Chapter 9

Each day, King proved his devotion to me, taking every chance he could get to pleasure me the way he said he would. But at night, he was the same asshole he always was, storming through the casino and sending threatening glares to the girls if they showed too much favor to the men.

While he'd stopped using go-betweens when he needed to tell me something, life at Starlight hadn't really changed.

Tonight, not even a week after he'd whispered his confession against my skin, I found myself standing outside his office door after one of the bouncers told me King had summoned me. Despite the mind-blowing sex, I was ready to go in guns blazing and put him in his place.

Except, when I pushed inside without bothering to knock, the man was sitting on the edge of his desk with a self-satisfied look on his face. I narrowed my eyes as I approached and grew more suspicious when he took my hand—a direct violation of his "no PDA" policy for work.

"What's going on, Kingston?"

He tugged me closer, until I was standing between his knees. He reached up and pinched my chin. "I spoke to Mr. Leonetti about what you said." In the beat of his pause, my chest pinched so tight I had to gasp for breath. But instead of telling me I'd lost my job for daring to push for what I needed, he said, "I got you a raise."

Crossing my arms wasn't an option—King wouldn't let go of my hand. Still, heat rose inside of me. "Is this because I slept with you?"

He pulled me closer, wrapped an arm around my waist. With his mouth grazing my neck, he whispered, "That might work for you, darling, but I promise I haven't slept with the rest of the girls."

"What?"

"It's not singular. The raises are for all of you." He kissed down my throat, then groaned and edged back. "Mr. Leonetti sees the importance of having you here, and how imperative it is that you don't put yourself in harm"s way." He gripped my chin, drawing my attention off the flush of heat overtaking me. "When I explained the unexpected conundrum that we put you all in, he was willing to negotiate an increase in pay."

King lifted my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to my knuckles.

"He is a businessman, Carina, but he isn't heartless. And he knows he can't risk losing any of you." He kissed my hand again. "Especially you."

"How…" My voice faltered and I tried again. "How much are we talking?"

King snagged a piece of paper from his desk and held it out to me. The figure written on it was staggering. It was more than I ever could have hoped for, enough so I wouldn't have to consider whether giving a blow job was worth it in order to come up with my portion of the rent without digging into my reserves.

"There's one for each of them," he told me, patting a stack of folded papers at his side.

I blinked and shook my head. "King…"

"I want you to tell them," he said, pressing his lips against my knuckles. "I want them to understand this wouldn't have happened without you. Your persistence. Your cunning."

"My relationship with you." I looked away.

He pinched my chin, dragging my face back to his. "That," he said before pecking his lips to mine, "is an added benefit for me and me alone. Despite what you might think, your pussy had nothing to do with my decision to speak to Mr. Leonetti. Your heart, though…"

"King." I gripped his hand, though I couldn't bring myself to remove his hold on my face.

"Yes, my darling?"

My throat tightened, keeping the words from spilling across my tongue. I think falling in love with you. Instead, I gave him a smile, one he wiped off with a searing kiss. He slid his hands behind my neck, holding me to him as he plunged his tongue into my mouth and swirled it with my own. When he pulled back, my chest was heaving, my knees shaky, and wetness had pooled between my legs.

"Go. Tell them." He wiped under my bottom lip with his thumb. "I've had Cole round them up. They should be waiting for you in the dressing room."

"You did what?" How much trouble would I be in if I slapped my boss? Especially after a kiss like that?

Spinning out of his grip, I rushed out of his office and down the long hallway to the dressing room. Sure enough, Cole was standing guard outside their door, as if the girls were prisoners rather than employees with every right to leave this place and all its troubles behind.

Before I could reach the doorway and push Cole out of my way, King gripped my arm and swung me around to face him. "You forgot something." He held out the stack of papers, his dark eyes twinkling in the dim overhead light. He winked. "You might want to give them these."

"I swear to God, Kingston?—"

He leaned forward, cutting me off as he pressed his mouth to my ear. "You might want to fix your hair, darling." He nipped my earlobe, and I had to stifle a yelp. "You've got that just-fucked look, and I didn't get to have any of the fun."

When he stood up, any lust I might have hoped to see was gone. His gaze was directed over my head, and he lifted his chin.

"That'll be all, Cole. Thank you."

As Cole lumbered away, I stepped toward the dressing room door, only for King to yank me back again.

"Good luck." He smoothed his hands over my hair, then dropped a kiss to my lips, stunning me into silence. "Come see me when you're done. I can't stand to see you so speechless. I want to give you something to moan about."

With another kiss that had my mind spinning and my heart fluttering in my chest, King left me where I stood, flabbergasted as he rushed back to his office and closed the door. I blinked after him, then glanced down at the life-changing papers in my hand.

There's one for each of them.

With a stealing breath, I grabbed the knob and stepped through the dressing room door. My heart sank when I saw what awaited me, and I had half a mind to hunt King down and give him a piece of my mind.

The girls were scattered around the room, arms wrapped around themselves and some of them close to tears. The minute I closed the door, Evie rushed to me.

"Carina, what's going on?"

I wrapped her in a hug, smoothing a hand down her long black hair. "King's an asshole, that's what," I told them all, trying to make eye contact with each of them.

Leni took a tentative step forward, her head tilted slightly and her face pinched. "What's he done?"

Edging back from Evie, I put my hands on her shoulders and gave her a smile—not the sickly sweet one that netted me what I wanted, but a genuine smile for the girl who'd been here with me for longer than any others.

"He made a bad decision on how best to break some wonderful news."

Sienna scoffed. "What's so wonderful that he had us herded in here like swine?"

"How about"—I pulled the paper with her name on it off the top of the stack King gave me and handed it to her—"a really big raise."

Sienna tore open her paper, her eyes going wide before she looked up at me. "Is this for real?"

"It's real, honey. King went to bat for us and got each and every one of you a raise." I handed out the papers, saving Leni for last. "Even you, sweetheart."

"Carina!" She gasped when she opened it. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She threw her arms around my neck, pulling laughter from me the way only Leni Harper could.

"I couldn't even if I tried." I let my gaze sweep across their smiling faces, stopping only when my attention fell on Nevaeh. She was frowning, but at her phone screen, not the unopened paper in her hands. "Nevaeh? Is everything okay?"

She glanced up, her frown disappearing in a snap and replaced with a smile that felt tempered at best. "Yes. Lovely. Thank you, Carina."

"Please tell me you got something for yourself, too," Sienna said, coming up to take Leni's place in front of me. She bent to hug me, surprising me. "Lord knows you put up with more than you should with that man."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Oh please." She stepped back and gestured to the girls. "We all see it. You've always put yourself between him and us. Anytime we have a problem, it's you who takes care of it. So you coming in here and telling us King got us a raise is bullshit, because we all know it's because of you."

"Carina does have a way of taking men out at the knees," Leni boasted. "You should hear what she did to our old boss at the Minx."

I was drawn forward as Ruby and Lucy hooked their arms in mine, pulling me closer to Leni as she told them about Jerry's demise. I was happy. So completely thrilled that I could share this with them.

And yet…

My mind wandered to Nevaeh, to the feigned excitement, to the frown she'd directed at her phone. And as we left that morning, something in my stomach churned, made worse when the girls thanked me once again and Nevaeh was not among them.

I needed to talk with her, to find out what was bothering her.

But I needed to deal with King first.