Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 131330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131330 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
My nostrils burn from the fumes left over by the cleaning crew. Vixen closes its doors at four in the morning, and by five, the cleaning crew is rocking up. They do a deep clean every day, no matter if the room has been used or not. There’s no telling just how far DNA can spread, and my club won’t be the reason for its members catching any diseases. The cleaners are generally done by midday, and when my bar staff comes in to restock the bar, one of them is responsible for opening up the doors and letting the fumes out.
I’ve beaten everyone in today, needing uninterrupted access to my security feed. I’ll be scrubbing any evidence of Aspen off my system before any of my security team happens to come across it. Don’t get me wrong, I have the best security team I could ask for, and I trust them implicitly, but that doesn’t mean I want them feasting their eyes on what’s mine—fuck no.
I mean . . . shit.
Aspen Ryder is not mine. She’s far from it. She’s mine in other terms of the word. Mine to protect, mine to make laugh, and mine to care for, just as she is to Austin. But she’s certainly not mine. If anything, I should view her as a little sister. Nothing more.
Making my way through the club, I push through the employees-only section and down to the security office before hashing in my personal access code and opening the heavy metal door. The system is on and ready to go, and without skipping a beat, I sit down and search through the files from Friday night.
A strange nervousness pulses through me. It’s one thing reliving that night over and over in my head and reading those texts, but to actually see it play out before me . . . fuck. I don’t know if I have the strength to hit delete. Hell, what if it was all in my head and she wasn’t the girl in the dark room at all?
I bring up the footage from the main entrance, fast-forwarding until I see a familiar face appear at the end of the alley. A grin pulls at the corner of my lips, and I watch as Aspen loops her arm through Becs’ and the two of them make their way toward my club.
There’s no sound, but it’s clear they’re having a conversation, and judging by the look on Aspen’s face, she doesn’t seem down with walking down a dark alley in the middle of the night. I suppose Austin and I have taught her well over the years. Though, one could argue that maybe we haven’t, seeing as though she was easily swayed to do it anyway.
They reach the door, and I watch as the girls make their way inside and disappear from the camera’s range. Then before I move to another camera, I make sure to delete the footage. Changing to the main entrance feed, I watch as they move through the dimly lit hallway and make their way down the stairs and to the reception area. The dim lights catch against Aspen’s sequined top, and I can’t help but laugh. If Austin knew she owned a top like that, he would have stolen it and burned it. Hell, maybe I would have helped him, but now that I’ve seen how it looks on her, maybe I’ll keep my mouth shut about it.
The girls talk to Casey in reception, and despite nothing interesting happening here, I find myself intrigued by Aspen and watching her facial expressions as she figures out what Vixen is all about.
They get their wristbands, and when they make their way onto the main floor of the club and disappear out of the frame, I hit pause and delete. The routine goes on, and with every frame they move out of, I erase any evidence of their night. Only as Aspen hovers by the bar and she’s approached for the first time, my blood runs cold, and I find my hand pausing on the delete button.
The man in question is Ryatt Markin, and I can guarantee that the second Aspen walked through the door, he would have zoned in on the white wristband dangling around her delicate skin. He’s a CEO of a big corporate company and gets off on being an asshole when it comes to his business negotiations, but what really gets him off is his fetish for virgins. Hell, they don’t need to actually be a virgin to catch his eye, they just need to look pure and innocent, just like Aspen. I can’t say I’ve ever taken the time to sit down and chat with the guy, and I could be way off base, but I don’t like him, and it has nothing to do with the fact that he approached Aspen.