Calling the Shots

by Christine d'Abo

  Gold Room housed a quartet—one woman and three men—and the group was oblivious to those watching through the window. Lewis gasped and moved closer, his hands grabbing the thin frame below the glass.

  “I know her.” Josh moved to stand directly behind Lewis. “Her name is Marilyn and she’s a self-proclaimed slut. Very proud of the fact. She’s been dating Kyle, the tall blond who’s fucking her face, but she likes to have some variety in her life. Kyle doesn’t mind and arranges these little outings for her.”

  “Insanity.” Lewis didn’t look away from the scene unfolding in front of him.

  Josh placed a hand to the glass, trying hard not to lean against Lewis, and opened his mouth to continue his teasing explanation when he spotted Oliver coming up the stairs.

  For a moment Josh forgot what he’d been about to say. Oliver was dressed in similar black silk lounging pants to Beth’s, but unlike her, he was topless. It was the first time Josh had seen him like this. He had a light dusting of hair on his chest, just enough to tug and play with, but not enough to be distracting. The hair trailed over his firm abs and disappeared below the elastic of the pants. Josh’s fingers itched to pull the pants down and see exactly what treasures were held beneath.

  And the tattoos weren’t just on his arms. Two ravens were intertwined down his left arm, their wings spread and eyes wide. Lines from a poem were scripted beneath. Loops of barbed wire rolled up along his shoulder, to disappear somewhere down his back. The compass with the knife through it took up a generous portion of the other shoulder. Josh wanted nothing more than to pin Oliver down and explore every inch of his fascinating body.

  But then Josh’s gaze drifted up to Oliver’s face, and all thoughts of more pleasant encounters evaporated.

  “Mr. Scott?”

  He turned back to the men. “I’m sorry. If I could have a moment, I need to check in with my head bartender. Enjoy the show.”

  “Oliver?” Josh frowned the moment he got close. “What’s wrong?”

  He knew it was serious when the other man didn’t throw out a quip. “We have a problem. I know you have your investors with you, but you need to come see this. Now.”

  “What’s going on?” Beth stepped up beside them, hands on her hips.

  “Problem. You might want to come too.”

  “No, Beth I need you to stay with Lewis and Caruthers. I don’t want them wandering alone in this place in case they see some of the more intense sessions, or walk into a room they shouldn’t.”

  “Then you damn well better tell me what’s going on when you get back.” Beth glanced over her shoulder and smiled at the men, who’d taken an interest in their conversation. “I’ll try to keep them occupied on this floor to give you time to take care of it.” She spun around to face the visitors. “Gentlemen. Have you ever witnessed a flogging?” she asked in a voice cheerful enough to be used at a church function.

  Their response was lost on Josh as he fell into step behind Oliver. They quickly made their way down the stairs and darted through the crowd toward the lower-level hallway. A small group was gathered, but held back by two of the dungeon monitors.

  “Okay, people, let Josh through. The sooner we get this mess cleaned up, the sooner we can get these bathrooms back in working order.”

  They popped through the other side of the crowd close to where the emergency exit and the bathrooms were. They turned the corner and Josh’s stomach bottomed out on him.

  Neon green paint had been spray-painted on the wall. Whores.

  Someone had must have snuck in because Josh refused to believe a member had done this. The vandal must have fled out the emergency door before anyone had noticed.

  “The emergency exit alarm went off, and the indicator flashed at the bar. When I came back to check, I saw this. I grabbed Jordan and Mike the second I realized. I didn’t want anyone to see.”

  Josh swallowed down the bile rising up his throat. “Do we know if anyone’s been through here?”

  “Not that I can tell. It’s still early in the night, so the drinks haven’t hit their bladders yet. Had this been an hour later, it would have been a lot worse.”

  “That’s something.”

  “It could have been a guest of a member, or maybe one of the temp staff we hired to help set up.” Oliver joined him, his hands on his hips.

  Without thinking, Josh grabbed Oliver by the face and placed a quick kiss on his lips. “Thank you.” He stepped away and moved to face the defacement. “That was quick thinking and saved upset.”

  Whores. Christ. He was going to be sick.

  “We won’t be able to paint this tonight, but maybe we can cover it up. Do we have any sheets left over?” Josh wanted to reach out and scratch off the paint, remove the words from his sight.

  When Oliver didn’t answer right away, Josh turned around to make sure he was still there. “Oliver?”

  A deep blush colored the other man’s face and his eyes were opened wide. Was he just freaking out now about the vandalism? God, Josh hoped not. He was going to need both Oliver and Beth if they were going to keep this mess contained.

  “You okay?” Josh stepped over a condom wrapper.

  “You kissed me.”

  Blinking, Josh’s mind couldn’t keep up with the shifting conversation. “What?”

  “You kissed me.” Oliver didn’t seem upset so much as confused.

  Josh would normally have some snappy comeback, something to kill the tension between them and brush off his actions. Honestly, he hadn’t even thought about it. Josh kissed Beth all the time, her cheek, forehead and even her lips. But not anyone else.

  Not until now.

  Before Josh could get his head together and say something to stop Oliver from either fleeing or punching him, there was a commotion behind them. Once second it was just the two of them in the hallway, the next, Caruthers and Lewis pushed them aside.

  “I asked you to wait here!” Beth’s frantic voice preceded her by mere nanoseconds. “Oh, my God.”

  The group was joined by the dungeon monitors, who Josh waved off. “Keep the rest away. They don’t need to see this.”

  “Whores?” Lewis shook his head and kicked at a condom wrapper. “You have interesting artwork here, Mr. Scott.”

  “I’ll call the police.” Beth went to move away, but Josh took her arm and held her close. The police could wait a moment. Right now he needed the reassurance that being close to her and Oliver would give.

  “Not yet. Mr. Lewis, this is not the sort of thing that normally happens here. It looks like a vandal slipped in somehow and did this. We’ll report it to the police and have this mess cleaned up before anyone sees it.”

  “Obviously you need to either have better members or tighter guest security.” Caruthers turned his back on the painted slurs. “I think I’ve seen enough here tonight.”

  Every muscle in Josh’s body tensed. They weren’t going to support them. “I hate for your night to end on such a dour note. Are you certain I can’t offer you another drink?”

  “Thank you, Josh, but we’re done for now. We’ll be in touch.” Lewis took Beth’s hand and kissed the back of it. “It’s been a pleasure.”

  With every step they took away, Josh grew more certain that he’d never see them again.

  “I’m so sorry. I tried to stop them.” Beth tried to pull away, but Josh was having none of that.

  Wrapping her in his arms, he buried his nose into the crook of her shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Just bad timing and nosy investors.”

  Oliver kicked the wall before spinning around and flopping against it. “Sorry, boss-man.”

  The anger he should be feeling was dwarfed by the unexpected weight of inadequacy. For a few moments he wallowed in the feeling, letting the beginnings of depression lick at his psyche like a poison.r />
  Lifting his head, he pressed a kiss to Beth’s forehead. “We can’t do anything about it now. Let’s get this covered up and get back to our guests. We have a party going on.”

  Everything else would have to wait.

  Whores.

  No. It wasn’t her.

  Whores.

  No fucking way.

  Chapter Five

  Beth cast a glance at Oliver as Josh paced the length of the office. They’d been holed up in here for most of the morning, going over the events from last night, considering every angle on how things had gone so wrong.

  “How the hell did they get in?” Josh stopped midstride. “And why the hell did they pick last night?”

  “I was on the phone with some of the other clubs in the area. We weren’t the only ones hit.” Despite Josh wanting her to sit back and enjoy the rest of the party, Beth hadn’t been able to sit idly by and do nothing. Armed with a large coffee and her contact list, she’d spoken to as many of the club managers as she could. “Apparently this bastard has been getting into places all week, though they were mostly with paper flyers stapled to the outside doors, or paint on the outside walls. We were the first ones hit on the inside.”

  “And the cops aren’t doing anything?” Oliver shifted beside her, bringing his thigh completely into contact with hers. “They must have some leads.”

  Josh’s shoulders slumped forward for a moment before he pulled himself together. Grabbing a chair, he dragged it over to where they were, spun it around and sat down. “They are chasing down some possibilities, but they don’t have anything concrete.” He ran a hand down his face and let out a huff. “And I assume they hit us last night because of the party. It wasn’t exactly a secret. Even restricting it to members and their guests, it wouldn’t have been too hard for someone to get in. Lewis was right, we need better security.”

  Oliver nodded, half turning toward Beth. She hated how her body reacted to the proximity of the two men. She must still be hyped up from the insanity of the previous night, because all she could think of was the need to lock both men into the closest side room and screw them senseless to chase away the blackness.

  That wasn’t her. Despite working at Mavericks, she’d never been one to fixate on sex or fantasize about what she could get up to in the bedroom given the right circumstances. She certainly hadn’t dreamed about having kinky sex with her boss and coworker, tying them up to spank and tease until she fucked them senseless with a strap-on.

  Okay, maybe once or twice.

  Pushing those thoughts away, Beth took Josh’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Normally I’d guess they were a couple of kids wanting to stir up trouble. But this had to be an adult or we would have noticed. We might be able to help narrow down suspects if we let the cops know who was here.”

  Josh leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. A little jolt raced through her body as he turned her hand over and placed another kiss against her pulse point.

  “Thanks. That’s good thinking.”

  The office phone chose that moment to ring, making her jump. The moment Josh pulled away she missed the warmth of his touch. The shift put her face-to-face with Oliver, who was staring at the spot she and Josh had occupied.

  “You okay?” She set her hand down on his thigh.

  Oliver’s gaze was drawn to where she was touching him. Instead of pulling away like she’d expected, he picked up her hand and kissed her much the same way Josh had.

  The move wasn’t done out of jealously; she could tell that much. There was more of a cautious edge to him, curiosity tinged with hesitant eagerness. Oliver met her gaze as he turned her hand over and kissed her on the same spot on her wrist where Josh had moments earlier. The same electric jolt tore through her body, making her nipples instantly hard and her pussy wet.

  “I’m sorry, what do you mean you’re pulling out?”

  Both Beth and Oliver instantly snapped their heads around to stare at Josh. He was leaning forward on the desk, his head hanging. She wasn’t sure if it was Lewis or Caruthers who’d called, not that it actually mattered. The news wasn’t good.

  “And there’s nothing I can do to change your mind?”

  God, she hated hearing the defeat in Josh’s voice. After drifting for months following Paul and Sadie’s wedding, he’d become so excited by the prospect of opening up the second club. Losing the investors meant a huge step backward with his plans. And while the last thing Beth wanted was for Josh to disappear out of her life, she didn’t want him to stay and slowly become miserable.

  Beth did her best to ignore the small part of her that was thrilled to have him still be in her life. She’d never admit, not even to Oliver, that the last thing she wanted was for Josh to move away, leaving them behind.

  There had to be something she could do to help ease his heart, make him happy to be here.

  Josh set the receiver back into its cradle, but made no move to return to where she and Oliver waited. Without saying a word, they both got up and walked over to him. Oliver reached over and slid a hand along the back of Josh’s shoulders, digging those talented fingers into the muscles.

  “You okay, boss-man?”

  Josh didn’t say anything for a moment. Beth wasn’t sure if he was going to brush the whole thing off and pretend nothing was wrong, as usual, or if for once he was going to let them in, let them help make this better. He straightened and Oliver dropped his hand.

  “It’s fine. They were only two possible investors of a few I’d considered reaching out to.” Josh’s hair had fallen forward and now partially covered his face. It didn’t do anything to hide the circles under his eyes or the worry lines that creased his forehead. “It will mean we’ll lose the location. I’ll have to find another. Why don’t the two of you get a start on the cleanup down there. I’ll join you in a few once I make a call.”

  Beth was surprised when Oliver moved right away without a backward glance. She knew she’d been right on the vibe between the men, even if Oliver was fighting the attraction. Josh was a hard man to resist for long. Still, she was a bit confused by his encouragement of her spending more time with Oliver.

  “Josh, what’s going on?”

  “We need to get that shit off the wall.” He frowned again and tucked his hair behind his ears. “You don’t mind getting started while I do this? I didn’t think it would be a problem.”

  “It’s not.”

  “I saw the two of you come out of the storage closet after doing inventory yesterday, looking a little hot and bothered. You know I don’t mind if you want to get together with him.”

  Ah. So that was where this was going. Beth frowned and kicked her hip out to the side. “What are you up to, Mr. Scott?”

  “Nothing.” He might have been more convincing if he wasn’t smirking. “But you have to admit, there is a spark between the two of you.”

  “I could say the same thing about you.” Beth snorted. “Oh, please. It’s obvious to everyone.”

  Picking up the receiver once more, Josh turned away. “Either way, I’d appreciate you giving him a hand. Hey, Mitchell, it’s Josh. You heard about our little trouble last night?”

  Beth sighed and went off to help Oliver paint the wall.

  * * *

  The vandal, whoever it was, had only taken a few seconds to paint the word on the wall, so the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been. The black paint easily covered the green, making the task straightforward enough to let his mind wander.

  Josh had kissed him.

  Josh had also kissed Beth.

  Oliver had never been one to lie to himself. When Mallory had left him, he hadn’t handled it well. The first thing he’d done was to go for a long run, then get drunk, and finally he’d sat down, hungover, and figured things out. Somehow, he didn’t think he was
going to have the luxury of the first two options this time.

  Josh kissed me.

  It wasn’t a kiss with intent, not like the earlier flirting, he was certain of that much. Josh was a tactile person, and it wasn’t out of character for him to show his appreciation with a kiss. Oliver had been well aware of Josh’s bisexual nature from the moment he’d started working at Mavericks. The other man had never tried to hide his feelings—hell, he didn’t seem to care what anyone thought. But if that kiss was born out of Josh’s need to seek comfort from him…he didn’t know how to process that.

  What did surprise him were his own reactions. God, when Josh tied him up and landed that spank on his ass, his world had tilted on its axis.

  He’d liked it every bit as much as he liked the feel of Beth’s thigh against his up in the office. Liked the way her eyes had flashed with desire as he’d pressed his lips to her wrists and tasted where Josh’s mouth had been.

  Oliver wanted to go back a couple days to when he’d lain stretched out below the cross, only this time when Josh dropped to his knees, he’d have stayed and asked Beth to join them.

  What the hell was he going to do?

  “Wow, you’re pretty fast with the roller.” Beth sauntered up beside him, but her gaze was locked on what little remained of the word.

  “We had half a can of black paint in the storage room. I figured I might as well get started.”

  “I hope we catch this bastard.”

  Oliver nodded and dunked the roller in more paint. “I’m sure we will. This was a pretty ballsy move for a coward’s crime. You okay?”

  “Josh thinks you and I should hook up.”

  “What?” He set the roller down and leaned against the opposite wall. “Why?”

  “Are you saying you’re not…” She huffed and then chuckled. “I’ve always sucked at this stuff.”

  “You know I am. Who wouldn’t be?” Oliver’s reaction to Beth the first time he’d laid eyes on her was nearly as strong as to Mallory. It had almost been enough to turn him off, but Beth had a kindness to her Mallory always lacked.