Page 10 of Obsession on Repeat (Vinyl Hearts #1)

Every single thing I researched about Euphoria told me the same thing. For five years in a row, anyone who was someone in LA wanted to be seen there. It was the number one spot for nightlife, and it didn’t get much bigger when it came to parties and after-award show shindigs.

When he returned home, he found me in the kitchen humming at the stove. "Hey, baby." He tugged at his tie, shrugging off his jacket to hang it on a chair at the table. "Something smells fantastic."

"I made your favorite, chicken stir-fry." I lowered the heat on the skillet. "I have great news. I took the job at Euphoria."

He slipped his tie free and tossed it on top of the jacket. "That is great, but isn’t it a little more exposed than what you were aiming for? "

"Maybe." I stirred the chicken. "But when I went for my interview, it felt right. It’s amazing, the number one place to be in LA. If I make it spinning at Euphoria, there won’t be a single club on this planet that won’t hire me."

"Any club would be crazy not to hire you, Rory, but that’s not the point. I remember a conversation we had not too long ago about how you wanted to stay below the radar."

"Well, I seem to remember our conversation was aimed more at the fact I wanted us to be below the radar, not my job."

He actually scoffed out loud. "So we’re never going out together? You’re never coming to my premieres? In case you’ve forgotten, the media already knows about you. I think my sister has a few newspapers to prove my point."

"As far as they’re concerned, I was some random girl you met on vacation, and I’m still in Australia."

"Well, you’re not, and as soon as your job starts printing fliers and heating up promotion, the media will track you down again."

I shoved the skillet off the eye and turned to face him.

"Okay, first off, I never show my face on fliers." I counted on my fingers. "Secondly, I go by a stage name. You’ve got some nerve to tell me what to do when it comes to the media. You certainly can’t keep them out of your business, so don’t tell me how to handle mine! "

"That was a bit uncalled for; I’m not trying to pick a fight with you."

"I told you that I won’t give up my job to be with you, and you said you would never ask me to do that. I’ve finally found a place, and you don’t have anything positive to say?"

"I told you I thought it was great! Forgive me for being concerned."

"If I want to hear concern, I’ll call my mother, and we know that’ll never happen!"

Sighing, Sullivan leaned against the fridge.

"I’m aware that she passed away when you were a child, but other than that, you never talk about her.

You never tell me anything about your childhood.

I think I’ve been very understanding about everything.

I’m sorry my concern came out wrong, but I’m not doing this. "

My eyes narrowed. "Doing what? You and me? Are you dumping me?"

"I never said that! Why are we fighting?"

"I’m not sure."

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders, kissing the top of my head as I pressed my cheek to his chest. "Let’s eat dinner, have some wine, and talk about this later."

I squeezed his waist. "How was work?"

"Boring. If I have to do one more interview where they ask me what my favorite color is, I’m going to scream."

"You poor thing. That sounds horrible. "

"Yeah, yeah," he smiled, rolling his eyes. "You finish the food, and I’ll get the dishes."

"Left are the bathrooms." Gina Moretti, who had re-introduced herself to me as a savant of all things sexy and sometimes procurement manager, was giving me the tour, pointing left to right. "As you saw the other day, this office where Vanessa lurks is on the third floor."

"I do not lurk."

"Yes, you do." She wiggled her fingers at Vanessa as she walked by with a folder in her hand, waiting until the woman disappeared before smiling at me. "She’s a vampire."

"I’m sorry?"

"Pale skin, doesn’t show up to work until after dark, and sometimes, she sleeps in her office. Oh, and she hisses a lot, that’s a personal favorite of mine. Plus, she has the sexual appetite of a-"

"Whoa, that’s enough!" I held my hands up.

"Eh, you can’t help but discover this or that about your coworkers, it’s the perks of working in such a popular place. You should hear the stories about some of the celebs that come here. I could-"

"Keep those to yourself, and get back to work?" Vanessa walked by again, disappearing into the stockroom behind the bar.

"See how stealthy she was? We didn’t hear her come back. Vampire."

I couldn’t help but laugh at the woman’s silly expression. "Okay, moving on. Where do I set up my stuff?"

"Oh, your booth!" She scurried away, and I followed immediately.

We approached a room on the second floor, and when she swung open the door, my eyes widened. It was large, set up with four turntables, a long leather couch, and matching recliners. Glass windows exposed the dance floor below.

"I’ve never seen a booth not set up on the main floor before, this is incredible." I knocked on the glass. "Are these…"

"Trick mirrors. You can see out, but they can’t see in unless you hit this nifty little button here." She pointed to a panel on the wall. "The other button opens the panels, so you can interact with the club below."

I whistled between my teeth as I approached the turntables, running an appreciative glance over them. "These had to have cost a small fortune. "

"A little over two thousand dollars each to be exact. They were purchased three weeks ago when we fired the last DJ. Vanessa ordered them top of the line."

"I have my own."

"You’re free to use whatever you’d prefer, but she’d thought you’d enjoy them."

"Why was the last DJ fired?"

Gina plopped down on the leather couch, throwing her legs over the side of one arm.

"He couldn’t keep his business and personal life separate.

We can get away with a lot, but it doesn’t mean you can parade it in people’s faces whenever you want.

There’s a price to pay for being overconfident and cocky, and well, he found that out the hard way. "

I spotted her looking at me expectantly, and my eyebrows rose. "What?"

"Aren’t you curious to know why exactly he got fired?"

"You already told me it was a bad mix of business and personal. What more is there to know?"

"Oh, I like you," she giggled. "I can see why Vanessa hired you."

"Thanks, I think?"

"It’s definitely a compliment, but I love gossip too much to pass up the opportunity to talk about it.

" She chuckled. "DJ Dream was a solid DJ, but I swear that man slept with anyone that looked in his direction. You couldn’t begin to imagine how many people he had in this room every night, sometimes more than one at a time. "

I glanced hesitantly at the couches.

"No worries, the room was completely cleaned and remodeled. Vanessa took no chances when it came to DJ Skanky Ass." She wiggled her nose then motioned at the floor. "New carpet, new furniture, new everything. She has the cleaning crew here every morning at five. She’s religious about it."

"There won’t be any worry about me and my personal life. I love being a DJ, it’s the only thing I’ve ever had real passion about in my life besides…"

"Besides what?"

"Besides my boyfriend."

Her eyes lit up. She slid her legs off the leather arm of the chair and sat up, suddenly invested. "I pegged you for a digit girl. You know, someone with several boyfriends, maybe a girlfriend or two. Wild nights, no names remembered in the morning."

I raised a brow, unimpressed.

"But then I did a little research." She wiggled her fingers like she’d conjured a spell. "And stumbled on some juicy tabloids. You and a certain actor…?"

"Of course you did."

"So, is it true?"

"Some of it, the rest is clickbait."

She tilted her head, curiosity bubbling beneath her smirk. "You’re very contained for someone who is dating Hollywood’s favorite jawline."

"It’s not a performance. I don’t owe the world an explanation because someone snapped a photo."

For a second, she went quiet, then surprisingly, she smiled. "You’re way more interesting than your headlines." She stood up from the couch and glanced at her watch. "It’s seven o’clock, we have a meeting in thirty minutes on the main floor. Do you want me to come back to get you?"

"I’m pretty sure I can find the main floor by myself," I teased. "I’ll see you down there."

After she left, I looked around for a few more minutes, content to study the turntables.

Upon hearing a soft knock on the door, I turned to find an unfamiliar man standing in the open doorway. He was tall, easily over six feet, and had long brown hair to his shoulders framing strong facial features, a trimmed goatee and light green eyes.

He flashed me a bright smile, the action lighting up his handsome features. "Sorry, I was looking for Vanessa."

"Last time I saw her, she was in the stockroom."

"Ah, taking inventory no doubt. Not sure why she pays Gina to do it when she’s always going behind her to double check it." He stepped inside, the door shutting, and extended his hand. "Asher Lark. "

"Lorelai Jones, but please call me Rory." I pumped his hand with a quick smile. I surveyed his black cargo pants and black shirt with the white Euphoria logo. "Do you work here, too?"

"Uh, in a way, I guess I do. I own Euphoria."

"I thought Vanessa owned Euphoria."

"It was a joint venture when we opened five years ago. I’m more of a silent partner." He flashed me another smile. "It’s nice to finally put a face to the name of such a world-wide famous DJ."

"I don’t know if I would say world-wide, but I appreciate the opportunity to work here."

"DJ Fetish is an interesting stage name."

I couldn’t stop the blush that spread across my cheeks. "I thought of it when I was seventeen, so it might lack a little creativity."

"I wouldn’t say it lacks anything."

"I should probably head downstairs for the meeting."

He swung open the door. "After you, Rory."

A crowd of employees had already gathered together, Vanessa standing in the middle with a clipboard. I spotted Gina waving at me and maneuvered my way over to stand beside her.

"I see you met Daddy."

"Who?"

She nudged her head in the direction of where Asher was now talking to Vanessa. "Our other boss. "

"Yeah, he came into the booth looking for Vanessa."

"Yeah, right. He came in there to see how much drool he could get out of you."

I frowned, looking back at the man in question. "I mean, he’s attractive, but he’s just a guy." I looked over to find her staring at me, her mouth hanging open. "What?"

"You think Asher Lark is just a guy?" She laughed. "Oh, that’s priceless. Vanessa is going to fucking love that."

"I’m missing something, aren’t I?"

"Double Edge?"

"Double what?"

"Piston?"

"Isn’t that in an engine?"

"Girl, you better be yanking my chain. Do you not watch movies at all?"

"Obviously not," I remarked dryly. I crossed my arms and tried to squish the sick feeling that had started to eat at my insides. "Let me guess, he’s an actor."

"Bingo."

"How did he end up co-owning a nightclub?"

"Vanessa and Asher met years ago at a Hollywood party her uber rich parents were hosting.

They cooked up the idea to open a nightclub as a way for her to become independently wealthy.

He agreed to help finance in exchange for co-ownership, and ta-da, Euphoria was born.

" She studied the topics of discussion and chuckled.

" Pretty sure they were fucking, a lot, but realized they were better off as friends and business partners. "

With a groan, I rubbed my forehead. "Remind me later why I needed to know that."

"I figured you would want to know all the dirty details. Besides, you said he was hot."

"He’s our boss!"

She shrugged, unbothered. "Sure. Technically. But this whole thing? It’s Vanessa’s baby.

If it crashes, she’s got nothing but old family money and pride to fall back on—and she’d swallow glass before admitting failure.

" She flicked a glance at me. "He’s got a dozen other projects lined up. Movies. Endorsements. He’ll land fine. "

I crossed my arms. "Then why was he still here?"

"He loves to meet new hires, especially the interesting ones."

"Lucky me," I muttered.

Before she could say something snarky in return, Vanessa’s voice cut through the space, sharp and magnetic. "Alright, team!" She clapped once, and the room stilled. "First off, I want to officially introduce our new DJ, Rory, also known as DJ Fetish."

The team clapped on cue. I nodded stiffly.

"Secondly," she continued, "if you have any supply requests, make sure they get to Gina by tomorrow morning. We open in a few hours, so finish your checks. Any issues, come to me or Asher. Let’s have a great night."