“Is it not the same guys all the time? Or do you see a lot of new faces?”
“It’s kind of mixed. There are regulars and then new guys on the scene too. I’ve gone out with some of the same guys on multiple occasions.”
“Ok, how often does sex happen? I mean is it really expected?”
Violet laughed. She took a big gulp of her fruity drink.
“No, it’s not expected really. But it does happen a lot. I mean, these are fantastic guys. The whole thing is kind of a fantasy. I mean it’s almost like it’s not real, which is probably what makes it so much fun. You can be someone completely different from who you normally are and you are being treated like a princess. All these guys have a lot of money and they always spoil you rotten taking you out on the town, but honestly the thing that is most attractive is the confidence, the swagger, the strength these guys have. It’s like every perfect guy from every movie you’ve ever seen come to life. The money is just kind of a bonus. I totally quit my day job last month and I just do this full time.”
Ember felt like her head was going to explode. There was a lot to take in there. But Violet did seem very happy, as did the rest of the girls. Maybe she was going to love this.
“I hate to pry, but is the money really that amazing?”
“It’s awesome! I’ve been averaging about fifteen hundred in commission a night. I do this two or three times a week. It’s been fantastic. I paid off all my debt, bought a new car, and I just bought a new house.”
“Wow, that is something. I just hope I’m good enough to get picked.”
“Oh, you will be. You are beautiful and have that right look. The guys like a girl who has an air of innocence about them. I get that from you.”
Ember was a bit taken aback, but she could not help but marvel at how insightful a ditzy girl like Violet really was. She was learning a lot of information from her and it was nice having someone showing her the ropes.
“OK, ladies. Listen up.”
A tall woman with jet black hair wearing a black dress walked into the room. She was gorgeous with an intimidating presence as if she owned the entire world, or at least thought she did. Ember took an instant disliking to her. She hated to see women who were so confident they were just brimming with arrogance. Weakness was usually found at that person’s core, a flaw they tried desperately to cover up by overcompensating. In past dealings with such people Ember had learned that the best way to take them down was just to outperform them and allow the results to speak for themselves. This often led to anger and the occasional epic meltdown.
“My name is Vienna,” the woman said. “I am in charge of organizing the Auction as I have done since the opening of the club. We have a very successful auction going and we aim to keep it that way by only accepting the very best applicants. That is why you are here ladies; because you are the best. Don’t forget that. Keeping that firmly in your minds will help you all to remember to stay focused and to have fun. I have seen many girls who had great potential to do well here lose it all because they lacked the confidence to realize that they truly belonged here. Don’t let that happen. You would not be here if we didn’t believe in you, ok?”
The girls gave Vienna a round of applause. Ember rolled her eyes a moment but quickly joined in hoping to stay with the group. She did not want her immediate disdain for Vienna to get in the way of why she was here.
“Ok, now the Auction will start very soon. I will quickly go over the ground rules. This is a dating auction. Our clients are all very wealthy gentleman who wish to have companionship with elite women. You are elite in beauty, intelligence, charm, and talent. They are paying for you company and only your company. Now what that means to you is something that will be worked out between the two of you. The most common question is whether sex is implied in the contract. No, it is not. What the two of you end up deciding to do together is your business and only your business. You are not prostitutes so don’t think for a second otherwise. You are top escorts; that is all.”
Hearing the words straight from the top helped Ember relax a bit. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe Violet, but the girl did lack a bit of credibility with her ditzy character and her growing level of intoxication.
“Now, when you are auctioned off you will receive twenty percent of the payment price. That twenty percent will be directly deposited into your account within twenty-four business day hours.”
“If you have any further questions, I will be around. For the meantime just hang out in the club, have fun and we will announce when the auction is to begin. At that time, you will arrive in the backstage area and I will tell you what to do from there. Thanks ladies, and let’s have a great night!”
A roar of applause erupted through the small lounge area. The other women seemed to have a great deal of respect and admiration for Vienna that so far Ember was having difficulty really seeing. She was not sure what this woman had that was so special, but she was eager to find out.
Maybe the girls were just kissing her backside. Ember was quite familiar with that sort of thing at the office. It made her want to vomit.
CHAPTER 4
Zander
“Wow, you got the place fixed up really nicely,” Zander said. “I thought I enjoyed it before, but you’ve really upgraded the atmosphere.”
Two beautiful women wearing tight, but elegant dresses walked past him and each flashed him a big toothy smile. His gaze dropped from their sexy smiles down to their ample cleavage feeding his fertile imagination and sending tingles to his privates.
“I’m glad you could make it,” Harrison said turning away from the bar where he was sipping a large glass of beer. He actually had a smile on his face and seemed genuinely glad to see Zander.
“Sure, NCIS was a rerun,” Zander quipped.
“Still haven’t lost the old Zander sense of humor, I see. That’s good. It will serve you well when you become an investor in this place.”
“Wait a minute,” Zander said removing Harrison’s hand slowly from his shoulder. He hated it when a jerk like Harrison tried that “friendly but dominate” alpha crap with him. There was only one alpha in any room he was in and he was it. That was something other men learned very quickly, and occasionally it was a painful lesson.
“I haven’t agreed to anything,” Zander reminded him. “I’m just here as a mere spectator, taking in the atmosphere. Possibly I might find a lovely lady to spend some time with, but at the moment business is really the farthest thing from my mind.”
Harrison laughed and smiled undaunted. “Oh, you say that now, but I know you too well Zander. You will change your mind; it is just a matter of time my friend.”
Zander had a strong urge to punch the bastard right in the mouth. He kept it together and smiled through gritted teeth.
“Let me show you around a bit,” Harrison said. He walked to the center of the room explaining the intricacies of the club to Zander, which were painfully obvious but Zander let him go on anyway. He was mostly eying up the gorgeous girls that were starting to fill up the club. Through the entranceway, he could see the horde of desperate guys who would never be allowed in. That was the way of the world. If you wanted the finer things in life you had to seriously up your importance to the rest of the world. It wasn’t about money; it was about creating value for other people. Zander’s work made life easier for other people; the money, fame, and women quickly followed. Too many people focused on the wrong thing.
“Ok, here we have DJ Flex Up, mixing the tunes to keep the party people dancing,” Harrison said doing a little dance and his best infomercial voice.
The DJ didn’t appear to be over fifteen but the kid was mixing and flowing beats like there was no tomorrow. He had a bright future if he could speak at all.
“As you can see we have two long bars—one on each side of the club. Yes, there are going to be that many people here each and every night.”
Zander noticed that there were two bartenders on each side. One man and one
woman each, and all four of them looked like they were peeled off the covers of romance novels. They would entice whoever to buy as much alcohol as they could; that was the key plan of any establishment.
One of the female bartenders noticed Zander looking at her and smiled at him. She leaned forward and revealed a bit of cleavage under the guise of filling a drink order. She met his eyes, cast her gaze back down, and then back up seductively pursing her lips slightly.
Oh, she was good.
“Wow, that is some good talent there,” Zander said.
“Oh, her talents extend far beyond bartending, trust me,” Harrison said.
Zander laughed good naturedly but he knew that Harrison was telling the truth. There were a lot of women in this city who would sleep their way to the top or even towards a better spot then they were in right then, even if it was nowhere near the top. Suddenly that bartender did not seem so sexy anymore.
Harrison continued the tour and took Zander into the back through a doorway that led to the kitchen. The kitchen was spotless and beautifully organized. The staff was running like a well-oiled machine. The head chef was speaking with a heavy Italian accent barking orders loud enough that it would make the guy from “Hell’s Kitchen” squirm in his pants. The cooks were quickly mixing and putting together dishes with expert precision. It was almost surgical.
And everything was clean and tidy. Zander expected any kitchen to be somewhat messy, especially with a club as busy as they were, but he was pleasantly surprised to see how everything was spotless. That was a sign of a strong business.
At the end of the line were several plates of excellent looking food being picked up by sexy waitresses wearing short, tight skirts and tight, white tank tops that left little to the imagination. Those girls were going to get tipped a lot, he could tell.
He never would have expected a night club to also have a kitchen like a five-star restaurant. He had to admit that the idea of investing in this place was really starting to grow on him, despite the company he would be keeping.
“Pretty sweet, eh?” Harrison asked as they left the kitchen almost reading Zander’s thoughts.
“Pretty nice,” Zander said. “Not too bad.”
“The fun continues,” Harrison said as he led Zander up the stairs to the top floor.
They reached the top of the stairs and continued down a hallway to a doorway at the end. Beyond the entrance much to Zander’s surprise was a large room with a very big hot tub in the middle of it. Two beautiful women were snuggled up with a middle-aged man. They all waved at them as they came in.
“How are things Garland?” Harrison asked.
The man smiled. “I have no complaints.”
“Great to hear it,” Harrison replied as he exited the room with Zander behind him.
“What was that?” Zander asked.
“Oh, just one of our regulars having a great time. The Jacuzzi room is available for a thousand bucks an hour. If you want to have some guests each of them is a thousand per hour too.”
“Running a house of prostitution, are we?”
Harrison laughed as he led the way back downstairs.
“Not hardly. What goes on behind that door is none of my concern. They are not paying for that.”
“You are the master of loopholes,” Zander said stepping off the last step. The club was already filling up quite a bit, and now some wealthy looking guys were starting to join the girls standing around getting drunk.
“That I am,” Harrison said.
Just then some lights went on in the far corner of the club revealing a large stage that had been hidden under darkness before.
“Now things are about to get interesting,” Harrison said. “I’ve got to go speak with a few of my other business associates who just walked in. The auction is getting ready to start, so make yourself comfortable and have some drinks. I’ll be right back.”
Zander watched Harrison half jog across the room to greet a group of guys who were squeezing themselves into a large circular booth in the corner. The guys were definitely having a fun night out on the town.
He ordered a Long Island Iced Tea from the sexy female bartender, the same one who had given him the gushy looks earlier. She leaned over once again, this time way farther to give him an ample look down at her massive, natural cleavage. Oh, it was so tempting, but he had other things to look into tonight. Although, if he did not find anything among the girls onstage that really grabbed his attention this girl might be worth the time.
Zander grabbed the drink and took a sip. She’d made it very strong. How sweet, she was trying to get him drunk and earn brownie points at the same time. As if the drink could do more to help her case then her outstanding cleavage show could.
As he started to leave the bar something caught his eye. At the end of the bar in a striking red dress that clung beautifully to every sexy curve was an amazing looking creature. She was a woman, but the term woman was almost an insult to describe the Angel he saw before him. She was beyond human beauty. It was as if something out of a dream had just walked into his field of vision completely distorting his reality and all conscious thought, striking it from his mind altogether.
He suddenly heard every cheesy love song, saw the ending of every insipid romantic movie playing over and over in his head and he longed to be a part of them.
Before he even had a grip on what he was seeing he was standing in front of her. She was even more beautiful up close. There was something so pure, so innocent, but oh so capable about her. The sparkling eyes, those full and pouty lips. Oh, he was feeling that he might indeed be in trouble.
It was then that he noticed several other amazing women gathered close by off the end of the bar area. It appeared to be a lounge area he had barely seen from the other side of the club. There were couches and a few small coffee tables. The women were all drinking and having fun hanging with each other. Were they part of the auction? That would explain it.
Something odd was happening to him; he was having trouble really thinking straight in the presence of this woman. He’d never had that kind of problem before.
“Hey, there,” Zander said.
The woman looked up at him. She did not say a word but her eyes began to scan over him as if he were auditioning for something and she was judging everything about him. His mind wanted him to feel self-conscious but he just smiled at her.
As her eyes landed back on his she finally smiled at him.
“Hi, there.”
CHAPTER 5
Ember
Ember felt her whole body freezing as the man approached her. She’d been lost in her own little dream world listening to the loud dance music and sipping her drink trying to pay attention to whatever nonsense Violet was going on about (something about her ex-boyfriend buying her a goldfish that was already dead) and suddenly this immaculate looking specimen of a man was standing in front of her.
She could not help herself as she looked him over head to toe, his deep voice resonating in her chest, the vibrations continuing all over her body giving her deep tingles.
“I hope I didn’t scare your friend off,” the man said glancing sideways for a second.
Ember was confused for a moment but followed his gaze where she saw Violet walking away grinning at her. She was the queen of being obvious that was for sure.
“Oh, no. She is ok, I think. Actually, I’m pretty sure she has never been alright, but I only just met her,” Ember said.
“I know too many people like that,” the man said. “I’m Zander, by the way.”
“Hi, Zander by the way. I’m Ember,” she joked. She wanted to crawl under a rock. That was perhaps the lamest thing she’d ever said in her life.
He didn’t seem to notice as he stood there and took a sip of his drink.
“What are you drinking?” Ember asked.
“A Long Island Iced Tea,” he replied.
“I’ve never actually had one of those before,” she said. Ember wanted to smack herself. The
stupid thoughts kept turning into words that she was actually saying. What was wrong with her?
“Really? Not much of a drinker?”
“Oh, occasionally. But I stick to basic stuff,” Ember said.
“Here,” Zander said handing her the drink. “Try it, but I can assure you there is no actual tea in it.”
She smiled and took a sip.
“Wow, that is actually really good,” she said. It was hard for her to believe she’d never tried this before. It was sweet with a hint of sour and lime.
She handed the drink back to him finding it somehow sexy that she’d drank after him.
“So, what do you do?” Zander asked her.
“Care to venture a guess?” Ember asked. She was curious why he would ask her this question knowing that she was basically working right now. Apparently, he did not make the connection that she was part of the auction. Maybe it was not as obvious as she thought it was. For some reason, she felt as if she stuck out like a sore thumb because of it. Zander not being able to tell right away eased her nerves a bit. Or it could have been the alcohol. She made a conscious decision to go easy the rest of the night on the liquid courage.
“Well, you just seem like someone who has her hands in many things. I’m pretty good at assessing people and I take you for someone with a lot of ambition and passion.”
Ember wasn’t sure whether to smile or roll her eyes. If she paid attention to his statement under the right tone it sounded just like some cheesy line, but on the other hand it really could have been the sweetest thing too.
“Well, that is a good guess,” she said. “This is actually my first time here. I heard about it and just decided to try something new. It’s always fun to meet new people, right?”
“It can be, but it really depends on the person,” Zander replied.
“Is that why you are here? To meet someone special?”
“Perhaps, or perhaps I already have.”
Ember felt the blush coming on and she tried to blink it away. She let out a huge sigh hoping that he didn’t notice. This guy was so smooth. She wasn’t sure she’d ever met anyone like him. There was something about him… everything he did from the way he said his words, his tone of voice, body language—it all screamed confidence and sexual magnetism.
Hunter (The Bad Disciples MC Book 2) Page 40
