January Whitehall
I lie on my bed, scrolling through jobs on my laptop. Bobby’s lying beside me, his head on my butt, watching the Patriots game on his phone. Every couple of minutes I glance into my dresser mirror and check we’re still there. That it’s all still real.
This time my reflection smiles wickedly at me, reminding me what Bobby and I were just doing. My backside still burns and I’m sure I’m going to have bruises tomorrow. Not that I mind. The sight of them drives Doc and Eli nuts. My smile in the mirror grows even wider. I’ve done a lot of making up for lost time, sex-wise. Eli says eventually I’ll spend a different night with each of them, but right now it’s more like… a different hour.
I click on a promising new hostess job and scan the requirements. “Bobby, do you think I could work front of house for Theïkós?”
“That Michelin star place? Definitely.”
His tone makes me suspicious. “How do you know?”
“I… have a good feeling?”
I swat his shoulder. “I want to get a job at a restaurant without Doc threatening the owner or Eli calling the health inspector or you… I don’t know… hacking their email and changing my résumé around.”
Bobby cracks up. “Hacking their email…”
“You know I don’t understand how that stuff works!”
He tosses his phone aside and rolls onto his back, spreading his arms. “C’mere, baby girl.”
I climb onto his bare chest and snuggle into him. Bobby rubs my head, making my scalp tingle. “If you really want a job, why don’t you let us find you one?”
“Because I want to earn it!”
“And we can all appreciate that, but nepotism makes the world go round.”
I roll my eyes. “Eli still doesn’t want me to have a job. He’ll just pretend to help me, then sabotage it.”
“True. But he can’t help it if you’re such a good housewife he wants to keep you close.”
I bury my face in his chest hair. I know what he’s referring to. Last night I made handmade gnocchi in red wine ragù—Zia Teresa’s showstopper dish. Eli tasted it and then dragged me into the next room and went down on me while everyone else listened. It was flattering and terrifying and so hot. Kind of like how everything has been since I got to Velvet House.
“Hey.” Bobby strokes my lower back. “Are you embarrassed about what we’re doing here?”
He means ‘are you freaked out about sleeping with four men?’ All the guys keep asking that. Yesterday I helped Adriano skin another deer and he told me there was still time to choose a proper husband and he’d never leave me, no matter who I picked. I was so shocked I cut myself with the knife. I spent the next two hours begging him to believe he is as much my choice as any of the others.
“I’m super comfortable,” I tell Bobby. “I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. If anything, I’m worried about you guys.”
Bobby snorts. “Don’t worry about us.”
“But you’ve never shared a woman before! Won’t you guys be the ones who’ll want someone else to sleep with every night or to… you know… whenever you feel like it?”
I flush. I’m still not very good at talking about sex.
“Baby,” Bobby says in a calm voice. “You seem to have this opinion that before you showed up, Velvet House was a non-stop party fuckfest. We run a billion-dollar business. We work all the time and when we want to unwind, we do shit on our own. Adri goes hunting and Doc swims and Eli looks at fancy rocks and I watch ESPN.”
“So, none of you ever slept with anyone before me?”
“I’m not saying that. But we would duck out and show up again later, or we’d go to Doc’s clubs. It all fits into our schedules. We never had anyone we cared about, and we never needed anyone to care about. Until you.”
“Oh.” For a second my heart lifts, then all my doubts drag it back to earth. “But what if I don’t have enough time for all of you?”
“JJ, we’re all still working twelve hour days.”
“No, you’re not!”
“Where do you think Doc and Eli are right now?”
“I don’t know…”
“They’re working. Doc’s with his crew at Flare, that nightclub we have in Harlem, and Eli’s negotiating a construction security agreement with some guys in Florida.”
“He’s in Florida?”
“No, baby, the meeting’s online. But we’re setting up contracts in DC, Omaha and Toronto and we have agreements in LA, New Orleans, Tijuana, New York, and are you seeing how none of us have time to scratch ourselves let alone think about cheating on the hottest girl in the world?”
I ignore the flattery. “What about Adriano? All he does is skin deer.”
Bobby grimaces. “He says he’s retiring. We’ll see about that, but in the meantime, we’re covering his workload, which doesn’t help with our schedules.”
My stomach gives a guilty squirm. “Do you need to go to work? Should I give you some space?”
Bobby’s arms draw tight around me. “Never. Having you around is like a four-hour lunch break in Fiji.”
“But if you have to work…?”
“Not right now.” Bobby smiles. “That’s what makes you perfect for me. For us. We’re busy, but we can all give you a little of ourselves. Between all four of us, we might make one decent boyfriend.”
I kiss his chest. “I think you’re all decent boyfriends.”
“Even Adriano and all his dead deer?”
I smile, thinking of the way Adri calls me ‘Pryntsesa.’ I know what it means now. It’s Ukrainian for ‘princess.’
“Especially Adriano and his dead deer,” I tell Bobby. “Now can you please help me find a job? Once I have one, I’ll feel like I’m doing something useful.”
“You’re doing plenty useful already. Besides, the one thing Velvet House doesn’t need is money.”
I believe that. Two mornings after I lost my virginity, Eli called me to his office. It’s on the fifth story of the North Wing, a huge sunlit room with a beautiful view of the grounds.
“This is for you,” he said, handing me a plain black credit card. “Bobby will show you how to access your account.”
“What account?”
Eli looked at me so sternly it was hard to believe he’d ever let me undress him. “Your bank account, bella.”
I thought he wanted me to start paying rent. “I’m sorry, I’m not working yet, but once I am, I’ll be able to contribute. I want to contribute.”
Eli’s face went all scrunchy. “What are you talking about? This is your personal bank account. I’ve given you two million dollars and you’ll receive an additional fifty thousand a month.”
My jaw almost hit the floor. “You can’t… that’s too much money!”
He fixed me with his golden-brown eyes. “I’m a billionaire, bella. What do you expect? Fifty dollars a week for groceries?”
“You don’t have to give me anything!”
“And yet I am. If you need anything more, clothes, jewelry, speak to me. Do not let Domenico hand you wads of filthy strip club money. And let me know when you’d like to buy a car. That needs to be bought separately for tax reasons.”
I tried to come up with an answer and instead I just screamed. Just opened my mouth and screamed. The thought of two million dollars went off in my head like a bomb and I didn’t know what else to do.
“Mannaggia,” Eli said, jumping to his feet. “What’s wrong?”
I couldn’t get the words out, and just burst into tears. But instead of getting angry, Eli carried me to his office chair, sat me in his lap and rocked me back and forth. “Ecco, là mia dolce ragazza. Il mio prezioso gioiello.” There, my sweet girl. My precious jewel.
“I’m so scared you’ll all eventually hate me,” I sobbed. “I don’t deserve any of this.”
Eli pressed a furious kiss to my forehead, like a stamp denying my right to doubt him. “You deserve everything that every man in this house has to give.”
I was still sniffling like a baby when he eased me onto his desk. Despite my tears, my body was already throbbing from its proximity to his hard, faintly lavender scented one.
“Do you want me to go down on you?” I asked, because of the four of them Eli seemed to like blow jobs the best.
“No,” Eli said, lifting my pink babydoll dress and pulling down my panties. “I’m going to take you. Not for your pleasure, but so you know you belong to me, and that all your problems are mine to solve.”
I expected him to be rough, but he took me gently, one hand cupped to my cheek. He said it wasn’t for my pleasure but when his cock stroked over that deep secret place inside me, I came so hard I thought I was going to pass out.
“Good girl,” Eli murmured, pulling out. “Now tell me to finish on you, bella. Tell me you want my cum.”
I did, so I told him. Eli covered my mound, coating my landing strip which Doc had just shaved into a heart. Then he kissed me on my cheek and told me to leave ‘before you distract me into bankruptcy.’
I thought he was joking, but apparently the boys do need to be working around the clock to keep things afloat.
“What does Velvet House need?” I ask Bobby.
“Huh?” Bobby’s eyes have wandered back to his phone.
“You said you guys don’t need money, what do you need?”
“Manpower,” Bobby says at once. “Trusted people to take valuable positions and not fuck them up.”
“What about Archie and Bill?”
“That’s a good suggestion, baby, and I’m all for it, but it’s a sore point with Doc.”
“He can’t still think that Archie and Bill want to join Velvet House just to sleep with me?”
Bobby grins. “No, he doesn’t think that. But he doesn’t trust them. He doesn’t trust anyone. It was a nightmare trying to hire Sal—Doc thought he had suspicious eyebrows.”
I laugh. “Was he right?”
“Hardly. But Eli and I aren’t budging on the twins. Once the contract’s signed, we’ll hire them. Doc will just have to get used to it.”
The mention of the contract sets my nerves jangling. There are less than four hours until we leave for New York…
“Maybe you can convince Doc that hiring the Baskervilles is a good idea,” Bobby muses. “He might listen to you. At the very least, he wouldn’t kick you in the stomach.”
“Sure,” I say, not really listening. “Is it okay if we talk about this later? I don’t know if I can think properly before tonight.”
Bobby’s face shifts, becomes almost angry. “You don’t need to come. I can put my foot down with Eli and the others.”
When it was first suggested I accompany the four of them to sign the contract with Mr. Parker, Adriano refused, Bobby was nervous, and Doc and Eli insisted. They argued back and forth all through dinner. Bobby saying I’d be safer at Velvet House, Doc countering it would make us look weak. Then at the end of the meal, Eli turned to me.
“You make the choice, bella.”
I’d rather have run from the room. I was terrified at the thought of seeing Mr. Parker, but in my heart, I knew I had to go. I owed it to Zia Teresa to look into the eyes of the man who killed her and smile. “I’ll come,” I told the table. “I’ll be there with you.”
Eli inclined his head. “Then you need to understand that means going public.”
“About what?”
“Us.”
“Do I need to lie about sleeping with all of you?”
“No,” Doc said. “Unless you wanna say Bobby’s good at sex.”
Bobby threw a fork at him.
“Then why…?” I asked Eli. “What does ‘going public’ mean?”
“It means the second we arrive at the meeting with you at our side, everyone will know January Whitehall belongs to Velvet House.”
“But… I do, right?”
The corner of Eli’s mouth kicked up. “Yes, but being open means admitting you’re the kind of girl who enjoys being beloved to four men at once, bella.”
“Oh.” I suppose that should upset me, but I kind of like it. It makes me sound cool. Like one of the bad girls from school who snuck into nightclubs and sold feet pics.
“She’s into it,” Doc said. “Conversation over.”
But Eli held up a hand. “January, you need to understand, once Parker and the arbiters of this contract know you’re ours, the whole world will know it. And the whole world includes your family, your school friends, and the New York Society pages.”
My first thought was panicky—my mom is going to kill me—but then I remembered that she sold me to Mr. Parker, stole the last of my life savings, and isn’t my real mom. My second thought was that my brothers would be mortified, not to mention my uncles and the many other Whitehalls who don’t want a slutty relative. “What happens if I don’t want people to know?”
Everyone at the table exchanged glances.
“You won’t come to the meeting, and we’ll tell Parker we’ve sent you to Italy,” Eli told me. “You won’t have to go, but you’ll have to stay hidden until we can find you a secure apartment. After that we can meet at arranged times. Work out a system so it’s not obvious how connected to us you are.”
“I’d have to leave Velvet House?”
“Yes.”
Eli’s brow was furrowed with lines and Doc, Bobby, and Adriano all looked murderous. The thought of having me live somewhere else was clearly distressing them, yet they were still offering me a way out.
“I don’t want to go,” I told the table. “I like living here and cooking and hanging out with whoever’s around. And if I’m hidden away in some apartment, I won’t be free.”
“JJ,” Bobby said quietly. “It’s your reputation on the line.”
I thought of my brothers and uncles. They were always kind to me, but as far as I knew, none of them intervened when my stepmom sold me to Mr. Parker. If they were going to judge me, it would be very hypocritical.
“I want to stay,” I repeated a little louder. “I want to live here with all of you.”
Bobby let out a long breath and Doc smiled, but Eli and Adriano remained stony-faced.
“I’m not sure you know what you’re agreeing to,” Eli said. “Anyone who mocks you within our hearing will die, but we can’t protect you from whispers.”
“Whispers don’t bother me. There were always whispers about me because I had bodyguards and I was engaged. I would rather there were whispers about things that make me happy.”
At that, a rare smile spread across Eli’s face, one that reached his eyes, turning them caramel. “Spoken like a brave princess. Then it’s settled. You’ll come with us and be ours forever.”
His words buzzed through me like an electric shock.
“Forever? I mean, are you all happy to keep… seeing me like this? Exclusively?”
“Of course,” Bobby said.
“Get with the program, Tits.”
Eli clucked his tongue. “I thought that was obvious from the fact we’re about to sign away our sworn revenge to protect you, bella.”
I pressed a hand to my pounding heart. “I just… Didn’t you want to have fancy pedigree children?”
“And we will.”
“I… what?”
Bobby nudged him. “Don’t scare her.”
Eli sighed. “We don’t need to have all the answers tonight, bella, but I want you to know what you’re getting yourself into.”
I felt a tiny pang of fear. “What exactly am I getting myself into? Is there some line in the contract that says I belong to you now? Like I’m trapped at Velvet House?”
“No,” four voices said at once.
“Bella,” Eli leaned across the table. “None of us want to own you. We would like you to stay, but if you changed your mind tomorrow, you could take the money I’ve given you and run. We might try to change your mind, but we wouldn’t stop you.”
“So, there’s no, like, contract between us?”
“Yeah, don’t you remember the one I made you sign in your sleep?” Doc said.
Eli ignored him. “What we’re doing here, it’s a risky investment, not a contract. We’re all taking a chance together.”
“And if it doesn’t work?”
“Then we cut our losses and walk away. That’s business.”
“But I don’t know if things will change!”
“And neither do we. That’s why I’m telling you to decide for yourself if you want to commit to us for the foreseeable future. You’re the one who knows how you feel.”
“Can’t you make all my decisions for me? Isn’t that your whole thing?”
Eli didn’t smile. “Not when it comes to this. Trust your instincts. You’re more insightful than you realize.”
“You all used to say I was stupid!”
Doc laughed. “You’re the only person who’s ever brought us to our knees, Tits. If you’re stupid, what does that make us?”
I looked at them, four strange, dangerous criminals who love each other and could love me. If I stayed, we’d be doing something that’s never been done before—at least not that I knew of. And yet how could I live with myself if I walked away? I’d see Doc in every blond, think of Bobby every time someone mentioned baseball, develop a lifelong fixation for grumpy, well-dressed businessmen because of Eli, and forever be looking in the shadows for Adriano. My chest gave a hum, and I had my answer. I’m sure there’s an alternative reality where January Whitehall has one good man, but in this reality, she has four hot, evil boyfriends.
“I want to stay,” I told them. “I want to be with you.”
There was a moment when they all looked back at me, identical expressions of hope and gratitude. Then Eli raised his wineglass. “To our risky investment. May it prove our greatest yet.”
“January?” Bobby draws me back to the present moment, to the two of us on my bed. “I was saying you don’t have to come to the contract meeting tonight.”
I give my head a small shake, trying to focus. “I still want to come. It’s my duty.”
“But it might upset you and you’re already in a… delicate place.”
I’ve been having nightmares. Nothing I remember once I wake up, but I’m screaming the house down almost every night. Doc offered sleeping pills, but Adriano taught me some breathing exercises. At first, I thought he was joking, but they work, calming me whenever I jolt awake. That and hugs, which all of the guys give me when I sleep in their beds.
“I’m doing okay,” I tell Bobby. “Besides, I’ve got plenty of time to recover after the meeting.”
‘Plenty of time’ is my new favorite phrase. My whole life, I was on a clock ticking down to marrying Mr. Parker. Now I’m ticking down to weeks, months, years of freedom.
Bobby smiles then points to my laptop screen. “If you’re gonna go straight, you might not have the experience for a hostess role. Why don’t you aim for a bartender gig and get some service skills?”
I imagine myself working behind a busy bar, pouring beer and making cocktails like girls on TV. An immediate problem comes to mind. “Um, don’t bartenders get hit on a lot?”
“For sure,” Bobby says, tucking a hand behind his head. “Even the ones who don’t look like you.”
“Oh. So, is everyone going to be okay with me bartending?”
Bobby cracks up. “Honey, we’re gonna be there for every single shift you work.”
“What!? You just said that none of you have time for that!”
“That’s why it’s good there’s four of us.” He stretches his arms over his head, making his T-shirt ride up. I stare at his ridged abdomen, dusted with dark brown hair, and my lips tingle. Bobby pulls his shirt higher. “That’s the other thing we make time for, JJ. Working out.”
“I can see that.”
Bobby unbuckles his belt. “Why don’t you come here and see a bit more?”
I’m riding him when there’s a knock at the door. “Bella?”
I freeze, but Bobby grabs my hips and keeps fucking me. “Come in.”
Eli opens the door. He’s wearing an impeccable navy suit and carrying a long clothes bag and a cream box. His gaze runs over me. “Good evening, bella.”
Bobby pulls down my tank top, exposing my nipples. “She’s being a good little housemaid.”
“I can see that.”
Mortification flares through me and Bobby’s pounding thrusts feel twice as deep, twice as good. “Um… hi.”
“Still so shy.” Eli places the bag over my desk chair and the box on the table. “This is the dress and shoes you’ll wear tonight.”
“Yes, daddy,” I pant. “Are you… still sure you want me… to come to the contract signing?”
“Of course, bella. You’re ours.” He turns to watch me writhing on top of Bobby. “Will you be dressed and in the dining room by midnight?”
The heavy look in his eyes sends tension crackling through me. “Of course.”
“Glad to hear it, my jewel.” He moves toward me and palms my breasts. “Say ‘thank you, daddy.’”
It’s hard to concentrate when Bobby’s screwing me like a demon. “Th-thank you, daddy.”
Eli’s thumb and forefingers close over my nipples with enough pressure to make me scream. I grind against the base of Bobby’s shaft and he grunts.
“I’ll leave you to it,” Eli says with a glance at Bobby. “You’re not finishing in her?”
“Nope.”
“Good.” Eli gives my breasts one last squeeze, then leaves. I feel so slutty and uncomfortable but that doesn’t stop me from having another screaming orgasm all over Bobby. Maybe it even helps.
* * *
I can barely look at myself in the mirror. I’ve worn revealing dresses before, but this one takes the cake. Every cake. There will never be another cake because of this dress.
The neckline has a heavy silver collar and dangling from it are dozens of fine chains. They coil around my body like snakes, holding strategic scraps of black silk to my breasts and hips. My skin looks moon-pale against the dark material and the dress has no back, only more chains. They brush across my spine and collect over my ass in a silver pool. You can’t see anything, but it looks like you might see everything.
My shoes are sky-high black leather pumps with silver chains down the sides. The overall effect is obvious, even to my inexperienced eyes—I look like a slave girl chained by her owners. Empowered but imprisoned. Luxurious but bare. My entire Velvet House experience in one dress. I pull my hair to the top of my head in a high ponytail and cover the tie with a swatch of my own hair. I keep my makeup simple, lilac lids fading to smoky gray and sheer pink lips.
I turn in the mirror and imagine walking into a room with Mr. Parker. This dress is like an evil twin to the gaudy wedding dress he chose for me. I don’t have to do anything in the contract meeting. Neither do the other guys, really. Eli explained that signing the contract in person is just a formality. Two groups of people forced to meet face-to-face and admit what they’re agreeing to.
For Eli, Doc, Bobby, and Adriano, it means setting aside revenge.
For Mr. Parker, it means never coming near me again. As unrealistic as that seems, I can’t wait for it to be true. I decide my St. Christopher would look silly with the outfit, so I slide it off its chain and tuck the medallion into the base of my ponytail.
“We’re almost free, Zia,” I say to my reflection.
Be careful, bella. That’s all I ask.
I hesitate. It’s been a while since I’ve talked with my internal Zia Teresa, and I know why. “Zia, will you hate me if I have four boyfriends?”
She lets out a long sigh. You young people, always trying new things. Why can’t you just settle down and get married?
“Zia, you hated being married!” I say indignantly. “You told me your husband ruined your life, like, every day!”
A sound that could be a cigarette cough or laughter. Well, I don’t remember that.
I wait. I wait so long it feels like I’ve lost my Zia Teresa voice. Disgusted her into never speaking to me again. I stare at my reflection, watching my eyes go glassy with tears. Then it comes.
Maybe I can’t advise you about this, bella. Maybe you will just have to do what you want and not expect me to approve.
I smile, my insides tender as kneaded dough. “Okay. But I’ll always love you, Zia.”
And I’ll always love you, bella. Another rasping cough laugh. Besides, no man has ever been good enough for one of my girls.
I dab away my tears then put my phone and lip gloss in my Chanel bag. I don’t bother with a coat. None of the guys will want me to wear one and checking it somewhere might be awkward. With one last glimpse at my reflection, I head downstairs for the dining room.
“Fuck me sideways.”
Doc is wearing ripped jeans and a dark purple T-shirt. The color turns his blue eyes indigo. He looks like a surfer on his day off. I squeak. “I can’t wear this dress if you’re wearing jeans!”
“That’s exactly what you can do.” He grips my arms and pins me to the wall. “But first I’m gonna chain you up and fuck you senseless.”
I turn my face away. “I’m not saying no, but you’ll ruin my lip gloss. It took ages.”
“I do want you at your most fuckable for this meeting. How ’bout I eat you out instead?”
I struggle against his hold. “Nico, can’t we just wait?”
“Fine.” His purple eyes look dangerous. “But after this, we’re gonna get drunk and fuck until we can’t feel feelings anymore.”
My body flushes at the thought. Even as a virgin, it wouldn’t have surprised me to learn that Domenico Valente is vicious in bed. He likes hurting me, pinching and biting and pulling my hair. What would have surprised me is that he likes being hurt even more. Every time we’re together, he orders me to scratch his back with my nails, press my hand into his windpipe, sink my teeth into his shoulders. Anything I can do to hurt him, he wants it.
The last time, he gave me his butterfly knife and made me hold it to his bicep while he fucked me. He wanted me to hold it to his throat but I refused.
“What if I hurt you?”
Doc just laughed his crazy laugh. “I want you to fucking kill me, Tesorina.”
I believe him. There isn’t a thrill Doc doesn’t want to chase. When we have sex, he barely finishes before he picks up some toy or rope and starts some new game with my body. He watches, too, whenever he can. Me and Bobby. Me and Eli. He even came down to the cabin and watched Adriano screw me on the wooden floor.
He curls a finger into my cleavage and tugs me closer. “Tonight, when all this bullshit is over, I’m gonna nut inside you.”
The thought turns my knees to water. “Eli says—”
“Fuck what Morelli says. It’s all I can think about, coming in your little vise grip of a cunt. Filling it with my cum.” He licks along my neck. “I can just imagine it dripping out of your pretty pink pussy. When I see it for real, I’m gonna die and go straight to hell.”
“And if you get me pregnant?”
“This isn’t a rom-com, Tits. It takes more than one fuck to knock someone up.”
“Who’s getting knocked up?”
Bobby strolls in wearing a checked shirt beneath a snuggly cashmere jumper. He takes in my dress and his cheeks flare crimson. “You look stunning, JJ.”
Doc hisses at him, tucking me into his side. “You had her all afternoon, she’s on my time now, Basher.”
“Whatever. Nice outfit by the way, you teenage fuckin’ dirtbag.”
The fall of heavy footsteps announces Adriano. He’s dressed the way he was the night I arrived at Velvet House, in a sage green Henley and heavy canvas pants. His boots are battered black, and he has a gun strapped to his thigh.
Fear sizzles down my spine. In the hours I’ve spent with him, I’ve felt nothing scarier than nervousness, but he’s the scary military-looking man again. At least until he looks at me and his face softens. “Pryntsesa. Your beauty is incomparable.”
I touch a hand to my burning face. “Thank you.”
If there’s one thing my virgin self never would have believed, it’s how Adriano Rossi treats me now. All he wants to do is feed me home-cooked deer, teach me how to shoot a bow, or listen to me talk. He says my voice is the most beautiful sound in the world. He also goes down on me constantly. I can barely draw breath without him burying his head between my legs and using his huge rasping tongue to lick me to orgasm.
He takes my hand and kisses it. Then he ducks his head and for a second, I think he’s going to kneel before me. Doc must too.
“Holy fuck, are you gonna make Tits knight you?”
Adriano scowls and drops my hand, striding away to the bar. He picks up a bottle of clear liquor and drinks from the neck for a long time.
I’m still only getting to know his moods, but he seems nervous. They all do, shifting around and cracking their knuckles. So much for ‘just formalities.’
The atmosphere changes when Eli arrives. It grows sharper, more formal. He’s in all black tonight, a black suit and shirt and tie. Even his cufflinks are onyx. It makes his hair seem black and his eyes dark.
“We need to leave,” he says without so much as a hello. His gaze finds mine. “You look like heaven on earth. Let’s go. The helicopter’s waiting.”