by Piper, M.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book is for sale to ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It contains substantial sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which may be considered offensive by some readers.
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Copyright 2017 M. Piper
Cover design © 2017 Inked Imprints
“When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.”
-Ronald Reagan
Remember that dedication to you in Ford’s book.
I told you it’d happen…
TWO YEARS AGO
“You have everything?” My mom’s worried hands rub my arms like it’s winter and I’m going to catch a cold if I don’t warm up. But it’s not. It’s spring and hot as fucking balls already. My dad watches us with narrowed eyes and I almost feel guilty for doing this, for making them feel like this, but I have to.
“Mom. I’m fine. I’m moving two hours away, not to the other side of the country.”
Her worried eyes search mine and her arms wrap around me.
“I don’t understand why you’re doing this,” she whispers and my heart breaks the slightest. “But I’m letting you go. For now. Just be warned, if you stay gone too long, I’m sending both your brothers up there to bring you back to us.” She pulls back and her hands clasp on to mine. My mother; always the worrier. How she raised the three of us without suffering massive panic attacks I’ll never know. She’s the strongest woman I know, and I hope this new chapter of my life will help me turn in to a woman more like her and less like the girl I’m starting to see. Someone who cares too much about what boys think about her and eats way too much chocolate while looking at cat memes on her phone. I used to get out a lot on the weekends, hell even on the weeknights. But that was back when both my brothers were single bachelors and we were each other’s wingmen. Now that they’re married, I have no best friends to go out with. The only girl I’ve ever called a best friend moved to Chicago months ago. So, naturally, I’m moving in with her. Taking on the big city without living under my parents’ roof. I need to get out and grow up at some point. I’ve been running the same touristy boutique I’ve worked at since I was old enough to work, and at twenty-five years old, I feel absolutely stuck in life. When my dad handed ownership of the family business over to the three of us siblings, I never realized how suffocating it would end up feeling. Working in the same small building, day in and day out, with no change in routine for the rest of my life? Where’s the adventure? Where’s the excitement? Hell, the most excitement I get anymore is when I babysit my almost seven-year-old nephew, Carter. I need out. Lincoln, my oldest brother, refuses to let me sign over my rights to it so I’m having to hand over management to my longest running employee, praying he doesn’t fuck up the boutique. I should stay…sure. But I can’t. I need out. It’s suffocating being the youngest West in Springfield.
“You better come back next month. And I’ll shoot anyone who looks at you wrong up there. People from Chicago suck ass,” my brother Ford mumbles, wrapping his arms around me. I take a deep breath and smile, pulling back.
“I can take care of myself. You taught me, remember?” I pat his cheek and look at Lincoln. Ford and I always partied together, but Lincoln and I…we had something different. A close relationship built more on respect and responsibilities than the friendship Ford and I created. With him becoming a father at such a young age, he needed me probably just as much as I needed him. Or so I thought.
He didn’t. He doesn’t now. But the look he’s giving me breaks my heart the most. It’s like I’m disappointing him.
“You’re sure about this?” he asks, eyeing my packed car, the same car my dad bought me when I turned sixteen. I smirk and shrug.
“I am.” I blink away a few ugly tears threatening and rush him, wrapping my arms around him. “I’ll miss you,” I whisper.
“I don’t get why you’re doing this, Reag,” he mumbles, tightening his arms around me. All I can do is shake my head. My brothers are homebodies. They enjoy the small town life. They enjoy having their own families and big family get-togethers at my parents’. I love my family and they’ve never done me wrong, but that’s not me. I need freedom. I need my own space. I need to prove that I can do it on my own. I’ll never get any of that living in this city. Not when the West name is better known than the Mayor’s.
I pull back and press a kiss to Carter’s forehead before he runs off to play with the dog.
“Alright.” I clap my hands and take one long look at the family I’m leaving. I’m excited. I’m nervous. I’m a little sad, but I know this is what I need. “Time to head out.”
I head towards the door of the car and pop it open.
“Drive safely,” my dad blurts.
“Text when you get there,” my mom says immediately after.
“Don’t get pregnant!” Ford yells as I duck into my car, laughing.
I wave to them all, blowing kisses, then pull away.
It’s time to start my new life.
Present Day
There comes a time in everyone’s life where that old saying ‘shit or get off the pot’ really rings true.
Now’s that moment in mine.
It’s amazing the amount of trouble someone can get themselves into in such a short amount of time, but I guess if someone’s going to fuck something up it’s going to be me. I’ve definitely proven that over the last two years. I never should’ve left home. I never should’ve left the security of my family and the business…but I did. And now I’m paying the price.
“Do we have a deal?” Vinny, says through my boss’s speakerphone. Vinny’s the owner of the club I work for and he’s a very powerful man. Dean, my boss and Vinny’s nephew, is sitting across from me glaring at the phone. These men practically live for bending the law, but the minute I’m caught doing something I’m not even really doing, they lose their shit. They say there’s footage of me with it from the security camera at the apartments where I dropped it off at, but I have yet to see it. Now I’m left with an ultimatum. All because I was dropping my stash at a friend’s house and they caught me. I wasn’t dealing. I’ve never dealt. I didn’t take shit for it; I just wanted it out of my apartment. But someone I work for saw the exchange, wanted to rat me out to try to get ahead of me at the club, and now I’m the bad guy. Fucking figures.
“I need to think about it,” I answer, taking a deep breath. He’s making me feel like I have an option in this, but I don’t. I can choose to say no, but I know they’ll go straight to the cops then I’ll be toast. Or, I can say yes…but is that really the girl I am? Hell, I don’t know what type of girl I am anymore.
“I need an answer, Reagan,” Vinny says and my eyes fly to Dean for help.
Dean raises an eyebrow in question and I glance at the clock.
“I need to start my shift,” I mumble, standing from the chair. The leather sticks to the bare skin on my legs and I cringe. I fucking hate this place.
“I’ll be waiting for an answer by the end of the night, Reagan,” Vinny snaps, then the call ends a
nd Dean glances at me with pity in his eyes. He crosses his arms and shrugs.
The man’s not much older than me. His dark skin, dark hair, and perfect jawline still intimidate me. Even after all we’ve been through. I grin at him and blink away the nasty words I want to throw his way. That’s never gotten me anywhere in the past, it won’t start now. Especially since his uncle is the one who makes him this way. He’s just the middleman. The evil, sexy, middleman.
“I think you understand what the right answer to this is,” he says. “He doesn’t offer many girls this opportunity.”
“Yes, Mr. D’ Angeli.” I give him a smartass grin and his eyes narrow.
“Dean. Reagan. I told you to call me Dean.” He stands and crosses the room, eyes locked on mine and before I can break away and leave, he’s got me pinned against the door. His body towers over mine, pressed against me and my breath hitches. His smell is intoxicating, and I want to hate him but he’s capable of too much for me to fight back now. “I thought we were past the professionalism of the labels, Reag.”
My eyes flutter closed as his fingers trail my jawline. I used to crave his touch. Now I know what he’s capable of and his touch is like fire on my skin.
“I need to get to work, Dean,” I whisper, turning my head away just as he dips his head to kiss me. He growls, slamming his fist against the wall, startling me. He pushes away from me and I feel immediately cold, and it has nothing to do with the skimpy uniform we’re forced to wear.
He storms back to his desk, not throwing a glance my way. I slip out of the office and keep my head down on the way to the bar. Every time I come in to work I wonder why the hell I’m still doing this, and it always comes down to proving myself. Proving to my family that I can do it, proving to my friends that I’m not spoiled like they always said, and proving to myself that I don’t need my family to help me survive.
I can’t even count the times over my life that I’ve tried moving out of my parents’ house to live on my own, just to fail and move back home months later. It’s embarrassing, especially because my brothers are both doing so well in their lives. So, every time I’ve had to back down and crawl back to Mom and Dad’s, a little piece of me died inside. I’m lucky my family is so happy and quick to help…but I can’t be that person anymore. I’ll prove to all of them that I can do this.
Distance is the only way to do that.
My shift flies by. Tips tonight are enough to pay my car payment for the month and hopefully tomorrow night I’ll cover rent, then the rest of the month goes to savings pretty much. It helps working at the most popular club in Chicago. It helps even more I was blessed with a chest plump enough to fill a C-cup bra and a flat stomach. I’m one of those girls who most girls hate. I can eat whatever, drink whatever, and never work out but I have the body most girls would die for. You wouldn’t think it’d be hard getting a guy to stick around, but it’s hell, really. I’ve all but given up on that chapter of my life to be honest. I’m tired of being heartbroken over assholes.
“You ready to cash out, Reagan?” Dean’s leaning on the end of the bar watching me, arms crossed, muscles bulging out from under the black short sleeve shirt. At some point in the night he stripped off his dress shirt, probably around the same time the VIP club upstairs locked its doors for about an hour. He doesn’t think anyone notices, but we do. I’ve only been up there once, and after that experience I never want to have to go back. Not even what Vinny is offering is as bad as that VIP room. It reeks of sex and the drugs that flow through those doors are life threatening if done wrong. No thank you. I bite back the snarky comment that wants to come out about having a choice in the matter, in anything really, and paste on the smile I know he appreciates.
“Ready when you are.” I take a step back from my drawer and he walks over, unlocking it and pulling out everything he needs before walking over to an empty booth. His body is a force to be reckoned with as he pushes past me and I make it a point not to roll my eyes at him, as hard as it is.
“You did good tonight.” He nods, pulling out the wads of cash then opening up the register on his iPad. “Really good.” His eyebrows push together and he glances over at me, his eyes landing on my tits first.
“I guess the new uniforms are working out,” I mutter, crossing my arms over my bare midsection. I want to cover up but we’re not even allowed to have jackets out here on the floor. The skimpy black boy shorts and deep purple push up bra that only recently became mandatory leave nothing to the imagination. If my family knew this was where I’m working they’d lose their shit. I told them I was still working at my friend’s dad’s club, Danz, but that job came and went within my first six months in the city, as did the plush apartment I shared with the owner’s daughter. I was out on my ass the minute they realized I was quitting. Dean found me one night at work and recruited me for Club 24, the most prestigious club in the city, and at the time I found it very hard to say no to the man. The pay is double what I was making at Danz and the tips are through the roof. I haven’t had a hard time paying bills since starting here, but I’m still having a hard time with the morals of the whole thing. Working in my underwear for money is borderline stripping and if there’s one thing I never thought I’d see myself doing, it’s taking money for taking my clothes off. I thought I was raised better than that, but desperate times called for desperate measures.
When I started here it was all fun and games. I thought Dean and I had something special. A few weeks in I realized what we had, he also had with all the other waitresses here. The fight ended with an ultimatum: walk away from it all, or become the lead bartender and don’t run my mouth to upper management. I.e. - Vinny can’t find out about it.
I chose the latter of the two evils and am still paying for it today. I could have walked away, but that would have left me jobless in a very expensive city to live in. Not the type of ‘making it on my own’ that would withstand the test of time. And groceries.
“Reagan, you’re the hottest girl we have working here.” He clears his throat as he finalizes cashing me out, then holds out a wad of cash. “The money talks.” He shoves it at me. “Twelve hundred in tips alone,” he whispers, leaning in closer. “So I think you need to thank me for the mandatory uniform.” His breath is warm on my ear as my hand goes around the money. I try to pull it out of his grasp but he’s got such a tight grip there’s no fighting him. “I haven’t heard it, Reag,” he whispers, my body tensing when he steps closer to me, now flush against me but I’m not letting go of my money.
“Thank you,” I mutter, rolling my eyes behind closed lids. I hate that his body feels good pressed against mine. I hate that he smells so good. I hate that I’m even thinking these things right now.
He chuckles low, the sound rumbling through my body, then backs away, letting go of my money finally. His eyes narrow at me and a grin spreads on his face.
“Come on back. We have a call to make.” He picks up his things from the table and starts to walk towards his office.
“I need to get home, Dean,” I call after him.
“You will. As soon as you accept the offer my boss has graciously offered you.”
I don’t move. I can’t. Because I know the truth of the situation is that he’s right and I’m about to take a step in a direction I never thought I’d be going.
Whoring myself out for an entire weekend? Not on the top of my bucket list, that’s for damn sure.
“Now!” Dean’s voice bellows down the hall, though he doesn’t break stride in his steps to his office. He knows how hard this is on me, but in some way I know he enjoys it.
I shove the wad of cash in my bra and take a deep breath.
“She’s walking in right now. Girl had a busy night tonight,” I hear Dean say when I make it into his office. He’s beaming at me, but not one of those ‘I’m so proud of you’ looks. More like an ‘I fucking won’ look.
“Good. We need more like her. Reagan, have you thought about my offer?” Vinny’s voice comes through
the speakerphone leaving chills tinkling down my spine.
“I have,” I manage to say through a thick throat. I’ve always put up a strong façade in front of these men. But in reality, I’m as weak as they come. I start to pick at the nail polish I just applied this morning, my brain attempting to wrap itself around the fact that I have to say yes to this.
It’s only for a weekend, Reagan. One weekend. And it’s not like I’m literally whoring myself out. I’m not going as a sex slave…just for companionship. So I’m told.
“And your answer?” he asks, like he’s not asking the hardest question of my life.
When Bobby Mueller asked me to marry him in the third grade, I said yes immediately.
When both of my older brothers told me jumping off the garage roof at nine was a good idea to see if I could fly, I didn’t hesitate.
When I took my first drag of a joint, I needed no time to stop and think about it.
This is a little different, though.
“Reagan?” Dean’s voice cuts through the silence in the room and my eyes flit up to his. He’s not joking. There’s no amusement in the look in his eyes right now. And he’s scaring me.
“Fine,” I whisper, locking eyes with Dean. His narrow ever so slightly and I notice the short intake of air when the words leave my mouth and smirk. “I’ll do it,” I say a little more confident. Something about his reaction to my decision made me want to do it more. He doesn’t want me to say yes, but he knows I have to.
“Good. My driver will pick you up at nine a.m. Friday. Don’t be late, Reagan.” The call ends after Vinny’s sharp orders and I furrow my eyebrows.
“This weekend?” I ask Dean. “Two days away?”
“Yep.” He sighs and stands up. “You’ll be fine. I won’t. I have to find a new bartender this weekend. Fuck,” he growls, shaking his head.
