Club Prive Book 3 Read Online Free PDF Page B

ashamed, but it was often easier said than done.
     
    I paid the driver without making eye contact and started up the sidewalk. Gavin had said to use the side entrance, so I walked down the alley rather than going to the front door. As alleys in the city went, this one was better than most. It was relatively clean, with just a few cigarette butts and condoms scattered in with the usual dust and debris that blew around the streets. It didn’t smell pleasant, but there was none of that cat-pee, garbage, and vomit scent that hung around most alleys.
     
    A few feet down, I spotted a bright red door. Next to it was a buzzer. I pressed the button and heard the faint sound of its signaling behind the door. A minute later, the door opened, filled with the massive bouncer who’d been at the door that first night. I doubted he’d have recognized me even if I hadn’t been dressed completely differently.
     
    “Yes?” He looked puzzled as he gave me a once-over.
     
    “I’m here to see Mr. Manning,” I said. I really hoped I sounded like someone on a professional call rather than the kind of girl who frequented sex clubs. I immediately scolded myself for the thought. It was no wonder I had a hard time not feeling ashamed, thinking things like that.
     
    “Who?” The bouncer crossed his arms over his broad chest. He didn’t exactly look friendly, but he also didn’t look like someone who was going kill me if I answered his question.
     
    “Mr. Manning. The owner.” I supposed it wasn’t too strange that a bouncer didn’t know the owner.
     
    “You’re in the wrong place.” He reached for the door. “There’s no one here by that name.” He gave me another full-body look. “If you’re here about the job, auditions are tomorrow.”
     
    I didn’t need anyone to explain to me what the audition was probably for. He started to close the door and I reached out and grabbed it. I wasn’t sure who was more surprised by my action, me or him. I wasn’t exactly tiny, but I was far from being close to his size. I doubted most men would’ve tried to push the issue.
     
    “Miss...” There was a warning in the word.
     
    “Wait, please.” I kept my voice calm. “This is Club Privé, right?” He nodded. “And you’re saying that no one named Gavin Manning is here?”
     
    “It’s okay, Lenny. I asked her to come.”
     
    Gavin’s voice came from behind the bouncer, his tone saying that he knew the mountain of a man currently looking down at me. My heart started to pound and my mouth went dry, but none of it was from arousal. What was going on here? Why didn’t Lenny know who Gavin was if Gavin knew Lenny?
     
    The bouncer stepped out of the way and Gavin was suddenly there. He smiled at me as Lenny walked away, shaking his head and muttering something I couldn’t hear. All of my instincts said that something was wrong, that I should leave, but before I could, Gavin reached out and took my hand, pulling me through the doorway into a small corridor.
     
    “I was starting to worry that you’d changed your mind,” he said.
     
    I yanked my hand out of his and took a step back. He looked startled, but made no move to touch me again.
     
    “What’s wrong?” he asked.
     
    “Who are you?”
     
    “What?”
     
    I wasn’t going to fall for that innocent look. Something weird was going on here, and I was going to find out what. If he wasn’t Gavin Manning, I was going to find out who he really was.
     
    “Who the hell are you?”
     

Chapter 6
     

     
    He stared at me, as if he didn’t understand my question. Fine, I’d explain it.
     
    “The bouncer said there wasn’t anyone named Gavin Manning here, but there you are, and obviously, he knows who you are, which means he was either lying to me, or you’re not who you said you were. And since you’ve lied to me before, I think I’ll err on the side of caution with this one. So, I repeat, who the hell are you?”
     
    Gavin held up a hand, as if sensing