“Not a problem,” I said with confidence. This wouldn’t be my first interview for a property. I wasn’t nervous about the presentation; I was worried about what my dad had up his sleeve. The man would do anything to win Lot 17, even sinking to the level of locking me in my own damn house so I didn’t make it to my interview. The man would stop at nothing.

“I will draw up the official plans once again for you to hand out at the interview. Do you want me to get in touch with Jeremy, your assistant, so he can start on the graphics?”

“No, I can handle that,” I answered. “I will be in touch with Jeremy. Thank you for coming over here to tell me, George. I appreciate it.”

“Anytime,” George said, as he handed me the folder he’d pulled out of his briefcase earlier. “Please call if you need anything; if not, I will be in touch if I hear anything else, and when I hear about the time of your interview.”

“Thank you.”

I dismissed George and opened up my computer to look through my emails, hoping maybe there would be some kind of contact from Goldie. I would take just about anything from her right now, for her to confirm that, in fact, she still thought about me…that she wasn’t with Rex.

When I searched through my emails, scanning for one email address only, I didn’t find anything from her. So, I sat back in my chair and ran my hand through my hair, trying to tamp down my frustration. There was business I needed to tend to, plans for different properties around the city that needed to be discussed, but all I could think about was the little honey-haired girl who took over my heart.

What was she doing? Was she lounging in the arms of Rex Titan right now? Was he really keeping her warm? The mere thought of that happening had me wanting to pull out every last strand of my hair.

“Hey,” came Kace’s voice and a knock to my door.

Looking up, I saw him standing sturdily with someone behind him. Did he really bring up the new Jett Girl with him?

“What are you doing?” I asked, assessing my appearance and disheveled heart. I was by no means prepared to meet a new Jett Girl, especially when it wasn’t on my terms.

“Thought you might want to meet the new Jett Girl,” Kace said with a smirk.

“Now is not the time,” I warned.

“Oh, please, stop being a priss,” a strong, yet feminine voice came from behind Kace.

One of my eyebrows rose at the nerve of the new girl who was about to join my club.

“Excuse me?”

Stepping aside, Kace allowed the new Jett Girl to come forward, and I nearly toppled over.

The beautiful mocha skin of Lyla, Goldie’s old roommate came forward, wearing the Jett Girl gear, minus the mask. She walked toward me with purpose, and from behind her back, she dropped her Jett Girl file on my desk with purpose.

With a smirk on her face, Lyla pointed at the folder and said, “Papers are signed, but I’ve made a few revisions.”

“What gave you the right to do…?”

Lyla held up her hand and interrupted me. “I’m going to stop you right there, buster. You can take your controlling and dominant ways and shove them up your ass. Frankly, I don’t need this job; I’m more than capable of pulling in enough money to make things work for me at the bar. Give me some water and a white T-shirt, and I’ll make the room rain with boners and cash. But you need me for a couple of reasons. One, you need another Jett Girl, since Goldie is now gone. I know how important it is to meet the members’ needs, believe me. Two, I’m here to make sure you don’t do anything stupid because your poor little feelings have been hurt. And three, you need someone to help you find Goldie. I’m the closest thing you’ll get when it comes to that girl. Keep my identity hidden, and during the day, I’ll make it my duty to find out where Goldie is.”

“I don’t care where she is,” I replied arrogantly.

“Yup, calling bullshit on that right away. Nice try, though,” she smiled at me. “So, here’s what’s going to happen, I’m going to room with Babs because the room that you were going to give me is Goldie’s, and you’re not going to change that. You can take your Bourbon Room and shove it up your ass. Don’t even ask any of the girls to come up to it, because collectively as a whole, we choose not to submit to you. That room is meant for you and Goldie. I will learn how to present myself and be a fill-in, but the moment Goldie comes back, I’m out. I’m here mainly to make sure you don’t do something completely stupid, like ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

She folded her arms across her chest and smirked at me, as if she knew everything. Her cockiness reminded me of myself, and I hated it. But what I hated more was the lack of control I had; there was zero. I felt like I didn’t have a say in anything, and that was what was going to drive me to do something that I shouldn’t be doing.

“Before you get all huffy, why don’t you let me figure out Goldie, and you focus on your business,” she added, clearly seeing how uncomfortable I was.

“Why should I trust you?” I finally asked, after her demands were over.

“Because I know what’s best for Goldie, and that would be you. I’ve known her for a very long time now, and nothing has brought her such great joy as when she’s with you. You think she lights up a room on her own, try watching her when you’re near. She is so bright, so enthusiastic, so completely Goldie that it’s intoxicating to see. You two are meant for each other, and I’ll be damned if I see it any other way.”

I mulled over her statement. There was one thing she was missing; Goldie wasn’t the only one who changed…I was not the same person when I was around Goldie. I wasn’t a controlling bastard, I was completely different, I was happy, enthralled, completely, without a doubt…in love.

Fuck.

Shaking my head, I turned around and looked out my window. Love? Did it really come to that?

Visions of Goldie ran through my head. The first time she was asked to come up to the Bourbon Room and how nervous she was, the first time we went out on a date and how beautiful she looked in her yellow dress. The first time I gave her a Jett Girl set, the look of joy on her face. The moment I gave her my collar…fuck.

My throat closed up on me as I thought about the loss I was suffering…how I would do anything to have her standing in front of me with my arms wrapped around her waist and my chin resting on her head.

“I’m not going to look for anyone else,” Kace said, backing Lyla up. “It’s Lyla or no one.”

The two pains in my ass must have communicated beforehand, because they were a united front on Goldie’s behalf.

In a surprising moment of complete and utter weakness, I turned my seat so I could rest my elbows on my desk and run my hands over my face. I didn’t do emotion in front of people, but I was so fucking exhausted, I couldn’t help it.

“She’s not with me anymore,” I stated weakly. “I received a message from Rex; she’s with him.”

The room fell silent at my confession. I wasn’t sure what Lyla was thinking, but I could feel Kace’s eyes boring a hole through me. He knew about my past history with Rex and how losing my Little One to him could bring down my stone façade in a matter of seconds, which it proved to do.

“How do you know?” Kace asked, sounding more confused than anything.

“Rex texted me that she was with him. Since he’s not the most trustworthy man, I checked around, and no one else has heard from her. That’s the only place she could be.”

“Shit,” Kace muttered.

“Rex, as in the guy she used to bone for money? No way, he was hot, but she wouldn’t go back to him. Although, he did offer her a life with him a little while back…” Lyla thought out loud.

“What?” I asked, fury starting to pour through me, washing out the debilitating pain of feeling weak and useless.

Startled, Lyla said, “When she first started here, Rex wanted to take her back, once he found out she was becoming a Jett Girl. He offered her a place to stay, so she didn’t have to stay with you. At the time, Rex didn’t know she was desperate for help.”