"Bloody hell…" Nick dropped his head into his hands, "It's not like we can go wandering the streets either."
Ryan tilted his head at the photo books, "Now this might just be the pain meds talking… But… We only looked at the men just now, yeah?"
"Yeah," Nick looked at him curiously, "What's your point?"
Connor looked down at Ryan, then back at Nick, "Well… he's right Nick… Why aren't there any female high rollers?"
"Helen doesn't like them near me and Stephen," Nick replied instantly, then blinked, then blushed, ashamed.
"Ah…" Connor said, and left it at that, before switching back to the original subject, "Well… what about a leather girl? We have a couple. And if we had one as a high roller then we might be able to lure business away from that she-dragon in Demon's Lair."
"She-dragon? You mean 'Mistress Caroline'?" Stephen rolled his eyes as he put the name in quotation marks.
Connor snorted, "Yeah… her."
"A leather girl?" Nick nodded slowly, "Aye… that could work. Stephen, could you…" he trailed off as he saw Stephen already bringing the books back to the table.
"Thanks," Nick flicked through them quickly, pulling out the few photos he needed, "Alright. We have Paula Nesbitt, Rebecca Dalkeith, Jenny Lewis and Abby Maitland."
"Not Paula," Stephen said instantly, "She's a lesbian, only works with women. You need someone who swings both ways like the rest of us."
"Then not Jenny either," Ryan cut in, "She's a bloody viper. She'll work with women, but doesn't like it and will treat them worse than the men."
Nick put those two photos back in the book, "Alright then. Rebecca Dalkeith or Abby Maitland?" he sat the photos side by side on the desk.
Connor picked them both up, looking at the two women closely, "Abby," he said decisively, "It has to be Abby."
When he didn't elaborate, Nick sighed and said, "Care to explain?"
"The look in Rebecca's eyes," Connor held up the photo, "She's scared of what she does. All it would take is one of the she-dragon's more hardcore clients and Rebecca would be a wreck."
He passed the photo back to Nick to inspect, holding up the photo of Abby, "Abby on the other hand… You can see it in her eyes, she loves what she can do to other people, loves the power she has over them."
"Hate to admit it, Nick…" Stephen looked at the two photos, "But he's right."
"Yeah…" Nick nodded slowly, "Stephen, if you wouldn't mind…"
"One leather girl, coming right up," Stephen leant a hip against Nick's desk as he stood up, kissing him quickly and walking out.
He returned with a slight blonde woman following behind him, "Everyone, this is Abby. Abby, this is Nick, Connor and Ryan."
Stephen stepped aside to let her pass him. Abby walked into the room, eyeing them all appreciatively. Like Stephen, she wore knee high leather boots. Unlike the other leather girls in the pictures, she had passed over the fishnet stockings, preferring to leave her legs bare. And yet again, unlike those other girls, instead of the leather corset and hot pants that seemed to be a recurring theme, Abby wore a soft, silk dress that clung to all her curves and ended just below the curve of her arse.
Short blonde hair framed darkly made-up blue eyes, which glittered a little suspiciously as she spoke, "This is all very mafia. Why am I here?"
Ryan responded dryly, "We've come to make you an offer you can't refuse."
As Abby raised an eyebrow, lips quirking in a half-smile, Nick shot him a glare, "He's not far wrong actually, Abby. But… what gets said in this room doesn't leave this room. Or you take your chances over at Demon's Lair. Understand?"
Abby's eyebrows went a little higher, the seriousness of the situation sinking in, "Got it."
"Helen has left," Nick said bluntly, "She's left, divorced me, taken the money and left Anomaly in 75,000 pounds worth of debt."
"Skank…" Abby spat, eyes darkening in anger.
"It gets worse," Connor cut in, "We could've managed," he stroked a soothing hand over Ryan's shoulders, "But Ryan's last client was a complete fruitcake and… well…" he gestured to the man's bruised face.
Abby took a few steps closer, wincing, "How bad?"
"Bruised rib and this," Ryan pointed to his face.
Abby nodded, "Is that why I'm here? To replace Ryan?"
Nick and Stephen exchanged looks, "For the moment… But, if it works out, then we'll probably keep you on as a high roller. If you want the job."
Abby grinned, "Obviously you guys haven't been downstairs for a good while. It's all us lowly peasants dream of."
Nick snorted, "Well then, if it works out, job's yours."
Abby nodded slowly, "So… my prices will go up, yeah?"
Stephen grinned, "Oh yeah… As a newbie they'll be lower than ours, but still significantly higher than what you'd get downstairs. Whaddya think, Nick? Four hundred for the first hour, two-fifty for every following hour?"
Nick shook his head, "Nah. Better make four-fifty, two-fifty or we'll get too many just comin' in for the hour," he turned to Abby, "Do you have any regulars you'd like to keep? We can keep them on your current rate as long as they don't start showin' up more than normal."
Abby's eyebrows flew up into her head as Nick and Stephen decided on her wages, "Bloody hell, you guys really do rake it in, dontcha?" she shook her head at Nick, "No, I don't really have any regulars, most of the ones that come to me, only come here because they can't get an appointment in Demon's Lair. Or…" she wrinkled her nose, "Herself has roughed them up a little too much and they want someone who'll still wear the boots, but will kiss it better at the same time."
"Eurgh…" Connor shook his head, "She still doing that?" he sighed, "I used to get all the she-dragon's bloodied up clients when I was downstairs."
Ryan, Nick and Stephen all swung their heads round to Connor, jaws dropping almost comically. Abby nodded slowly, eyeing the baby-faced whore with a whole new respect.
"You were leather?" she tilted her chin up at him.
Connor nodded, "For a while," he pulled his knee up and rested his chin on it, careful not to disturb Ryan, "But I prefer the work I do now."
Ryan poked Connor in the side, "Don't think we won't be talking about that when we get back to our room."
Nick snorted, then looked over at Stephen, "Right then, put the word out. Anomaly has a new high roller."
Despite Nick's earlier apprehensions, which he was fully prepared to blame on Helen and her jealousy, Abby fit in their little group, and fit in well. She argued and flirted with Stephen, talked business and insulted Helen with Nick and kept Ryan reassured that in no way was she out to take his place.
But what surprised Nick most, was her sudden and easy friendship with Connor. Or more importantly, how Abby could convince Connor that just about anything was a really good idea. The two had started off by discussing their leather backgrounds, and wasn't that a shock to them all. Sweet, baby-faced Connor used to wear the leather and the boots.
Then it had moved to Abby trying to convince Connor to dig out his leathers again. Which had been seconded, surprisingly, by Ryan. So Connor had sighed, promising nothing more than to try them on for his lover. But that had turned into Abby trying to convince him to steal even more of Demon's Lair's clients away from them by having a leather guy and a leather girl on staff.
Nick could be forgiven for missing it. He could try and justify it to himself. But the simple fact is, with Abby coming in and Ryan slowly getting better and trying to keep his business from falling down around his ears, he simply hadn't been paying attention. It wasn't until Stephen raced through the doors of Anomaly, pale faced, barely five minutes from meeting his next client that a problem even registered.
"Stephen?" Nick blinked, "Bloody hell! Cuttin' it a bit fine, aren'tcha?"
"I'm good, Nick," Stephen shot him a cocky smile that didn't reach his eyes as he skidded down the hall, barely missing Connor and darted into his room, slamming the door.
Frantic noises could be heard as Stephen hurried to get ready in time, making Connor blink in surprise, then turn to Nick, "Was he not ready? I mean… that's not like him."
"No…" Nick frowned, but shook his head with a sigh, "But hell, with the stress we've all been under lately, can you blame him for havin' an off day?"
Connor frowned lightly at the closed door, "… No, I suppose not…"
But one off day turned into two, which turned into three, which turned into an off week, which turned into an off fortnight. Soon it seemed that all Stephen's appointments were met with thundering footsteps and Stephen skidding down the hall as he attempted to break the world speed record for painting leather pants onto one's own arse.
Nick grumbled to himself, his foul mood with Stephen only made worse as the receptionist brought him Stephen's income for the week, "Here, Mr Cutter. This lot is Stephen's. And…" she fished through the folder in her hands, "Here's his booking list for next week."
"Thanks, Izzy," he took them both from her, "If that's everythin' you can head home, I bet your kids miss their mum."
Izzy smiled, "Thank you, Mr Cutter, I might just do that. You have a good night, now."
Nick smiled until Izzy left, then growled at the piece of paper and income packet in his hands, "Bloody Stephen, what the hell has gotten into you lately?"
He kept grumbling even as he pulled Stephen's finance file up on the computer. Then he blinked. Wait… That can't be right. The numbers didn't add up. He didn't make those entries. Nick pulled Stephen's hardcopy file out of the drawer. No. It wasn't right. But… that didn't make sense. If someone was going to make additional entries to a finance file…
Surely you would take money rather than add to it? Right?
Nick looked through the transactions, comparing them to his own records, then comparing it to the money in the safe. Almost a thousand pounds. Why the hell would Stephen give him almost a thousand pounds and not tell him? Hell… where would Stephen get almost a thousand pounds? Nick's mind reluctantly, but inevitably turned to the way Stephen had come rushing in to just about every scheduled job in the last two weeks. He hadn't been in Anomaly. Where had he been? Taking jobs on the side?
"Aw, Stephen…" Nick sighed.
This had to be sorted, and now. Nick picked up the phone, quickly dialling Stephen's mobile. It rang once, twice, three times. Then it hung up. Nick held the receiver away from his face, staring at it like it had sprouted wings. Stephen had just hung up on him. Stephen never hung up on him. Okay, that settled it. He and Stephen were going to have a chat when he came home.
There were no thundering footsteps this time. Stephen didn't have a client so he tried to sneak in as quietly as possible, feeling, rather stupidly, like he was fourteen again and trying to sneak back into his dad's house after slipping out to stick his hand up Amy Thornby's dress. He only got as far as the hall before he heard Nick's voice calling out to him. He resisted, just barely, the urge to freeze in his tracks and cringe.
"Stephen?"
"Yeah?" Stephen kept his voice nonchalant as he leant in the doorway of Nick's office.
"You wanna come and explain this?" Nick gestured to the computer screen.
Stephen knew exactly what he was talking about but walked over anyway, "Nick, you know I'm useless with all of this stuff, I…"
"Stephen," Nick sighed, "Just… don't," he rubbed his temples, "There's nearly a thousand pounds in here from you that doesn't add up."
"Are you accusing me of stealing from Anomaly?" Stephen knew he wasn't, but if he could just make Nick angry…
"What?!" Nick stared at him, "No! I mean, there's a thousand pounds too much!"
"Too much?" Stephen eyed him, "We're still seventy grand in debt, Nick, I wouldn't be complaining if I were you."
"I'm not complainin', Stephen, I'm worried," Nick looked at him, "We've all seen you race up to get ready not five minutes before your client shows up. That's not like you."
"Well," Stephen looked resolutely at Nick's forehead, not meeting his eyes, "There's no need to worry, really."
Nick narrowed his eyes at him, "Are you takin' jobs on the side, Stephen? Is that where the money's comin' from?"
Stephen sighed, "It doesn't matter where the money's coming from, Nick…" he held up a hand as Nick started to respond, "Because no matter what I tell you, you're still going to look at me like I'm a streetwalker."