My eyes search his. The same ghosts in his haunt my nightmares too. We’ve witnessed the same deaths, and shed the same amount of blood. Saved each other’s lives too many times to count. When is it all enough? When do we get to live?
“Forget? Not even if we tried.” I keep my tone level, but firm. With Gage, you either go in knowing what you are going to say or don’t open your mouth, to begin with. An ounce of uncertainty and he will eat you alive. “We can’t go back out there fucked in the head. It could cost our men their lives. You copy?” I don't break eye contact until I see the beast in him settle.
Gage makes a face that says he knows I’m only stating the truth. He nods and says gruffly, “Copy that.” Wood groans and creaks as he shifts his substantial weight back into the chair. He loses the tie and finishes rolling his sleeves up signaling he’s warming up to the idea of Club Sin.
My phone goes off again and I hit the red button on Raja’s call. “He’s not gonna stop calling until we give him an answer. We told him a couple of hours and it’s been close to that. He needs to know.”
Rush’s jaw clenches a couple of times before he says, “We are supposed to be healing, right? Getting our asses to a head doctor and doing mental health days. Not playing in a sex club. When the CO asks what we did on leave this does not get mentioned.”
“Copy that.” I mirror Gage’s position and bring my ankle up to rest on my knee.
“We have two options, brothers. We can get our asses back to Virgin and the head doctor—”
“Or,” I prompt, already knowing what Rush will say next.
“Or we can heal how we know best. Together. Some skin-on-skin during our downtime. The way I see it Raja is doing us a favor without knowing it.”
My phone goes off again and this time I answer it. “Impatient, much?”
“You answered. Does this mean you have an answer for me?”
Raja’s slight middle eastern accent clings to the English consonants as he fluidly speaks. His brother entered BUDs alongside us. We climbed the ranks together until we broke off and became SEALs while he went back home to raise a family. His blood became ours and through the years we never lost contact.
“We do this for you, we do it our way.”
“Then you better tell me what way that is and that you have some fucking goddess in mind already because I am up against a wall here. I don’t have much time. The Mirror room opens in less than a week and I haven’t even started to announce it to the members yet. My balls are in a vice.”
I make eye contact with my brothers and they both nod.
“Relax man. For a guy who helps find talent for a sex club you sound stressed.”
“Rush, man, this business is not as leisure as you think. If I can’t get you guys to commit, I'll have to start shopping around again. Please don’t make me call my ex-brother-in-law. I can’t deal with him anymore.”
There is a bigger story there I do not want to know about.
“I thought you said we were the only friends you know who share.”
The line goes silent.
“Friends who share? Yes. Just dudes sharing… not so much. This place is full of men willing to share their women. But I need new blood from men who have a connection. I need the audience to feel your emotions. Not just see men screwing a woman on stage. They can go to porn sites for that fake shit. Club Sin is so much more. I need men who other men and women get aroused watching. You guys have that connection I’m looking for. Plus, you three have muscles, scars, and big dicks. The perfect orgasm trifecta.”
What did a man say to that? I turn a puzzled look on Rush and Gage who wear arrogant smirks like they invented them.
I lean forward and pull the phone closer. “It has to be the right girl, brother. We are done with random chicks, you copy me?” I say looking at Rush first then Gage. They don’t say anything which tells me they both agree.
“Fine. I don’t care. Find her. You have forty-eight hours before I pull a girl off the floor to join you on stage. The pay will make it worth your efforts. I promise. I’ll draft the final contract.”
“Copy. Fuck. I guess we’re in.” I say flatly and end the call. Rush pours each a fresh round of Johnny, none of us speaking until our glasses are empty again.
One moment bleeds into another until I finally break the silence. “I guess that means we need to find a woman.”
Two
Belle
Being the sister to a mafia king has its pros and cons.
Pro: getting out of a traffic ticket with a simple name drop because the chief of police is taking money under the table from my brother.