Beyond the Velvet Rope

by Tiffany Ashley

  Giving her name to the hostess, Thandie was led to the terrace where Mira Dietrich sat at a bistro table. Dressed in all black, with pale wrinkled skin, and oversize eyeglasses she looked formidable. Her long fingernails and thin lips were painted blood red. She seemed as welcoming as an ill-tempered witch. Clutching a cigarette between her boney fingers, she stared at Thandie, unsmiling and unapproachable.

  “You’re late,” was the first thing she said.

  “I’m sorry I kept you waiting,” Thandie said, nonplussed. She slid into the seat opposite Mira. Thankfully, the wind was blowing against her back, making the cigarette smoke float away from her.

  “My time is valuable,” Mira snapped.

  “I’m sure it is.”

  Mira narrowed her gaze at Thandie, making the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepen. The setting sun glinted off her oversize glasses, intensifying her stare. She clicked her tongue and then gave a snort of laughter. Tapping the ash of her cigarette into the wind, Mira said, “I like your spunk. I’ve decided I’m going to like you.” She tilted her head to the side. “It’s hard to impress me.”

  Thandie raised her brow. “I’ve impressed you?”

  “For the moment,” Mira agreed. “You should know I’m easily disappointed.”

  She gave a tight smile in response.

  Thankfully, their server chose that moment to come and take their orders. Once they were alone again, Thandie tried to engage her in light conversation. Mira did not attempt to hide her boredom. Finally, after five painful minutes of forced civility, Mira decided to put Thandie out of her misery. She explained why she’d invited her to dinner.

  “I want pictures inside the club,” Mira said, pointing her cigarette at her. “And you’re going to get them for me.”

  Thandie smiled pleasantly. “I’m sure you know as well as I do that Elliot enforces a ‘no camera’ policy.”

  “Your job is to change his mind,” Mira informed her. “You’re the publicist for goodness’ sake.”

  “Yes, Mira, I’m aware of that fact, but Elliot still needs persuasion.”

  “Well, then,” the older woman made a shooing motion with her hands. “Persuade him. Meanwhile, I want pictures of VIP guests. See if you can get me some of Shaun Cross. He’s a personal favorite of mine.”

  Thandie shook her head. “I’m not committing to anything, Mira. Not until Elliot gives the okay. And it doesn’t look like that will happen anytime soon.”

  Mira pursed her lips and then extinguished her cigarette stub in her water goblet. “I want those pictures.”

  By the time dinner was over, Thandie did not feel her chances of working with Look were good. Mira needed more convincing to give Babylon a mention. She would have to talk to Elliot about the “no camera” policy.

  * * *

  When Thandie arrived at Warren’s home, the windows were brightly lit. Just as she was letting herself in, Len and Raja were coming down the stairs. They were dressed in nearly indistinguishable strapless mini dresses and sparkling stilettos.

  Len smiled when she saw her. “How did it go with Mira?”

  “Well enough,” she replied.

  “I knew you would work your magic,” she boasted. The comment was watered down by the inattentive trailing of Len’s voice. She’d found a mirror in the foyer and set about playing with her hair.

  “Where is Warren?” Thandie asked.

  “He left for the club about an hour ago,” Len said distractedly.

  “Are you coming with us?” Raja asked.

  Thandie shook her head. She had not planned on going to Babylon, or anywhere else tonight. She was too tired. Reaching into her purse, she held up the car keys, and said. “Here you go. Have fun tonight.”

  Len clapped her hands together. “Can we drink?”

  “Absolutely not,” she said firmly.

  Len gave a pout worthy of a two-year-old.

  Thandie sighed. “I can’t afford for one of you to get a DUI down here. It wouldn’t look good.”

  Raja snatched the keys out of her hands. “That’s fair. Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

  “I’m sure,” she said. An image of Elliot Richards flashed in her head. “In fact, I’m positive I want to stay here.”

  “Okay,” Len chirped. “Don’t wait up.”

  “I won’t,” she assured her. “Be careful,” she called after them as they made their way out the front door.

  “We will,” Len promised.

  “And don’t get into trouble,” she said.

  “We won’t,” Raja shouted back.

  “We won’t drink and drive,” Len added.

  “And we won’t get caught doing anything illegal,” both girls chanted in unison.

  Thandie shook her head. It was doubtful they would be back before sunrise. She was well aware the girls ventured to the club as often as possible to party with the locals and drool over Elliot. Any other time, Thandie would have been nervous to let them roam free, but tonight she couldn’t care less. Her dinner meeting with Mira had drained her.

  Thandie headed straight to her room. Taking a quick shower, she crawled into bed and checked her emails on her phone. For a fleeting moment, she considered calling Cam. Just as before, she rejected the idea. It was too late to call.

  Tossing her phone onto the comforter, Thandie nestled beneath the covers. The days of constant work had finally caught up with her.

  * * *

  Thandie woke up screaming.

  There was a woman standing over her with a wild look in her eyes. Thandie leaped out of bed and grabbed the bedside lamp for defense. Outrage spread over the woman’s face.

  “How dare you pull a weapon on me in my own house!” she screeched.

  Thandie took a nervous step back. The woman’s scream literally bounced off the walls. “Who are you?”

  The stranger scoffed. “You’ll know soon enough,” she hissed.

  If need be, Thandie was prepared to defend herself, but the woman surprisingly turned and stomped out of the room.

  Her ears perked, listening for any sound. In the distance, she could just make out the woman moving. Thandie cursed. Adrenaline was coursing through her, but her mind was still fuzzy. Was the crazy person on the other side of the house? Or was she down the hall, waiting to pounce on her? Thandie could not be certain.

  What the hell was going on? Then, a dreaded thought occurred to her that the kitchen was on the other side of the house. And where there was a kitchen, there were weapons. Hurriedly, Thandie dressed and packed her things as quickly as she could. She wasn’t sure what Warren had gotten her into, but she knew she had to get out of there.

  * * *

  Elliot was dropping Warren off at home from another night of heavy partying. The man was too drunk to drive himself, and he didn’t feel right asking one of the other guys to do him the favor. Besides, he had an obligation to Warren. He was after all one of his biggest investors. If Warren wanted to party until he fell asleep in the VIP area, that was his business. The guy certainly proved that you were never too old to have a good time.

  The night had been a really good night. There had not been an entertainer scheduled to perform, but the place had been packed. Having surpassed their liquor goal sometime around two in the morning, the bar had run out of glass tumblers and plastic cups. They’d had to wait for Markie to make an emergency run to the store, and the bartenders had kept the crowd entertained by spraying them with water. Elliot hadn’t known Warren had been carried to his office and was sleeping soundly on his couch until he returned to shut down his computer for the night.

  It was nearing six o’clock in the morning, and Elliot was still fired up. It would take a while before he was relaxed enough to go to sleep. A good workout should tire him out.

  With a snoring passenger seated at his right, Elliot had plenty of time to consider how he planned to spend the rest of his morning. However, he was abruptly jarred out of his musing when he pulled into the driveway of Warren
’s home.

  He slowed the car, and stared at the scene in front of him. Thandie and another woman were standing in the front yard, yelling at each other. And to make matters worse, the other woman was holding a long butcher knife.

  Elliot slammed on his brakes. “Warren, wake up,” he barked.

  “Wha–what?” Warren’s head rolled to the side. He blinked rapidly before his eyes focused on the situation beyond the windshield. “Oh, shit!”

  * * *

  Thandie was too busy screaming at the woman to notice the car pulling up the drive. Vaguely, she heard footsteps rushing toward them, but she was unwilling to turn away from the knife in the woman’s hands.

  Then a haggard Warren stepped forward. Thandie had never been happier to see him. He glanced at her to make sure she was all right, and then turned to the woman. His eyes widened with shock. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

  She had a sinking feeling she was going to have to continue to fend for herself.

  Reassuring hands cupped her shoulders. Without even looking, Thandie knew it was Elliot. She chanced a glance at him. He was not looking at her. Instead, his cool gray eyes were trained on the woman with the knife. He knew her. Thandie shifted her gaze to the woman. She was staring intently at Elliot. A look of silent fury froze her features. But it was not Elliot who bore the wrath of her anger—Warren would receive that honor.

  She whirled on the older man. “I bet you thought that was pretty fucking funny, didn’t you? Canceling my credit cards while I was out of the country, Warren. How dare you? I bet that sleazy lawyer of yours put you up to it, didn’t he?”

  “Sophia—” Warren said.

  She cut him off with a simple lift of her manicured hand. “I finally come home and this is what I find—” she waved the knife in Thandie’s direction “—one of your whores sleeping in my house.”

  “Now wait a minute—” Warren tried again.

  “My lawyer is going to have a field day with this,” Sophia jeered. “And you,” she swiveled her dark eyes to glare at Thandie. Before she could conjure a cutting insult, Elliot pushed Thandie behind his broad shoulders blocking her from view.

  “Leave her out of this, Sophia,” he said. “She works for me.”

  “Bullshit!” she spat. “You don’t hire women.”

  “This is different,” Elliot explained, with more calm than Thandie would have thought possible. “She’s handling promotions for the club. Warren was doing me a favor by hosting her stay. Now,” he said in a suddenly menacing voice, “you need to calm down and put the knife away.”

  Sophia looked at Elliot’s protective stance. Her eyes went wide. “Are you sleeping with her?”

  Instead of answering her directly, he said, “I protect what belongs to me.”

  Sophia laughed in his face. “Do you expect me to believe you’re involved with one woman?”

  Elliot stepped forward, pinning her with his silver eyes. “You haven’t been around, Sophia. A lot has changed.”

  Sophia stiffened, measuring him. Thandie noticed a change in her body language. Something strange and unsettling passed between Sophia and Elliot. His words didn’t seem harsh, but they must have held another meaning, because she suddenly looked wounded. She looked at Thandie. If possible, her eyes were filled with more hatred.

  “You and I both know you grow bored too easily,” Sophia hissed. “No woman can keep you for long.” Her eyes flickered over Thandie. “Least of all her. She’s not even your type.”

  “Neither are you,” he said flatly. “So stay out of my business.”

  “Sophia, put the knife down,” Warren called out. The sound of his voice broke the staring contest between Elliot and Sophia.

  Looking down at the knife, Sophia seemed surprised to see it was in her hand. She threw it on the ground. It clanged noisily against the concrete of the driveway. Warren used the tip of his shoe to kick it aside, out of reach.

  If Sophia realized the terror she had caused, she was unfazed. She cast a thoughtful glance at Elliot, before turning scornful eyes on Warren. “Wait until my lawyer hears about this.”

  That being said, she marched toward a bright red Ferrari Thandie had not noticed earlier. Sophia slid into the driver’s seat, slammed the door, revved the engine loudly and sped away from the house.

  Thandie waited until the car was out of sight before she took a calm breath. She had thought the woman was going to stab her. She hadn’t realized tears were flowing down her face until Elliot reached out and brushed her cheek dry with his palm. Still stunned by the encounter, she didn’t object when he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her.

  Warren cursed. “Thandie, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe she did that. Are you hurt? Do we need to take you to a hospital?”

  She shook her head but was unable to look at Warren. She was furious with him. If she’d known the true situation between him and his wife, she would have never agreed to stay with him. What if Warren’s wife had harmed Raja or Len? She would have never been able to forgive Warren. Or herself.

  Elliot must have sensed her growing fury. He rubbed her back until her trembling legs felt strong enough to support her weight again.

  “Get your things,” he whispered into her ear.

  * * *

  When all her things, as well as the girls’, had been loaded into Elliot’s Range Rover, he helped her into the car. She was still not speaking to Warren, and he took her rejection hard. He didn’t press her to talk, but it was clear Warren felt responsible for what had happened. He promised to redirect Raja and Len to Thandie’s new location.

  Wherever that might be.

  They were fifteen minutes into the drive, before Thandie trusted herself to speak. “Do you care to explain to me what happened back there?” she asked.

  “Warren and his wives,” Elliot said casually.

  “That was Wife Number Five,” she said, much for her own confirmation.

  “In the flesh.”

  “She seemed to know you very well.”

  Elliot looked over at her, burning her with those cool gray eyes. “We have a past.” He shrugged, and then added, “Before Warren.”

  “Was she your girlfriend?”

  “No,” he said with a light laugh. “I don’t have girlfriends.”

  “Just fuck buddies?”

  If he was surprised by her lewd language, he didn’t show it. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

  Thandie waited for him to elaborate, but he said nothing more. “Where are you taking me?”

  “It looks like you’re coming home with me.”

  She shook her head. “I would feel more comfortable staying at a hotel.”

  “Then I guess you’re going to be on edge for the remainder of your trip.”

  “Elliot,” she said with thin patience, “I appreciate your hospitality, but the girls and I can’t stay at your home.”

  He glanced at her. “Thandie, I admire your attempts at professionalism, but let me be blunt with you. Warren is going through a messy divorce. Sophia finding you in their home doesn’t look good for him. Even though there is nothing going on between you two, Warren is given her and her lawyer a lot of ammunition. If playing host to you, and your assistants for a few weeks helps Warren, then that’s a small sacrifice. I know you’re upset with Warren, but he didn’t mean for any of that to happen.”

  “We’re not staying with you,” she said firmly.

  “You don’t have a say in this.”

  “Oh, yes, I do. You can’t imprison me.”

  “You don’t know me very well,” he chuckled. “You will stay with me. And if you think for a second you can run from me, guess again. I know every hotel manager in the city. You have nowhere else to go.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  “I can, and I will.” Elliot focused back on the road. “For reasons I won’t explain, I actually care what this divorce will do to Warren. He doesn’t need you around his home right now. Y
ou’ll only complicate things for him. So sit back.”

  Thandie huffed. The situation was bleak. She had barely escaped being killed, and now she would be forced to endure Elliot’s hospitality. Being under the same roof with him would be agony. She wouldn’t be able to ignore him.

  Ten minutes later, they were passing through the guarded gates of Star Island. Even though Thandie was resolute in giving Elliot the silent treatment, she couldn’t hide her astonishment at their location. Only the cream of the crop resided on this narrow strip of land. “You live on Star Island?” she asked.

  Elliot nodded, keeping his eyes on the road.

  “How in the world did you manage that?”

  “I have a buddy who was looking to relocate, and he knew I was looking.” He shrugged. “He phoned me, and I bought his house. It took me a year’s worth of renovation to get it the way I wanted, but now I’m satisfied.”

  “Still, to live on Star Island—” She openly gawked at the luxurious estates they drove by. “Your buddy must have really done well for himself.”

  He looked over at her and shrugged.

  “We’re here.” He pulled into the curvy drive of a spiraling Mediterranean-style home. He parked in front of an enormous porch held up by massive stone columns. He helped her out of her seat, holding her longer than necessary against him.

  The front doors opened, and a petite Cuban woman stepped onto the porch. She was gracefully aged, with thick dark hair and pleasant laugh lines around her mouth. She smiled brightly at Elliot before casting curious brown eyes on Thandie.

  Elliot surprised Thandie by introducing her to the woman in impeccable Spanish. He must have explained why she was visiting, because the woman muffled a laugh before smiling kindly at Thandie. The only thing Thandie made out of the conversation was that her name was Lucinda. They were soon joined by a tall man, whom Lucinda quickly ordered to unload the Range Rover. Elliot took Thandie’s hand and led her inside.