “She looks like an angel. Innocence isn’t my thing, but we’ll have hell to pay once he gets back.”

  I had no idea what they were talking about, or who he was, and honestly, I didn’t care. I just knew I had a place to stay and a job. The rest would hopefully fall into place. With Kennedy on my side, I had a feeling everything was finally going to be okay.

  3

  ZANDER

  HALE

  “HOW WAS YOUR vacation?” Dr. Dempson asked. She pulled her thin framed glasses from her face and rubbed at the bridge of her nose before replacing them. “Did you have any… issues?”

  Issues meaning sexual urges and or the need to stick my cock in the closest attractive woman.

  What could I say?

  It was a sickness.

  An honest to God disease with no real cure.

  Fornication in all forms was my thing. I was addicted to sexy women and the things their bodies were capable of. I was addicted to the release—the rise and the fall of a fantastic orgasm. The way my body responded and the high afterward.

  Oral sex.

  Several positions.

  Domination.

  When it came to me, it was more likely to be all three.

  I hadn’t always been an addict. I could remember being an ordinary guy who enjoyed a healthy sexual appetite.

  Missionary.

  Doggy style.

  No blindfolds.

  Nothing even remotely exciting when I think about it.

  Then one night during a drunken party, I smoked a little too much weed and suppressed memories of when I was a young boy surged forward and left me entirely fucked up.

  I had forgotten all about my mother’s young boyfriend and the things he used to do me, but all it took was my first taste of drugs and a makeout session with a girl to remember. The memories came rushing over me like a disgusting wave of guilt and shame.

  You would think memories like those would turn a person away from sex, but that was not what happened. Those memories needed to be erased, and the only way to do that was to replace them with pleasure.

  So that was what I tried to do.

  Repeatedly.

  With many women.

  And many times.

  My tastes were unique and sometimes involved a certain amount of pain for my partner, but it felt terrific to lash out. And it seemed the more I played, the more he went away.

  For years, I felt guilty over the sick sexual desires I housed until finally, I was old enough to act on them. I did all the twisted things I longed to do, and I did them well.

  Women were everywhere.

  Sucking me.

  Fucking me.

  Letting me control them and their bodies, maneuvering them how I wanted.

  It was perfection.

  Until it wasn’t.

  Until I woke up hungover next to a dead girl and only the memory was of her saying no to sex with me the night before.

  I left her there, her eyes still open and staring accusingly at me, and I swore at that moment I would get help. I swore I wouldn’t so much as touch my cock, much less act on my depraved desires. And I moved on, not thinking about the dead girl and what happened again.

  The truth was, after that moment, I was a fucking mess. Throwing myself into all the Empire Sevens and suffocating my pasts and all the dark p
arts of it, I kept myself too busy to think.

  But thanks to Diane Dempson and her expensive psychology degree hanging on the wall behind her, I was still a sex addict with sick and twisted desires. I was just one who didn’t act on his urges anymore. I hadn’t in six months, and while you would think I would be going fucking out of my mind, dying to stick my dick in the nearest wet hole, I was doing well.

  Not great, but I was dealing.

  “No issues,” I answered. “And it wasn’t a vacation. It was a business trip.”

  I wouldn’t call a meeting with business partners in New York a vacation. It was still work. It was just working in a different city.

  “There was no mixing business and pleasure on this trip?”

  “None.”

  “And what about masturbation? Are we still holding out there, as well?”

  I nodded, not feeling even a shred of embarrassment. “Yes. Cold turkey is the only way.”

  She scribbled in her notebook. “We’ve talked about this before. Masturbation is healthy, Zander. Don’t torture yourself any more than you need to.”

  I nodded, understanding her words, but knew deep in my core the only way I would remain clean was to keep my hands off my dick.

  I hadn’t been to a session with Dr. Dempson in two months. With everything I had going on at Empire Sevens, the casino and resort I was part owner of, I hadn’t had time. Thankfully, I didn’t feel like I needed a meeting, but one of Dr. Dempson’s rules was if you wanted to remain a patient of hers, you had to show your face at least once every three months.

  I never followed anyone’s rules, but I trusted her, so I went along with what she required of me.

  So instead of getting off the plane and going straight home to my penthouse suite at Empire Sevens and doing something like relaxing, I took a car to visit my shrink and then shopped for new real estate since Kade and I were considering opening another casino on the opposite side of The Strip.

  I had been away from Empire Sevens for over a week, and already, the urge to jump back into work was beating against my back. It was my way of staying in control. If I was working, I wasn’t thinking about how badly I wanted to sink my cock into one of our patrons.