“I’ve been in there three times,” Sandy adds at my silence. As if she gave me info, I’d give her some.
“Three times?” Jasmine asks, all but salivating. “What’s it like?”
She shrugs. “Like anything else. But some were better than others.”
“What is The Palace?” Haven asks finally speaking. She’s been typing away on her phone most of our breakfast. As always, Nite stands over in the corner like a statue with his eyes on the room the entire time. He’s become our fourth wheel who doesn’t mind being alone. A part of me feels bad for him and how uneventful his life must be.
“A sex dungeon,” Jasmine answers, waving Haven off. Deeply invested in whatever Sandy has to say. “Have you used the cage under the bed?”
Jasmine and I haven’t exchanged Queen stories, but she’s obviously been in the room to know about the hardware.
“Cage?” Haven swallows, her eyes growing bigger. Her full attention now on us. She even puts her phone on the table.
“Yep,” she answers Jasmine, ignoring Haven.
“Oh, come on. Don’t leave us hanging,” Jasmine begs.
Sandy gives a soft laugh before she takes a drink of my water. “This one guy ordered me under the bed. Followed me, where he tied me up spread eagle and put a ball gag in my mouth. Then he went into the bathroom, going along with his nightly routine. Once done, got naked, crawled into bed and proceeded to FaceTime his wife.”
“No way.” Jasmine laughs.
Haven looks like she’s seen a ghost. All the color has drained from her face. I bite my lip to hide my laughter.
“Oh, yeah,” Sandy goes on. “She asked how Atlanta was. He made up this elaborate meeting that kept him late at the office and then proceeded to have phone sex with her.”
“Holy shit,” I say.
“What did you do?” Jasmine asks, placing her elbow on the table and her chin in her hand.
“I got wet as fuck.” Sandy laughs.
I sit back in my seat. “What does that do for a guy?” Why would he hire Sandy for a night and then spend ten grand on a room just to call his wife? That doesn’t make any sense to me.
“I don’t know. I have this one client who dresses as a dog. Like has a full-on Halloween costume. And I pull him around the room with a collar.” Sandy shrugs. “Not sure what he gets from that other than hard. He does me doggie style and barks as he comes.”
“Do you get off on that?” I ask curious. I know some people are into some weird kinks, but that?
“Fuck no.” She bursts out laughing. “But I do go home and roll around in the cash it pays me.” She gives me a big smile.
“Why would you guys do this?” Haven asks, shaking her head.
Jasmine turns to look at her. “Ever heard that saying, find what you love most and have someone pay you to do it?”
Haven shakes her head. “I don’t think that’s exactly how it goes.”
Sandy and I laugh.
“But you’ve always had an addictive personality,” Haven adds.
Jasmine places her hand over her heart and gasps as if she’s been insulted. “Are you calling me a nympho?”
Haven nods quickly. “An addict would be more like it. Sex, gambling, alcohol …” She pauses. “Anything you try once, you can never get enough of.”
Jasmine laughs it off, but I don’t miss her looking over at Nite before averting her eyes. And I wonder if he’s her newest addiction. Because Haven wasn’t lying.
TITAN
“What are we going to do about it?” I ask Luca as we walk through the casino.
He places his hands in the pockets of his black slacks, releasing a sigh. “At this point, there is not much we can do.”
That’s what I feared. But that’s not where I stop. “Dig deeper.”
We enter the buffet, and I see the girls sitting at their booth. Luca stops to speak to Nite at the door, but I continue my way over to them. I haven’t gotten to spend much time with her. I’ve been swamped with work. But it has given her more time to spend with her mother.
Emilee looks up to see me. She gives me a big smile. “Titan? What are you doing down here? I thought you had a meeting.”
“I did.” I grab a chair and pull it over to the end of the table. Spinning it around, I straddle it backward and place my arms across the back rest.
“Joining us for a cocktail?” Jasmine asks me.
“It’s too early for a drink,” I counter.
“Never.” She winks at me before throwing back a Bloody Mary.
The girl has always been a heavy drinker. I look over at Em to see she has a water in front of her, as do the others.
“Hey.” Luca walks up behind the booth and kisses Haven on the head. “Ready to go?” he asks.