Later that night, after Nyssa had cleaned up and changed her clothes, she received a text from Kimmie informing her that there was a car outside Sebastian’s condo, ready to take her back home. On the limo ride back to Katrina’s brothel, Nyssa couldn’t even think coherently. Her brain felt like it was wrapped in fuzzy static, protecting her from any and all worries or anxieties or fears. Nyssa figured it must have been a side effect of all the sex endorphins that were pumping through her blood. In any case, by the time she arrived back at Katrina’s lair, the sweet gentle nothingness in her head had faded away, replaced by one persistently pestering thought. Am I in trouble with Katrina now? Nyssa wondered as she entered the old Gothic building and headed for the parlor. She had been a little tempted to run up to her room to hide away from Katrina as long as possible, but it was just putting off the inevitable. Better to rip the bandage off now and face the consequences, Nyssa thought to herself as she entered the parlor, finding Katrina waiting for her on a regal seat in the middle of the room.
Straight away, she could tell that her madam wasn’t happy. She was tapping her perfect red nails on the side of her chair impatiently, crossing and uncrossing her legs several times in the space of thirty seconds. “Well?” she finally asked after staring at Nyssa for a long tense moment. Nyssa inhaled deeply and braced herself for an angry outburst of some kind.
“Um, I just got back and figured you’d want me to report back to you,” Nyssa said. She felt a small burst of pride at the fact that she was able to keep her voice steady and calm, despite the nerves raging underneath her skin.
“Yes, that much is obvious,” Katrina snapped at her before reaching into her pocketbook to get a cigarette. “How did it go with Sebastian?”
Nyssa gave a noncommittal half shrug, trying to look nonchalant and unbothered even though she still felt a little light-headed after the furious fuck that Sebastian had given her.
Katrina clicked her tongue from behind her teeth, her eyes narrowing to sharp slits as she got up from her chair and slowly approached Nyssa. “Don’t give me that shit,” she said, blowing a puff of smoke right into Nyssa’s face. “How. Was. It?”
“It was fine,” Nyssa said. “Very basic. Nothing out of the ordinary.” It was a lie, at least by omission. Nyssa barely ever reached orgasm with her clients, but she’d definitely come her brains out this time around. Katrina doesn’t need to know that, Nyssa thought, forcing herself to keep her gaze solidly fixed on Katrina’s intimidatingly beautiful face.
“Hmm,” Katrina said, crossing her arms across her chest and stepping back a pace so that there was more space between them. “Good.” She turned around and began walking back toward the chair in the center of the room, casting a final glance at Nyssa over her shoulder. “You should prepare to be available at any time to be Sebastian’s little toy, no matter what else you’ve got going on. That’s all.”
It took Nyssa a few moments to realize that was her cue to leave. She turned and headed for the door, but before she could exit the parlor Katrina cleared her throat again, saying, “Don’t let your head get too big. It doesn’t mean anything. Go on. Get out of here.”
Nyssa bolted from the room and rushed for the stairs, heading toward Kimmie’s room rather than her own. She had to tell somebody what was going on, even if she didn’t quite know how to feel about it herself.
“Kimmie!” Nyssa half shouted from outside her best friend’s door, banging on the wood persistently. “Kimmie, let me in!”
“Jesus, it’s like one in the morning,” Kimmie said. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she stepped aside to let Nyssa into her room. “How’d it go?”
“Uh…” Nyssa wasn’t sure exactly how to phrase it. “It went well, I guess.”
Nyssa expected Kimmie to immediately launch into a thousand questions, interrogating her on every last detail of the trick so she could live vicariously through Nyssa’s experiences, but instead Kimmie frowned deeply as she shut and locked the door after Nyssa.
“What does that mean?” Kimmie asked, her brow furrowing up as she gestured for Nyssa to sit with her on her bed.
“I mean, he seemed to enjoy himself,” Nyssa said.
“Hmm,” Kimmie murmured, her gaze going foggy and unfocused, like she was trying to see something far beyond Nyssa’s head.
“What’s wrong?” Nyssa asked.
“It’s just…” Kimmie sighed and shook her head, finally focusing her eyes back on Nyssa’s. “I hope that was the last of it. It’ll be better for you if Sebastian’s already bored of you and moves on to somebody else.”
For some reason that made Nyssa sit up straighter, her spine almost aching with the effort after such a long eventful day. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” Kimmie sighed again, deeper this time, the sound coming from deep inside of her. She held her head in her hands for a minute, not looking at Nyssa while she gathered her thoughts together. “Katrina isn’t someone you want to piss off. You know what I mean?”
Nyssa shifted uncomfortably on Kimmie’s bed, closing and unclosing her legs several times before finally giving up on the idea of feeling comfortable. “But I haven’t pissed her off. I just did what she said. She insisted that I sleep with Sebastian.”
Kimmie nodded, but the expression of worry didn’t slip even a centimeter from her face. “I know, I know. There wasn’t much else you could do, but Nyssa… I’m worried about you. It would have been better if Sebastian hadn’t picked you at all.”
“Why?” Nyssa asked.
“Because,” Kimmie said, sounding entirely unlike herself, her voice chock-full of concern, “Because Katrina might pretend to be all right with it, but there’s no way she’s not pissed at Sebastian. And she’s probably pissed at you just by association, even though it’s not your fault. I just… I just think this is bad for you, Nyssa.”
Nyssa was quiet a moment, mulling over Kimmie’s thoughts. “I mean, what else am I supposed to do?” she finally said in a low murmur, thinking out loud. “I can’t disobey Katrina. She’s got the full firepower of the Giustini family on her side. I don’t want to get on the wrong side of the mob.”
Kimmie bit down on her lower lip, staring up at Nyssa through her eyelashes for several moments before she finally spoke again. “I’ve got a lot of clients who work for the Giustinis,” she murmured and then fell silent again, her gaze dropping down to her lap.
Nyssa nodded at her to continue, feeling like she was suspended on pins and needles.
Kimmie frowned even deeper, her eyes full of worry as she glanced back up at Nyssa. “The Giustini family isn’t what it used to be. At least, that’s what the last couple tricks I’ve bedded have told me after they got off. They don’t have the power they used to. That’s what I’ve heard, at least.”
For several moments, Kimmie’s words revolved around inside of Nyssa’s head, repeating on a loop while she tried to comprehend their full meaning. “The Giustinis… they’re not powerful anymore?”
“That’s just what I heard,” Kimmie said quickly, sliding off the bed and crossing the room to stare at herself in the mirror. “Don’t tell anyone else I said that, okay? I don’t want it getting back to Katrina.”
“I won’t,” Nyssa said quickly. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Sure thing,” Kimmie said, picking at her eyebrows and frowning at her own reflection. “Just… be careful, okay? I don’t want to see you hurt. You’re about the only good thing left in my life, Nyssa.”
Nyssa was silent for a moment, a little bowled over by the weight of Kimmie’s statement. She swallowed several times to clear her clogged throat before answering. “I will be. I promise.”
But despite what she said, Nyssa knew she was stuck. There wasn’t anything she could do to get out of fucking Sebastian—even though if she was honest with herself, she’d have to admit that she didn’t even want to stop, given how hard he’d made her come. But that was beside the point. She had to be smart. She had to be careful. She had to watch her own back. There was nobody who could watch it for her. She was stuck in a love triangle she hadn’t meant to stumble into, and there was no getting out now.