Page 4 of Secrets We Keep
“I know you said you wanted the lap dance. We could do something else. Take your stress out on me any way you want,” she whispers.
We’ve played together before, and I figured tonight would be easy. I guess Jenna Michaels got under my skin more than she should have. When I saw her in the building lobby last year, I never guessed that she was Adrien Banks’ assistant. I could have crossed paths with her a lot sooner. But the building is huge. I mean, technically, it’s two buildings joined together.
“No, not tonight. I think I need something else.”
“You can have me any way you want.”
She’s going all about this wrong. I need to be in control. I wasn't for a big part of my childhood, which is why I need this place. Being topped does nothing for me, and I need control.
I stand up. “Not tonight,” I say as I leave her where she is, watching me as I walk away toward the bar.
Mike is sitting at the end of the bar with an iPad as the staff behind the bar work on drink orders.
“Where’s the lovely Kate tonight?” I ask, pulling up a seat.
“Book club with her girlfriends.” He smiles.
“Why do I think book club is a euphemism for something else?” I laugh.
He laughs, running his hands through his hair. “Let’s just say I reap the benefits from my girlfriend and her smutty book club.”
This got my attention. What can I say? I’m a guy with a one-track mind. The only words I heard were ‘smutty’ and ‘benefits.’ “How smutty are we talking?” I’m one hundred percent invested in this conversation as of right now.
“Oh, smutty. Not like they used to be. These days we’re talking full-on graphic details. Some of the stuff they read would make even you blush. It’s basically porn but with words. It’s great to have a girlfriend who reads.”
“Do they let guys into this ‘book club’?”
“You are not joining my girlfriend’s book club. It’s bad enough, Adrien…” he realizes what he's done as soon as he says it.
“Banks goes?” I ask, really intrigued now.
“His fiancée, yes. It’s their thing. It’s their ‘love language,’ at least that’s what he calls it, whipped is what it is.”
Huh. I’m seeing the billionaire in a completely new light. I’ve never seen him here, even though I know he and Mike are close.
“He’s a private guy. He’s going to kill me when he finds out I’ve told you.”
“Your secret is safe with me,” I say, wiggling my eyebrows at him.
“He’s technically your boss, so maybe dial it back a bit.” He says, almost in a warning.
“Only until we finish this series. He still hasn’t decided if we’re getting another season.”
“Huh. Well, maybe keep in his good books then, eh?”
He has a point. I like this new series I’m involved in. I actually don’t want to slit my wrists on this show. “He has guys who run the studio side of his business.”
“If you think Adrien isn’t highly involved in every part of his fucking empire, then you don’t know him at all. He might delegate shit, but he gets the last fucking word.”
“I get it.” I hold my hands up. Mike and I might be close in age, but he screams Dom in everything he does and with everyone he has a conversation with.
“What happened over there?” He asks, looking at one of the dancers.
“My head wasn’t in it.”
Now it’s Mike’s turn to raise his eyebrows at me.
“Ha ha, performance issues from the great Reid Taylor.”
