The Grand Duel (The Grand Men #4)

Chapter 3

THREE

Lissie

M y heart jolts. “Holy shit.” I whirl around and find Christian behind me. “Nothing. I got lost.”

He smirks and nods. “We’re all lost, Shoes. But you’re just being nosy.”

I blow out a breath, my heart still thumping.

I am being nosy. I’ve never been to a place like this before, and it intrigues me.

I’ve also not had sex in well over a year, the last time being with the delivery driver from my old work, and I still regret that horrifically awkward night to this day.

“I want to know where I’m going to be working,” I tell him.

“I knew Bron would like you,” he says. “Come with me.”

I smile at his back once he turns. “Shoes is a terrible name. I’m sticking with Jovie.”

“It’s your mum or sister’s name, isn’t it?”

“No,” I quickly say.

Maybe I should think of something different.

He chuckles, eyeing me over his shoulder.

I walk a little faster to catch up with him. The corridor is long, with separate hallways splitting off, leading to what looks like more rooms. “How long have you worked here?” I ask him.

“Nearly two years.”

“And you like it?”

“It’s a job.” He looks down at me, dark brows twitching. “Pays the bills.”

“You seem like you like it. You have a vibe about you.”

“It’s a fun place to be. People come here to get a fix, and I have all the right tools for the job.”

The right tools for the job. I snigger. “So…so you sleep with people here?”

“I don’t sleep with them, no. I have sex with them,” he says, matter of fact. “If you fall asleep on me, I’m going to have you banned for life.”

I look at the side of his head as he walks down the corridor.

He’s gorgeous. Clearly confident.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-two.”

My jaw drops. “You’re twenty-two years old? You look…you look like a man.”

“Is a twenty-two-year-old not a man?”

“I mean a man .”

He grins. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-four. You said you’ve been here for two years. You started when you were twenty?”

He nods. “Bron was having none of it for a long time, but I needed…there’s…” He scrambles for his words. Words he clearly doesn’t want to voice.

“You know, I worked in an office for three years before this. I’m excited to try something new.” We take another turn, and I instantly note the lights from inside some of the rooms are on, softly illuminating the hall.

“Well, it’s good to be excited.” He stops me, turning my body to face his. “Are you certain that you want to continue? At least three of the viewing rooms are occupied.”

My lip twitches.

“Have you been drinking?”

Shit . I shake my head.

He watches me carefully. “Have you been to any place like this before?”

“Never,” I tell him, a little nervousness stirring in my gut. “But I’m kind of liking the vibe of it already.”

“Alright.” He nods. “If you want to leave, just tell me. Don’t shit yourself in silence.”

“You have a real way with words, don’t you,” I note.

He doesn’t acknowledge what I’ve said, walking a little further down the hall. When he reaches the closest lit-up room, he stops and watches through the window, emotionless for a couple of seconds before flicking his chin at me to come to him. As I step up next to him, he inches back, putting himself behind me and out of my line of vision.

My heart was already pounding at the possibilities of what I might find up here, but the moment my eyes settle on the window before me, the couple beyond the glass, it erupts into a beat so erratic I struggle to catch my breath. I frown, emptying any air left in my lungs, losing my train of thought as the man’s hand dusts up the back of the woman’s neck, fingers splaying into the roots of her hair. He works her body up and down on his lap, and in a moment of pure unbridled need, I drop my eyes to where their bodies meet.

I’ve never seen two people have sex in the flesh. And although there’s a glass screen between them and me, this—I swallow, trying to wet my now dry mouth—this is so very real. Raw. I can’t look away.

They’re both beautiful, the woman’s hair cascading down her back in soft blonde waves, her body full but toned. It’s not just how beautiful they look, though, it’s them. The way he looks at her as if she’s making his world spin, and the way she touches him as if she doesn’t want it to stop.

There’s tenderness between them.

He leans up and whispers something into her ear, and I lean forward, as if I might be able to hear the words leave his lips. And for some reason, it’s what brings me back down to reality.

The silence around me as she smiles, dipping her head as if his breath tickles her skin, forces me to remember myself and where I am.

I close my eyes and reposition my feet, flustered by them and the heat crawling up my neck.

“You okay?” Christian asks.

Every inch of my body feels like someone has struck a match across it, my pulse is fluttering, and I have an ache, which has been non-existent for months, growing deep down in my pelvis.

I don’t look at Christian. I can’t. “It’s not what I was expecting.” It’s not what I was expecting at all. It’s intimate. Dirty, yet hot. I expected a bad porno, but this… “He’s…I’ve never…”

“Are. You. Okay?” Christian repeats more firmly.

“I’m fine.” I turn to look at him, searching his eyes. “I’m fine, I swear.”

He nods and steps forward, his shoulder brushing mine as he stands with his arms crossed at the chest. “You wanna know what I like about it?”

I swallow. “Tell me.” My eyes follow the couple as they reposition, the tip of the man’s tongue now trailing up the length of the woman’s abdomen.

“One of them works here. The other is a member.”

“What does that matter?” I ask, my heart thumping as the man dips his head. And for some deranged, messed up reason, I want a better look. To be closer. In there.

Why are these strangers making me want to call my ex? Especially when he’s been an ex for over three years—and for good reason.

“Well, tell me, which one is the member?”

I frown, observing them a little more carefully. “I…I don’t know.”

“Exactly. And yet one of them is spending money whilst the other is earning it.”

“It doesn’t feel like it’s about the money.” My chest falls a little deeper, heavier, as his head dips further, the ache between my legs making me heady.

I feel Christian’s eyes on me and meet them, hoping my foundation is doing enough to hide the arousal heating my face. “It’s always about the money, Shoes. Why are you here?”

I drop my gaze to the shoes Edna lent me, knowing if I tell him the truth, I’ll sound like a complete loser. Money is the half-truth. A stupid truth, really, which makes me sound like a stupid, spoiled brat.

I think about the house I promised Jovie when we were little.

Our Heartlands home.

“Money,” I tell him.

“See.” He flicks his head towards the window. “I know you aren’t looking to be recruited up here.”

I narrow my eyes on him.

“I wasn’t either once upon a time. But there’s money—walking these corridors—there’s a lot of money looking to be spent.” He shrugs, looking down at me. “Doesn’t hurt that you’re beautiful, either.”

“I don’t think I have enough experience to see myself—” I gesture to the two people going at it beyond the glass. “So exposed.”

“You don’t have to be watched, there are private rooms, but I get it. The beauty of this place is in the understanding.”

“The understanding?”

“People’s limits. The consent. You say no, and I can promise you there isn’t a single person here who will push it with you. I asked, you said no, we’re done.”

I watch him, wondering how he’s only twenty-two years old.

I look back at the couple. “I think I feel safe here. Is that stupid?”

I know that it is.

He shakes his head in my peripheral vision. “You wanna know how many people come knocking on the doors looking for work here? Hundreds. Every single month. We have a dud email address for them to send their CVs to because it became impossible to manage. Now ask me how many members of the staff Bron has taken on in the last twelve months.”

I look up at him, and he peers down at me. “How many?”

“Four. You’re number five. New members are equally as sparse.”

My eyes widen. Why did I think it would be more?

“You feel safe here because Bronwyn gives a shit. You feel safe because you are. That card you have that got you in here, there’s not many of those kicking around. Not just anybody gets to walk in here and act like a creeper.”

A weight seems to lift in my stomach, a genuineness sparking in Christian’s eyes which my gut seems to warm to.

“I came from a big fancy office where no one really spoke to me. I think you’ve said more to me in the last fifteen minutes than my manager did over the entire three years I was there.”

His brows peak in surprise. “Really?” he says, sounding proud. “It’s actually something new I promised Bron I’d try. The last new starter I ended up sleeping with on her second shift, and she’s now my ‘kind of girlfriend’ who’s getting railed by that kind gentleman just there.”

My jaw drops as I look through the window again. “That’s your girlfriend.”

“She’s definitely something.”

I chuckle and cover my mouth. “Oh my god.”

He gives me a cheeky smile. “It’s just a bit of fun.”

“Okay, I get the twenty-two now.”

“Yeah. That and the fact I’ve had a semi since I found you playing peeping tom through the windows is probably a bit of a giveaway.”

I shake my head, laughing. “Well, I can assure you that you and I will never have such an issue.” I hold out my hand to him. “No fucking on night two, okay. Or three.”

He turns towards me. “Friends?”

“Friends.” I nod.

“I’ll give it a go.” He takes my hand with a knowing smile. “When do you start?”

“I have no idea. I need to find Dan.”

“I’ll introduce you.”