I laughed. “It drove my mother crazy. Still does, actually. When I was a kid, I had this favorite blanket, and I would take that thing everywhere. When it was bath time, they had to pry it from my fingers, practically. When I got older, my mother pulled it out of storage and held it up. It wasn’t a blanket at all. It was some tapestry she said I found on one of the adventures that took me to the west wing, where they kept old important family heirlooms. Apparently, it had been in my family for two hundred years, but my mother didn’t have the heart to take it from me. All that time, I was dragging around an irreplaceable heirloom and had no idea.”
I laughed at the memory, both to show I was human, and because it really was one of my favorite stories of myself. Adriana tried to hold back, but she burst out laughing as well, shaking her head
and relaxing her body into the red velvet seats. Her smile was intoxicating, and I couldn’t help but stare. I even glanced over to catch Brat smirking and gazing at her. If she could get a smile from Brat, I knew she could enchant an entire Kingdom, including my hard ass mother who barely ever smiled.
“There were several times, my nanny found me hiding out in the stables, lost in the maze of holding areas and horse manure. That might be why I wasn’t allowed to bring my blanket to the dinner table.”
“Oh gosh,” Adriana said, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes and giggling uncontrollably. “Your poor mother. She definitely had her hands full.”
“Yeah,” I said, calming my laugh. “I was constantly curious. Today, it’s a different curiosity. I no longer dig through old boxes or get myself lost in the horse stables. Instead, I am curious about people, about where their minds are, and what their lives are like outside of the situation at hand. That’s what I was thinking while I was watching you dance. Who is this amazing girl when she wasn’t controlling all the men in the room with her seductive gaze?”
“Just me,” she sighed, still smiling. “Just a girl from Liverpool who broke free from the chains that bound me. I don’t mind this life, but it’s not forever. Don’t get me wrong. It’s nice sitting here chatting, but I want to be back on the road, exploring, learning, and meeting people from all walks of life. I guess you could say we are alike in that way. I’m curious about what lies around the next corner.”
“How do you do it?” I asked, looking at the glimmer in her eye. “Just walking from place to place with the things on your back, not knowing where to sleep or having your next meal ready for you. That sounds stressful.”
She laughed. “I’m not a vagabond. I would say more like a nomad than anything else. I travel with a safety net, my savings. Sometimes, I’ll sleep in a hostel, sometimes a nice hotel, if I really need the rest, and sometimes, I’ll pitch a tent in the country and sleep under the stars. It’s freedom in the purest form you can find these days. No nine to five jobs, no boss to shove you around, just you and your choices.”
“That actually sounds pretty amazing,” I said leaning back, thinking about my parents and their constant nagging.
“I don’t know,” she said, lifting an eyebrow. “You don’t seem tough enough to deal with it.”
“Ah, you underestimate me, Adriana,” I said. “Though you may be right. I do like my coffee served on a tray and a soft pillow under my head at night.”
I could see her start to relax. As she leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table and her chin in her hands, I took a moment to skim my eyes over her gorgeous body. She was fit but had curves in every spot I loved. Her big hips and firm ass were just what I liked when I was grabbing onto a woman in bed. I looked back up and met her gaze, realizing she had caught me combing over her voluptuous thighs. She didn’t say anything, but I saw a bit of pink rise up her cheeks. The fact that it didn’t bother her, and in fact, seemed to excite her, sent a tingling sensation into the pit of my stomach. I could feel my pants getting a little tighter, and I ran my hand across my hardening cock under the table. Be patient, Milos. Be patient.
“So, Miss Adriana, where do you stay? In Prague?” I already knew the answer, having flashed money in front of the owners face and causing him to spill everything he knew about this girl. But I wanted to hear it from her.
“Oh,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Reg has an apartment upstairs for all of us. It’s not free, by any means, but it’s cheaper than the flats out in town, if you can handle the constant chatter of a bunch of strippers.”
“Sounds miserable,” I said, realizing that might not be the best thing to blurt out, but it had already escaped my lips.
“It can be,” she said, laughing. “But sometimes it would nice to be alone.”
“Well, I have a proposal. I would like to offer you a nicer place to relax for the night. My family owns a hotel in Prague. It’s very upscale. You would have the run of the suite. There is a jacuzzi, sauna, and I promise the softest beds in the entire city. You deserve to rest comfortably, instead of being shoved into a tiny apartment with all these other girls.”
“I don’t know,” she said, looking wary.
I could see the interest in her eyes, especially after mentioning the soft beds. Though I had other thoughts on what to do in that bed, she didn’t need to know I was included in the deal. I poured her some more coffee and sat back, glancing up at the stage, but finding no interest in the tiny girl grinding against the pole. The girl I was interested was sitting across the table, mulling over the idea of a relaxing night in a hotel with a stranger.
I knew I couldn’t offer to pay her. That would make her say no in a heartbeat, but I had a feeling our honest conversation was trying to sway her mind. She tapped her finger against her mug and looked around the room, as if the answer to the question would be shining brightly in the red lights and neon signs. Brat leaned down and whispered in my ear.
“It is getting late,” he said as he tapped his watch and glanced up at the girl. “We should be heading over to the hotel soon.”
I nodded my head and stuck my finger up, signaling I understood but to give me just a few more moments. The club was open until the wee hours of the morning, but I had exhausted my interest in watching other women dance around. My eyes landed back on Adriana as she looked up and gazed back at me. My interest was now that blonde hair and those sensual eyes.
Chapter 5: Adriana
This was a tough decision. Several of the girls, including Sveta, had gone home with clients before, but I always made it rule never to step foot outside of the club with a customer. What happened after the girls left the club was none of my business, but I was pretty sure from the influx of cash and the way they looked when they got back, they weren’t just grabbing a bite to eat or going for a drive through the city.
I wasn’t judging them in any way. Everyone had a different story, and most of them needed the extra money, but I just never found myself desperate enough to sell my body for a few Euros. I looked down at my cup of coffee and bit my lip, feeling Milos’s gaze running over me. I was used to men staring at my body. Although normally, it would make me feel a tinge of irritation. I felt nothing but heat knowing Milos was enjoying the sight of me.
My choices were simple. Either I said “no thank you,” dragged myself up to the apartment, put my headphones in, and tried to get some sleep on the thin spring mattress, or I said “yes” and go to the suite with plush beds, hot showers, and most importantly, privacy. I doubted that Milos had any intention of leaving me alone once there, but in reality, he was sexy as hell. A romp in the hay with his strong, tanned body wouldn’t be the worst thing that had ever come my way. On top of all of that, I was sure there would be an opportunity presented to make even more cash tonight, something that had been weighing heavily on my mind since my mother had tracked me down and called me, crying over the house.
When my grandmother passed away, she left her flat in Liverpool to my mother and me, so we would have a better place to live than the shitty ass apartment in the slums. My mother, being useless most of the time, didn’t do anything but lay around and get trashed, but I made sure to keep up with the normal maintenance of owning a house. I figured once my mother had shacked up with some dude, I’d end up getting the flat, which I was fine with. When she called me, though, all those dreams seemed to disappear in one phone call.
My mother, being the complete idiot that she was, realized I wasn’t there to give her money. Granted, it took her like three weeks before she realized I wasn’t just holed up in my room ignoring her. Needing money for more liquor and escapades, my mother took out a mortgage on the flat. How she did that with no viable income, I will seriously never know.
Either way, getting that panicked call from my mother was already shocking enough because she had the fortitude to hunt me down to this strip club. Adding fuel to the fire, she then told me the flat was in foreclosure, and if she did