CHAPTER 2
* Thalia Beckett *
I alternate between pulling the hem of my elastic skirt down to my legs and making sure my face stays angled in such a way that my fall of long bangs keeps my eye.
The bruise I'm hiding is scary. I’m quite self -aware about it, and not because Ford Louis Hendrix is supposed to be the best man I’ve ever seen in my life. The pictures I saw when I Googled him don’t do him justice. I don’t think her hair is really very black and really black, or her green eyes are so bright that I would call them the color of bleached jade, but they are streaked with rust cuts, which is reason beyond beauty. And the face, so perfectly put together that he doesn’t seem real.
But I’m not here for her looks.
I was here for his money, and Jaden assured me that Ford had what I needed.
“What kind of money are we talking about?” Ford asks as he critically studies me.
“Twenty-five thousand,” I say nervously.
“That’s a lot of cash to ask of someone,” he says pensively. “But I do owe Jaden a favor, and I happen to be wealthy.”
“So you’ll help me?” I ask, hope welling up in my chest. For the first time in days, I wasn’t overwhelmed with fear.
“Maybe,” he says as he leans forward in his chair, crossing his forearms on the desk. “Why do you need it?”
“Family emergency,” I say quickly… maybe a little too quickly because it sounds like a lie.
Ford’s eyebrows draw inward as his gaze pierces straight through me. “You owe someone the money.”
My eyes widened in shock, and I completely let go of myself stammering, "How could you possibly know that?"
He smiled at me like a cat just eating canary, I just admitted to him. I don’t want him to know because he doesn’t business the details. I just need money and an agreement with a decent man to let me pay for it when I have sold my house. Jaden assured me that Ford was the man.
“That bruise beside your right eye that goes down into your cheekbone…” Ford says, nodding at me. “You’re not hiding it very well. When a woman is beaten and needs money, my first guess is someone’s trying to let her know time is up and it’s going to hurt if she doesn’t pay. The other choice would have been an abused woman needing money to skip town on whatever douche is beating her, but you carry yourself with a little too much confidence for that.”
Okay, so he has me sort of pegged, but he has no clue how weird this “loan shark” thing really is. He’d never believe the deep hole I’ve dug myself into, nor would he respect the circumstances that brought me here to beg for help.
“What was the original loan amount?” Ford asks.
“Thirteen thousand dollars,” I tell him.
Thirteen lent me. Today, I owe twenty -five as payment plus interest. But I’m not ashamed of any of it because I need that money and I’m willing to do anything to get it. The fact that the sale of my house fell and I couldn’t get the equity to repay the loan didn’t really touch the heart of my lender. He chased me and scolded me nicely, imposing a deadline that I had better do otherwise I would be more hurt.
I have four weeks to raise funds or my dead, bullet -riddled body will be released into the New Jersey desert to be torn apart by coyotes. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but I don’t want to have any more of his anger. I just want him out of my life.
I was expecting Ford Louis Hendrix to bail me out, hoping he would come up with some sort of reasonable repayment plan. I assume he is a noble man because Jaden seems positive that he will give me the money with easy payment terms and lower interest.
“What was the money for?” Ford asks again. “And when do you need it by?”
“Like I said… family emergency.” This was very much true, but he didn’t need to know the details.
My six-year-old niece, whom I help take care of my mother, needs a heart valve replacement. Because he was uninsured, the hospital wanted a deposit before they could perform the operation. I was able to cash out twenty-seven thousand from my plan. but I have to borrow another thirteen. It came with a big risk, but I thought I’d just sell my house, take the equity out of it — which wouldn’t be much but at least cover debt repayment — and everything would be fine. Except people buying it backed out at the last second, so now I’m on the creek side without a paddle.
Since Ford has twice asked me what the money is for, I expect him to push the issue. instead, he asks, “What are you offering in terms of repayment?”
I blink at him in surprise. He wants me to suggest something? “Um… well, I need twenty-five to pay off the loan within thirty days. I could maybe pay it back over five years with some interest, of course, for your trouble.”
Ford laughed heartily, but his expression was not happy. “Miss Beckett, I’m not a banker. I don’t make long-term loans. I’ll give you the money… but at a twenty-two percent rate that would be due thirty days after I give you the money. ”
“Impossible,” I whisper. My house was not going to sell, so I couldn’t pay it back that fast. The reason the buyers had backed out was that the home inspection revealed there was major termite damage. It was going to cost thousands to fix it. The house was a no-go. "That puts me in the same exact situation I'm in now."
“That’s my offer,” he says softly. And the implication is “take it or leave it.”
“Mr. Hendrix,” I say as I lean forward in my chair and try to push the tears back. “I really, really need your help. My brother saved your life. The favor I’m asking is not for the actual money, but a reasonable way I can repay it. I can’t get that much money together in thirty days. Can’t you please work something out with me that I can actually succeed at?”
He evaluates me again critically. This time, he let his gaze wander all over my body as I sat in the chair opposite him. When his eyes return to me, he says, "Are you willing to work off the debt?"
“Work off the debt?” I repeat skeptically. He owns a sex club after all.
“Yes. Here at The Sinful Night Club,” he explains.
It boosts my interest because I need a job, and I’m insanely interested in what’s going on within this area. I’m always adventurous that way. When Connie was in the hospital for a valve replacement in her heart, I had to take time off from work. My bosses were unforgiving, and they gave my temp job to take my place. I had been there for six years and barely left work, but I asked for a week off and they fired me.
Assholes.
So I’m unemployed right now and could use a job. While my mom’s paycheck helps cover half the expenses, it doesn’t pay for everything and my meager savings are about exhausted.
Leaning forward in my chair, I ask, “What does that mean… work here?”
“You know what this club is?” he counters.
I nod. “A sex club.”
“What would my job duties be?” I ask.
“They’d be whatever I tell you they were,” he says.
A little taken aback, I wonder if I am mistaking that look in his eyes.
Sinister?
Lustful?
But I must be mistaken because he says, “For example, I might have you work the hostess stand in The Social Room, or tend the bar. This may seem shocking to you, but I might use you as a waitress who sells condoms and lube and such. Or it could be something as mundane as cleaning my apartment. Let’s say you’d be my personal employee for whatever was needed.”
This has potential. It is all stuff I can do, and none of what he listed bothers me in the slightest.
“There are a variety of other jobs that mainly involve cleaning and making the club look beautiful at all times,” he adds on. “It’s physical work.”
“But I wouldn’t be expected to have sex with anyone?” I ask cautiously, because while I like sex a whole hell of a lot, I’m not whoring myself out.
“I don’t run a brothel, Miss Beckett,” he drawls, and I can tell I’ve offended him.
“I’m sorry—”
He talks right over me to clarify. “I do not expect you to have sex with any of the members as part of your repayment of the loan.”
“How much time is needed to pay you back the loan?” This sounds too easy.
“Four weeks. That’s when your deadline is, right?”
“All you want is four weeks of work for twenty-five thousand dollars?” I ask incredulously. “Because I’m sorry… nothing in life is that easy.”
Ford cocks an eyebrow at me. “While I have no clue about your work ethic or any particular talents you may have, Miss Beckett, I’m requiring four weeks of work so that—for all intents and purposes—we have a legitimate deal. My granting you the favor I owe your brother isn’t the money I’m giving you. As you said, it’s the easy repayment plan that will wipe my debt clean with him.”
Well, there you go. Now we’re on the same page.
“One last thing,” I say quickly. “I lost my job a few weeks ago, so I’m hunting for a new one. Would my hours here be evenings or day shifts? I just need to know how to narrow my search. Still have to pay my bills, you know?”
“Tell you what,” Ford says as he stands up and walks over to a cabinet on the adjacent wall to his desk. “I’ll give you extra shifts at time and a half to add onto the front or back of your regular shifts. If you’re working the condiment trays, you can make pretty good money in tips. More than enough to cover your bills, I’m sure.”
My mind was running all over to make sure I missed nothing. I got twenty -five thousand for working at The Sinful Night Club for a month. I don’t have to have sex with members. He would give me extra work at the overtime rate so I could pay my share of the living expenses. I can leave without debt and start my life again, leaving these hellish weeks behind.
Sucking in a big breath, I let it out as I stand from my chair to face him. “Then I gratefully accept, Mr. Hendrix.”
His back is to me as he pulls a painting away from the wall to reveal a safe behind it. He looks over his shoulder at me briefly. “Let’s just make it Ford.”
“Okay… Ford,” I agree.
Oddly, he opened the safe by pulling on the handle, indicating that it was not locked. This surprises the hell out of me because he backed away while holding a wad of money in his hand. Ford walked over to me and without a word, he took my wrist and twisted my hand so the palm was facing up.
My skin tingles from his touch, which is so disconcerting I stammer out, “You don’t lock your safe?”
Ford’s eyebrow arches. “Who would dare steal from me?”
Good point. I know from Jaden that he was special ops military, which is where they met, then he made a company that was the same type of job on the civilian side. Jaden worked there with him for a few years, and Jaden wasn’t a man I could be with, so I assume Ford is the same or probably worse.
Without needing an answer from me, he began counting the hundred -dollar bills in my hand. I was quietly counting to ten thousand. Surprisingly, it’s not as big of a stack as I thought. The bills are new, crisp, and clean flat. The resulting stack is no more than an inch.
“What’s this for?” I ask dumbfounded as I look up at him.
His thick-lashed fern-colored eyes are so brilliant this close that I’m almost mesmerized. He gives me a smile, the first one he’s bestowed upon me since we met. “Take that to the loan shark and give it to him. Tell him he’ll have the rest by the due date.”
I open my mouth to question this, but he cuts me off by putting five more hundred dollar bills in my hand and saying, “That’s your entrance fee back since you’re not using the club tonight.”
Caught completely off guard by his generosity, especially because this meeting started out so rocky, I overcompensate with my gratitude. “Thank you so much, Mr. Hendrix… I mean, Ford. I really didn’t have five hundred to spare, but this was an emergency. I’m really grateful you’re giving it back because I need it for bills, and—”
He holds his hand up to cut me off and nods down to the money. “Take that tonight. Don’t wait.”
“But why?”
“Because many sharks like to send their goons out again before the due date to impress upon people the importance of meeting the deadline. And I can’t have you unable to work, now can I?”
I’m touched he thought enough to do that for me, but I don’t think that makes him a good person. He just wants me to be healthy so I can pay off my debt to him.
I nod in understanding and finally close my hand around the stack of money in my hand. Raising my gaze, I ask Ford, “When do you want me to start working?”
***
Turns out, Ford wanted me to start work that night, although he said it would not count towards the thirty days I owed him. To be clear, he really wanted to take me around the place because he told me it would be shocking to my system if I hadn’t joined a sex club before, and he didn’t want me to look like a scared rabbit tomorrow. during my first full shift.
I understood his logic, and I was even grateful for the head’s-up.
I was not, however, ready for what I saw, even though I was somewhat open minded and liberal when it came to sex.
I wasn’t sober, but as Ford walked me through the different rooms, I was torn between watching with avid obsession and turning away my face with disgust. Some of the things are very erotic. Some of the things swirled in my stomach.
Regardless, Ford kept me there for two hours, taking the time to explain what people do and how the whole system of a sex club works. From the tour, I was very surprised to learn that most of the people who came were couples who liked the public nature of the club or wanted to swap partners. That was eye-opening, but it was also embarrassing, because there was a part of me that was totally turned on. When I leave, my panties are wet.
For some reason, I felt Ford knew that because his parting words were, “I hope you enjoyed the tour.” I wasn’t sure how in the hell I was supposed to work and be professional with that going on around me. In fact, I occasionally peek into Ford’s crotch and he’s absolutely hard-on, so there must be some way to make yourself immune to all of this.
It was now after midnight, and I was tired. But before I could get to my house, where my mother and Connie were sleeping soundly, I decided to go ahead and throw ten thousand into the asshole I had mistaken in doing business.
I pulled my car up to the aluminum-sided trailer that was off the highway on an arid and dusty lot. I noticed the lights were on.
Tired of stepping, I took a deep breath to stay calm. Two sharp knocks on the door, and then it opened.
And there before me stands my brother, Jaden.
The loan shark.
He doesn’t invite me in, which is fine because I don’t want to go in. Instead, I reach into my purse and hand him the stack of money—less the five hundred Ford refunded me. “Here’s ten of the twenty-five I owe you.”
Jaden pulled out his hand to snatch the money from me, and he quickly counted it. When he looked back at me, I wondered how this man had fallen so far. His eyes were always red with blood and there were busted capillaries around his nose and cheeks, telling me that his dependence on alcohol had probably destroyed his liver as well. He is already a swindler and drug dealer as well as a small-time gritter.
After Jaden left the military and worked for Ford, he earned quite a bit of money. However, you will never know it in the way he lives today.
Because of this, Jaden was the last person I approached to ask for help because I honestly didn’t think he had it. I was thrilled when he said he could give me the money, so I just thought he had saved it and he wasn’t spending it.
Of course, the real shock was when he clarified that it was a loan with steep interest. May the man not do something to help his nephew from the goodness of his heart.
I passed him in his dirty quarters, definitely the carpets and furniture were from the seventies. It's really old, and it smells the same way.
“Why only ten thousand?” he snaps at me.
“It’s a good faith effort to show you I’ll have the rest by your deadline.”
“So Ford is going to give you the money?” he asks with an amused smile.
“Yes,” I tell him. “I’ve got to work at his club for thirty days, but then we’re square.”
Jaden looked at me as if not believing me for a moment, but eventually he shrugged in acceptance. He didn’t care how I got the money, as long as he was paid. Honestly, I was surprised that he gave me the huge favor to bail my ass in hot water, but really ... it benefited him.
He recovered his money, along with a large income. I still can’t believe the asshole borrowed me because his niece is also Connie. You’d think he wanted to help save her life, but he’s so low on his silly way that he doesn’t care about anyone, including himself.
“How did he act when you told him who you were?” Jaden asks.
“What do you mean?”
“What was his reaction? Surprised?”
“I guess,” I say, trying to think back. I was so damn nervous I’m not sure. “He led me to his office to talk in private once I told him who I was.”
“Did he say anything about me?”
“No.”
“Did he hesitate to pay the favor he owes me?”
“Not at all,” I assure him.
“Interesting,” Jaden mumbles. He starts to back up so he can close the door, and he does this without looking back at me again.
Asshole.
My brother is a certifiable, living, breathing asshole.
In fact, most of my family are assholes. The man who studied with Jaden and me ran with the other woman. My mom took care of Jaden and raised him with me and my older sister, Daena, but he was also an asshole. He left Connie with me and Mom about six months ago, he said he was going on vacation, but he never came back. I suspect he knew Connie was seriously ill with his heart condition, but he didn’t know what to do about it. Fortunately, Mom and I took him to a doctor who referred us to a cardiologist.
When he told us he needed surgery, we had no idea what to do. Even though we don’t have a formal role in Connie’s care, less insurance. According to the doctor, time was the most important thing in fixing his valve, so I scrapped the money.
Cashed and went to my brother, Connie's own uncle, and asked for help with the down payment. Of course, all I got from him was a “loan” with an agreement to let me wait until I got the equity in my house to pay him off. When that was over, he gave me an additional ten days, which was impossible.
