Page 12 of Ravage (Dark Desires #1)

I CAUGHT FUCKING FEELINGS

IMOGEN

Annika is waiting for me at the front door when I arrive at work on Monday.

"Where'd you run off to on Friday night?" she asks, looking pissed.

I've been dodging her messages all weekend, but I know I won’t be able to avoid her now that I’m here.

I shrug as I wheel my suitcase behind me through the foyer, headed for the stairs.

I am flying to Sydney this afternoon to visit the two locations there.

One of the perks of this job is that I get to travel all around the country, which I love.

While I could manage everything from the Brisbane location, Sebastian and Daniel prefer that I visit the other locations once a month, for appearances.

The club managers at the Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide locations answer directly to me, but Sydney and Brisbane are managed by the two brothers.

Sebastian lives here and Daniel splits his time between the Rose Bay & Point Piper mansions in Sydney.

"Just wasn't feeling it," I reply, heading for the stairs.

She grabs my arm. "Bullshit. I saw you head back in to help Cam, and an hour later, you're racing out stark naked with a freaked out look on your face.

" She strokes my cheek, her expression full of concern.

"Did he hurt you? Cause while he's hot as fuck and seemed super chill, I will hunt him down and castrate him if he hurt you. "

I grin, knowing she would do just that if someone had hurt me. "I promise, that wasn't it. He was fucking amazing."

Her hand drops away. "I'm confused... If it was so good, why'd you run?"

I sigh, looking towards the door, where Connell is sitting with a book. His presence means there are clients on site, and I don't feel much like having an audience to this conversation.

Annika follows my gaze and nods. "Come on." She grabs my hand and drags me up the two flights of stairs towards her suite.

All the sex workers live on site, along with Sebastian, Connell and David, and each of them has luxurious suites that are basically one-bedroom apartments.

Annika has been here the longest of all the staff, and her suite is my favourite.

It takes up the corner that has a view all the way out to the ocean from our mountain location, but it's not the view that I love about it.

Everything about the space just screams Annika.

She has very expensive taste, with designer clothes hanging in the closet and luxurious furnishings that she keeps in perfect condition.

She also has a massive book collection that I use as my own personal library the majority of the time.

"Spill, woman. What has you all twisted in knots?" Annika demands as soon as she shuts the door behind me.

I melt into her favourite armchair and drop my face into my hands. "I don't know," I half wail.

I feel her drop down in front of me, and I peek at her from between my fingers.

"This is all very dramatic." She pushes my hair back behind my ear. "It's also not like my usual cool, aloof Imogen."

I sigh and lift my face. "I know. "

She grips my knee. "Seriously. What the fuck happened?"

I suck in a deep breath. "It was some of the best sex I've ever had, excluding you and Sebastian. And then there were all these feelings, and I didn't know how to handle it, so I fucking bailed and begged Sebastian to fuck me hard out the back." I let it all tumble out in a rush.

Annika's eyebrows knit together. "Um... what?"

I groan. "I caught fucking feelings."

She's quiet for a moment and then proceeds to fucking cackle. "Oh my god, this is amazing."

Bitch.

I glare at her. "No, it is not. It's terrible, and I can never see him again."

"No, but it really is. Im, honey, I know you're all about being jaded and keeping people at arm's length, but it's okay to catch feelings."

I shake my head. "Nope. Not for me, it isn't. I vowed after my divorce that I would never do feelings again. Feelings mean mediocre sex and dealing with a man who takes me for granted."

"Didn't you just say sex with Cam was some of the best you'd ever had, outside Sebastian and yours truly? Which, by the way, back at ya, darling. You fucking rock in the sack." She grins at me, and I laugh before sighing again.

"Yeah, he was good." She stares me down for a moment.

"Fine, he was fucking amazing. But it can't be anything more than that one night.

Regardless of all the weird, swirly shit happening in my stomach when he was giving me mind-blowing orgasms, it just wouldn't work.

I'm not willing to give up my lifestyle, and there is no way any guy would be happy to let me continue to fuck you and Sebastian whenever I felt like it. "

She smiles, cocking her head to the side.

"You know I was with him for like an hour before you crawled into my lap to get your orgasm fix, right?

And in that time, he was so fucking chill.

He seemed really interested in everything that was going on.

If that couple hadn't ended up needing his help, I'm pretty sure he would have been changing that mask.

He watched us make out. He watched me finger fuck the shit out of you.

And he didn't run. In fact, he fucked you into oblivion afterwards.

How about we give him the benefit of the doubt? "

I grit my teeth. "No. I can't ever see him again. And it's not like we travel in the same circles. I doubt he can afford this place on an ambo's wage, so it'll be fine."

She continues to shake her head, but doesn't try arguing with me.

I rise to my feet. "I need to get downstairs and make sure everything is sorted for my trip. I'll see you on Wednesday."

She sighs. "Fine. Don't forget we've got Connell's birthday party on Saturday night, too."

Crap. I had forgotten.

The smirk she gives me tells me she knows exactly what I was just thinking.

"And no bailing. We never get to do anything out of this place anymore cause you're always so damn busy.

We are going out, going to get drunk on expensive champagne and cocktails, and I might let you finger bang me in the bathroom. " She winks, and I laugh.

"Sounds amazing."

That evening, I arrive at the Rose Bay location just as the sun is setting.

The brothers have properties all over the world, but the clubs are all located within mansions that scream luxury.

It's what the clients expect, and they pay obscene amounts of money to attend.

In my role, I oversee the finances of all the Australian operations and I know just how much we pull in each year.

Before I started working here, I could only imagine seeing that many zeros in a bank account, but now?

Let's just say, if this is just the Australian earnings, the guys are definitely billionaires .

"Hi Imogen, good to see you," Daniel says, greeting me as I get out of the Audi he'd sent for me.

"Hi Daniel." I give him a kiss on the cheek.

The two brothers share the same height and build, but while Sebastian is all dark and mysterious, Daniel is more open. With dark blonde hair and ruggedly handsome good looks, it's only his blue eyes that show his relation to Sebastian. He is also far less broody than his older brother.

I've learned a little about their upbringing and understand why Sebastian is the way he is.

They'd had a troubled childhood and were tossed into foster care in their teens, separated from one another.

But as soon as Sebastian turned eighteen, he applied for custody of fifteen-year-old Daniel, and it's been the two of them against the world ever since.

Daniel splits his time between Brisbane and Sydney, as does Sebastian, and they've built not just a business empire, but formed a family along the way out of our band of misfits.

I'm so incredibly grateful I found them when I did, because they gave me something I didn't have before. A family of people who understand and accept me for who I am.

"How is that brother of mine?" Daniel asks, taking my suitcase and leading the way inside.

"As delightful as ever," I reply, earning me a laugh in response.

"I've set you up in your usual suite. We do have a guest in the one next to you, but you probably won't see her."

I follow him up the grand staircase towards the second floor. This property is our biggest and most expensive, with views over Sydney Harbour that never cease to take my breath away. It's also the one that see's the most celebrities and politicians, but we don't discuss that.

"A guest?" I ask, confused. We don't usually have people staying in the properties unless they are staff. "Sebastian hadn't mentioned anything about someone new being here?"

"Yeah... Sebastian doesn't know, so if you do see her... maybe don't mention it to him?"

Now I'm really, really confused. But the pleading look on Daniel's face tells me not to ask questions, so I nod slowly, and he lets out a breath.

"Thanks, Im. Let's get you settled, and then we can hit the books for that audit."

And that's the last we say about the mystery guest. I only spy her once over the two days I'm here, a flash of long blonde hair that disappears back into her room when I enter the hall that night.

If Daniel is keeping her secret from Sebastian, I can only imagine that she's someone who means something to him.

And Sebastian wouldn't approve.