Page 1 of The Boss
One
Nate
“As always,the room is paid through the weekend,” I said as I reached for my suit jacket. “You’re welcome to stay, and I encourage you to do so as this will be your last opportunity.”
Roma straightened, her robe opening far enough for me to see one swollen nipple. “What does that mean?”
“Tonight was our swan song,” I said evenly. “Our final scene.”
“I know whatswan songmeans,” she snapped, her expression twisting into something ugly. “What I’m asking is what the hell you think you’re doing.”
I raised an eyebrow. Her anger wasn’t surprising. One of the things that had appealed to me about Roma was seeing someone with such a temper submitting to me, even when I infuriated her. It had been exciting at first. At present, it was just annoying.
“I’m ending this arrangement,” I said. “I was trying to be polite about it, but since you seem determined to make me be blunt, I will. We’re done.”
“No.” She stood up, not appearing to notice that her robe was hanging open, exposing the red lines the robes had made, the bruised flesh from the clamps. “You don’t end this until we both say we’re done.”
I turned to face her, sliding my hands into my pockets to keep the image of the calm, unruffled Dom. “The arrangement was, either one of us could end things at any point. This is me, ending the arrangement. Now. Tonight.”
She shook her head, cheeks coloring even as the finger she pointed at me shook. “No. No! After all the shit I’ve done for you and let you do to me, youoweme. That’s what this arrangement was about, asshole! I play your little fucktoy, and you get me what I want.”
I inhaled slowly and then let out the breath just as slowly. This had happened to me before, but it didn’t make it any more pleasant. “You understood exactly what this was when you agreed to it. We fucked, and you enjoyed it because you like men fawning all over you. Wasn’t that your fantasy tonight? To have more than one man fuck you while I watched? So I could see how they all want you?”
“Fuck you!” She had tears in her eyes, but they weren’t because she was hurt. She was furious. Or she was trying to manipulate me. Either one didn’t do anything but confirm that I was making the right choice.
“It’s not my fault you got more involved than you should have,” I started toward the door. “You knew the score going into this. You got great sex and got to be seen on my arm at big events, meet all of my connections. I was supposed to get a sub without all this drama. If anyone should be pissed, it’s me.”
A glass hit the wall next to the door, shattering all over the carpet.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me, you fucking bastard!”
I paused but didn’t turn. I kept my voice calm, even though I was seething inside. She was going too far. “Roma, I will call security to throw you out on your ass if you can’t behave like an adult.”
“You’re a real son of a bitch, you know that?”
“Yes, well, you’re a bitch, so I guess we’re about even.”
I left before she could throw something else at me. I’d pay for the damage that’d happened before I walked out, but if she trashed the hotel room, I’d have her ass arrested and held accountable for the rest of it. She could be as pissed at me as she wanted, but she was acting like a child. If I’d known she’d come with that much drama, I wouldn’t have even bothered.
The sex hadn’t beenthatgood.
Two
Ashlee
“Dammit!”I spun around, socks slipping on the linoleum floor as I attempted to stop my forward momentum. I caught myself on the edge of the counter and managed to yank open the microwave door before disaster struck.
I removed the fork from the plastic bowl of popcorn and tossed it into the sink. I sighed, closing my eyes for a moment. That could have been disastrous, and the worst part was, it wasn’t the first time I’d nearly blown up my microwave because I’d forgotten to remove a metal utensil from something I was heating up. I didn’t even have a good excuse this time. Other times I’d done stuff this absent-minded, I’d at least been able to claim that I had something more important on my mind. A doctor’s trip with Mom. A final I wasn’t sure I could pass. A job interview.
Tonight, I’d been dancing around my kitchen to a song I’d heard at work. It was a brand-new single from Unraveling, and it’d been playing all over the place. I generally only liked Unraveling’s older stuff, back from when they’d first been signed, but this felt more like that rather than their last album. I may only have been a runner at Manhattan Records when “Threads of My Mind” had been released, but even I’d known how unhappy everyone had been about its performance.
I shook my popcorn bowl, even though the butter and salt hadn’t had much time to settle, then double-checked to make sure I hadn’t left anything else behind before turning the microwave back on. While I waited for my snack, I washed the fork, dried it, and put it away, my thoughts wandering as I did the mundane task.
What was it about “Fire and Light” that made it so much better than anything Unraveling had done the last time? One of the things I enjoyed about working at Manhattan Records was getting to better understand the intricacies of how it all worked. Not only how an album came together, but all of the different roles people played in the process. Being in the A&R department – Artists and Repertoire – I would eventually get to see all sorts of aspects of the music industry as I continued my rise in the company.
As much as I liked my work, I wasn’t the sort of person who took it home with me, but this song just wouldn’t get out of my head, which made it hard to stop thinking about work. I’d even had music streaming while I’d cleaned today, but I’d caught myself humming the song in the shower.
The microwave dinged, and I retrieved my popcorn, carrying it the short distance to the other side of the room where my second-hand couch sat across from a small, but more than serviceable, television. My place wasn’t big, and my things weren’t new, but I didn’t mind. I was twenty-three years old, and I had my own apartment. I’d started as an intern at Manhattan Records when I was barely twenty, moved up to runner shortly after I graduated from NYU, and three months ago, I’d gotten a promotion.
