“Okay… Jerico,” I agree.
Oddly, he opens the safe with a pull to the handle, indicating it’s not locked. This surprises the hell out of me because he steps back holding a wad of cash in his hand. Jerico walks to me and without a word, he takes my wrist and turns my hand over so the palm is facing up.
My skin tingles from his touch, which is so disconcerting I stammer out, “You don’t lock your safe?”
Jerico’s eyebrow arches. “Who would dare steal from me?”
Good point. I know from Jayce that he was special ops military, which is where they met, then he created a company that did the same type of work on the civilian side. Jayce worked there with him for a few years, and Jayce isn’t a man I’d mess with, so I’m assuming Jerico is the same or probably worse.
Without needing an answer from me, he starts counting out hundred dollar bills into my hand. I silently count out ten thousand. Surprisingly, it’s not as large a stack as I thought it would be. The bills are brand new, crisp, and lay cleanly flat. The resulting stack is no thicker than an inch.
“What’s this for?” I ask dumbfounded as I look up at him.
His thick-lashed fern-colored eyes are so brilliant this close that I’m almost mesmerized. He gives me a smile, the first one he’s bestowed upon me since we met. “Take that to the loan shark and give it to him. Tell him he’ll have the rest by the due date.”
I open my mouth to question this, but he cuts me off by putting five more hundred dollar bills in my hand and saying, “That’s your entrance fee back since you’re not using the club tonight.”
Caught completely off guard by his generosity, especially because this meeting started out so rocky, I overcompensate with my gratitude. “Thank you so much, Mr. Jameson… I mean, Jerico. I really didn’t have five hundred to spare, but this was an emergency. I’m really grateful you’re giving it back because I need it for bills, and—”
He holds his hand up to cut me off and nods down to the money. “Take that tonight. Don’t wait.”
“But why?”
“Because many sharks like to send their goons out again before the due date to impress upon people the importance of meeting the deadline. And I can’t have you unable to work, now can I?”
I’m touched he thought enough to do that for me, but I’m in no way thinking that makes him a good guy. He just wants to keep me healthy so I can work off my debt to him.
I nod in understanding and finally close my hand around the stack of money in my hand. Raising my gaze, I ask Jerico, “When do you want me to start working?”
?
Turns out, Jerico wanted me to start working that night, although he said it would not count toward the thirty days I owed him. To be clearer, he really wanted to show me around the place because he told me it would be shocking to my system if I’d never been in a sex club before, and he didn’t want me to look like a scared rabbit tomorrow when I had my first full shift.
I understood his logic, and I was even grateful for the head’s-up.
I was not, however, prepared for the things I saw, even though I’m pretty openminded and liberal when it comes to sex.
I am by no means a prude, but as Jerico walked me through the various rooms, I was torn between watching with avid fascination and turning my face away with disgust. Some of the stuff was beautifully erotic. Some of the stuff turned my stomach.
Regardless, Jerico kept me there for two hours, taking the time to explain what people were doing and how the entire system of a sex club worked. From the tour, I was most surprised to learn that most people who came were couples who either liked the public nature of the club or wanted to swap partners. It was eye opening, but it was humiliating too, because there was a part of me that was greatly turned on. When I left, my panties were wet. For some reason, I felt Jerico knew that because his parting words were, “I hope you enjoyed the tour.” I wasn’t sure how in the hell I was supposed to work and be professional with that going on around me. In fact, I sneaked a peek at Jerico’s crotch from time to time and he was totally without a hard-on, so there must be some way to make yourself immune to all this stuff.
Now it’s just after midnight, and I’m exhausted. Yet before I can make my way to my house, where my mom and Corinne will already be sound asleep, I decide to go ahead and drop the ten thousand off to the asshole I made the mistake of doing business with.
I pull my car up to the aluminum-sided trailer that sits off the highway on a barren and dusty lot. I note with relief that the lights are on.
Trudging wearily up the steps, I take deep breaths so I remain calm. Two sharp raps on the door, and then it’s opened.
And there before me stands my brother, Jayce.
The loan shark.
He doesn’t invite me in, which is fine because I don’t want to go in. Instead, I reach into my purse and hand him the stack of money—less the five hundred Jerico refunded me. “Here’s ten of the twenty-five I owe you.”
Jayce’s hand shoots out to snatch the money from me, and he counts it out quickly. When he looks back to me, I wonder how this man fell so far. His eyes are perpetually bloodshot and there are busted capillaries around his nose and cheeks, which tells me his dependence on alcohol has probably destroyed his liver as well. He’s now a con artist and a drug dealer as well as a small-time grifter. After Jayce got out of the military and went to work for Jerico, he made some pretty big money. Still, you’d never know it by the way he lives now.
As such, Jayce was the last person I turned to for help because I honestly didn’t think he had it. I was elated when he said he could give me the money, so I just assumed he’d saved it up and wasn’t spending it.
Of course, the real shock was when he made it clear it was a loan with steep interest. God forbid the man would do something to help his niece out of the goodness of his heart.
I look past him into his dingy abode, sure the carpet and furniture are from the seventies. It’s really old, and it smells that way too.
“Why only ten thousand?” he snaps at me.
“It’s a good faith effort to show you I’ll have the rest by your deadline.”
“So Jerico is going to give you the money?” he asks with an amused smile.
“Yes,” I tell him. “I’ve got to work at his club for thirty days, but then we’re square.”
Jayce looks at me like he doesn’t believe me for a moment, but then ultimately shrugs his shoulders in acceptance. He didn’t care how I got the money, just as long as he got repaid. Frankly, I’m surprised he gave up such a large favor to bail my ass out of hot water, but really… it benefits him. He got his money back, plus a hefty profit. I still can’t believe the asshole made me borrow it as Corinne is his niece too. You’d think he’d want to help save her life, but he’s sank so low in his assholish ways that he doesn’t care about anyone, including himself.
“How did he act when you told him who you were?” Jayce asks.
“What do you mean?”