Page 92 of His To Claim
“Rule number two, the mistress hates it when you’re late,” hesays with a wicked grin as his gaze roams over my body. I smile faintly, pulling my arm away.
They point me toward the employee entrance, a large metal door with a bright red handle which to my surprise opens easily when I tug. I would have expected it to be locked.
Inside the building is dark and I can hear loud music blaring from the speakers above. Bright lights flicker in the distance, the walls practically vibrating from the loud bass. The smell of smoke and liquor exudes through the walls, a cloud of smoke floating around the space like a thick fog.
Holy shit, this is some type of nightclub. Heading down a long corridor, hoping to find some stairs to take me to the top floor since I think I’ve entered through the basement of the building, a door to my left suddenly opens, startling me. A tall woman dressed in a long red dress appears, her hair a deep burgundy red combed up into a high ponytail, and heavy makeup flawlessly highlighting dark blue eyes which glare furiously at me.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” she shouts, both hands planted on her waist. “And why the fuck are you not dressed? Your shift starts in less than ten minutes so get in and get ready.”
I nod and follow her into the room she’s walked out of. Inside there are various changing stations with mirrored vanities all around. The room is filled with about fifteen girls all dressed in the tiniest pieces of lingerie I’ve ever seen, their hair and makeup flawlessly done.What kind of place is this?
“Cruz,” the woman shouts. “I found one of your girls out here wandering the halls. She’s not dressed and not ready. Get your ass over here and fix her before I fire her.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Lacey,” a man says as appears from behind a long black curtain.
“You know the mistress hates tardiness and unprofessionalism,” Lacey, as he’s called her, says, turning to me and glaring like I’ve just done the worst thing. For a moment her eyes zero in on me as she watches me meticulously before turningback to the man in front of her, whom I assume is Cruz, dressed in a sequined dark blue suit. “And this chick doesn’t even look like she came prepared. I swear, where are you finding these girls? They weren’t like this in my days,” Lacey sneers.
“That’s because those girls are all married to Fortune five hundred billionaires, and have a litter of children they send off to boarding schools so they can travel the world and spend their days and nights at the country club having love affairs with the pool boys.”
She glares at him and walks away toward another group of girls getting dressed.
Cruz chuckles at her annoyance. “Don’t mind her, she’s just bitter that you’re a brand new, shiny toy, and she’s a chewed up, old squeak toy that’s had one too many squeezes if you know what I mean,” he says with a wink. “What’s your name, darling?”
“I’m,” I’m about to give him my real name but decide against it. I don’t want Ace to find out I followed him, and frankly this place gives me all sorts of skeevy vibes. “Serena,” I say, opting to use my middle name instead.
“Well, Serena, I assume it’s your first day, and you didn’t bring any supplies?” he asks, and I shake my head, answering no. “Why don’t I remember hiring you? A beautiful face like yours I’d never forget.”
“Actually,” I am about to confess I don’t really work here when Lacey calls out that we have five minutes till showtime.
“Never mind, we need to get you dressed and ready to go out there. Here, let me choose something for you and I’ll help you put some makeup on.”
Cruz leads me over to a large clothing rack filled with various dresses in all shades and other smaller lingerie looking outfits. The fabrics are luxurious, embroidered with beads in all original designs.
“Here, put this on,” he says, handing me a dark blue lacebodysuit with the sides cut out and just small patches covering the goods. The neckline cuts low, and the back is non-existent.
“I can’t wear this,” I say nervously.
“Of course you can, it will accentuate those beautiful blue eyes of yours and that killer body, now hurry, we don’t have much time.”
I see no other way of finding out why Ace is here, so I quickly change into the outfit and walk back out toward the vanity Cruz is standing by.
“Oh wow, you look ravishing. Way better than I was expecting. They’re gonna love you.” He pauses and gives himself a pat on the back. “I'm getting that holiday bonus.” I eye him curiously not understanding what he means, but he pulls me and sits me in a chair in front of the mirror. “I’m just gonna add a bit of makeup, you’re already drop dead gorgeous and unlike most of the girls here, you don’t need all this paint to make you beautiful. I think we can play off your innocence. They’ll love it.”
“Wait, what?” I blurt out, but he ignores me. He quickly applies the makeup, and twirls some soft curls in my hair, a few loose tendrils frame my face.
“One-minute, girls,” Lacey shouts again as she exits through a curtain hiding a staircase, I assume leads to the entrance of the club.
“Okay, last step, your shoes.” He hands me a pair of knee-length, high-heeled boots in a matte black color. They are at least five inches high and look almost impossible to walk in. Luckily, I’ve had some practice since coming here, attending the Saints and Sinners party and the Hallows Eve Masquerade. I quickly slip them on, stumbling a bit as Cruz pulls me toward the rest of the girls.
“Wait, Cruz, what am I supposed to do?” I shout as I’m guided up the stairs.
“Give them hell, darling, and a little shimmy,” he says before disappearing beneath the curtain.
The girls and I walk in a straight line up the stairs and toward another metal door I assume leads into the club. As we walk through the metal door, we reach another room, this one resembling a stage behind another dark curtain.
The music is rumbling through the room and I can see light flashing above. The club must be just behind the curtains.
They separated us into groups of three and sent us to separate parts of the stage. I’m paired with two girls both with dark brown hair, one in a pink halter two-piece ensemble, the other in a green strapless bodysuit. Looking closer at them I notice they’re identical twins.