by Harper West
Before I met him, I'd had normal sex dreams. Me and some faceless guy who ate me out and kissed me and made love to me. Now I had to deal with Killian's fetishes even when I was asleep. I was never going to tell him that, of course, and I could ignore the fact that I woke up wet and horny. It was an unconscious reaction.
All I had to do was hold out for another ten months. I'd done harder things for a longer period of time. No matter what Killian made me do, I wouldn't lose myself. I could go back to my life and the way I was at the end of the year, and all the stuff that came before wouldn't even matter.
I'd have the money and the security, and I'd still be me.
Want More?
Ash & Killian’s Story continues in …
THE DOM’S RULES
The Pleasure Wars Book 2
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Chapter 1
Elle
“Another day—another fucking dollar,” my brother hollered as he walked into the kitchen and dumped a sack of cash on the table before heading over to the fridge. It was so damn cliché, I actually burst out laughing.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked. “Where the hell did you get that?”
“Elle,” he said, as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “You literally have grown up in this lifestyle since you could babble, and yet you still wonder where a sack of cash comes from on a regular basis. What is wrong with you?”
“I’m just asking,” I said, as I sipped my own café mocha. “I thought you were asleep all night. I didn’t realize that you were working.”
“I was working,” he said. “While your lazy ass was sitting here.”
“Whatever,” I waved my free hand in the air, “Is it real?”
“Of course, it’s real,” he snapped. “What do you take me for?”
I quirked an eyebrow at him.
“It’s not the first time you've told me something was real when it wasn’t.”
“It’s real. I just collected the profits from powder.”
Powder was code word for whenever he dealt with drugs. I didn’t even bother asking what kind because it wasn’t my area. Now that my brother and I were adults, we handled different divisions within the family business. I had actually gone to school, and I used my talents to make us rich with insider trading.
Clearly—we’re not the good guys.
But we’re not necessarily lawless animals either. We have codes of how we handle things. Rules so to speak. Number one? No drugs to kids and No human trafficking. Those were the rules Nonno followed, and his father before him. Now dad makes the calls, but those ones haven’t changed.
To us, nothing matters more than family. If you betray who you are, what you are, you may as well pack up and start a new life, because there would be nothing left here for you.
Dad didn’t coddle me. He taught me to never fear the streets, or the danger that came with who we were; but we each had our roles to fill and mine was stuffed in the confines of our home. My Father had made me unafraid of dark alleyways, or men who said that they were going to take care of me since the days I could walk. I just preferred to actually use my brain once in a while, whereas my brother seemed to prefer to be the stereotypical mafia brute.
“Are you going straight to the man?” I asked.
“I am, in like two hours. Why?”
“I’m just short on cash,” I shrugged. “And I wanted to go and get the new Gucci bag today before they were sold out. Call me shallow, but last time I waited, I lost out. I don’t plan on that happening again.”
“With this cash?” he asked, and I met his eyes.
“Sorry, am I not allowed?” I taunted him. I was entitled to an allowance every week, as were all of us. Most of it was in cash, and to tell you the truth, no one kept track of it that closely. We spent what we wanted, and we respected each other. At least, we were supposed to respect each other. A pair of Gucci boots every few weeks wouldn’t break the family, but if I was buying private islands, I might be called in for a talking to.
“Of course,” my brother shrugged. “Take whatever you want. Just tell me how much it was.”
“Two grand should cover it,” I said, as I counted out three. Who knew what else was going on in the Gucci shop, and I didn’t want to get caught without cash.
“Sure, whatever,” he said. “Good luck.”
“Uh huh,” I thought that was a weird thing to say, but I ignored him, and counted out what I needed again. I shoved it into my pocket and then stood up. “Thanks.”
“Hey, did you hear about the Denali brothers?” he asked.
“Why?” I said, as I went to get my coat. “What stupid ass thing have they done now?”
“Just through the grapevine, I heard they were going to start dabbling in insider trading as well.”
“Really?” I asked. “But they’re idiots.”
“You should go and tell them that,” he said, with a snort.
The Denalis brothers were our biggest rivals. Our two families had been fighting since what felt like the dawn of time. We had always been at odds, and we had screwed each other over more than once. That was just what we did; it was second nature. I think there had been an attempt at reconciliation maybe once, and that was it. My brother made a bigger deal of the rivalry than I did. It wasn’t that I didn’t hate them; because I did. I just had better things to do than care about a rivalry that my great grandfather started. I preferred to dedicate my time to making money.
“OK, well just call me if you need me,” I said. “But I know you won’t.”
“Live your life, little sister,” he chuckled and headed down the hall to one of the massive bedrooms, no doubt to get some sleep.
Our new place was so big, I still hadn’t seen all the rooms. My Father had bought it recently, and we moved from what was already considered a mansion to this bigass sprawling estate. It brought us a lot closer to the Denalis territory, but it also gave us a lot more space.
I think my father hoped that I would fall in love and start the next generation of the family or something. I probably wouldn’t, because I didn’t really believe in love. Love was for normal people, who fell in love with other normal people, and didn’t have to worry about the mafia. I never watch romantic movies or read romance novels because in my opinion, they filled your head with bullshit expectations.
If I ever got married, it would be a marriage of alliance. I would probably have kids, that was the expectation, not because I wanted to be intimate with whoever they sold me off too, but I didn’t really focus on that part. It would just be another job like every other one I’ve had to do in this family. And I’d do it—because in this life, there’s a pecking order, and unfortunately—I’m not at the top.
Not yet at least.
I headed out, deciding to take the Porsche. It was my newest toy, and I quite liked it. Of course, I would like it until someone else got one, and then I’d probably get a Jaguar or a Bentley straight from the shop floor.
When your life was dictated by other people’s choice, you had to find a way to get your own kicks.
My escape was shipping.
I decided that I was going to go to the Gucci boutique in the new shopping plaza. They often had the best selection. It annoyed me that Gucci didn’t let anything go onto the black market. I had tried more than once to get a bag after it had sold out, and none of my contacts had ever been able to get me one.
As I crossed through the thick glass doors, the sales rep, Clancy, greeted me right away. “Elle,” she said, with a smile. “What can I get you today?”
“I’m looking for the new collection,” I said. “I know it’s not due to come out until tomorrow, but my guess is, it’s in the store now. I want one.”
“I don’t know if I can do that,” she said. “We’re re
ally not supposed to . . .”
“Come on, girl.” I said, giving her a wide smile and bumping her shoulder. “I know that you can do it. I’ll even give you a little non-taxable tip.”
I flashed the amount of the cash I had, and she raised her eyebrows. Clancy had always been good to me, and I could see that she needed the clash, given the state of her nails.
“Fine,” she said. “Let me get it. But don’t take it out and about until tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” I said, and she headed into the back. I drummed my nails onto the counter and waited, impatiently When she brought me the bag, I practically salivated from how beautiful it was. A deep crimson that screamed ‘look at me’ yet, the style was understated. I knew it would look amazing with most of the outfits I had. “Perfect.”
“This one is $2500, plus tax” she said. “And anything you want to leave as a tip can be left right here.”
“Are you allowed to take tips?” I asked, with a smile.
“Yes,” she said. “But discreetly, and you’re not being very discreet right now.”
“Sorry,” I said, and rolled my eyes. I handed over the full amount of cash I had, even though I thought that was ridiculous All she was doing was selling me a bag and she just made a few hundred bucks.
She took the cash and put some of it in her pocket, and then went to put the rest of it in the register. It seemed like a perfectly normal transaction until her manager came over.
“Clancy, did you check those bills?”
“What?” she asked, jumping. She looked like she was doing something wrong, which was an invitation to get caught. “No. This is Elle, she’s a regular customer.”
“You know the new policy,” he said. “Always check bills bigger than $50.”
“Oh,” Clancy said and looked to me.
“Apologies, madam.” The manager continued, “We don’t mean any offense, but after the fiasco we had two months ago, we can’t make any exceptions.”
I shrugged. “Go for it.”
She began to check the bills as I looked down at my phone, planning the rest of the day. All of the sudden, the machine started to beep. It beeped again, and again. I realized, to my horror, that every single bill was fake. Clancy looked up at me eyes wide. “Uh…”
“There must be a mistake,” I said, as my stomach sank with that familiar feeling. Fucking John. He had better have just made a mistake and not publicly screwed me here. “Here, just give me back the cash and I can pay with card. It’s no big deal.”
“I’m sorry, Miss,” the manager said. “I’m going to have to call the police.”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” I said, and fixed him with a cold, icy stare. Being arrested didn’t bother me in principal; my family was far too profitable and powerful to actually stay in jail, especially for a counterfeit bill charge. What bothered me more than that was the fact that news would spread through the grapevine and everyone would make fun of me for months to come. Reputation was everything, and yet it could so easily be damaged.
“I have to,” he said.
“What if I…” I suddenly realized that tipping him wasn’t possible because I didn’t have any cash that was real. “What do you want? I’ll get you anything that you want. Do you know who I am?”
“I’m sorry, I—I have to call the police,” he said, which told me that he did know who I was. He sounded like he was making a major bust, which made me roll my eyes so hard they almost hit my brain. He even pushed the panic button and I saw the doors subtly lock.
“This is ridiculous,” I said, to Clancy, who mouthed her apologies to me. “Can I least make a phone call?”
“Of course,” she said, looking caught between a rock and a hard place. She might have been worried about the fact that she was carrying counterfeit bills, but even though I didn’t really care about her. I wasn’t going to incriminate her with me.
I pulled out my phone and took a few steps away for privacy as I called my brother. He picked up on the second ring. “Yessssss?”
“Did you know those bills were fake?” I asked flatly, covering my mouth with my hand.
There was silence on the phone, and I sort of prayed that he didn’t. But I heard him snicker, and I realized he knew. Rat bastard.
“Oh my God, you asshole,” I said. “I’m locked in Gucci and they are calling the police.”
John was overwhelmed with laughter, and I was ready to throw my phone at him.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “You afraid of the cops?”
“Fuck you, John,” I said, but he still didn’t stop laughing.
“Whatever,” he said. “I’ll send someone to the jailhouse.”
“You’re such an asshole. I’m so done with you.”
“What are you going to do?” he teased. “Buy half a million Gucci bags and smother me with them?”
“You don’t know what I am capable of,” I said, as he chuckled.
“Bring it, sis. It’s payback for giving me a crappy Christmas present.”
“A crappy Christmas present? This isn’t how you pay someone back!” I scowled at him. “Do you know how quick this is going to go through the grapevine? I’ll be the laughing-stock.”
“You’ll get over it.”
“No way. Not this time. Why do you constantly do this? These games were funny when we were kids, but not anymore. There’s real consequences for this shit now.”
“Maybe you’ll fall in line then—and start realizing who’s in charge. I own this town and everyone in it.”
“You don’t own the Denali brothers.” I snapped back.
“I will soon enough.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the cops approaching. When they recognized me, they put their hands on their guns, as if I was so threatening.
“Just you wait, asshole,” I growled at John. “Just you freaking wait.”
“Whatever, Elle,” he said and hung up the phone. This was it. I was pissed and I was going to teach my brother a lesson, once and for all. As soon as I got out of jail, that was.
Continue Reading Doubling Down in Vegas, here!
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Seduced by Her Royal Dukes: A MFM Royal Menage Romance
Tempting Her Royal Princes: A MFM Royal Menage Romance
Given to The Mafia Bosses: A MFM Bad Boy Menage Romance
Training Their Virgin Assistant: A BBW Billionaire Menage Romance
The Billionaires Surprise Baby: A MFM Billionaire Menage Romance
The Nanny and The Billionaires: A MFM Billionaire Menage Romance
The Virgins Billionaire Bachelors: A MFM Billionaire Menage Romance
FREEBIE:
Shared by Her Billionaire Bosses: A MFM Billionaire Menage Romance
About Harper
Harper West is a Cali girl through and through, and she’s hella addicted to iced tea. She loves some theme park time, visiting the ocean and the mountains in the same day, and spending time with her kitties as she explores this writing journey.
When she’s not enjoying everything Cali has to offer, she can be found on social media or sitting in front of a fire on a rainy day, staring at the mountains. Sign up for her newsletter to stay up to date on all of her journeys and new books!
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