by Alta Hensley
I took the folded dress from Tennessee’s outstretched arms. “Thank you. I understand why I can’t work the floor, and I don’t mind at all. I’m just happy to have a job.”
Tennessee tilted his head and crossed his arms against his chest as he studied me. “It’s none of my business, but I’m a catty bitch who loves to gossip. So dish it, girlfriend. What’s your story? I was told that your daddy used to be Alec’s business partner. Which means you come from money. A shitload of money. So why are you working here? Did Daddy cut off the sugar?”
“No,” I answered softly. “I could still have the sugar if I want. But it was time for me to get out from under his thumb and start my own life, you know?”
God, if Tennessee only knew just how much I truly needed to get away from my father’s suffocating control. Or just how badly I needed to breathe freely for the first time.
“And your daddy was okay with you working at Spiked Roses? Does he even know what this club is and what goes on here? The Tastings?” Tennessee shook his head and walked over to a shelf of black high heels. “I can’t imagine any daddy being okay with his baby girl signing a contract to engage in sexual acts with anyone.” Tennessee held up two pairs of shoes and said, “It looks like you are a size seven or eight. Which one?”
“Eight,” I answered. “And no, my father forbid The Tasting Room. That was one of his rules, and one of the rules I’m sure Uncle Alec will make sure I follow.” When Tennessee walked over and handed me the shoes, I added, “But even though I can’t do The Tastings, I promise you I won’t expect any special treatment. I plan to work harder than everyone else. And if you need me to cover shifts during The Tastings or anything, I will be completely free to do whatever you ask.”
“You don’t have to do a Tasting to work here. So don’t you worry that pretty little head of yours. That’s just where all the money is. The girls who work The Tastings make bank. Major bank. Hell, I would work them if I could.”
I hated the fact that my father placed limitations on me working here, but I was so desperate to have his blessing to move out and move to New Orleans, that I would have promised my soul to the Devil to make that happen. I didn’t want to stand out from the other women who worked the club, but I also knew that word most likely would spread fast that one of the managing members was my Uncle Alec. And as for The Tastings, I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to act in those. I had the same sexual experience as the Virgin Mary. Me going into a room that revolved around taboo, fetishes, and kinks would have been comical. I would have been laughed right out of there. I couldn’t fake my way through that. Even I knew I had limitations.
I looked toward the bathroom door, and then I looked at the dress in my hands. Tennessee must have read my thoughts.
“Go on in there and change. But trust me, missy, there ain’t nothing of yours I haven’t seen, nor do I want any part of. Titties and coochies just aren’t my thing.” He motioned for me to head over to the bathroom across the room. “Hurry up. I need to get your training started. I don’t have all night.”
Walking over to the bathroom as quickly as I could, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I couldn’t tell if Tennessee liked me or not. Living in my small little bubble in my father’s mansion made it hard for me to read people. I didn’t have social skills. I knew this. And it sucked that my anxiety was at an all-time high because I had no idea if I was starting off on the wrong or right foot with my direct supervisor.
Shutting the door behind me, I removed my clothing and got dressed in my new uniform as fast as I could. The dress—if you could call it that since it was mostly see-through red lace—was harder to put on than I’d expected. The back had a tiny zipper that got snagged on the fabric. No matter how much I tugged, I couldn’t pull it up all the way. Remembering Tennessee’s words about me not having anything he hadn’t seen, I decided that it was better to walk out to the staff room and have him assist me with the zipper rather than keeping him waiting while I fumbled around unsuccessfully.
“Tennessee?” I called as I walked out barefoot in a dress that barely covered my ass. “I can’t get this zipper up. Do you mind helping me?”
“Yeah that happens sometimes,” he said as he met me halfway. “Lower the top half so I have some slack to work with,” he directed as he walked up behind me.
I did as he asked and lowered the dress to my waist, exposing my upper half completely. There was no one in the room, and even if there were, I knew that working here would require for me to get over my bashfulness. It wasn’t like the red dress covered all that much of me to begin with. I knew for a fact that Daddy had never stepped foot into Spiked Roses. He knew all about the place, but had he actually seen what my uniform would consist of, he would have had second thoughts about allowing me to work here—Uncle Alec watching over me or not.
“These damn threads get tangled in the zipper and—”
The door of the staff room opening interrupted Tennessee. We both turned our heads to see who entered, and I gasped when I saw my uncle walk in. I instantly tried to cover my breasts with my arms, but it was too late. He had seen. I saw where his eyes were focused, and it wasn’t on my face.
“Uncle Alec…” I said with an awkward smile.
Regardless of the fact that I hid my breasts behind nothing but my arms, I was happy to see him and wanted to run and give him a big hug. It had been years since I had seen him last, but he still was the man I remembered. His brown hair now was speckled with gray along his temples, and his rich brown eyes had lines of laughter around them, but he was still the Uncle Alec of my childhood. The years had been good to him.
I also didn’t want to move because Tennessee was still tugging on the zipper, and I didn’t want to wreck any progress he had made.
Uncle Alec cleared his throat and diverted his eyes and stared off at nothing. “I need to speak with you.”
“Me?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yes. Can you get dressed please?”
“Hold on,” Tennessee said, who still worked at freeing the zipper. “Just a second and this dress will be fixed.”
“Actually, I want you to get back into regular clothes,” Alec said as he once again glanced at my chest.
“But my shift just started,” I said. “Tennessee was just about to start training me on how to be a hostess.”
“I’m not asking,” he retorted with enough bite that it felt as if he had slapped me across the face. “Now.”
Talk about a warm welcome.
Chapter Three
Alec
I was going straight to hell. I shouldn’t be looking, but fuck if I could help it. Jesus Christ she was hot. Smoking hot.
Makayla. Sweet, innocent, little Makayla.
Her perky tits with their soft pink nipples were on display before me. Like a tempting buffet just begging to be feasted upon. Her blonde bangs rested right above her big blue eyes. Like a god damn angel lost in the black world of Hades.
“Uncle Alec? I have to work… and I…”
“Makayla,” I warned. My patience was wearing thin, and the fact that her bare breasts were only a few feet away from me didn’t help the situation.
“It’s okay,” Tennessee said as he pushed her toward the bathroom. “Do as the bossman asks. He’s one of the men who signs all of our checks.” He glared at me, and I could tell he wasn’t exactly thrilled with having his training interrupted and me coming in here pulling rank, but I didn’t really give a fuck.
Makayla walked toward the bathroom, holding the barely there red lace up over her breasts. The zipper was still down and rested at the curve of her bare ass. Staring at her exposed back, her creamy white skin… what the fuck was wrong with me?
“What’s going on?” Tennessee asked.
“You’re going to need to get a new hostess. Makayla is leaving,” I said with little emotion.
“Wait, for good? As in not working at Spiked Roses?”
I nodded. “Something’s come up.”
Tennesse
e shrugged. “Your call. Do the others know? I’ll need Kenneth and Matthew to do more interviews.”
“Tell them,” I said a little harsher than I intended. “They’re meeting in about ten minutes or so. Go in and let them know I had to leave with Makayla. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
Tennessee shrugged again. “Not my inconvenience. I don’t care who works here as long as she does her job and doesn’t pull any diva shit. There’s only room for one diva, and that’s me.” He walked toward the door of the staff room and turned to look at me. “Are you all right?”
I didn’t answer but turned to see Makayla exit the bathroom in a black tank top and blue jeans with the red dress in her hands. Tennessee didn’t wait around for an answer, but left instead. I liked the man. He knew how to read cues and always knew when he should exit stage left without a word.
“What’s going on?” Makayla asked. She walked over to where dresses and leotards hung and placed her dress back on the hanger.
“We need to talk.”
“Clearly,” she said as she looked at me with a small smirk on her face. “You are making this really tough on me you know. I’m going to have a hard time proving my worth and making people feel I actually deserve to be here. Starting off as your niece isn’t going to make it easy. Everyone is going to think it was handed to me.” She crossed her arms against her chest, pushing up those perky little breasts that I had forever burned into my memory as bare and breathtaking. “I don’t want special treatment.”
“You aren’t going to be able to work at Spiked Roses,” I said as I wondered how I was going to break the news of what her father said to me easily. I wasn’t good at shit like this. I didn’t have a sensitive bone in my body, and tact wasn’t my friend.
“What are you talking about? You guys hired me.” Her soft features hardened, and her eyes narrowed. “If you think my father would disapprove of me working here, you’re wrong. He wanted me here so I would be close to you. He set some rules, and I’m not allowed to do any Tastings, and I’m fine with that.”
“Your daddy wrote me a letter,” I began. “Things have changed since you’ve been hired.”
“What’s changed? What letter? I just spoke to him on the phone a couple of days ago when I arrived in New Orleans. Everything was fine, and he was happy for me. This doesn’t make any sense.”
“I don’t know how much you know of your father’s past, and his current business dealings.”
“Enough,” she mumbled as her azure eyes seemed to darken.
I swallowed hard, nervous as fuck to be breaking the news. “He wrote me a letter saying things aren’t safe right now. For him… for you. He’s asked that I take you away. Protect you. He also asked for me to give you this.” I pulled out the envelope that was addressed to Makayla.
She took the envelope and then stared up at me with wide, frightened eyes. “Is he okay?”
I nodded, even though I had no idea if he truly was. I knew what could happen to him, and from the look of terror obvious in the eyes of his daughter, she also knew the level of horror of what could occur.
“He’s asked that I take you to the lake house. For a while. To keep you safe and away from everything,” I said, hating the way my stomach clenched as I said the words. Leaving for the lake would mean that I agreed with Rhett. That I too knew it was the only way to keep Makayla safe and away from the danger that could come for her.
“The lake house?” She looked down at the envelope in her hand. “The one we went to all the time when I was a kid?”
I nodded. “We still have it. It hasn’t been used in a really long time, but we’ve had a property manager keep it up.”
“Why the lake house?”
“It’s safe. No one will know we are there. Your father asked that I take you there, but I have to agree with him. It’s isolated, far away from Georgia, and no one will be able to reach you.”
“So I’m in danger?”
I found it odd that she seemed afraid when she asked about her father being in danger, but didn’t seem the least bit frightened as she asked about her own safety. Her question was so matter of fact.
“Your father believes it’s a possibility.”
“Do you?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been away from the world your father walks in for quite some time. So, I just don’t know.”
She looked back down at the letter, and with shaky fingers, sliced the envelope open and took out the folded paper. She looked up at me, back down at the letter and read out loud:
Makayla,
I always told you growing up that if you aren’t willing to bend, then you will surely break.
There has been a change of plans. The danger that has always been present while you were growing up has only grown worse. I thought simply having you leave Georgia would be enough to remove you from their hold and the evil, but I was wrong.
I have sent a letter to your Uncle Alec informing him of the new plan, and I am confident he will follow my wishes to a tee.
I know this isn’t what you wanted. I also know that you are disappointed that once again, you have to go back into hiding, but there is no other way.
Please do as your uncle says. Listen to him as you would me. It’s been years since you have seen him last, but he is a man who I trust with my life… with your life.
You won’t be able to reach me, but I will be in touch soon.
~Papa
Her voice quivered at points while reading his words, but I saw such poise and strength as the little girl that I knew, who now was clearly a woman, stood before me. When she was finished reading, she looked at me. I could see a glaze of tears coated her eyes, but not a single drop fell.
“What did your letter say?” she asked.
I didn’t want to tell her. My letter was much more ominous, and I didn’t think she could handle knowing what I did. “Basically the same thing. He asked for me to take you to the lake house until everything gets sorted. He’s worried for your safety, and asked for me to step in and watch over you while he works things with his… past… out.”
“So what’s the plan? We just leave? Right now?”
“Yes. I’ll make a few phone calls to get some things in order. I’ll let the property manager know we are on our way so the house will be ready for us. I think we should leave now.”
She gave a slight nod. “Can we swing by my place to pack my things?”
I nodded. “We should get going though. And you’ll need to pack fast.”
“Uncle Alec?” she said softly.
I looked at her, reminded of the sweet girl she once was all those years ago, with those big wide blue eyes of hers. “Yes?”
“I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too,” I admitted.
“I’m scared,” she confessed. “I don’t like not knowing what’s going on.”
“I know. But it’s going to be okay. We just have to get to the house and wait out the storm. It will all work out in the end.”
I was a liar.
A fucking liar.
I didn’t see this working out at all. It was not going to be okay.
This storm was going to be epic and we were about to enter the eye of the hurricane. A dark, suffocating spiral of blackness.
I was just too much of a coward and a liar to tell Makayla the truth.
Chapter Four
Alec
We had been driving for what felt like an eternity, but even in the midnight hours, I still remembered my way. Makayla had been quiet for most of the trip, clearly lost in thought as she stared out the window at the darkened scenery passing us by. I was grateful for the silence, because I, too, was still figuring out how to process the entire situation.
Picking up and leaving everything was fairly easy. I knew Spiked Roses could do without me. Kenneth and Matthew ran the show for the most part. And my other businesses and investments practically ran on autopilot for me. I guess you could call me a man of leisure and semi-retired.
I had earned my fortune and had worked my ass off for many years to get to this point. Now, I was fortunate to sit back and watch the money enter my bank account with very little effort. My pappy would have been proud. He always had lectured me growing up by saying that a wise man was a man who made money in his sleep. Looking back now, I was glad that I had followed that piece of advice of his. The lake house had Internet and cell service—though shitty as fuck. So, anything I needed to do for any of my businesses could be done remotely. The reality of the situation was that physically heading to the lake house wasn’t an inconvenience at all. Mentally, however, this entire trip was a complete mind fuck.
I kept going over scenarios of how I could try to help Rhett. I had left that sick life behind me, but it wouldn’t be too hard to dive back in if it could help. The fucked up fact was that I really couldn’t figure out a way to help even if I did get involved. And diving back in could expose Makayla, which I knew was what Rhett really didn’t want. He had the power still. He still controlled the safety of his precious daughter, and I didn’t want to fuck that up by trying to swoop in and play hero by foolishly trying to rescue a dead man.
“When was the last time you came to the lake house?” Makayla asked as she continued to stare out the window.
I sighed as I tried to remember the last time. “Well, it was with you, your dad, and your… mom. Before she passed.”
Makayla nodded. “So, the last time I was here too.”
“Yeah. It just never felt right coming back here without you guys. Without her,” I admitted.
“That’s why we never came back too,” she said sadly. “Papa said it would be too painful. That the memories of her here—where we were the happiest—would hurt us.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” I admitted as I stared at the straight, empty road in front of me.
“It made me sad not coming here, to be honest. I think Mama would have hated knowing we all would never come back. She loved it at the lake. She loved having us all there under one roof in what she called paradise.”
