Heartbreak Me (Heartbreak Duet 1)

“No.” I smile, telling her the truth. “Should I be?”

“Yes, you should be.” She’s wearing a gold dress as well. “You make so much money. Literally, this is all I need to do for work once every six months.” My eyes go wide at her words, so I turn back to look at Sydney.

“You excited?” I ask Sydney. She turns her nose up at me and starts walking. It’s what I expected from her, but still, she could have at least given me a little more than that.

“Oh, we don’t speak to the hostesses,” Ruby says, stepping closer to me. “They don’t like to make conversation with us. All they do is give orders,” she tells me.

“So I have been figuring out,” I reply.

Sydney looks back, and I catch a brief smile at her listening to my words.

“You just wait. When you leave with all that cash, you will be smiling.”

I doubt it. Because while I am here, I will be paying off a debt I had nothing to do with, and I’m also not out finding a job. Which is a real problem. I need to work. I am not lucky, like most of the people here. I have no one to support me, and no one will care if I died tomorrow.

Fuck.

I am the perfect candidate for shit like this.

Things could go very wrong, and no one would come looking for me, because the only person who cares for me is a friend, and she has no idea where I am.

I’m fucked.

My heels bite at my ankles with each step. The gold dress rubs my skin in all the wrong places, and I want nothing more than to take it off and be in my own clothes. I don’t need to check the tag to know it’s a designer label.

We enter a foyer that would make a king or queen delighted. Checked marble floors with high ceilings and white walls, white and black tableware with only one splash of color. Blue. People, well, I should say guys, stand around, and all eyes turn to us as we enter the room. Sydney steps to the side as we walk in.

Men of all ages stand in front of us, some with drinks in their hands, others without.

I scan the room, looking for Atlas but don’t see him.

Stepping back, so I am next to Sydney, I turn to her. “What am I meant to be doing?” I ask her. She doesn’t reply, so I face her. “Sydney! What am I meant to be doing?”

She turns to look at me. “You do whatever it is the client wants and needs,” she snaps. “Now go. You need to make more money than the rest of the girls here.” She gives me a little shove in the direction of where all the girls have gone, and I put one foot in front of the other, my heels clicking as I walk.

One guy in particular stares at me, as if I’m the finest whiskey he’s ever seen, and I smile. It’s all I can manage to do. He isn’t old, maybe mid-thirties and good looking. He steps closer to me. “You must be new. I haven’t seen you before.”

I look past him to Sydney who simply nods her head at me.

“Yes, new,” I say, confirming his words. “What is it you’re drinking?” I already know the answer, but I reach out for it anyway and take a sip.

He smiles when I hand it back. “Keep it. I’ll get another. But you won’t get in trouble, will you? Most of the women here do not drink.”

Fuck! I forgot about that. Every time I have a drink, Atlas pulls it from my hand.

“It was only a sip, something to take the edge off.” I smile up at him.

He nods and turns away, gesturing for me to follow him. I look back to Sydney who gives a little shooing gesture and inclines her head to the guy I am with.

“Is this your first time here?” I ask as we go to a corner of the room.

He waves his hand at a seat, and then he takes the one closest to me. Our knees rub together as he sits.

“No, second. But the first time I only played, as I didn’t want to lose concentration. I like to gamble,” he admits.

“Don’t we all, in some way or another.” I smile.

He smiles and seems pleased with my answer as he offers me his drink again. I don’t take it this time. Instead, I look around the room and spot Ruby straight away, standing between two guys, her hands are touching the one behind her as she looks up, interested in whatever the one in front of her is saying.

“The girls can get real dirty,” my stranger says next to me.

I turn to look at him. He has brown hair with a slight reddish tint. A suit worth God only knows how much, and what seems to be under that suit is a good body.