“Say ‘yes’,” he instructed.

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, I want to know what you have that I want.”

Colt grinned wickedly.  “What I have… that you want… is Declan’s address.”  He reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out his phone, holding the screen out to me.

My cheeks burned with disappointment.

“What did you think I was talking about, Princess?” Colt asked innocently, like he knew exactly what it was I’d thought he’d been talking about.

“Let me see that,” I said, grabbing his phone out of his hand.

Declan Keene

102 Huckleberry Street, Apt 3D

Just seeing Declan’s name there, in black and white, filled me with a calmness I hadn’t experienced in a long time.

I closed my eyes.

Declan.

Finally.

Finally, I knew where he was.

“I’m going to see him tonight,” I declared.  “Can you… can we write this down?”

Colt took the phone out my hands and shoved it back into his pocket.  “I’ll print you out a copy when we get to the office.”

I nodded.  I wanted to say ‘thank you’, but then I thought, screw that.  He’d been teasing me, messing with my mind, getting off on playing with my mind.

I hated that my body responded to his touch, his presence, his body.  I couldn’t wait to get away from him.  I would never tell Colt this, but I was hoping Declan would offer to let me to stay with him.  And if not, all I had to do was buy my time until I got my first paycheck from Colt.

And then I could stay far away from him.

I had to.

He was making me feel things.

Uncomfortable things.

Things I couldn’t afford to feel.

Things that would only lead to pain.

**

When we got into the office, Colt immediately went into business mode, all traces of teasing and cockiness wiped from his voice.

“Here,” he said, placing a cell phone down and a ten dollar bill down on the desk in front of me.

I picked it up.  “What’s this?”

“Your phone.”

“My phone?”

“Yes.  You need a phone if you’re going to be working here.  So that I can reach you.”

“Why can’t you just reach me on the office phone?”  I picked up the cell and felt its lightness in my hand.  It was a shiny new iPhone, gun-metal grey and beautiful.  I’d never had a phone so nice.  I’d had cell phones before  -- tracphones and flip phones, the kind of phones that didn’t take pictures and charged for each text message, the kind of phones you had to buy prepaid cards in order to use, the kind of phones that would get broken if you so much as jostled them.

“I might need to get in touch with you after hours,” Colt said.

“Oh.”  I ran my fingers over the smooth surface of the phone.  “Okay.  Well, thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” he said, making it clear that he wasn’t doing me any favors.  “It’s a company phone.”

I nodded.  “And the ten dollars?”

“In case you want lunch.”

He sat me down at the computer and showed me how to start entering figures from vendor receipts into spreadsheets.  I’d had computer classes in my group home that had taught me how to use all kinds of different programs -- Microsoft Office, Word, Powerpoint, even Quickbooks and Photoshop.

I caught on quickly, and after a few minutes, Colt left me to my own devices.  I found the work soothing, the monotony of tapping away on the computer providing my normally racing mind with something to focus on.

Colt was out of the office most of the morning.  Every so often I would hear him talking to Jessa as they passed by in the hallway outside, his voice low and gruff, hers loud and flirty.

It was around lunchtime when a man knocked on the open door of the office.

“Oh,” he said when he saw me.  “I’m sorry, I’m looking for Colt.”

“I’m not sure where he is,” I said.  “I can try to find him if you want.”  I started to get up, but the man motioned for me to stay seated.

“That’s okay,” he said, wandering into the office and plopping down in one of the chairs sitting in front of the desk.  “I can talk to him later.”

He was about thirty, attractive, with dark blonde hair and a perfectly cut suit.

“Oh,” I said.  “Um, okay.”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Olivia,” I said.  “I’m Colt’s secretary.”

He grinned.  “Secretary, eh?  Is that what Colt’s calling them these days?”

Before I could figure out a response, Colt appeared in the doorway.  He took in the scene, his eyes darkening into a black storm.

“Joseph,” he said.  “What are you doing here?”

“I brought you an offer,” Joseph said, making no move to get up from his chair.

“Not interested,” Colt said, not even bothering to try and hide his annoyance.  “Is there anything else?”

Joseph rolled his eyes and then winked at me.  “This guy,” he said, pointing at Colt.  “Olivia, can you let him know that selling this place could be a cash windfall?”

I frowned and looked at Colt.  “You’re thinking of selling the club?”

“No,” Colt said at the same time Joseph said,  “He should be.”

Joseph shook his head, then pulled out a briefcase and popped it open.  He pulled out a crisp sheet of paper and set it down on the desk.

I couldn’t help but notice the number on the front of the page.

Three million dollars.

Holy shit.

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” Colt asked, his tone making it clear he didn’t want to do anything else for Joseph and definitely wouldn’t even if Joseph were to ask.

“Mr. Personality this guy, huh, Olivia?” Joseph asked me.

I laughed.  “Tell me about it.”

I saw the annoyance flash on Colt’s face.

Joseph stood up and grabbed his briefcase.  “Let me know if you change your mind, Colt.”

“I won’t change my mind.”

“It was nice to meet you, Olivia,” Joseph said.  “I hope to see you again.”

“Yeah, you too,” I said, giving him a smile.

As soon as he was gone, Colt turned to me.  “I don’t want you talking to him.”

“What?”

“You heard me.  I don’t want you talking to him.”

“I don’t even know him.”

“I don’t care.  If he comes back, call me immediately.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because he’s a dick.”

“What did he do?”

“Did he try to hit on you?”

“No, he didn’t try to hit on me,” I said.  “I hardly even know the guy, he came in and asked for you.  He was only here for like two minutes before you got here.  He seems nice.”

“Yeah, well, he’s not.”

“Oh my God,” I said, swiveling around in my chair so I could face him straight-on.  “Are you… are you jealous?”

“I don’t get jealous,” he said.

“You seem jealous.”

“I’m not,” he growled.  “If I want something, I take it.”  He crossed the room and picked up the piece of paper Joseph had left sitting on the desk.

“Three million dollars is a lot of money,” I said.  “How much is still left on the mortgage?”

“It’s paid off.”

“Wow.”  I shook my head and stood up, made my way to the mini-fridge in the corner of the room and pulled out a can of Diet Coke.  I cracked open the can and took a sip.  “If you sold, you’d be a millionaire.”

“I’m already a millionaire.”

He said it so cavalier, so casual that it made my heart ache.  What would that be like, I wondered, to have the money to be able to do whatever you wanted, to be able to create whatever life you desired?

“Yeah, but this way you could do whatever you wanted,” I pressed.

“I already do whatever I want.”

“Oh, really?” I pressed him.  “This is what you want?  To be working in some strip club?”

He laughed, tipping his head back.  “That’s what you think I do?  That I just work in some strip club?”  He slammed his fist down on the desk again, the way I’d seen him do yesterday after he’d been in here with his uncle. “You have no idea what goes on here, Olivia.  You have no idea what it takes to run this place.”