“You know you don’t have to come here every night,” he tells me, looking up from the stacks of money and credit card receipts.
“My office,” I remind him. I have seven clubs. Each has an office but I made myself a nice big one here at Vine. It has the space and is my biggest, most profitable club to date.
“Just saying, boss man. You don’t have to stick around if you don’t want to. Not like you come down and hang with us anymore.”
“I come down and pitch in if you need hands.” I am still the first to roll up my sleeves and make drinks if need be. There is no task here that I wouldn’t do.
“I’m talking about not working. You used to come down and hang.” Ah. He’s right; I used to hang down here with the high spenders. If I was in the bar hanging out with people, though, I knew my picture would end up in the gossip magazines. I am a King, after all. They always want to know what my brother and I are up to.
“Publicity. As you can see, we don’t need that anymore. The clubs speak for themselves now.” I reach into my pocket, pulling out my keys. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I head out the front door, rubbing my tired eyes. If I am lucky sleep will come to me tonight. I stop when the cold spring air hits my face. The weird twinge in my chest hits me hard with a throb. I stand there for a moment trying to get it under control. I lift my eyes, feeling as though someone is staring at me. The streets are empty this early in the morning. I shake the feeling off as I slip into my Bugatti, taking off for home.
2
Alyssa
The sleek sports car pulls away from the curb. I watch it go until the red taillights fade into the distance. Out of all of the times that I’ve seen him leave the club over the past few months, I’ve only ever seen him take one woman home with him. That may not be accurate since I don’t catch him every day so it’s probably more than that. I’m not sure why that thought bothers me, but it does.
It’s possible that some days he left earlier or he might not have been there at all. I know nothing about my mystery man that has become an odd stalking obsession for me ever since I first spotted him. He’s too handsome for his own good. Is that even a thing? For someone to be too handsome?
It has to be because he occupies a majority of my thoughts. Those devilish hazel eyes and chocolate brown hair might have something to do with it. Not to mention that sexy as hell smirk he wears.
“Watcha doing?”
I scream, turning to see my best friend Neily standing there with a cup of coffee in hand. “Did I miss him?” She looks up and down the street. “No fancy car, so I missed him.” She shakes her head like she’s actually disappointed. She doesn’t care if she sees him; she just wants to give me crap about it.
“He left.” I turn, heading back into our shop and locking the door behind us. We don’t open for a few more hours, but I need to get to work. Owning your own business is hard work that requires a lot of dedication. I’m lucky to have Neily to share the responsibility with.
“Was he alone?”
I nod my head in answer.
“Aly, you act like the man cheated on you. He has no idea you secretly stalk him, so it’s not cheating.”
“I’m not stalking!” I defend myself even though I kind of am.
“We can totally name it something else if that makes you feel better about it.” She taps her finger against her plump lips as though she’s trying to think of something. “A huntress? A scouter?” she offers.
“It’s not funny.” I feel a little defeated about the whole thing. Why do I even bother going to see him every morning that I work? I come in extra early so that I don’t miss him. Neily is right. I am a stalker.
“You’ve got a crush. It’s no big deal. It’s not like you’re following him home and reading his mail.” She takes a step toward me and her voice drops to a whisper. There’s not anyone else in the shop to overhear us so I'm not sure why she’s whispering. “You’re not, right? Doing any of those things? I mean, no judgment or anything, but that might be taking it a little far and as your friend I gotta tell you that.”
“I don’t even know his name,” I mumble, heading back toward the kitchen with Neily hot on my tail.
“You know I’m only teasing you, right, Aly?”