Violet looks suitably impressed. And I am, too. The place looks great. It’s crawling with people, too. It’s a VIP and press night by invite only. Things look perfect. My team are getting bonuses for pulling this off so beautifully.
Alana and Craig make their approach once we’ve sat down and it’s only to tell me everything is smooth-sailing. This is good. I know that the press that are here are watching to see if I’m pulled aside, if I’m cool and collected, or if I appear pissed or frazzled. All of this will play into how we’re received in our write-ups and early reviews. I’ve got good people on my payroll and a solid feeling about tonight based on everything inside the walls of my 200,000 square foot entertainment complex.
A server comes by to take our drink order and Violet agrees to a sunset daiquiri after Guy suggests it. She inquires about the ladies’ room so Alana gestures and Violet smiles at me and excuses herself.
“She’s lovely,” Alana says, getting close to me.
I smile.
“She’s living with you?” she asks, covering her mouth with her hand casually. “And I’ve never even heard of her and suddenly you’re ordering furniture and moving her car to your garage?”
“Don’t start,” I warn.
She waves at me, dismissively. “It’s just that Jessa’s here.”
I grind my teeth before I’m able to guard my reaction. “How did that happen?”
“She’s with Jag.” She rolls her eyes.
Figures. I should’ve told him not to bring his sister when I talked to him earlier. I would’ve figured it’d be common sense -which Jag generally has.
I look over my shoulder and see Jag, who is a good buddy and my former head of security standing there beside a flight simulation game with Jess at his side. They’re watching Hughey, one of my concierges, who is showing them, along with a small group, a game demo. There are several groups getting demos of different games on the floor.
Jagger and I go back to the last year of high school when we met at a party and we’ve been tight ever since. He left Portland for love, went to work in Seattle a year and a half ago when his fiancée got transferred for her job, but we stay in touch. He’s here every couple months to see his family and we usually get together when he is.
The guy now has his own security firm and he’s good at what he does, so I talked to him this afternoon and asked him to liaise with both Wes and with my head of security on the concerns I have about tonight and about Raymond Iadanza buying a gun today. He said nothing about his sister.
Jessa is dressed to the nines with her dyed platinum blonde hair in a twist, scantily clad in a little black dress that barely covers her ass.
I know she knows my eyes are on her by the look on her face. She’s that kind of girl, aware of everything happening around her and acting accordingly so she can achieve whatever her goal is for the day. I don’t know what her game is here tonight, but she either wants to piss me off or she expects to end the night on my cock.
Jessa and I occasionally fucked over a period of a few years after her brother gave me the blessing to ask her out – I wouldn’t have disrespected him that way if he didn’t give that green light. In fact, he was the one who encouraged it, catching me eye her ass when she blatantly bent over in front of me.
I later figured out they were in cahoots. She told him she wanted me and he opened the door with his blessing. I told her from the get-go that it wasn’t gonna be serious and she agreed to be occasional fuckbuddies. Three times she’s tried to take it further and each time, I’ve put the brakes on and set her straight. The third time must’ve been what she thought’d be ‘the charm’ but for me, it was a sign that fuckbuddies wasn’t doable with her.
In hindsight, I should’ve ended it after the first time when she had a reaction to seeing me with a pretty redhead on my arm at a restaurant. She got nasty and I set her straight while she admitted she wanted more. I definitely shouldn’t have gone back a third time, but she was good enough in bed that I was kidding myself. She’s been only too happy to fall on my dick when I get the itch and have no one else in mind to scratch it. Last time she was in my apartment trying to push her suit just before I started seeing Kenya, I let her know that not only was it not happening but that we were through with the fuckbuddies thing because clearly it wasn’t working for her and therefore would no longer work for me. She threw a fit and broke some of my shit.
Instead of engaging in the fight, I left and that pissed her off even more. I had Alana deal with the aftermath – she showed up with a cleaning crew and gave Jessa her marching orders, so of course Alana knows some of the details. Jessa tried to show up a week later to apologize to me and I gave her the brush-off, wanting no part of her drama.
It’s been a good six months since I last saw her. And here she is.
Alana probably already warned Jessa to behave herself as my self-appointed big sister. It wouldn’t be unlike her.
Alana and I go back to when I started to really make some money so wanted to hire a manager so I wasn’t spending every waking hour at the club. She immediately started to make my life easier. I pay and treat her well.
I almost didn’t hire her when she fucked up the interview. She – a single mother with two kids - was down on her luck and even though she fucked up by showing late then had a wardrobe malfunction that led me to believe she was trying to get the job by seducing me, she gave me a speech while she sat there sewing the busted button back onto her shirt while explaining through tears but with strength and conviction that she needed the job so she could take care of her two boys.
She said her jackass ex used to drink and knock her around and died after they split in a work accident that was his fault because he operated machinery while drunk and had also lied about being a smoker on top of that on his life insurance, so no payout. Her speech and her demeanor made me give her a shot. Probably my own childhood issues, but this chick was willing to work her ass off to prove to me that I didn’t make a mistake hiring her so she could take care of her two little boys and her aging mother. She succeeded wildly, proving herself to be my most valuable employee and an all-round decent human. Alana always has my back.
Hennessy strolls toward me with his very pregnant wife. He’s directly behind Violet who’s returning from the restroom.
I see Hennessy’s eyes on Violet’s ass and find that I’m grinding my teeth. Rising, I give the guy a look that would make most people wither. Violet’s eyes on me with confusion, so I clear my expression as I pull her chair out for her. As soon as she’s sitting, I turn and shake Hennessy’s hand. “Henny, man. Welcome.”
“This place, Kill. Fuckin’ awesome. I love it.”
“Janine. Hey.” I hug his wife.
They both smile at Violet expectantly.
“This is Violet. Violet, Hennessy Baxter and his wife Janine.”
Violet’s smile slips just briefly but she recovers easily and rises, shaking hands with them. And I’m impressed with her ability to look calm, though I know by her eyes that she’s faking it because she’s well-aware that this is the bookie the ass-wipe owed money to. Hennessy clearly doesn’t know her.
There’s small talk for a couple minutes and then someone else approaches to say hello so he and Janine head to the gaming floor to catch demos and play games.