After he nods, he comes around the island to where I’m sitting. He kisses my forehead and slides his hand between my legs. He touches the ice pack. “You listened to me.”
“I did,” I bark.
“You didn’t last night and that’s an instance when listening to me matters.” It’s a thinly veiled threat. My stomach flips.
“I understand.”
“When I tell you fear keeps me sharp, that fear extends to you, too.”
He doesn’t explain himself, he walks away, a sexy, suave beast with a heart made of pure gold. Someone buzzes Chaz in because she appears moments later, her big suitcase following her. There is always security around her. This is something I will have to get used to. After last night, it’s in my face more than it was before. “You are a sight for sore eyes,” Chaz says, and I wonder how normal it is for a man to be hiring her. Should I be the one reaching out to her so Jesse and Riley don’t have to? Am I an added burden because I don’t know how to run myself in this kind of lifestyle?
“Thanks for coming,” I say.
She shakes her head, big hair flowing across her shoulders. “No, thank you for hiring me again.” This power feels weird, and I’m not sure how to handle it yet.
“You’re a wizard,” I compliment. “Why wouldn’t I hire you? I need to look professional today. Not like waitress professional, like businesswoman professional,” I explain.
Chaz nods. “I know just the look. Let’s begin.”
I don’t have a room here, so I go into Riley’s and sit down in a chair near a full-length mirror as Chaz works on my face, chatting to me about the clients she’s had this week. “Now that I’m on a retainer, just call me and tell me what days you need me, and which apartment to come to.”
“Is this weird, Chaz?” I can’t help but ask the neutral party. Riley mentioned fear and even if I’m well acquainted with that feeling, it’s hard to understand how being with both men negates the jealousy.
She pauses, the lip liner still in one hand. “No, not weird for them, but I imagine it’s weird for you.”
It occurs to me she has the unique vantage of knowing the women who came before me. “Am I similar to the other women? The ones they’ve dated before?”
“Yes and no. I mean, honey, you’re willing to deal with the bullshit of two men, so you have that in common with them, but you don’t strike me as the typical stereotype.” She sees I’m staring at her, waiting for more info. Chaz lowers her voice after peeking over her shoulder. “You went from cleaning and serving cocktails in what? A week? No, that’s not normal. They usually keep their girlfriend in the lower rungs, away from business. Do not tell them I’m telling you this. This is a huge job for me.” She’s honest. I like that and will protect her if I can.
“I’ll make sure they only hire you if you keep telling me the truth about things they won’t talk about.”
Her face wilts. “Oh, I’m in real fucking trouble. It can’t be us against them, honey. No one can go against them and win.”
I shake my hands in my lap. “No, no. I didn’t mean it like that,” I whisper. “I mean, just tell me facts, nothing you’re not supposed to say.”
“I’m notsupposedto say anything,” she says.
Riley pops his head into the room and I can’t help but flinch. “I might not see you until tomorrow. If I finish meetings early, I’ll stop by Jesse’s. Let me know if you need anything.”
I nod. “Thank you.”
“Good to see you, Chaz. Keep doing God’s work,” Riley says.
“Yes, sir. Only the best for the best.”
Instead of leaving, like I assumed, Riley crosses the room, leans down, and presses a warm kiss against the hollow of my neck. “Wouldn’t want to ruin her makeup,” he explains. “This morning was epic.” Another methodically placed kiss. The same reaction. Riley leaves.
I exhale a pent-up breath noisily. Chaz clears her throat. “I’ll clarify. You’re not like the others,” she says before turning on the hair dryer and aiming it at my head. There’s nothing left to do except sit with my thoughts as the machine blows my hair around.
“Tell me what you mean by that. How I’m not like the others,” I say the second she’s finished.
Chaz picks up the curling iron while fingering sections of my hair, trying to figure out what she wants to do. “There’s not a main with you. Or if there is, I can’t tell. With girlfriends in the past, there’s always been one that is the main man, you know? Both Astors seem to be equally into you.”
Shock must cross my face because she goes on. “Which isn’t a terrible thing, it could be a good thing. It’s only that it’s more work for you, I’d imagine. They’re high maintenance men, from what I’ve gathered.”
“Jesse is the one who brought me on.” It’s weak, but it’s fact, I think.
“That may be, but Riley Astor never made this kind of effort for one of Jesse’s mains. Is he too much? Jesse? I know he’s into the dark stuff.”