Page 2 of Craving Demons
He led me out of the office and down the hall. At the end of the hall, we turned, but the door to the corner office was open and I couldn’t help myself.
I peeked through and saw the silhouette of a tall, broad-shouldered man, facing away from me and staring out a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. The view beyond, overlooking Central Park, was spectacular. And the view of that man was spectacular too. He had his suit jacket off and his black shirt was taut across his shoulders and over thick arms. His — probably-very-expensive — pants were tight over a high ass and—
I lost sight of him as we kept walking, and I tried not to be too upset about it. I didn’t want another tycoon businessman, especially after the last guy. I didn’t wantanyman. Not right now.
But that wouldn’t stop me from looking, just a little… maybe.
We passed the service elevator, which I’d used to come up, and the scary-looking bouncer that stood guard there. He was a brute of a man, bald and with a look like he wanted to eat me whole.
I shivered under that gaze, though I couldn’t decide whether I was aroused or terrified, probably both.
The assistant manager led me up a set of stairs into the club. He took me to the bar and introduced me to a woman named Maria then gave her the spiel about setting me up for some work and left.
Maria was a short woman, though well-endowed for her size. I looked around at the other bartenders and saw they were all women and all busty. Good to know sexism was still alive and well in the service industry, although I couldn’t really complain since I’d been banking on that to get me this job.
Maria gave me a once-over, from face to feet and back. With her in flats and me being over six feet tallbeforeyou included my three-inch heels, that put her roughly eye-level with my tits and she had to tilt her head back to look me in the eyes.
“What are you, an Amazon? A Valkyrie?”
I couldn’t blame her for thinking I was some freak. I shrugged. “Who knows? I was adopted.”
Maria blinked, a bit taken aback by that. It was my go-to conversation stopper when people mentioned any of my odd little quirks.
I didn’t know who my parents were, which meant I had no clue why I was so tall or where I got my naturally silver-blonde hair or silver-blue eyes. I also didn’t know why I’d never been sick a day in my life or why, after three kids, I still had a perfect — albeit voluptuous — hour-glass figure, with no stretch marks and tits that miraculously remained perky.
As much as I wanted to chalk it up to watching what I ate and working out, I couldn’t help wondering if there was more to it, like really good genes or something. Not that I was going to test my theory and stop exercising.
Maria shrugged it off and grimaced, changing the topic. “Let me guess. Markus said your look was classy?”
“Refined.”
She laughed. “Ah, yeah, and did he bother to look you in the eye, even once?”
“Three times… over the course of a half hour.” Not that I’d minded much.
“Sounds about right,” she said, shaking her head. “Ah well, I’ll be your direct manager here at Elysium. Let’s get you set up with a handbook and a few training shifts.”
“I’ve been a waitress or bartender all my life. I don’t really need training.”
She laughed. “It’s not for that. It’s for dealing with our rather… ah… shall we sayeliteclientele.”
“Ah.”ThatI didn’t have so much experience with.
I spent the rest of the afternoon pouring and mixing a few drinks, just to prove I could. Then we set up a few shifts for me over the following days and she showed me what the typical dress code was which was black-tie ballroom-chic.
Maria herself was wearing a purple silk asymmetric gown, which hugged her torso and flared out into flowing skirts. I had a couple dresses that could probably pass, but I’d have to max out one of my credit cards to buy a week’s worth of dresses for this job.
But then the pay was good, and Maria assured me the tips were excellent. I’d make back my money soon enough. After that, she told me to read the handbook thoroughly then sent me home.
Having come up the service elevator, I hadn’t gotten a good look at the club. So, being curious, I left through the lounge.
I noticed several things very quickly. First, most of the people here were men. I could count the women on one hand. Now, perhaps that was because it was late afternoon, and this wasn’t the full evening crowd, but still, I thought that was interesting.
Second, the men all looked dangerous. I couldn’t help but think they were all mob bosses or enforcers or high-end hitmen. I might have been wrong, but that’s what they looked like. In short, they were all bad boys, exactly what I was trying to avoid.
I bit back a sigh. Somehow, I’d just failed spectacularly at avoiding my kryptonite. This job was going to test my resolve.
And third, every pair of eyes followed me as I made my way across the massive lounge to the foyer with the elevators.
