Damn! I was impressed. Sunny really had this shit down.
Scanning the rest of the girls’ bodies, from their hair follicles for lice to their fingernails for dirt to their toes for calluses, Sunny said, “Get dressed.”
All except one of the girls got clearance from Sunny. I was seriously considering replacing this girl because she repeatedly cost us money. This time, she had a tiny puss-filled pimple on her ass and Sunny caught that shit, understanding that our clients paid megadollars for spotless girls.
This trick was testing my patience and trying to ruin my reputation for having the best escorts in Las Vegas, but I remained silent. Sunny looked at me. I hunched my shoulders.
“Girl six, you’re dismissed. Go home,” Sunny firmly said.
Oh, hell no! I intervened, “Girl six, what’s up with your weekly breakouts?”
“Madam, I don’t know why I—”
Before she finished, I backhand slapped her in the mouth. “You are costing us fifty thousand dollars a night every time I have to send your ass home. You’ve got one more time to have a rash, a cold sore, or a pimple, and I will beat your ass into the ground, then fire you. You make me sick! Get out of my face.”
Raising my hand to strike girl six again, I glanced at Sunny. Our eyes met. Sunny shook her head. Sunny knew how to get her point across without disrespecting me or challenging my authority, but if Sunny was serious about doing this on her own, I wasn’t sparing her.
Bam!
“Madam! Please stop! Don’t! I’m sorry! I won’t let this happen again,” girl six cried. “Pleeeaasseeee, Madam, stop!”
Wham! Bam! Stomp! Kick!
Girl six balled into the fetal position, holding what I hoped was a few broken ribs. I looked at Sunny and whispered in her ear, “Is this what you want? No pimp or ho on the street is gonna call you an ambulance when some lunatic john kicks your ass. Step outside that door.” I pointed, then continued. “And instruct security to take girl six back to the casino.”
When Sunny left I said to girl six, “Put your clothes on and get the hell out. All you have to do is take care of yourself. If you’re taking garlic tablets and papaya to keep your weight down, leave that shit alone. Garlic ain’t for everybody and that shit will put pimples on the back of your thighs and your ass. Why do you keep disappointing me? Don’t I pay you well?”
Girl six nodded.
“You’ve got exactly thirty minutes to get home and if you don’t answer your home phone when I call you, you’re gonna make Madam angrier.”
Girl number ten, Onyx, rolled her eyes at me. She thought I didn’t see her. The only reason I let her get away with so much was that she was my second highest producer next to Sunny and Sunny’s friend, but Onyx wasn’t above getting her ass kicked like girl six.
Nodding again, I gave the remaining girls permission to do their makeup, hair, and select their attire for the night. “Onyx, I want you to split girl six’s johns with girl number two.”
I felt the daggers shooting in my back. It was best I left without looking at Onyx, because if I had to walk over to her vanity, I’d smash her entire cosmetic tray in her face so hard she’d have instant foundation on her chin, eye shadow on her cheeks, and lipstick on her forehead.
Exiting the dressing room, I shut the door behind me and walked over to my boss’s private study located on the opposite side of the mansion from the dressing room.
Valentino was layered in an all-white tailored suit, smoking a cigar, with his black hair slicked back underneath a matching fedora.
“This is a change,” I said, slanting Valentino’s hat. “So, where are we going?”
Blowing smoke in my face, Valentino said, “Bitch, don’t question me. I got shit to do. Keep your ass here. Watch, but don’t touch, my money. I’ll be back when I get back.”
Valentino’s hard-core attitude was a front for an empire that I’d taken over from day one, but I liked his arrogance. Waiting twenty minutes to make sure he was gone, I removed my audio recording from inside a book I’d placed on his shelf. I had to know everything that happened in Valentino’s study while I was away in case his ass was planning to double-cross me.
While listening to the tape, I observed the girls getting dressed via the monitors in Valentino’s study. Stiffening into a trance, I couldn’t believe what I’d heard.
“Yeah, man. Straight. She’s gotten too big too quick. It’s barely been a year.”
“For real, G. Fire her, dude.”
Was that the voice of my security guard, Reynolds, suggesting my boss fire somebody?
“Straight, but I have to find another bitch to replace her first.”
“What about me? I mean, I’m no female but I could be on your team. I protect your shit every night.”
I stuck my finger in my ear and replayed the tape in disbelief.
Valentino replied, “I’ll tell you what, kill her and job is yours.”
CHAPTER 5
Sunny
Words were empty unless people gave them meaning.
Deep inside I believed most people wanted and some needed to feel appreciated. When Lace placed her business card in my hand, I felt an unspoken connection. And although I didn’t need her approval to validate my work ethics, her small gesture made me feel important. But watching Lace beat girl number six scared me ’cause I’d never seen that side of my madam. Sure, she’d slapped all of us a time or two, but kicking and stomping? That was new.
After Lace left the dressing room, I sat at my vanity observing the other girls. While waiting for security to come get us, I opened the gift Lace had given me earlier. “Oh my God.” What did this gorgeous sparkling Rolex mean? I love it! I thought, securing the watch on my wrist.
There was no sense in having Lace delegate authority to me if I wasn’t going to use it. Outside of my parents, I cared about Onyx, Starlet, and my best friend, Sapphire Bleu, almost as much as I loved my twin sister, Summer, whom I hadn’t seen in months or spoken with in weeks.
Sapphire knew more about prostitution than Lace, but there was no way I could tell my madam that my best friend was a cop. Sapphire and I talked two to three times a day. She was my mental support person, kinda like a therapist who’d allowed me to express my feelings without judgment. Sapphire admired my lifestyle while I envied hers. She was the hottest, sexiest, undercover female that got paid to arrest the types of men I serviced. Sapphire never had to suck a dick or turn a trick she didn’t want to. But endangering our lives was the one thing we had in common. Almost every day Sapphire told me stories about missing prostitutes, generally teenage runaways, who were found dead on the streets or in hotel rooms in Las Vegas, so I was sure Sapphire would flip like Madam if I’d mention working the streets. I was no fool and definitely not serious about turning a twenty-dollar trick after watching Madam beat girl six.
I’m grateful that Sapphire has been my mentor and friend about as long as I’ve worked in this business. One day I’m gonna take her up on her offer and go with her to the firing range. Sapphire strongly stated, “Every woman needs two boyfriends: Smith and Wesson. If every woman knew how to handle a gun better than her man, I bet women wouldn’t have to worry about men beating on them. Shoot his ass, then use the one line that works in any court of law: “I was in fear of my life. It’s called self-defense.”
Being ten years older and decades wiser, Sapphire helped me understand men better. “Against my recommendation, you can keep giving up your sweet pussy, Sunshine, but the one thing you must promise me you’ll never do is give away your pussy power.”
I’d heard that phrase a lot lately. Must be some