Total pages in book: 225
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 218500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1093(@200wpm)___ 874(@250wpm)___ 728(@300wpm)
But having a bit of freedom, having no responsibility for the next forty-eight hours? Having the option to just be me? It sounds pretty damn good.
Although my eyes are on the security feed, my veins are being flooded by an adrenalin surge.
I track the movement of her hips, then watch the hypnotic sway of the curtain of thick, shiny dark hair that frames her face in fat curls and dances across her shoulders with every movement. My finger flexes, causing the screen to zoom in on her face. Her thick-lashed eyes are closed and it’s as if she’s part of the music as her friends surround her while she moves to the beat.
Everything falls away but her. Sounds. Images. She’s all I see right now.
I want to reach through the monitor and touch her. I want to know the sound of those silver rings looped through the series of straps above her sweet tits on her black dress, as they clang on my bedroom floor.
Something has woken up in me. Something I didn’t know had been there – dormant, perhaps.
I don’t get fixated on females; I get focused on goals. But something about her has me intrigued enough to want to know more. To want to be the one she chooses to use that hall pass on.
I’ve learned quite a few things about her in short order. That conversation I overheard paints a vivid bird’s eye view of who she is. I know why this is the first time in half a year she’s dancing. How this is the first time she’s let her hair down, using her words. And the way she said it, she loves to dance and let loose and has denied herself the pleasure. She announced she’ll dance like nobody’s watching tonight. But I’m watching. And the only reason I’m about to tear my eyes away is because I’ll be going out there and starting something. Starting something I suspect won’t move at the pace I want.
But I’ll do the calculations and decide the best way to get to my end goal. As soon as I know what that goal is. All I know right now is that I’m interested. Very.
Her eyes open. They’re light blue. So light they’re like ice on the monitor. I’m looking forward to gazing directly into them with my dark brown ones. Seeing how she responds to me. My vibe. My voice. My touch. No eye contact from her fiancé? Tired of feeling invisible? Well, I see you, Chloe. And I like what I’m seeing.
I don’t generally fuck around with club patrons. In fact, I haven’t felt the need to fuck around with anyone in a while. I wouldn’t likely linger on her this long and from multiple camera angles if not for the conversation I overheard between her and the blonde who works upstairs.
I’ve long believed things don’t happen by accident. When an opportunity presents itself, I assess moving pieces around me and determine whether they’re true opportunities or warnings. And then I’ll act, depending on the situation.
She’s the reason I’m here tonight, now, watching, readying myself. She doesn’t know it yet, but I’m about to react to this opportunity. To insert myself to become her new reason.
Looks like she’s a reason to stay in Columbus a while.
This club is on the ground floor of one of the larger office buildings in the city. It’s one of the many buildings my family owns. I own nightclubs here in Columbus along with Cincinnati and Cleveland. I divide my time between the three cities, preferring Cleveland as my home base. And that’s mostly because my family leaves me alone there. They insert themselves into my life far more often when I’m here.
My clubs are upscale, trendy. And they stay that way because I’m proactive. I calculate and then I act. I operate in business districts and near the airport of each city and my clubs are also wired for surveillance. Because the conversations picked up in bars in business districts, blue collar areas, as well as airports can be valuable for a variety of reasons, none of those reasons wholesome.
Surveillance is why I know as much as I do about Chloe. It’s not usually me that’s listening and we don’t generally listen live, but tonight was different. A staffing issue required my personal attention, so I tuned in to the bar area in order to pay attention to a bartender who’s been stealing from me and my patrons.
I had grounds to fire him within twenty minutes of paying attention. He’s fucking with the drinks and skimming cash as well as ripping off our customers. Watering down booze for some, switching shelves without charging accordingly, and diluting drinks to grog once he figures a patron is half in the bag while pocketing the difference. I’ve got audio and visual proof the greedy fuck is even screwing some customers for change. Someone half-snapped or distracted hands him a bill and he gives change for a smaller one. Saw him do it twice tonight. Once, it was missed, the second time the customer looked embarrassed when she called him out on it, probably feeling like she appeared cheap. He played it off like an innocent blunder.