Page 66 of Wicked Throne

He gave a nod and smile.

This entire day had called for a little fried chicken and maybe if I were lucky, there was a re-run of the Golden Girls on somewhere and waiting for us.

Chapter 29

Thierry

It was opening night at our new club. There was a line wrapped around the block and people had come to party. Diamond had rehired most of her staff to work in new positions.

“Boss, I’m not cut out for this shit,” I heard one of the girls say.

Diamond chuckled. “Make it work, bitch! The Duece is going to bring in good money tonight. Before we know it…it’ll be business as usual.”

“I’m a stripper, Diamond…not a waitress,” the girl remarked.

Diamond laughed. “Soon, but for right now you waitressing. Now here.”

She loaded the girl's tray and sent her off to a table. Diamond had curled her hair into big looping curls. She wore a red dress that dared to dip lower than low….I could just about see her navel.

There were diamonds dripping from around her neck and her ears, but the only one I cared about was the one resting on her finger. She looked over and we locked eyes.

She wagged her finger at me, and I was like a puppy. My legs carried me to her in an instant.

“You know…I have a husband,” she said. “But if you keep watching me like that…I’ll be forced to let you do all those dirty things you’re thinking about doing to me.”

Leaning in, my lips brushed against hers. “Don’t make me take you over this bar right now in front of everyone.”

“Your weird-ass would,” she snipped at my lip, her teeth catching just a little bit.

“I’ll do it,” I replied biting back.

She giggled like a schoolgirl. “Stop. We are in front of people.”

“I don’t give a damn… it's mine, Diamond. Every inch. Every hole.”

“You been in the liquor?” She raised an eyebrow. “Thierry Scarpetta, I do believe you’ve been drinking.”

“Hardly,” I replied.

Someone called her name. Glancing over her shoulder she saw people calling her. “I’ll be back…we’ll finish this later.”

“Bet on it.”

I winked and watched her sashay away. She was giving me and every man in view a show. Of course, I didn’t like that one bit but she was going home with me.

Tonight and every night.

This was my life now.

Diamond belonged to me.

Turning back, I grabbed my drink that I’d left resting on the bar. The bartender we’d hired had refilled it and I took a sip. It went down smooth resting in my belly like a warm fire.

My eyes roamed the room. There were people from all walks of life here. Black, white…everyone had come here to our club, even with these frigid ass temperatures.

If there was one thing I knew, people wanted to escape their lives. Sometimes the four walls of a home, with the cheap wallpaper that had started to fade over time, was too much. Watching television shows that reflected how exciting someone else’s life was and pretending got old.

Sometimes men needed to go out and chase pussy. Sometimes women wanted to put on heels and feel desirable again. That was what clubs provided. It was a battlefield basically where anything could happen. You might meet your foe, or you might meet the love of your life by pure chance. It might also help to clean millions of dollars in drug money.