The Blue Room Vol. 6 Page 6

  “I don’t understand,” I say.

  “My point is – this is a sinking ship, Staci. All things are going on behind closed doors here. Drugs. Prostitution. A world you might get sucked into here. But I think you should come on the road with us. Come touring. Do something, anything, that isn’t work here. Neve likes you. She trusts you. And clearly you have enough honor to – be loyal to her in the face of that little misunderstanding earlier. You don’t have to be here, Neve. You could make money touring with us. You could make money on the road. And with all the deaths and disappearances happening at the Blue Room…I don’t know what’s going on, but I intend to get to the bottom of it. What the Blue Room is right now is a stain on our family, on our reputation. It’s shameful, Staci, if I’m honest with you. Shameful indeed. And I don’t understand why you want to stay. I don’t understand why my uncle insists on staying, either, if I’m honest…”

  “I wonder why, too!” A bright, cheerful voice fills the room.

  Terrence, clad only in a bathrobe, has walked into the room.

  Chapter 9

  I am mortified. What is Terrence doing, coming in here like this? The last thing I want is for Danny Blue to realize who I really am and what I’m really doing here at the Blue Room. My face turns bright red. Now everyone will know that Terrence and I are having sex. But Terrence doesn’t seem to mind. He’s grinning his usual wicked grin as he takes his seat next to Danny on my sofa. Like nothing’s weird about this at all. Like nothing’s wrong. Typical Terrence behavior, I think.

  “Terrence?” Danny all but leaps out of his chair in surprise. Looks at Terrence, then at me, then back at Terrence again. His eyes are enormous with shock. “You…and Miss Atussi…you…”

  Terrence’s grin is lopsided and his eyes dance with merriment. ‘Quelle fucking surprise, ey?” he says. “The bad boy little half-brother is caught red-handed by his suspicious older, more responsible brother. Age old story. So what, bro? I’m here in Staci’s room. And I’m doing nothing wrong. I also happen to no longer be a member of the Blue Room administration – thanks to you – so I’m doing nothing wrong by being here. It’s the price we all must pay, all we Blue men? Giving up our career dreams to be with the women we care for. A hefty price all of the Blues brood must pay.”

  Danny’s shock has gone full-on flabbergasted. For a second, I think he’s about to keel over. But then he smiles with a great big belly laugh that makes Terrence look surprised, too.

  “Well, well, well,” says Danny. “I didn’t think you’d have it in you. But it looks like you too have the gumption to stand up to dear old dad: that damnable tyrant of the Blues. But I guess you’ve got more guts than I, Terrence.” His smile turns melancholy.

  “Remember, Danny.” Terrence’s smile twists at the edges, giving it a vaguely perverse quality. “This is my playground. This is familiar territory for me. I’m the black sheep in the family: not you. You’re the good son. I’m the prodigal. That’s why, despite wanting no part of the sick fantasies of daddy dearest and his Roni consort, I can’t stand by idly and not do something about this place. I can’t not do something about what happened here. I’ve made friends, good friends. I’ve come to care about certain people who work here…and…well…I have some promises to keep. So I’m afraid that management or no, you can’t keep me away from the Blue Room.”

  Danny sighs deeply. “And all I ever wanted was to play in a rock band and teach at a university. But that’s not what our dear father had in mind for me. Believe me, I want no more part of the Blue Room than you do. But these scandals at the Blue Room – if they could ever get out, it would spell disaster and ruin for all of Blues Enterprises.”

  “It won’t get out.” Something about Terrence’s stern tone makes me afraid. I get that same shiver I got before. I’m almost afraid.

  “Good,” says Danny. “Because it will not only affect Blues Enterprises, but – God, if Neve found out. I’d be lucky if she didn’t leave me. The Never Knights does not need to be tied into a prostitution murder scandal. And you know there will be scandal, sooner or later. The media will bring me into it – then Neve, the whole band…”

  “That’s why we made him chairman of the board, isn’t it,” Terrence says. “To cope with this so we don’t have to.”

  “At least he’s removed from our sordid family scandal. He may be a Blue in name, but he’s not one of us. He keeps his hands clean. Scandal wouldn’t touch him like it would you or me…or Neve…”

  “But keeping him on permanently? Why now?” Terrence keeps looking over at me with a nervous expression on his face. What are they hoping I won’t find out?

  “I don’t know,” Danny says. “Maybe he’s grown attached to this place – I don’t know who would. Attached to the role he’s assumed when he stepped in to help us.” Danny rolls his eyes. “God, it was supposed to be just a role. A gig. He was going to fill the shoes, meet up with one of the girls for show, act like a real patron, get the inside scoop…”

  “Danny,” says Terrence in a low warning voice. But it’s too late. I know what they’re talking about. They’re talking about Xander: my only real patron. My love. The fantasy that I’d started falling for, too.

  I’d suspected it, but now I hear the truth. Me and Xander: it was a set-up the whole time.

  I try not to let Terrence see the tears that have sprung to my eyes.

  “You know who we’re talking about, don’t you, Staci…”

  There’s a flash of jealousy in Terrence’s eyes.

  I nod. I bite my lip.

  “You two must have gotten along so well…” His eyes are almost black with pain. I see how I’ve hurt him. Danny doesn’t notice what’s going on. He just keeps talking: focusing on the numbers.

  “Or else – maybe he felt like he was getting close to something here. Solving the murders. He’s the only responsible member of Dad’s family that we know of – figures he’d be able to get something done. The only one of us not to be reliant on family billions – a self-made man. Probably a hell of a lot stronger than we are.” Danny looks up at Terrence. “Unless he fell for that girl you mentioned – the bait for the killer…”

  “DANNY!” Terrence looks stricken. “Danny, stop…not in front of…”

  But it’s too late. I’ve heard everything.

  The girl used as bait for the killer.

  The whore that can die, because nobody cares about a dead whore.

  The expendable girl.

  Me.

  “What?” Then Danny gets it. Finally, looking at me, he gets it. “You?” He stares at me. “But you’re not a…are you?”

  I’m furious. My anger is seeping out of me like toxic waste.

  “Yes, Danny,” I say, staring him straight in the face. “I’m a whore. I’m you’re bait, Danny.”

  “I thought…” Danny is stammering, turning bright red. “I thought you were just singing at the Blue Room – nothing more. Why – why is she one of the Blue Girls, Terrence? Why did you let her – and with Xander – when you’ve been with her – the two of you….”

  “It’s not how you think, Staci,” Terrence runs his fingers through his hair in despair. “It was – she was…you were, Staci. You were the new girl without history. An innocent. Perfect for Mr. X.‘s cover. We didn’t intend for you to get hurt. We just needed a Blue Girl that didn’t know the old patrons as a innocent – we didn’t think you were in danger, not really. I didn’t know when I signed you up as a new Blue Girl that I’d fall for you like this, this hard. I didn’t think I’d be preparing you to be with Mr. X – and I definitely didn’t think he’d fall for you. He’s supposed to be an ice-cold bastard, only cares about work, ever since he lost his wife – I thought it was just going to be a sex thing – and you were willing, weren’t you? You asked me to be a Blues Girl!”

  I can’t believe my ears. I look down. I can’t let Terrence or Danny see my face. I’m sickened by everything going on around me. My face is hot red with anger. “You Blues
are a sick bunch, aren’t you?” I say. “All of you. Playing your sick game: you don’t even care who you hurt. Well, I’m not playing anymore. I’m sick of all of you. I came here to find out what happened to my friend, and for all I know she’s dead, so I’m done here. I’m leaving. I never want to see anyone named Blue ever again…”

  I rise in fury to leave. I go to my suitcase – throwing everything I can into it: clothing, family photos, mementos. Whatever I brought here I’m taking. The dresses, the jewelry – they can have them! I never want to see any of this filthy stuff again.

  Then a hand grabs my wrist: turning me around.

  “Staci…” Terrence’s expression is dark and fatal. “You can’t go.”

  “I’m done here, Terrence,” I say. I’m too mad to even look at him.

  Then Terrence wrenches the suitcase out of my hands: so violently that I cry out in pain.

  “I’m sorry, Staci,” he says. “But I mean it. You can’t go.”

  His voice is deadly serious. It sends shivers down my spine. We’re not playing any more. This isn’t a lover begging me to stay.

  This is a captor in a prison.

  “We can’t just let you walk out of here,” comes a voice from the doorway. Danny is blocking the door. “Not when you know too much. We have too much at stake here…we can’t just let you go. Terrence understands that, don’t you, Terrence?”

  Terrence looks at me with cold eyes. “I’m sorry, Staci,” he says. “But you have to come with me now. We can’t risk another scandal here, not when I’m just starting to be accepted into the family again, not after such a long period of estrangement. You have to do things our way from here on out.”

  I can’t believe my ears.

  Who was Terrence Blue – and how did I ever fall for him?

  Epilogue

  Xander Blue

  The deed is done. The new filings for Blues Enterprises are complete. A good day’s work, I think. I’m now the new Chairman of Blue Towers and the Blue Room. A legitimate business enterprise, on paper, if a bit seedy – club impresarios have a certain reputation after all. But the papers betray nothing of the sordid world beneath the surface of the Blue Room. Why would they?

  Now it was time to make some changes at the Blue Room. The boys had asked me to come right after Clarence fell into a coma – serious, melancholy Danny and that young rascal Terrence – and I felt it was my duty to step in. Being the only unsullied member of a notoriously sordid family has its advantages. When they’re in deep shit, you’re the one they need. And unlike Danny and Terrence, who grew up without responsibilities, I’ve spent my life running businesses and small empires. I’m a businessman to the core. I always have been.

  My nephews know that.

  It still feels strange calling them my nephews, now that I’ve met them face to face. I’m only a few years older than Danny, after all. But as Clarence Blue’s step-brother, I assume that avuncular role.

  Not that I need any more chaos in my life. I’m busy enough running my own companies. The last thing I need is work to keep me in LA: not when all my main work is in New York and London.

  I don’t want to be in LA.

  Except when I do…

  My mind drifts to my one reason for coming back: the only bright spot in this mess. My trips to the Blue Towers may be for work, but they have a singular pleasure, the thought of which occupies more and more of my waking hours with each passing day. The luscious and so very talented Staci Atussi, whose taste I crave. She was supposed to be an innocent for me to have a fake patron/client relationship. Someone who would share my bed for a few nights and like it. Nothing more. Then I saw that girl at the gym…and I wanted her like nobody else. It was a craving. A desire. I may have approached her even if I hadn’t known she was my target…

  But she was a Blue Girl. My Blue Girl, to be exact. So I had to go by her rules. Keep my cover.

  I sigh. Never in my life would I have guessed I would want, crave, and need a woman so badly. Not since the death of…I stop myself. Even now I cannot bear to think about her name.

  Never would I have guessed I would start falling in love with the very woman whom I was sent to destroy.

  But it was my mission, after all. The one I had been asked to perform: that even Terrence didn’t know about.

  To destroy Staci Atussi.

  After all, it was what my late godmother had asked me to do. The woman to whom I owed not just my success, but my very life.

  My godmother, Gloria Tannenbaum.

  *****

  Well, that’s yet for Part 6

  Thank you for reading

  The Blue Room Vol. 6.

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