Page 31
When I started working at Segreto, the money was great, and I thought I’d be able to afford nice things. I had no idea that just months later, I’d be a surrogate dad to several discarded family members.
It’s okay though. That’s what they don’t understand. I couldn’t enjoy a second of my life knowing they were out there suffering. I can always pick up another shift or two. Things have been going well at the club. I’m developing a following, and now that Cashmere doesn’t dance as often, I’m getting more stage time.
We’ll be okay. I’ll make sure of it.
“Ooh, Cashmere and Blush on the ticket,” Ivy says, doing a little shimmy. “Customers are gonna be spending big money tonight.”
“We should do a group routine sometime. Wouldn’t that be fun, boys?” Cashmere asks, adding blush to his cheeks.
“All three of us?” Ivy says, tapping their chin. “We might blow the roof off this place.”
“That’s always the goal.”
“I’d be down,” I say as I pull my bodysuit on.
Ivy peeks out through the curtains. “Me too. See you later, guys.”
I glance at Cashmere while he finishes his makeup. “You live with Whisper?”
He nods, leaning in to add mascara to his already long lashes. “I live in the same house as Whisper, yes.”
“I don’t think I realized that.”
“It’s basically a mansion. All of us live there and there are still a few guest rooms.”
“How many of you?”
“Hmm.” Cashmere puts the mascara down. “Me and Specter, Wraith and his man, Carnage and Rue, Ghost, Phantom, Stealth, Nimble—and sometimes Joss—Boone, and then the boss, of course.”
“That’s a lot of people.”
“Yeah, but you wouldn’t know it. Except for breakfast, we’re almost never all there at once. It’s a surprisingly quiet house most of the time.”
I nod, focusing on my costume for a second. “Why do they all have such ominous names?”
Cashmere meets my gaze through the mirror’s reflection. “Whisper hasn’t told you?”
“No.”
He nods, moving on to glossing his lips. “Well, that’s his story to tell. Are you seeing him now?”
“We’re fucking. I don’t think that counts as seeing each other.”
Cashmere shrugs. “Hard to say with these boys. They can be a little possessive.”
“I’m surprised you like that.”
“Oh, only with my husband, and it took me some time to adjust to his style of love. Now I just feel… safe. Always safe.”
Safe. I wonder what it feels like to know without a doubt that someone is protecting you out in this crazy world. Do my brothers and Shelby feel that way? I hope so.
“But you like him?” Cashmere asks. “Whisper.”
“I like his dick. A lot.”
Cashmere chuckles. “Nice. He’s always been such an enigma to me. He’s the quiet one. You won’t know he’s in the room unless he wants you to.”
“Is that why he’s called Whisper?”
