Arranged love

EMILEE

IT’S BEEN A week since I found The Palace. I’ve been trying to talk Titan into taking me back, but he’s not having it. I haven’t gotten to see him much since then actually because he’s been crazy busy. He gets to the Royal Suite late and leaves early. If I was paranoid, I’d say he’s ignoring me on purpose after the conversation we had that morning in the bed at The Palace. How he had feelings for me, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk away from him if I had slept with him. Good thing I’m not.

This morning, I decided to go downstairs and get breakfast instead of ordering room service. And I called up the girls, so Jasmine and Haven both sit across from me at the buffet. We’re waiting on our food when I see the blonde from the other day walk into the restaurant. “Sandy?” I call out.

She turns to look at me and smiles. I’m guessing she remembers me.

“Who the fuck is Sandy?” Jasmine asks, looking over her shoulder to where I am.

“A queen,” I answer.

“Oh.” Her eyes light up.

“Hi.” Sandy comes up to our table. “Em, is it?”

“It’s Emilee, but you can call me Em.” I reach out and shake her hand. “This is Jasmine and Haven. My best friends.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Em. Jasmine and Haven.” She nods to each of them.

“You too,” I say, scooting over to allow her to sit down next to me. I’m curious about her, and Titan isn’t going to tell me anything.

“So you’re a queen?” Jasmine comes out and asks.

“Yep.” She nods.

“Did you guys do a job together?” Jasmine wags her eyebrows.

I roll my eyes.

“No. I saw her in The Palace the other day,” I inform her.

Her green eyes widen at that. “No way.”

I nod.

“Was that your first time there?” Sandy asks me.

“Yes.”

“Is it what you thought it was going to be?” she asks.

“Well …” I’m not sure how to answer that since I didn’t really have any expectations, considering I didn’t know that it existed.

“I’ve been in there three times,” Sandy adds at my silence. As if she gave me info, I’d give her some.

“Three times?” Jasmine asks, all but salivating. “What’s it like?”

She shrugs. “Like anything else. But some were better than others.”

“What is The Palace?” Haven asks finally speaking. She’s been typing away on her phone most of our breakfast. As always, Nite stands over in the corner like a statue with his eyes on the room the entire time. He’s become our fourth wheel who doesn’t mind being alone. A part of me feels bad for him and how uneventful his life must be.

“A sex dungeon,” Jasmine answers, waving Haven off. Deeply invested in whatever Sandy has to say. “Have you used the cage under the bed?”

Jasmine and I haven’t exchanged Queen stories, but she’s obviously been in the room to know about the hardware.

“Cage?” Haven swallows, her eyes growing bigger. Her full attention now on us. She even puts her phone on the table.

“Yep,” she answers Jasmine, ignoring Haven.

“Oh, come on. Don’t leave us hanging,” Jasmine begs.

Sandy gives a soft laugh before she takes a drink of my water. “This one guy ordered me under the bed. Followed me, where he tied me up spread eagle and put a ball gag in my mouth. Then he went into the bathroom, going along with his nightly routine. Once done, got naked, crawled into bed and proceeded to FaceTime his wife.”

“No way.” Jasmine laughs.

Haven looks like she’s seen a ghost. All the color has drained from her face. I bite my lip to hide my laughter.

“Oh, yeah,” Sandy goes on. “She asked how Atlanta was. He made up this elaborate meeting that kept him late at the office and then proceeded to have phone sex with her.”

“Holy shit,” I say.

“What did you do?” Jasmine asks, placing her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand.

“I got wet as fuck.” Sandy laughs.

I sit back in my seat. “What does that do for a guy?” Why would he hire Sandy for a night and then spend ten grand on a room just to call his wife? That doesn’t make any sense to me.

“I don’t know. I have this one client who dresses as a dog. Like has a full-on Halloween costume. And I pull him around the room with a collar.” Sandy shrugs. “Not sure what he gets from that other than hard. He does me doggie style and barks as he comes.”

“Do you get off on that?” I ask curious. I know some people are into some weird kinks, but that?

“Fuck no.” She bursts out laughing. “But I do go home and roll around in the cash it pays me.” She gives me a big smile.

“Why would you guys do this?” Haven asks, shaking her head.

Jasmine turns to look at her. “Ever heard that saying, find what you love most and have someone pay you to do it?”

Haven shakes her head. “I don’t think that’s exactly how it goes.”

Sandy and I laugh.

“But you’ve always had an addictive personality,” Haven adds.

Jasmine places her hand over her heart and gasps as if she’s been insulted. “Are you calling me a nympho?”

Haven nods quickly. “An addict would be more like it. Sex, gambling, alcohol …” She pauses. “Anything you try once, you can never get enough of.”

Jasmine laughs it off, but I don’t miss her looking over at Nite before averting her eyes. And I wonder if he’s her newest addiction. Because Haven wasn’t lying.

TITAN

“What are we going to do about it?” I ask Luca as we walk through the casino.

He places his hands in the pockets of his black slacks, releasing a sigh. “At this point, there is not much we can do.”

That’s what I feared. But that’s not where I stop. “Dig deeper.”

We enter the buffet, and I see the girls sitting at their booth. Luca stops to speak to Nite at the door, but I continue my way over to them. I haven’t gotten to spend much time with her. I’ve been swamped with work. But it has given her more time to spend with her mother.

Emilee looks up to see me. She gives me a big smile. “Titan? What are you doing down here? I thought you had a meeting.”

“I did.” I grab a chair and pull it over to the end of the table. Spinning it around, I straddle it backward and place my arms across the back rest.

“Joining us for a cocktail?” Jasmine asks me.

“It’s too early for a drink,” I counter.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

“Never.” She winks at me before throwing back a Bloody Mary.

The girl has always been a heavy drinker. I look over at Em to see she has a water in front of her, as do the others.

“Hey.” Luca walks up behind the booth and kisses Haven on the head. “Ready to go?” he asks.

“Yeah.” She picks up her phone and nudges Jasmine’s shoulders for her to slide out so that Haven may leave.

Jasmine crawls out, and Luca takes Haven’s hand. “I’ll call you later, Titan.”

“Sounds good.” I wave him off, then look at Em. “You ready to go too?”

She tilts her head to the side. “Where are we going?”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Paris,” Jasmine answers.

Emilee laughs. “I think he was talking to me.”

“What happened to the more, the merrier?”

“I’ve always liked that saying.” Bones speaks as he plops down next to Jasmine.

Emilee ducks her head, but I don’t miss the smile that covers her face. This is the first time that the three of us have been together since we both slept with her. I don’t know if she’s embarrassed or just uncomfortable about the situation. But I’m not.

I hate to admit it, but I’m jealous when it comes to Emilee York. I would cut off a man’s hand if he so much as touched her. But Bones? I don’t mind it. Because I know that no matter what happens between Em and me, he would protect her with his life. And I wouldn’t even have to tell him what she means to me. He’d do it because he loves her. Even if he won’t admit it.

“Me too,” Jasmine agrees with Bones, then looks at me. “So where are you taking us?”

“I’m not taking you anywhere,” I answer.

Jasmine always was a flirt, but she’s harmless. We had sex once back in high school. I was drunk. She was high. It was a mistake that we both agreed to never repeat.

“Thought you didn’t sleep with a queen?” Sandy asks, looking at me.

The table falls silent. Sandy had overheard my conversation with Whitney in my office. When she had asked if I sampled the product.

“I don’t,” I answer, looking her in the eyes.

She frowns but drops it.

Emilee is not a queen. Not in the way Sandy sees her. Em can do as many jobs as she wants, but she’s only going to do the ones that guarantee she keeps her clothes on. Bones and I will be the only men she fucks.