I locked her in the dungeon hoping she would remember the time she got lost and locked herself in down there. She had the whole house searching for her. She was so scared. I knew she hated it down there at first, but it used to be her safe place as a child, and yet I locked her down there anyway when she said she was scared, wishing she could remember.
I love her and I hate her. I own a fucking castle and I can’t escape her. Every stone seems to carry a memory of what was lost to me and what I have gained since she came back into my life.
I gave her a chore to do and I took off. I had to clear my head. I ended up here, at the club, crashing o
n the couch in my office.
“What’s with your ‘new’ housekeeper? I thought you always paid a few of the girls from the club to clean,” Rain questions, pressing me for answers that are none of her fucking business.
“The fuck is it to ya? I owe her old man a favor,” I lie knowing I’ve had this planned. I made sure Hector Perez would never be able to pay his debt to me. I knew if I played my cards right, an opportunity would present itself for me to get Isa alone and she wouldn’t be able to fight the truth. I just didn’t count on my plan coming together so quickly, but once she offered herself so freely the opportunity was there, and she was mine again.
That night in the hospital parking lot, I wanted her, I could have had her then, but if she is going to be with me, it will be forever, not for one night, because she feels she has no other choice. When I take her body, it will be because I already have her heart. I had it once, I felt as if I held it in my hands, to keep safe and then everything changed.
I left my heart with her when I went away, and she sent hers away with me, or so I had thought.
But she broke mine and I’ve wanted her to pay for it every day since. This time I will be the one to break hers, if I can help it.
“Gee, touchy aren’t we. Having your period or something,” Rain taunts. She throws a pretzel at me and laughs.
“Fuck off or I will send the girls home tomorrow night and shove your ass on the stage.”
Rain used to dance for me, but I found she was better at managing my strip joint than performing. She keeps the girls in line. I only have one rule for her that she doesn’t shit where she eats. Meaning no fucking any of the girls who dance for me. Rain loves pussy and when I first hired her, she got on a power trip with a few of the girls, and I had to put her in her place. She hasn’t crossed me since.
“No one wants to see my ass jiggling up there. You sleeping here again tonight?”
“More than likely, just need to get my head straight before I go home.”
“This chick, it’s more than you are telling me. She has you off balance. I don’t like seeing you this way Tris. I don’t like her. Why not just pay the father some money to do whatever it is they need and be done?”
“Don’t,” I warn her. Rain knows I don’t like anyone getting in my personal business and Isa is personal. “I don’t give a shit if you like her. Not your place to care Rain.”
A knock on the door of her office interrupts our conversation. Doesn’t matter wasn’t going anywhere no how and I need to go to my office and check on Isa through my computer. Rain don’t know shit about how I feel about Isabella. She could never understand, no one can.
Seeing Ariala Perez standing on the other side of the glass door throws my head for a loop, she isn’t on schedule for tonight. I look her over. She isn’t anywhere near as beautiful as Isa. Neither of Isa’s sisters look anything like her. They favor their father more.
“What is she doing here?”
“I don’t know.” Rain shrugs.
I have seen her around. She dances a few nights a week but I don’t ever deal with the girls unless I absolutely have to, that’s what I pay Rain for. If Rain is screwing around with her, I’ll tan her ass.
“Not a word about my house guest to anyone. If you want to keep fucking your bitch over there and keep your job. You’ll keep your mouth fucking shut.” Rain tenses knowing I now know that she is dicking around where she shouldn’t be.
She gulps. “Okay, Tris, whatever you need from me.”
Rain opens the door letting her in. Ariala doesn’t see me and goes straight into Rain’s arms, kissing her neck and crying. Is Rain plotting behind my back to get in the way of what I am doing with Isabella?
I’m not sure what to think about this development.
I jerk Rain away from her visitor.
Ariala looks blown away, she still hasn’t noticed my presence. Looks like it is time to pop a drug test on the girls.
“We’ll talk soon,” I tell Rain as I walk out the door leaving her to handle her shit. I don’t like this. She could ruin everything. I don’t need Isa’s sister and Rain fucking; shit can go sour fast at the club when employees get in a relationship. I’ve never fucked around with any of them. I don’t mix business and pleasure. But what I really don’t need is Rain messing with my plans for Isabella.
Against my better judgment, I go home to Isa and the temptation of her in nothing but that thin white dress. I let her out of the cell three days ago and haven’t been back since. I had to get my head together. Being so close to her with her so willing is harder than I expected. We’ve always shared a connection that no one understood. But that is what real love does. It fucks you up so bad nothing makes sense until you are with the one person who gets you like you’ve never been gotten before. That’s who Isa was to me.
When I arrive at home she is passed out in the library. I watch as her eyelids flutter and wonder is she dreaming of me. Taking notice of her appearance, she has banged her knees up badly. I shouldn’t care. I should leave her alone, but the urge to cradle her in my arms and take care of her eats me up inside.