Page 55 of Jaked

"Because," I said, "you seem to really like him." I blew out a long breath. "I guess I figured you wouldn’t—" How to put this? "—uh, need money for that."

Her voice became brittle. "It's not all fun and games," she said. "Some of the things are—" She looked away, breaking eye-contact. "—unpleasant."

I recalled the sounds that were coming from Maddie's room the previous night. As far as I could tell, nothing remotely unpleasant was going on inthere. Then again, Jake wasn't paying Maddie for those kinds of services, not that I knew of anyway.

Did Jake expect something extra when money exchanged hands? I shook off the whole idea. Jake didn't pay anyone for sex. I was sure of it.

Or was I?

A horrible recollection hit me. Every once in a while, Maddiedidget paid for sex – from Julian, and from a few other customers from the strip club. Was Jake one of her customers too?

My queasiness grew.

Next to me, Bianca was turned to stare out her car window. Was she serious? I shook my head. She couldn’t be. I knew Jake. He wouldn’t pay for it. He was smoking hot. He wouldn'tneedto pay for it. When we pulled up to Jake's building, I still didn't know what to think.

I opened my door, grabbed my packages, and stumbled out on shaky legs before Henry could even think of getting the door.

From inside the car, Bianca called out, "Luna?"

Relucantly, I turned toward her. "What?"

"If you tell Jake any of this," she said, "I'll be fired." She fidgeted in her car seat. "I know it doesn't look it, but I do need the money. So please don't. Okay?"

This was way too strange. "I don't know," I said.

"Believe me," she said. Iamsorry. I know I was awful today. But about the dress, you'll look great. Trust me."

I wasn't born yesterday. I didn't trust her one bit. Still, the smartest thing was to let it drop. So silently, I turned and trudged into the building.

But an hour later, as Jake and I faced off in his penthouse, I wasn’t feeling terribly smart about that, or anything else for that matter.