The red lingerie came in the morning. A set of a red push up bra and a crotch less underwear and leg rings. I let out a shaky breath as I stared at myself in the mirror.“This is going to be okay,” I told myself.I grabbed a light coat from my closet. I’d always wanted to walk around in a coat and nothing but lingerie underneath.“I’m going to forget about Rocco.”He’d clearly forgotten about me. I ended things last night and there hadn’t been a text or a call. I should expect as much from a loan shark. I was nothing but sex for him.I locked my apartment and climbed into the elevator. I should have been at work today to make up for all the days I hadn’t gone in. I had gotten caught up with Rocco going to who knows where having the time of my life.I squeezed my eyes shut and groaned. If only you could burn the memories in your mind. Chad didn’t know I was coming this was going to be an epic surprise. This was something we never did. I made it to his office in fifteen minutes.The bui
“I don’t have any money… I don’t have that kind of money.”“Answers I don’t like to hear.”“Rocco I never borrowed from you or bought anything from you! You know that.”“I only know what’s on the paper and the paper says you owe me over five hundred thousand dollars.”“Mr. Laurence—”“I took his building and his debt is paid. How are you going to pay me?” His eyes ran down my neck until the opening of my coat. I tugged it close.“You own the building?”“I own all of this honey. You don’t own a house and your car won’t do much. Your savings are sad, to say the least.”“Hey!”He circled me. The second he was gone from my view I shut my eyes and inhaled his scent. I bit my bottom lip to keep the moan in. He leaned against the desk and pulled back so I landed on him. My
“You haven’t touched your food. You should this will be the last time you have a decent meal in a long time,” Rocco said slicing into a mid-rare steak. The lobster in front of me begged to be eaten but my stomach was in knots. I was drowning in debts that weren’t mine and Rocco wasn’t going to cut me a break. “I don’t know if I should be taking charity from you. You might just add it to my debt. Debt you know isn’t mine.” “Every document I have says it’s yours.” “What happens if I go to the police?” I narrowed my eyes at him. He picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth. I thought I struck a chord. “Then you’d be potentially sending the only man that sets you on fire to jail. Do you really want that, Lilly?” “Could you really go to jail?” “Of course not. You can go to the police if you want but it won’t do you any good. Now, you can pay everything you owe plus interest. Because we’ve been such good friends I won’t include daily interest in your debt. See, I’m not a monster.”
I took a taxi home. I was relieved I didn’t have to dance in front of a bunch of old men, but this wasn’t me. I didn’t do things like this. What would my mother think? She would disown me. She would run me over herself. There was only one person who knew what I was going through but even she didn’t have to become a stripper.I stared at Gia’s number for over twenty minutes while I sat alone in my bed. I couldn’t bring myself to call her until the phone rang and it was her calling me. I guess the power of best friendship was real.“Hey?” I said with a sigh.“Lilly, Brad won’t get me ice cream,” Gia sobbed.“Oh my gosh,” I giggled.“I brought you three tubs of ice cream.” Brad groaned in the background.“I don’t want those ones,” Gia sobbed.“My love I’ll get you all the ice cream in the world but I don’t think you really want it.”“Those pregnancy cravings are getting to you, huh?” I asked.“Maybe, I really want something sweet.”“I’ll bring you an apple pie tomorrow.”“Yeah? You’re a
“Hey,” I flipped my hair over my shoulder and smiled wide.Chad marched in and looked around.“Are you with someone?” He asked.“What? No. I’m alone. I’m ready too. Shall we get going? You know mom likes us to be on time.”He eyed me from head to toe. “You look gorgeous but I’m sure I heard voices in here.”“Voices? I had the TV on must have been that. I turned it off when I answered the door.”“You were talking to the TV?” He raised his brows at me.“Chad? Would I do that? Maybe you’re just stressed you work a lot.”“I’ve been stressed before and I’ve certainly never heard things.”His eyes roamed around the living room and scrutinized the balcony doors. Anything but the bedroom.“Can we leave? I don’t want to get on mom’s bad side tonight.”He br
Rocco’s fingers traced the line of the side of my body. How did I end up back here? I lay in his bed, staring at the bathroom door. My clothes had been discarded on the ground. I asked him to help me forget that people exist. He did that. For hours.Subtle moans turned to screams that would have Rocco’s neighbours reporting him in the morning. He closed his lips on my neck. If I checked the time on my phone it would tell me, it was somewhere after two in the morning. I should have been at home instead I was snuggling closer to a man that had knives sticking out of him.“Rocco?”“Lilly?” he rested his palm where he wore a cold metal ring on my hip.“Aren’t your neighbours going to complain? I made a lot of noise.”He chuckled and brushed my hair out of my face. “They should get used to it.”My heart cracked with information I had tucked in the back of my mind.“Right… you have a lot of women here.”“None of which are like you.”I wanted to tell him all women are different but he slid h
My sister scowled and raved about me being late and my hair being a mess. I couldn’t argue with her about my hair. It looked like I just walked out a bed I’d been fucked in all night. I was thankful rather than mad when she gave me a pink beanie.“You know what you’re looking for Candice?”“I’ve got an idea. I’m thinking glamourous rich princess.”“I’m having a hard time envisioning it,” I frowned as we walked into a dress store with pink cursive letters over the door. Headless manikins posed in the windows wearing dresses of all sorts of designs.We walked in and the scent of lavender and lilac welcomed us along with a ceiling covered in yellow lights. Rows and rows of wedding gowns lined the walls and extended to the backrooms. This place reminded me of how I missed my best friend’s dress fitting.Gianna’s situation was complicated. I wouldn’t have made much of a difference. Her sister-in-law showed up with her husband’s ex-mistress. The day ended with a damaged wedding dress that G
I arrived under the cover of night at the nightclub. I let my hair down, plastered on red lipstick. I pulled out black heels from the back of my closet and pulled on a black coat. Maybe I would fit in at the club. Still my skin crawled when I entered the underground club.The bouncers let me through. The bartender left his station and told me to go to the office to the right. It wasn’t Rocco’s office. The office was smaller than Rocco’s office. It had a desk and a chair behind it. An arm chair the in the corner of the room as well as a small liquor cabinet.“Where’s Rocco?” I asked.“He left but I was told to bring you here when you came.”“Okay?” I walked to the chair in the corner. “By whom?” Too late the bartender was already gone.I picked up the brown liquid on the desk. I brought it to my nose and winced. Strong stuff. Did Rocco have another office? He wouldn’t mind if I helped myself to a bottle in his cabinet.I scanned the bottles each one stronger than the last. I settled on