KIERAN IS A GENTLEMAN

CHAPTER FIFTY

“Oh Hi there.” She smiles at me sweetly and I’m taken back for a second.

“Uh.. hi” I said back. Okay, maybe I wasn’t going to start threatening her and her family right at the beginning, but saying hi back ? Uhh..I usually go with whatever I have to say. Not freaking hi

“You must be the new girl we are expecting. We are currently short-staffed. I was supposed to take you in and give you the basics before the guests arrive but you’re late. MR would have fired you immediately if it were any other day, but be lucky everyone is very busy right now. The place is really packed tonight.”

She was mistaking me for a new hire. Was Kieran this MR person or just a guest? Is he hiding his identity? Is that why he didn't take off his helmet? I need answers.

I’m confused. So instead of confronting her and demanding answers like I planned originally, I’ll just let her explain what the hell Kieran is doing here and what Andrew has to do with it. People are more likely to divulge important information when they think you don't need it .

“Let’s pack this bike first. It's for our VVIP, Zero . Client is hot and a money bag. Every girl’s wet dream .” She winks at me like she just shared a naughty secret. Well, I guess she literally did.

“Okay.” I nod. See? She's divulging important information without me threatening her whole generation. So Kieran's sort of code name is Zero.

“He’s mine though, so don’t set your eyes on him. He really doesn’t like to show his money off, but that doesn’t trick anyone. I can tell he’s definitely from money . I have a keen sense for spotting his type and he’s in the top tier. Be good to me and maybe I’d hook you up with someone rich.” She continues.

She was asking me to back off Kieran and warning me that he was off limits. If I played nice and agreed, she’d return the favor and hook me up with a rich client.

Was she some type of prostitute?

What the hell was this? Kieran was coming to this shady brothel ?

He was sleeping with prostitutes when ninety percent of the girls in school would beg to suck his cock for free?

I follow her as she climbs the bike and motions her head for me to hop on.

“Don’t worry. I’m a good rider.” She says with a wink as I climb on.

“I’m Niki. What’s your name?” She says, revving the engine.

Why does she have to look so sexy whilst doing this?

Ugh! This is so annoying. I can’t even antagonize her since she’s being nice to me. Except the subtle ‘ don’t go near the man who just rejected me yet, I’m also claiming he is mine, by the way.’

“You can call me Li.” I said back nicely. I wasn't going to tell her my real name.

“Well, we’d need a different name for you. That’s not sexy enough.”

Not sexy enough? Royal Crest Academy would end her right this second if they heard her say such a sentence in anything with regards to their beloved queen. I wouldn’t even have to lift a finger myself.

“Let’s call you Aaliya. Its more royal and hot.”

I jerk back and nearly fall off as she takes off. For a second, I think she recognizes my identity or maybe even saw me spying on her and Kieran earlier and connected some dots. I think she is actually pretending to be ignorant, but it's purely coincidental. A hella scary one. She didn't show any signs that she knew me. I'm referring to her bodily reaction, of course. There's no sign that she knows what my name meant. Nor a sign of a threat. There's no tenseness in her from my reaction to her calling me by my first name .

she only asks me to hold on tight and even apologizes for being reckless.

What a troubling coincidence.

We arrive at what seems to be an elevator as she gets down and pushes the bike inside. I follow.

The elevator goes down and opens to an underground garage. I follow behind as she puts a tag that says 'Zero' on the bike and parks it among other vehicles. They all have number tags. Most of the vehicles don’t look like the trash I met on the way here. They seem more like something people at my end of town would drive.

That means there were hundreds of people here, including people I may know aside from Kieran. Or maybe, this was an entirely different group. My side of town was legitimate money and this was probably illegitimate money, the mafia type of money.

Parking the vehicles here instead of out front made the place seem neglected at first, but now I realize that isn’t the case.

I’m I letting Kieran drag me into his illegal activities?

Was this a stupid move?

Niki walks through a small door and I follow her. She leads me into a small room that is like what I think a stripper’s room would look like.

I mean the room they get ready in before getting on stage. A few girls are there getting their make-up done and everyone is dressed in a red silkydress that is slit all the way up to the waist.

“So I’ll re-brief you again. These are Caresha, Lana, Coco, Voilet....." She keeps mentioning the ladies' names as they smile and wave at me. I smile and wave back, but I don’t make an effort to remember the names. I was only here temporarily anyway, and it was to find out Kieran’s mission and how Andrew was involved in this shady organization.

“We are here to just look pretty and entertain the guests. Don’t worry, you don’t have to sleep with them.” She laughed at my face and explained, mistaking my reaction for fear of prostituting myself. It was more of disgust at the whole thing. But I refuse to let my judgemental bitch keep showing and end up ruining my cover.

“You can wear a mask since you’re new. It’ll add to your mysteriousness and get you more clients.” She winks. It's an old trick that some of us old workers still use. It never fails. Try to seduce a guy and make him fall for you though. You’re literally so pretty. I’m sure you’d end up with someone quickly.” Niki continues blabbing on and on as she fills me in.

Basically, this was some sort of underground hotspot that brought the likes of many wealthy clients. The mafia, the wealthy side of town, and other hotshots. These girls were like hosts that entertained them with hopes of a man falling for them and taking them from this job.

“I understand that you were asked to look cute, but they didn’t mean cute like a princess. You’re so adorable in that shirt and cute slippers. I love them but not here.” She giggles and I look at her completely speechless.

She’s so nice and cheerful it's almost impossible to think you’d find someone like this in somewhere so dangerous.

“So welcome to the ring, Aaliyah.” She says excitedly, handing me a dress and a black eye mask. It was like a butterfly with wings.

So, this place was the Ring.

I was definitely in the right place, and moving silently like this would get me Intel without compromising my identity and putting my reputation at risk if someone recognizes me here.

She goes out and I sit in front of the mirror, doing my make-up.

“Niki is so pathetic. Don’t you agree?” One of the girls says to another in low tones, but I hear her anyway.

“Yes. She’s pretending to be so sickeningly sweet to the new girl.”

“Its probably because she knows the new girl is Zero's type and she’s had her eyes on him forever. She should just give up already. She’s been rejected and humiliated so many times. She has no pride left.” One of them giggles.

Kieran is who they are talking about. He is Zero. These ladies knew him then. I could pretend to be naive and care about working here and ask for their advice to find out more about Kieran. First let me listen to the voluntary gossip.

“She’s doing that so the girl doesn’t get with him. The whole, I was nice to you, so don’t take what I want. It’s a huge temptation to not try to suck off that fine specimen though. If he wanted me, I'd be on my knees within a second. Unfortunately he doesn't.”

“He’s so respectful though, he wouldn’t pursue her if she rejects him, so Niki is using that advantage.”

“I know right, he’s such a gentle man. I would be crazy obsessed if I were as shameless as her. We’ve all tried to get with him before but he doesn’t stray from his blonde hair, blue eyes, full glam princess kind of girls. It’s so annoying. Niki keeps making them quit or mysteriously go missing whenever we employ them.

"This one looks like she'd last though. I have a feling."

That sounds like me. Was I Kieran’s ideal type ? Or maybe should I dare think he slept with those girls wishing and maybe pretending they were me.

But are they really talking about Kieran? Kieran wasn’t such a gentleman. And the number of times he’d come onto me when I rejected him was too much to even count. So was he only like this to me?