Relinquish(41)

“Team?” I question, tilting my head to the side.

“You look like trash, but my team will make you appear like a respectable woman,” he clarifies, plucking a pen from a cup holder. My mouth gapes open, offended.

“Yeah, well, the tricks don’t seem to complain,” I sneer, crossing my arms defensively. I curl my fists on themselves, the twitch in them wanting to pummel his face with the amount of disrespect he has toward me.

Landon closes his eyes as if my words physically slapped him.

“Charlie, around here, we do not refer to our clients as ‘tricks’. They have names, and you will use them or refer to them as ‘client’, understood?” Landon lifts his brows, waiting for me to respond. I roll my eyes and look up at the chandelier.

“Understood?” Landon roars, slamming his fists into the desk and making me jump.

“Yes,” I mumble, my eyes leaping from the pretty lights to his serious face. The hairs on my arms raise with alarm, scared at the monster before me. His face is red and twisted, his fists clenched like he’s just as angry with me as I am with him. He’s not the Landon who swept me off my feet at the hotel, and he’s definitely not the man I’ve fantasized about in the back of my mind for weeks now.

“You ask what happened to me, but what happened to you?” I ask, squinting as I take in the man I thought I knew. The man that was caring and sweet at the hotel.

“You assume you know me, Charlie, but we f*cked. That was it.” I flinch at his brashness. “You know nothing about me, and you won’t,” he snaps, his voice grave and cutting me. I was right. There was nothing there that night; it was all me falling for a fantasy. “Tomorrow, my team will clean you up, and we’ll get you tested.” Landon looks at me with a cynical eye as he mutters the last part, and I scoff.

“I used Jimmies, so I don’t have anything,” I inform him, shifting in my seat, annoyed at the conversation. Then my eyes perk, remembering Landon and I didn’t use protection.

“You’re the only one I was stupid with. We didn’t use anything, remember?” I tilt my head to the side and purse my lips. We were so lost in the moment, so ready to just have each other, we didn’t even think about it.

His brows slice forward, etching his face with an eerie look. He clenches his jaw and looks away from me.

“After the team cleans you up, we’ll start training-”

“Training?” I sneer, my lip curled in disgust. “Mick already trained me. I know what I’m doing.”

“Considering you talk like you’re from the streets, and we only offer high-end * to our clients, yes, you need training. We don’t refer to condoms around here as ‘Jimmies’. Let that be lesson one,” Landon responds, his tone condescending. “Training will tell us where to place you, and how much you’re worth.”

I grit my teeth and shake my head in anger. Worth? He should just put a tag in my ear and brand me like a damn cow.

“Was my virginity worth the thousand dollars you left me?” I raise a brow and inhale an angry breath. Landon’s mouth parts, his eyes slicing inward with a death glare.

“Brother, have you handled the Claudia situation?”

I slowly tear my eyes from Landon’s and turn in my chair, finding a guy with dark, messy hair closing the door behind him. He’s wearing black dress pants and an untucked white dress shirt.

“Now isn’t a good time, Roman.” Landon levels the man with a hard stare.

Roman’s eyes find mine, and he stops in his tracks.

“Oh, I didn’t realize you had company.” He smirks, running a hand along the back of his neck.

“Well, you’re here, so you might as well meet our newest girl, Charlie.” Landon blows out a frustrated breath.

“My, you are a pretty thing,” Roman chuckles, heading toward me.

“Don’t,” Landon clips toward Roman who rolls his eyes, holding his hand out for me to shake.

“I’m Roman, the fun one. You already met my uptight brother who runs the place,” Roman jokes, making me laugh. Landon’s eyes find mine, fire spreading behind his emerald eyes as I giggle at his expense. I should stop, but I can’t. I haven’t done this in so long I almost forgot what it feels like.

“You have a beautiful laugh,” Roman flirts. My cheeks blush as I shake his hand.

“That’s enough Roman. She gets it, you’re horny,” Landon patronizes. Roman’s eyes find Landon and glare, his forehead wrinkling as he squints with anger.

“Right, well, I’ll see you around, Charlie.” Roman smirks before lifting his chin at Landon and leaving.

“You can stop blushing, Charlie. You won’t be sleeping with him,” Landon bashes, causing my moment of glee to vanish.

“As you have many rules to learn, Blackwell brothers at the estate have one rule to live by.” Landon places his hands on his desk and leans forward, the muscles in his arms stretching the material of his dress shirt. My lips part, and that delicious ache returns in my core as I watch the fabric fit around the muscles snugly.

“No having sex with our escorts. Period. No sleeping with clients, nor anybody associated with our escorts or clients,” Landon explains. My eyes whip from his arms to his eyes.

“So, who do you sleep with then?”