The Right Price
: Chapter 8

After I had walked out of the lap dance room, I’d gone back up to the VIP where things had quickly gotten out of control while I’d been gone. Though it hadn’t been anything that I hadn’t seen before, usually we’d have been at the club for a few hours before the fucking began.

Not last night.

It had also taken Collins twenty minutes before returning to the room, and when she had, it’d been clear that she’d been trying to rise above everything that’d been going on in the room with some maturity and world experience. However, watching people fuck out in the open took a little getting used to as far as I was concerned. Still, she had done her job, ignoring her surroundings as much as possible. We hadn’t talked more, but I hadn’t been too bothered by that. Life wasn’t all about me, and there’d been people snorting powder and fucking out in the open, so I hadn’t wanted to add to the pressure of her first VIP experience with my neediness.

When the club had reached closing hours, like clockwork, everyone in the room had started cleaning up and getting rid of all the evidence. It hadn’t taken long with everyone chipping in, and I had eventually had to say goodbye to the ebony-haired goddess.

All day long, I had thought about that lap dance, and I loved how she’d been awkward. Unless Collins was a very good actress, it’d been easy to see that it really had been her first time. She could have been all tits, ass, grinding, and pouty lips, but she hadn’t been. God love her, but the woman had honestly been doing her best to give me a decent show, and it’d been endearing.

So, that’s how I found myself back at the club today. However, instead of waiting for her shift to begin, I was here to talk to Carver. I wanted Collins’ story, and I knew that he could give it to me. Carver had a tight rein on what went on at his clubs, so I knew that he kept an eye on his employees and knew the basics of their lives. Carver refused to let any bad apple ruin his very successful apple basket, so he always made sure that he was on top of things.

“Kendrick, back so soon?”

I turned from the bar and saw Carver walking my way. To his credit, he hadn’t left me waiting too long, even though I hadn’t bothered with the professional curtesy of an appointment. However, I had waited until the afternoon to show up. Running a club, Carver kept odd hours, and truth be told, after last night, I had slept in myself.

“I was hoping that we could talk,” I replied as I stuck my hand out to shake his already outstretched hand. “Privately.”

His brow arched, but he also smirked. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Because you’ve probably seen it all?” I suggested.

“Not this,” he refuted.

Before I could comment, Carver jerked his head towards the staircase, and I followed his silent command to take this to his office. While he had a couple of guards still posted throughout the place, there weren’t nearly as many as there’d been last night.

Once we got to his office, we walked inside, and Carver offered me a drink. “Need a drink?”

I shook my head. “No, thank you.”

Walking over to his desk, he said, “Then have a seat and tell me why you’re here, Evander.”

Sitting in the same seat that Collins had sat in last night, I got to the reason that I was here. “Collins.”

“What about her?” he asked, giving nothing away.

“What do you know about her?”

The corner of his lip twitched, but that was it. “Why?”

“C’mon, Carver,” I almost groaned. “You know why I’m asking.”

“I do,” he admitted. “However, I like to deal in facts, Evander. So, rather than to assume, I’d like to hear it from you.”

“I like her,” I told him. “There’s something about her, and if she’s interested, I’d like to explore that.”

“She’s not for sale,” he stated firmly.

“How do you know?” I countered, and something flickered in those aqua eyes of his. “You know something, don’t you?”

“I know quite a lot,” he replied, and I knew that he was being difficult just to be difficult.

“You’re not her father,” I pointed out.

“I’m the closest thing that she’s got to it, so don’t think that you can fuck with me, Evander,” Carver shot back. “She’s a good girl.”

“And you think that I’m in this for…what? What do you think I’m doing here, Carver?”

Carver’s back straightened as he placed his arms on his desk. “I think that Collins got your dick hard, and you’re looking to have her do something about it.” Before I could get offended over his dismissal of my attraction to her, he added, “And while I’m not here to make her life decisions for her, I do look out for my girls.”

“I never said that you didn’t,” I reminded him. “That’s why I’m here, Carver. I’m here to learn what she’s like, and why she’s working here.”

Carver didn’t say anything right away. However, after a few intense seconds, he leaned back in his chair, then told me what I wanted to hear. “Her father is nonexistent, her mother is a useless drunk, and Collins works three jobs to support herself and her grandmother.”

“Three jobs?”

Carver nodded. “She works as a waitress, a stock person, and here. Her grandmother raised her because her parents are shit, so Collins is returning the love.”

“But she only waitresses here, right?”

Again, he nodded. “She’s not interested in anything else. Since she’s beautiful, she makes decent tips off waitressing alone. Last night, I had a girl call in sick, and that’s the only reason that I had assigned Collins to the VIP room. Normally, she wouldn’t have been anywhere near those rooms.”

“I want her,” I told him, man-to-man.

“For what, Evander?” he asked. “A quick fuck? A mistress? A whore?” My chin came up at that, but before I could say anything, Carver kept going. “While I have no issue with what my employees do on their own personal time, Collins is juggling three jobs just to take care of her grandmother, and I don’t want to see any guy fuck that up for her by distracting her with something that’s not realistic.”

“Realistic?”

His head cocked a bit. “Are you sitting there and telling me that you plan on moving her and her grandmother in with you to live a life of suburbia bliss?” His eyes narrowed. “Give me a fucking break, Evander.”

“Because dating is out of the question?” I challenged. “It has to be move her in with me or nothing?”

Carver let out a deep sigh. “Look, if Collins wants to date you, then there’s nothing that I can do about that. Her choices-whether they be mistakes or not-are her own, and I respect that. I just don’t need any personal bullshit following her to my club, Evander.”

“You’re worried that you might lose a server?”

“No,” he answered. “I have a pile of resumes from some of the hottest women on the planet just waiting to be hired here. Replacing Collins as a server would take only a snap of my fingers.” Carver lifted his chin. “I’m worried that you’re going to lure her in with promises of Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, then dump her after you’ve had your fill. Again, she’s a good girl, and she doesn’t need any false promises skewing her priorities.”

“But if she’s just down to fuck, then you’re okay with that?” I almost sneered.

Something flashed in those odd eyes of his again. “If she just wants to fuck, I’ll be the last guy to stand in your way. See, sex is easy, Evander. Sex is the most uncomplicated thing in the world if you leave out the verbal bullshit, the false promises. People can say whatever the fuck they want about call girls, prostitutes, or strippers, but what they do is the most honest line of work ever. The transactions for their services are simple. Without any feelings involved, it’s easy to be honest about your expectations.”

I thought about what he said, and he wasn’t necessarily wrong. If both parties were on the same page, no-strings-attached sex was the best kind out there. It provided all the sexual gratification that a person needed without the drama of emotional entanglements.

“So, what do you think that Collins is looking for?” I asked. “Sex or Richard Gere?”

“If Collins was looking for Richard Gere, she wouldn’t be working three jobs, Evander,” he reasoned. “She’d be up on our stages, doing her best to land herself a sugar daddy.”

“Wait,” I said, a bit confused. “I thought Richard Gere ended up committing to her in the movie?”

“Or so we think,” he replied. “But we never did see the real ending to their love story, did we?”

Again, the man wasn’t necessarily wrong.