Wounded Love (G Street Chronicles Presents From Love to Loathe Series) (29 page)

“How old are you, Aston?”

“I’m twenty-three.”

“And how long have you been stripping?”

“Going on five years now.”

“And how long have you been hooking?”

“All my life,” she said in a flat tone.

“Do you live with someone?”

“I have a roommate, but it’s not working out.”

“Well, we can supply you with free room and board. That’s one of the perks.”

“What are the other perks?”

“You’ll get more money here; it’s less work, more security, a safe and clean environment, a crew you can actually trust…benefits, and peace of mind.”

“And the downside?”

“You’re on call 24/7. But working before or after your shift rarely happens. You are followed and watched constantly, and you have to dress the part every shift; but you do get a clothes allowance.”

“It all sounds great to me. Why aren’t you smiling constantly?”

“I’m tired.”

Someone stood behind me and placed both of his hands on my shoulders. He sat down right beside me, and I looked over at blood shot eyes. Troy looked like he hadn’t slept all night.

“Aston, this is Troy. Troy, this is Aston. I handpicked her myself, and she’s perfect.”

“That she is, Cricket; but she’s not you.”

“No, she’s not; she’s better.”

Troy grinned and looked at Aston with a wide smile.

Aston excused herself and sashayed to the restroom. I couldn’t help but grin. Troy watched her walk away.

“Are you feeling okay? You look tired,” I asked.

“The love of my life broke my heart last night, and I’m trying to make it through.”

“Troy, come on.”

“I want you, Cricket,” he said with so much heat in his eyes that I had to turn away from him.

“Troy, her ass is way bigger than mine. I’m sure she’s tighter, and she’s fresh and young.” Aston could handle herself, and that would intrigue Troy. He would enjoy the hopeless chase.

“I like your ass just fine. I’ve never been in that pussy of yours…but I’m sure it’s tight enough for me; and I like your seasoning better.”

Aston came back to the table, and I excused myself so she and Troy could get to know each other better. They needed to bond because she was the new headliner.

Chapter 14

1. Um, No…2

A
few weeks had passed, and we weren’t fully staffed yet. No matter how hard I tried, Troy didn’t like something about who I hand-picked. Aston he liked, but he kept telling me there was something off about her that he couldn’t put his finger on. I knew what it was, but I refused to tell Troy what sex she’d preferred.

I woke one morning after an extremely long night with a terrible pain in my stomach. I got up out of bed too fast and sprinted to the bathroom. I stuck my head into the porcelain god and completely emptied my tender stomach. Jyme was behind me rubbing my back while I vomited violently. When I was down to the last drip, I tried to spit the nasty taste out of my mouth. Jyme handed me a small glass of water, I sipped and rinsed my mouth out. He helped me up from the floor; I brushed my teeth and rinsed my mouth with mouthwash.

“Cricket?”

I held a hand up at him. “I’m alright, I just think … I might be pregnant,” I told him slowly as it finally really sank in.

Jyme eyes widened, and then he dropped on both knees. He kissed my stomach repeatedly and murmured; “Now I can protect the both of you.”

I didn’t understand what he meant, but I was too tired to question anything. After a long nap, I scheduled an appointment with a gynecologist. She couldn’t see me until the earlier part of next week. I told Jyme we would just have to wait until then, but he insisted on getting a few pregnancy tests. I really wanted to see the gynecologist. I had heard nothing but good things about her.

That night, after a long and gruesome shift in the club, all I wanted to do was sleep. I walked through the door of the suit, and Jyme was sitting on the couch. He stood when I walked in and looked a little nervous.

“What is it?” I asked.

He shook his head at me and frowned. “Nothing, I just think I might have gone a little over board.”

“What do you mean?”

He walked toward the bedroom and I followed. He went to the bathroom, and I saw the display of something resembling a department store. There were twelve different kinds of pregnancy tests on the counter.

“Jyme!”

“I’m sorry, babe, but I just can’t wait until next week.

“I don’t have enough pee in me to take all these tests.”

“If you drink a gallon of water, you will. And I will help you; I can slide the test under your stream of pee.”

“Yuck, Jyme. That’s gross!”

“Not to me. It’s natural, and I want to do this. Please, Cricket?”

I sighed, and he pulled me into a Hollywood kiss.

“Go get the water then.”

He smiled wide and then headed for the kitchen.

It only took me peeing twice to get all the tests done. One of them said I wasn’t preggers; but eleven of them said I was. Jyme was convinced and didn’t need any more confirmation.

The next Monday, we had an unscheduled meeting. Jyme was still sleeping, and I didn’t want to wake him. I tiptoed out of bed and dressed quickly. I had just made it to the front door when I felt the pit of my stomach give way. I ran to the guest bathroom and heaved into the porcelain god again. I rinsed my mouth out twice and continued on to the meeting. Everyone was standing around doing nothing when I got there. The full staff wasn’t here, but we still had enough for a meeting. Troy cleared his throat, and everyone started settling in. I looked at Korliss, and he was staring down at the floor. Something was wrong.

“You guys, I hate to have to start the beginning of our week like this but…Mr. Paul died last night in his sleep.”

I heard people gasping and saying, “No”.

“He had further complications from the incident, and they said he went peacefully.”

Korliss stared at me, and there was something cold in his eyes. I knew Mr. Paul hadn’t died from his heart attack. Korliss’ eyes started watering, and mine did the same. Walt pulled my hand over to his, and I leaned over into him and cried a quiet sob for Mr. Paul.

Mr. Paul had never been nothing but nice to me, and I couldn’t help but to think that maybe he wasn’t behind all of the drama with Jyme last year. Troy was clearly pretending like he was concerned for Mr. Paul. Trey just looked lost as usual; he wasn’t even paying attention to the conversation. I’d had enough of these charades, and I stood and walked toward the door.

“Cricket, don’t go yet. I have a few more announcements,” Troy said softly.

I glared at him and yanked the door open. I had made it to the elevators by the time I heard the suite door shut. The elevator binged, and I stepped back into a red-eyed Korliss right behind me. Neither one of us said a thing to the one another. We both got off on the basement floor, and Korliss followed me over to my car. I unlocked the door and he slid in beside me.

I went to the flower shop closest to the bank and ordered a three-hundred-dollar arrangement; Korliss ordered a hundred-dollar arrangement. We had them delivered to Mr. Paul’s house. We walked up the street, and I made deposits into all three accounts, and then we walked down to the famous coffee shop that I knew far too well. We placed our orders and found a quiet table in the corner.

“Cricket, you already know Troy had something to do with Mr. Paul’s death. We’re planning to retaliate; if you don’t want any part in it, tell me now,” Korliss demanded.

I said nothing at all; I just stared at Korliss. There was nothing to say, I knew we had to take Troy out. This was the only sure way we could ever be free.

He nodded and took a sip of his coffee. “We’re taking Troy and Trey out, Cricket; and I mean OUT.”

I nodded. Korliss went on to give me the full details of the takeover; I agreed with everything he told me. Korliss said everyone was behind him, and it wasn’t hard to convince them. Korliss never mentioned Lance’s name and I wondered if he was in on the takeover. It really didn’t matter one way or another to me if he was or wasn’t.

My phone buzzed just then; it was the suite’s number calling me.

“Hello.”

“Where the hell are you, Cricket?” Jyme shouted.

“We had a meeting this morning.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?”

“Jyme, you were exhausted, and you needed to sleep.”

“Where are you, Cricket? I called security, and they said you left with Korliss over an hour ago. Where the fuck are you, Cricket?”

“I’m on my way back right now.”

I stood up from the table. Korliss mimicked my actions, and we walked out the front door. I hung up without saying bye to Jyme. The phone buzzed again, and I ignored it. Korliss and I walked back down the street toward the car.

“Jyme is not to know anything about the takeover; I need him to be an innocent in all of this,” I told Korliss sternly. He nodded.

We pulled back into the garage, and Jyme was pacing back and forth close to the entrance. As soon as the car stopped, Jyme yanked my car door open. Korliss slipped out and walked back into the casino. I sat there with Jyme hovering over me.

“Mr. Paul died last night and we had an emergency meeting this morning. I went to order flowers for his family, and Korliss went with me. We stopped and grabbed a coffee after I made the deposits.”

“Cricket, I’m sorry. I know he meant a lot to you.”

We went back to the suite and stayed in bed for the rest of the day and evening.

The next day, Doctor Lundee confirmed. Yes, we were pregnant, and I was a little over a month. She set me up with prenatal vitamins and scheduled me for the next six months’ worth of visits. She said she didn’t have the new calendar, but they would schedule the rest as soon as they got it in.

Jyme started treating me like a newborn kitten. Anytime we walked anywhere, he always walked in front of me and constantly kept a hand on my stomach. I had trained everyone as best I could. The flow of the casino wasn’t bad. Everyone got along and understood their jobs and their places.

Aston was settling in well. She knew exactly what to do to get the guys’ rocks off and then some. She seemed happy and very satisfied. But I knew, first hand, that looks could be very deceiving. She followed directions without any complaints. She had told me in one of the morning meetings that she had never made money like this before. I knew she was grateful for all I had done for her; but she had no idea how much she was actually helping me. I just couldn’t stomach all the things I used to do anymore.

Troy announced that he wanted Jyme and me to put on little mini shows for some of his higher-end clientele. Jyme told me he was fine with it. I didn’t mind putting on a show for private audiences either, just as long as Jyme was involved with me. I was horny almost constantly now anyway; and Jyme didn’t mind it a bit. I noticed that when we performed these services, Troy always seemed to be nearby. He watched me and Jyme carefully, and it gave me an eerie feeling. But Jyme loved every minute of it; he said he knew Troy was dying on the inside.

A month later, Troy made the announcement in the morning meeting about the second California casino opening. Troy wanted us all to shuttle over and get a feel for it. He told me that Jyme and I would be moving over to the new casino before anyone else. He said he wanted me to go through every single thing dealing with that casino with a fine toothed comb. This would be a higher-end casino, and he didn’t want anything going wrong.

We all loaded up in two of the casino’s shuttle buses and road almost forty-five minutes. Then, we climbed up a cobble stone hill. The casino was grand alright. It had over a dozen water fountains up front, and it was almost three times the size of the Three Strikes Casino. This place had thirteen stores, six nightclubs, and six restaurants. Everyone was shocked into silence by the scene.

The casino has twenty-six floors, and it took us fifteen minutes to walk the first floor. We took the elevators upstairs, and the rooms were far grander than Three Strikes. An entire floor was dedicated to kids, with a daycare and three different game rooms. As we toured, I noticed Korliss lagged behind everyone else a little. I let Jyme walk ahead of me some and stared at Korliss.

“He has a court date in three months, and we all think we need to hold off until we know the outcome. I would pay good money for him to suffer in prison,” Korliss whispered. “This place won’t be ready for another month or so, but we really have to study the grounds hard and long. There’s an underground mini subway for emergencies only. Old man Paul paid good money for it, too. We plan to take full advantage of it.”

“Korliss, I’m pregnant,” I whispered.

He smiled. “Congrats, Cricket.”

We toured the rest of the casino and everyone was pleased with what they saw. On the ride back, I told Jyme I needed to tell Troy. Jyme was pleased and couldn’t wait for Troy to hear the news.

A selected few knew about my pregnancy. I was able to hide my pregnancy for four months and four months only. I woke up one morning, and my stomach was huge. Jyme and I both agreed that it grew over night. I had to tell Troy. I was showing way too much to try and keep this from him. I went to Troy’ suite the night I decided to tell him. I wanted him to be alone and I wanted this to be private between him and me. Jyme insisted on accompanying me, but I refused. I knew Troy wouldn’t hurt me and I wanted to break it to him.