Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 120475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120475 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 602(@200wpm)___ 482(@250wpm)___ 402(@300wpm)
I snort. “Isn’t that shit exhausting?”
Quinn shakes her head. “It’s not that bad. Most of them are harmless little puppies who just want to worship you. The trick is weeding out the ones who secretly hate women.”
“How do you tell the difference?” Kira’s practically vibrating with curiosity. If she had a notepad, she’d be scribbling furiously.
Quinn waves a dismissive hand. “You get a vibe. But even I get it wrong sometimes. That’s why I never meet clients at home. Always at the club.”
Kira tilts her head. “What about your own love life?”
Quinn scoffs. “I can’t afford a love life for the next five years.”
I lean in, intrigued. “Five years? Why so specific?”
Quinn rolls her eyes at me. “Because, unlike some of us, I have to work for a living. I’m out to get my bag.”
“And then what?” I prop my chin in my fist, staring her down. “Gonna retire before you’re thirty? You make good money working for my brother. I always assumed you dommed at night because you liked it.”
“I domme at night because I get paid six hundred dollars an hour.”
I smack the table. “Holy shit.”
How have I never asked this after knowing her for four years?
Quinn smirks at my dropped jaw. “And that’s before the paypigs.”
Kira’s eyes light up like she’s just discovered a new species. “I’ve read about that! You have financial submissives?”
Quinn shrugs, looking smug as hell. “If men want to worship me by throwing money at my feet, who am I to deny them the privilege?”
“But do you like being a domme?” Kira asks, then immediately backtracks, hands twisting nervously. “I mean… like… is it natural for you?”
Quinn’s smirk flickers, just for a second. “I like being able to manipulate power dynamics in my favor. I’m good at reading people. It’s a means to an end.”
“But Domhn says you’re really good at your day job. Couldn’t you make just as much money if you tried to, I don’t know, start your own company?” I narrow my eyes at her. “I think you do this for a reason. You’re not just good at being in control. You like it. You need it.”
There’s an uncomfortable silence as Quinn sits up in her chair, foot going back to the floor as she squares her shoulders to turn toward me.
Oh, shit. Did I just stick my foot in my mouth? I always go too far.
Quinn’s eyes glitter. “You bet your ass I need to be in control if I’m having any sort of intimate interaction with a man.”
I nod. Huh. So, is it just about men? “I have noticed that you’ve been taking on more female clients lately.”
“Is it ’cause you swing that way?” Marcus interrupts from across the table, grinning like an idiot.
Quinn flicks the cherry from her whiskey sour at his forehead. He ducks—too slow.
Ping.
Marcus snatches the cherry from his lap and tosses it in his mouth, winking.
“Ugh,” Quinn groans, rolling her eyes so hard they almost fall out of her skull.
“So what about after your five-year plan,” Kira asks. “What then?”
Quinn digs the toe of her boot into a crack in the concrete. “I just want to find my sister and then disappear somewhere by a beach. She deserves the good life from here on out.”
The energy shifts. Becomes heavy. Weighted. Quinn rarely talks about her sister, and we all know why. The system separated them, and then they lost her sister. How do you lose a person? And the state had the fucking nerve to act like she never existed. Quinn hacked the system herself trying to find her, got thrown in jail for it, and my brother pulled strings to get her out early. But her sister? Still missing.
Kira, ever the innocent academic, asks the worst possible question. “Where is she?”
Quinn’s head snaps up, her glare like a dagger. “If I knew, Kira, I wouldn’t be looking for her, now would I?”
Oh, shit.
Quinn exhales sharply, drags her hands through her hair, then mutters, “Sorry.” She flicks a glance Kira’s way, gaze softening. “I need a drink. You want anything?”
Kira just shakes her head, looking guilty.
Quinn stomps off, and Anna hops off Domhn’s lap to follow her. I jump up, too. No sex for me tonight, but who cares? I’m trying this friendship gig, right?
At the bar, I lean on a stool while Quinn orders a round of shots.
“Maybe we should all go bar-hopping together. Just us girls,” I suggest, buzzing with the idea of this whole girl bonding thing.
Kira pops up beside me. “Or we could have a night in and do mani-pedis.”
I stick my finger in my mouth and fake gag. “Barf. Who’s gonna fuck me in the bathroom during mani-pedi night?”
Kira laughs like I’m joking. I just stare at her, head tilted. Bitch is literally wearing a cardigan to a sex club. It’s like she grew up in a two-parent household or some shit.