Read Online STRONGER by Lexie Ray - Free Book Online Page A

someone called back. “Come back and sing soon!”
    She laughed, seeming genuinely pleased. “You’re too kind.”
    But when we entered the office, Mama’s smile faded. For the first time, I saw a harried businesswoman just trying to keep her life’s work running.
    “The situation with the Don is worse than I thought,” Mama said. “He seems to have really taken a shine to you, child, and it’s not hard to see why. You’re a gorgeous creature. You’re a lot more innocent than the rest of my girls. You’re eager to please. He can’t resist you. No man would be able to.”
    “I didn’t do anything to ask for this,” I said, my voice trembling. “I just tried to be nice. I don’t really know what’s going on.”
    “What’s going on is that the Don wants to sleep with you tonight, Jazz,” Mama said bluntly. “There ain’t words to pretty it up. That’s the cold, hard truth. The most powerful man in New York wants to sleep with you and he always gets what he wants.”
    “Can’t I say no?” I whispered.
    Mama sat down on the edge of her desk. “A dozen of my girls would be clawing at each other to be in the situation you’re in,” she said. “Sure, the tips from running drinks and food and letting the customers flirt with you are nice. But the real money comes in from the sex.”
    “The sex?”
    Mama shrugged. “Everyone has sex. Why shouldn’t you sell it? It’s the most natural thing in the world.”
    The “everything” that I had been missing out on fell into place. The nightclub was just an elaborate front for a brothel.
    And I was about to have my first client.
    I felt physically ill but tried to calmly assess the situation. I couldn’t even really say that this was the worst thing to ever befall me. Jack had been very bad. The streets had been perhaps even worse. So this—sleeping with a mob boss for cash—this was just par for the course, right?
    “Anyone can say no,” Mama said. “You can try to say no. But this man has been making the rules for years. I’ve known him for a long time. He gave me the money to start this place and continues to pour money in when he’s a customer. The Don can shut this place down if there’s something he doesn’t like about it. That’s why we always try to do things that he likes.”
    He could shut Mama’s nightclub down? I thought about all the girls who would be out of a job, out of money, and thrown out on the streets.
    All because I didn’t want to sleep with the Don—even though he was going to pay me.
    Mama had been so kind to me, and my selfishness was going to kill her dreams.
    “I’ll do it,” I said finally.
    “Jazz, you don’t have to,” Mama said, but the relief was plain on her face.
    “I want to do it,” I said. “It’s the least I could do. You took me off the streets. We’re family now.”
    Mama grabbed me and held me close. Her perfume was cloying, almost suffocating, and I had to hold my breath.
    “You’re a good girl, Jazz,” she said. “You’re a good girl.”
    “There’s just one thing,” I said. “Well, a couple of things. I have some scarring from, well, you know.”
    “That’s fine, honey,” Mama said. “He’ll notice it or he won’t.”
    “The other thing is …” I hesitated. This was embarrassing, but I had to come clean. “I haven’t really had that much experience in the bedroom.”
    During high school, I’d had some crushes. I never really dated before, but I did let a guy get to second base once while we rode the bus.
    And the things Jack did to me I associated more with pain than with sex.
    Mama was giving me an assessing look. “Are you telling me you’re a virgin?” she nearly demanded.
    I nodded slowly. “More or less.”
    “Which part is more and which part is less?” she asked sharply.
    I flinched. “I’ve never lay down willingly with a man and had real sex.”
    Mama smiled—a smile I’d never seen before. It scared me a lot.
    “We’ll name a price he thinks he