She could also feel the need for cocaine coursing through her veins. She shook her head at herself and took a deep breath, adjusting the front of her shirt to make sure that it gave an ample view of her cleavage.
Brandy looked up at the neon sign above the door, wishing that she had a cigarette to take the edge off, but she didn’t. She’d only been able to talk one person out of a cigarette all day and she’d smoked that the minute it was in her hand. She was going to be shit out of luck if this guy didn’t hire her, she thought.
Brandy flipped her dark hair back over her shoulder, suddenly wishing that she’d worked harder to lose the five pounds she’d gained recently. But there’s nothing I can do about it now she thought, and I know that my ass looks damned good in these jeans.
She pushed open the door and breathed in the scents of stale beer and popcorn. There was a good looking guy behind the bar, talking to a tall blonde guy whose back was turned. She sat down on a stool, raising her finger to try to get the bartender’s attention, hoping that maybe he’d give her a free drink. Anything to take the edge off of her craving Brandy thought again. It had been what seemed like forever since she’d went without coke this long. She felt like she wanted to crawl out of her skin.
The bartender turned to her and smiled. Brandy could tell that he was checking out her chest, but she didn’t mind.
He walked over to her. “Hello beautiful. What can I get you?”
She couldn’t speak for a minute because the blonde turned around. She prayed that he was Gabe, because he was gorgeous. Tall, with hair that brushed his shoulders and the most beautiful pair of blue eyes she thought she’d ever seen. He barely looked old enough to drink, let alone run a bar, but as he smiled at her, she was willing to bet that he was Gabe. His smile told her that he would give her the world, if she didn’t mind doing some dirty things along the way. He had a black band tattooed around both of his biceps. His muscles bulged from his tight t-shirt. She had to close her mouth so she wouldn’t start drooling.
The bartender’s grin had frozen, she’d taken so long to answer him. She looked at him. “I’m sorry. Can I get an application?” She turned a grin of her own on him. “And a drink on the house if you don’t mind.”
He turned towards the blonde. “Boss?”
“Get her a drink Todd. Give this beautiful lady whatever she wants. Then I’ll take her back to my office and take care of the application process.”
“Okay. What would you like?”
“Rum and coke please.”
“Sure.”
“I’ll get it Todd. We’ll take it back to the office with us.” Gabe winked at her.
“Okay.”
Gabe fixed her drink and then handed it across the bar to her. Brandy was sure that he let his fingers linger on hers extra-long on purpose.
He gestured for her to follow him down the hallway. She took a sip of her drink to steady her nerves and followed him to an office with a sign hung on it that said “Boss Man.”
“Todd thought it was funny. I didn’t want to hurt his feeling by taking it down,” Gabe said.
“Oh.”
He followed her into the office, shutting the door behind them. He rummaged around in his desk, coming out with a single paged application which he handed across the desk to her. She took another gulp of her drink, and glanced at the pictures on his desk. There were two, one of a beautiful woman with red hair Brandy thought she’d seen around town, and the other of a dark haired little boy who looked about three years old.
She filled out the application and handed it back to him, hoping that her lack of work experience wouldn’t stop her from getting hired. She’d heard from more than just Trina that Gabe would hire any woman off the streets if she was pretty enough. Normally Brandy had no problem thinking that she was pretty enough, for most men at least, but Gabe wasn’t most men.
“So how long have you owned this place?” He was studying her application and it was making her nervous.
“A little over a year. I’m surprised I haven’t seen you around here before Brandylynn.”
“Oh, I’ve just been in town a few months.” She laughed. “I never have any money to go out to the bar anyway. I’m always too busy spending my money on other things.”
He looked up at her then. Brandy felt like his eyes were looking right through her. “I see.”
“Um, you can call me Brandy. I mean, if you decide to hire me.”
He took her application and put it back in his desk drawer. For a panicky moment, Brandy thought that he was dismissing her, then he said “What can I really help you with Brandy?”
“I do need a job. But um, you wouldn’t happen to have any coke lying around would you?”
She laughed, though it felt strained.
He studied her for a moment. “I do actually. I took it from my wife because she’s pregnant. Although I do like to indulge myself then and again. But is coke what you really need Brandy?”
She drained half of her drink in one swallow. She could almost feel the high. Hell yeah she thought, coke is what I need.
“Yes Gabe. I mean please.”
Gabe sighed and opened the bottom drawer of his desk. He brought out a small baggie and gestured for her to come around the desk. He laid a line for both of them. Once the coke was in her system Brandy felt a hundred times better. She wanted more but she was sure she could talk Gabe out of some money.
He’d felt her ass when she was leaning over to do her line and she was glad she’d worn her best jeans.
She went back around the desk, wondering again if he was going to hire her. “Do you have a cigarette?”
He sighed again and dug a rumpled pack out of the same drawer he’d earlier pulled the coke from. “We can’t smoke in here. Let’s go outside. I want to talk to you Brandy.”
“Okay.”
She didn’t think she’d mind blowing Gabe she thought as she followed him out of the office. She thought she’d do just about anything for him if he’d keep her high.
When they got out to the bar Gabe turned to Todd. “I’m going outside for a few minutes. If you need me call my cell phone.”
Todd looked back and forth between Gabe and Brandy. “Okay boss.”
Once they were outside, Gabe took a cigarette from the pack and lit it, then handed her the pack and the lighter. She lit a cigarette, drawing the smoke deep into her lungs, and then tried to hand it back to him.
He shook his head. “Keep it. I don’t know why I smoke at all anymore. I’ve got a son at home and another child on the way. Come sit in my car with me Brandy.”
She followed him to a maroon SUV. He pulled a key ring out of his pocket and pushed the button to open the doors. He opened the passenger door for her and then went around and got in the driver’s side.
“Brandy.”
“Yes Gabe?”
“I will hire you. It will be part time at first because we don’t really need the help right now. But I can tell how badly you need this job. I’ll pay you $8 an hour and you’ll have your tips. I’ll give you money and anything else you need. If you do a good job and stay with me six months you’ll be given a substantial raise. Does that sound fair Brandy?”
“Yes, of course.” She was pretty sure she’d make a killing on tips.
“But there are conditions to this.”
Brandy was sure that he was going to bring up sex, but instead he said “You’ll go to rehab before you start working here. I’ll pay for it of course. If there’s anything you need to take care of before you go, like rent or anything, I’ll take care of it. But you will go to rehab Brandy or you will not work for me.”
Brandy hid a sigh. Would it be worth it she wondered? He’d said he’d give her whatever she wanted if she went to rehab. She could already feel the craving for coke sneaking back up on her.
Finally she said “I’ll do it.”
He smiled. “Wonderful.” He reached over and brushed her hair back from her face. “You are such a beautiful gi
rl Brandy. But I’ll bet that guys tell you that all the time. How old are you?”
She panicked for a minute, thinking that she’d written her real birth-date on her application instead of the fake that was six months older than she really was but he only smiled at her again.
“It’s okay. When you do you really turn twenty-one Brandy? It will be our little secret.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “In March.”
He laughed. “That’s actually sooner than I thought. I saw you hesitate when you wrote down your birth-date. Most people don’t have to think about when their own birthday is.”
“Yeah. So when do you want me to go to this place?”
“I have to get some things lined up. It might take a day or so before they can get you in. I plan on staying with you until they do.”
“Um, staying with me? You mean you want me to go to your house with your wife and kid?”
He laughed again. “Of course not. I’ll get a room for us. I’ll take you out to dinner. Sabrina and Chloe are coming in to relieve Todd soon. He’ll be okay by himself until they get here.”
“Okay.”
She wasn’t sure about staying in a motel room with him. Brandy wasn’t quite sure why since she’d been willing to blow him only a few minutes ago. Maybe it was the fact that if he was around he’d make sure she’d have to stay clean until he took her to rehab. That wasn’t something that she was looking forward to.
“Before we go though, would you mind joining me in the backseat?”
“I guess.”
He helped her climb between the seats and then followed her to the very back of the SUV since there was a car-seat in the middle seat. It made her feel kind of weird to be doing what she figured he wanted her to do in the car that he drove his kid around in. But what the hell she thought, he was the boss.
Instead of undoing his pants like she figured he was going to do, Gabe reached around and undid Brandy’s bra. She almost breathed a sigh of relief. The underwire had been cutting into her sides. She didn’t protest when he pulled her shirt over her head, though she did wonder why he was doing it in the parking lot, instead of inside in his office.
“Oh,” he said. “You are even more beautiful than I thought you’d be. Even more beautiful than my wife.”
“Um, thank you.”
He reached for the button on her jeans. She held his hand where it was. “Gabe, do you think this could wait? Or that we could do it in your office or something? What if someone sees?”
He laughed. “I own the place. Besides, I don’t care if anyone sees. I want them to see.”
She swallowed hard. “Um, okay.”
“Isn’t that what girls like you want? For everyone to see? Look at the way you’re dressed.”
Brandy started to pull away. She wanted to tell Gabe to go fuck himself. She’d rather beg her parents for money than be treated the way he was suddenly treating her. Then she remembered again that her mother had stopped answering her calls since she had to call collect and bit her lip. Could she really demean herself like this she thought? She closed her eyes briefly.
“What do you mean, girls like me?”
“Why, sluts of course.”
“I’m not a slut.”
“Are you telling me that you didn’t come in here expecting to blow me and walk away with enough cash to buy coke? You might not have bothered to come back if I’d done that.”
A part of her thought that Gabe was probably right, but Brandy didn’t like to admit it to herself. “That’s not true.”
Gabe laughed. “Of course it is. Take your pants off. I’d ask you to blow me, but I want inside of you so bad I can almost taste it.”
Brandy managed to wriggle out of her too tight jeans. She wished she’d never come to Gabe’s Place. She had a bad feeling that everything Gabe offered her might come at a higher price than she was willing to pay. She knew she needed to clean up her act, but it didn’t seem like a good way to start screwing her new boss in the back of his truck in the parking lot of his bar.
Gabe took his time taking his clothes off. She was starting to get impatient. It was late enough that a steady stream of people were starting to go to and from the bar. His windows were tinted, but the tinting was light enough to be legal. She was afraid someone really would see them.
She started to lie down on the seat, but Gabe lay back and pulled her down on top of him. He gave her a grin that was almost a smirk. “I want it to be your sweet ass they see if someone happens to look in the window when they pass by.”
She stifled a groan. “Do you have a rubber?”
“No. Don’t tell me that you’re not on birth control.”
“No. My boyfriend always used rubbers. He said it was cheaper that way.”
Gabe sighed. “We’ll pick up some on the way to the motel. For now we’re going to have to do without one.”
Brandy fought back panic again. I can’t do it without protection she thought. The only times that she’d had sex without protection before she’d gotten into trouble that had ended in an abortion at fifteen and the adoption of her baby by strangers since her parents hadn’t wanted him at seventeen. Okay Brandy thought, so maybe I am a slut.
“Gabe please. What if I get pregnant?”
Gabe reached up and touched her face. “Shh, darling. I’ll take care of everything from now on. No more worrying my beautiful girl. You are mine now and Gabe takes good care of his own.”
Brandy started to say something, wondering what he meant by saying that she was his but she couldn’t speak. He pulled her more fully on top of him and was soon inside her. She couldn’t think about anything but the sex once he was inside of her. She didn’t care anymore that they were in his car. She only cared about her body, and his. Gabe was the most incredible lover she’d ever had. Not that she’d honestly had a lot of lovers. He was only the fourth.
And man did he have stamina Brandy thought. When her legs were still shaky after she’d had an orgasm and he was still nowhere near his own, he’d rolled her over, so that he was now on top, somehow managing to not only not knock them off of the seat but not to break the contact of their bodies either.
Even with Chad, whom she’d thought she was in love in if he’d taken too long to come to orgasm, she’d wanted the sex over with. With Gabe, she didn’t think she’d care if he took all night. While they were having sex Brandy was sure that she’d let Gabe do anything he wanted to her.
When he had finished Gabe helped her sit up. He handed her her clothes and a handful of wet wipes that he’d pulled out of a container under the seat. Once she was dressed, he leaned over and gave her a long kiss. “Thank you Brandy.”
“Um, you’re welcome.”
He squeezed her hand. “I mean it. My wife and I hardly have sex anymore. She’s only a few months along and is already convinced that she’s terribly fat. Of course that doesn’t stop her from inviting countless women into our bedroom. I’m no longer invited of course.” Gabe sighed. “It was good for you wasn’t it?”
He looked like he really wanted to know. She wondered how he could be so tender and make her feel so dirty at the same time. But she shrugged it off, thinking that all men could probably be like that. “Oh yes, Gabe. It was. . . wonderful.”
He smiled, and reached out and touched her face. “My beautiful Brandy. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun together. It’s what you wanted right, to be mine?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer. “I guess.”
“Good. Do you like women Brandy?”
“Yeah.” Then she realized what he was asking. “Not like that.”
Gabe chuckled. “It’s probably better that you don’t. As I said, my wife doesn’t like to share anymore. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you. We must get back to business for now. Do you have a cell phone, a car? Where do you live my darling?”
“At these apartments over on 4th street. My boyfriend left me. The rent’s paid for now but I don’t know how I’m going
to cover it without him.”
Gabe made a face. “I know the place you’re talking about. I can’t believe how much they charge for that place with how trashy it is. We’ll find a nice new place for you. I’ll make sure your rent is covered. As long as you make me happy, I will make you very, very happy. So about the phone, the car?”
Brandy shook her head. “I don’t have a phone. I always use the payphone at the apartments. Sometimes my boyfriend could get a calling card, sometimes he couldn’t. As for the car, I don’t even have a license Gabe. I don’t know how to drive. My dad wouldn’t teach me to drive when I was fifteen because I got knocked up and they had to pay for an abortion. Then, just when he’d decided that maybe he could trust me again, I got pregnant again pretty soon after I turned sixteen. That one they put up for adoption. There was no way he was going to teach me to drive then. My boyfriend Chad, or I guess my ex-boyfriend now since he walked out on me, was trying to teach me but his car was a stick. I can’t drive a stick. It was too hard for me.”
“Oh Brandy. You really do need me to take care of you don’t you my darling?”
“I guess. But that was why I didn’t want to do it without a condom. I seem to get pregnant whenever I do that.”
“Would you like to have my baby Brandy?”
There was a strange look in Gabe’s eyes. Brandy wondered how the guy could go from turning her on completely to seeming almost scary in such a short time. “Yeah. I mean no. I don’t want to have anyone’s baby right now.”
“I see. We must be more careful in the future then. I plan on making very good use of that beautiful body of yours. Now about the cell phone, we’ll pick one up for you on the way to the motel. I’ll teach you to drive. I’ll help you get your license. Then I’ll buy you a car. How does that sound?”
“Good.”
“Great. I’ll let you drive my truck to the motel.”
“But, this thing is so nice. What if I run into something?”
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 40
