Collared (Vegas Nights Book 1) (3 page)

For the first time that night, Pax got a good look at her face. With light blonde hair that was almost white, and light blue eyes, the name Diamond fit her. He had seen her before, but she was wearing a lot less make-up than usual, and the majority of what she had been wearing had already worn off. She had perfect heart shaped lips, and, if he said so himself, a perfect ass that was downright spankable. It was a shame this was Aubergine and not Rojo. Instead of being fired, he would take it out of her hide. On stage, in front of an audience.

An idea began to form in the recesses of his brain, and he quickly dismissed it. Or at least he tried to. He really shouldn’t be considering it—but he couldn’t help but think that when she woke up, she would be jobless and homeless. Still, it was completely of her own doing, and he really didn’t need to be taking on a girl with this many issues.

If it wasn’t for what Jason had said about her, he would have stayed until she woke up, fired her, and sent her on her way. As it was, he couldn’t help but open her file.  Turning it open to the first page, he read her name, and did a double take. “Holy crap!”

“I appreciate your concern Jase, but there were extreme extenuating circumstances here. I really think she deserves another chance…. Look at it this way, if she agrees, we’ll have something on the roster for Vanilla Night tonight…. Fine. I’ll do it.”

Diamond heard the voice through the pounding of her head, but she had no idea who it belonged to or what it meant. Where was she?

She squinted, opening her eyes as wide as she could bear to, and took in her surroundings. Everything was a blur but it seemed like she was safely in her suite. The question was, who was with her, and why?

Her head felt like it was stuck in a vise, and even though the lights were off and the shades drawn, the tiny bit of light that was sneaking through the slats was enough. She sat up in bed, eyes still shut, and groaned aloud.

Instantly, a heavy weight settled on the bed beside her. A hand took hers, and extended it in front of her, dropping three pills into her flattened palm. She presumed they were aspirin, though she heavily doubted that three would do the trick. She felt like death, and she really couldn’t remember why. Her stomach roiled against her, and she shoved herself off the bed as fast as she could, opening her eyes only enough to see a clear path to the bathroom.

As soon as her knees hit the cold tile in front of the toilet, her stomach roiled and emptied, and she was struck suddenly with déjà vu, a feeling that she had been in this position recently. The thought didn’t last long, as her body rebelled against her once more. With each sour purging of the vile poison, a niggling of a memory of the day before came with it, flashing like images on a movie screen. Her birthday, her father’s phone call, empty bottles, the newspaper article. Going downstairs to the club, more shots, dancing, sitting on Randy’s lap, twerking? Good lord, how much had she had to drink?

Evidently a lot. When her stomach settled, she collapsed against the cool tile, exhausted and no doubt, dehydrated. Diamond lay there spent for several minutes, until the sound of footsteps in the next room reminded her that she wasn’t alone. Pausing to listen, she willed the man to speak, in case she recognized his voice. No sounds came. She couldn’t for the life of her recall anything from the night before that would explain waking up with a man in her room. It didn’t feel like she had had sex, and she certainly wasn’t in the habit of random casual encounters. Then again, she wasn’t in the habit of a lot of things she had apparently done last night.

She stood, and moved to the sink, turning it on and cupping her hands under the running water before splashing some on her face. Her reflection in the mirror made her wince. If she had looked this bad last night—she had nothing to worry about—she wouldn’t have even had sex with herself.  Maybe if she stayed in there long enough the mystery man will take a hint and leave. She had decided she didn’t even want to know who he was or why he was here. She just wanted to take a hot shower, try to look less like death than she did currently, and have him be gone when she finally re-emerged.

Having made a plan, she turned on the shower and stripped, letting the steaming hot water wash off the stress of the events of the last twenty-four hours. At least her birthday was over now. She had survived, even if just barely by the feel of things, and she didn’t have to deal with a day like this one for another 364 days.

She took her time in the shower, scrubbing the remnants off the night before scrupulously washing off every inch of her skin. Once out, she dried off and donned the hotel’s fluffy white robe. She blow-dried and curled her hair, did every step of her intense skin care regimen and took extra care getting her make-up perfect. The whole time she was as quiet as possible, listening for the telltale sound of a door opening and closing.  She was applying a final coat of lip-gloss when she finally heard it. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, she quickly finished and swung the door wide open, blinking hard when a broad chest and massive shoulders sporting a hotel security shirt blocked her exit.  Annoyed, she looked up and straight into the deep green eyes of Pax Donovan.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, glaring up at him angrily.

“I own half of this hotel.”

“I mean, what are you doing here, in my room? I don’t remember inviting you in.”

Pax crossed his arms across his chest and smirked. “You didn’t. But even if you had, I doubt you’d remember it.”

He had a point, and she knew it. Worse, he knew she knew it. She faltered for a half a second. “Well, even if I did, it’s my room, and I’m asking you to leave.”

“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said smugly, finally sidestepping to allow her to pass. “I’m here on official hotel business.”

Her eyes narrowed as she brushed past him to sit on her unmade bed. “What business?”

“I ordered breakfast.” He ignored her question, gesturing towards the silver room service cart near the door. “Are you hungry? Do you really want to have this discussion on an empty stomach?”

“I don’t want to have a discussion with you at all.” She stressed the last words, standing as she made a sweeping gesture of her own. Towards the door.

“Fine. Have it your way.” He turned and began walking away. His back was towards her and the next sentence was tossed out over his shoulder as he went. “You’re fired. Jason wants you out by three this afternoon. Hope you’ve got someplace to go.”

Her eyes widened in shock, and her heart raced at the thought of having to leave Aubergine. Of course she had a place to go, she was Diamond Barrett. But because she was Diamond Barrett, there was nowhere she wanted to go, especially not after yesterday’s headlines.  “Wait! Stop! Please!”

Thankfully, Pax stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned, crossing his arms in front of him once more. She shivered involuntarily. He was an intimidating man.

“That’s why you came up here? To fire me? Couldn’t you just have sent up a note? Made a call?”

“I didn’t come up here to fire you. I’ve been here all night.”

“Oh.” She had been afraid of that. “You stayed up here all night just to fire me when I woke up?” Still suspicious, she glared at him from beneath knotted brows. “Or was there another reason?”

“There were a few reasons.”

“We didn’t… you didn’t…” She winced, not wanting to finish the thought out loud, but unable to stop herself from asking.

Now it was Pax’s turn to glare. “I would never take advantage of an inebriated woman, and you were more than inebriated last night, sweetheart. You were straight up plowed.”

“I had a bad day.”

“Yeah, I kind of got that.” He crossed to the small table by the window, and picked up a plain manila file folder. “I know who you are.”

“Fuck!” If her cover was blown, she had to be out of here as soon as possible. “Why didn’t you tell me that an hour ago? I’ll never make it home without a paparazzi trail!” She stood and began pacing the room. “How did this happen? What did I do last night? Whatever it was, it was apparently bad enough to get me fired, but still that’s no reason to blow my cover. That’s like the lowest of low, especially if you consider that the paparazzi were the entire reason I melted down yesterday. Well, maybe not the entire reason, but they definitely made it worse.”

Pax crossed the room quickly with giant strides, grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her at arm’s length in front of him.  “Diamond. Stop. I didn’t tell the paparazzi. Hell, I didn’t even tell Jason. And if you would calm down and stop accusing me of compromising you in every way possible, I can fill in a few of the missing pieces of your night last night, and tell you the real reason I’ve been here all night.”

She blinked up at him, tears of relief welling in her green eyes. “Really? I’m safe?”

“Totally safe, sweetheart. And if you’ll chill—I have a plan to keep you safe, and employed.”

“Oh. Okay.” She frowned, eyeing his giant arms that were still holding her hostage near the door. “You can let go of me now. I’ll calm down and listen.”

Pax dropped his arms, instead placing one giant hand on her upper back and guiding her towards the small table. “Sit.” 

She did, and she thought he would sit opposite her, but he crossed the room, and rolled the room service cart over to her.  “What’s your poison? I wasn’t sure what you would be in the mood for so I ordered a bit of everything.”

She eyed the overflowing cart suspiciously as her stomach turned. “Coffee please, and toast.”

“That’s not breakfast.” He placed the requested items in front of her adding a bowl of fresh melon and a plate of bacon slices.

“Ugh. No.” she pushed the bacon across the table and frowned. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I did. While you were in the shower for an hour. An egg white omelet and a wheatgrass smoothie.”

“Ugh. A health nut.”

Finally, he sat down across from her, leaning back in his chair, arms crossed against his chest, legs stretched out underneath the table. “Eat.”

“I don’t want to eat. Can you just tell me what you have to say? Do you have a plan to get my job back?”

Pax scoffed at her. It was actually a full on laugh. “No. Once Jason makes up his mind about something, it’s done. There’s no going back. That man is as stubborn as a pack mule. At least when it comes to business decisions,” he added as an afterthought.

“Oh.” Diamond frowned, and picked up a piece of toast, nervously ripping the crust into tiny pieces.

“I need a new girl. We need some fresh meat to keep up interest and provide regular… entertainment.”

Her eyes blazed, and she dropped her toast, suppressing the urge to pick up her steaming hot coffee and throw it in his face. “I am not a whore! And furthermore, I’m not desperate. I have options you know, plenty of them.” She actually only had one that she knew of, but he didn’t need to know that.

Pax stood, towering over her. He looked about as angry as she felt.  “What are you talking about? Nobody called you a whore or even insinuated as much. You need to chill, girl. You might still be a little bit drunk or something, because you are making zero sense.”

“Oh yeah? Pax’s girls? Ring a bell? Isn’t that basically what you just asked me to be?”

His eyebrows crinkled high into his forehead, and he frowned. “Well, yes. But it doesn’t mean what you seem to think it means. I don’t think we’re on quite the same page here.”

“Oh, really? Enlighten me then.”

“Only if you dial back the attitude.”

“Fine.” It was her turn to cross her arms. She copied his stance from earlier and looked at him crossly. “I’m listening.”

“Rojo, if you didn’t know, is a mild BDSM club with a focus on spanking. My girls dance the same as you did here. They don’t do anything else, other than serve the customers drinks and keep them happy and comfortable—and no, that doesn’t mean what you seem to think it means. The only difference is, well, for one thing, I take care of my girls. Comped rooms, paid meals, monthly allowance, health insurance, all that jazz. I also pay better than Jason, but don’t tell him I said that. My girls also follow my rules. They keep a curfew, they eat healthy, they work out, and they show up on time. I keep them on a short leash. I want them in tip-top shape at all time. The kind of stunt you pulled last night would not be tolerated.”

“Right I get it. You’d toss me out on my ass—just like Jason is.”

“No. My girls mess up and they deal with the consequences. If you had been mine last night—and that was a regular occurrence—yeah, I’d get rid of you. You’d be a liability, and I’d have no choice. But unlike Jason, I pay attention to things like extenuating circumstances, and according to the things I learned from your file, coupled with headlines in yesterday’s paper—for you, last night certainly qualified as such.”

Pax was making it really hard to hate him the way she wanted to, and she kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. She couldn’t get past the idea that she was missing something. Something important.

“Thank you.” She was thankful for the kindness he was showing her, and the care he had apparently shown last night. “So, are you offering me a job?”

“On one condition.”

She stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

“You’re tomorrow night’s entertainment. And that means, you accept the consequences for your mistakes last night. On stage. In front of a crowd.”

Her eyes narrowed sharply. “What kind of consequences?”

“The kind all my girls have for their random misdeeds. I spank them. Every Tuesday night is Vanilla Night, and if any one of my girls have any transgressions from the prior week, they come up on stage, and we take care of it.”

Diamond had chosen the wrong time to take a sip of coffee, and she choked on it. “And by take care of it, you mean you spank them? On stage? In front of an audience? You have got to be kidding me. That’s insane.”

Pax stared at her blankly. “A large portion of the population would disagree. You’d be amazed at the crowds our demonstrations generate, especially on Tuesday nights.”

“Pass. Hard pass.”

He shrugged, looking very much like it honestly didn’t bother him one way or the other. “Okay. Have it your way. I get it. You don’t need a job and that’s fine. Go home to Daddy, live off your trust fund, and become paparazzi fodder. No skin off my nose. Hell, I’ll even help you pack.”