A Pole and a Gun

4 - I surrender

♧ TRIXIE

Nox follows me to my room, framing me like a monstrous-shaped shadow.

This time I'm not perched upside down, and I let my eyes wander around the space. From the height that I see from the windows, we are at least in a penthouse. Everything looks modern and luxurious. I think that these are Dimitri's, if that's his real name, private quarters.

We walk in silence, and I hug myself, needing comfort after everything. Even if I'm holding up on the outside, inside I'm fighting off a storm of emotions. I witnessed my boss being killed, my roommate fleeing the scene, burning the rubber from her car, and my pretty ass being kidnapped in one night.

And now, I'm trapped like a bird in a pretty cage.

Nox opens the door to the room I woke up in and gives me a little push inside by the small of my back. His hands are enormous and I'm practically shoved in.

I plop my ass down on the plush bed while I wait for this Adele person, whoever they are, who Dimitri said was coming up. I notice that the thread count on the sheets is incredible as I move my hands up and down the soft cover.

What would Céline do in my situation? Grit her teeth and face the music, probably.

I was a victim to my own thoughts for only a moment, when the door opens and a garment cart is pushed inside with a woman trailing behind.

"Hello dear, I'm Adele," she announces herself. "Dimitri sent my team up," she states with a smile, the curls framing her face bouncing with the movement.

"T - team?" I stutter.

"Yes, I'm Dimitri's personal stylist," Adele motions to the rack of clothes with a flourish of her hand. "Tammy is on her way up for makeup and hair."

What in the name of holy fuck.

"Am I getting a makeover?" I babble.

What the hell is this place? Have they sucked me into a bad nineties movie?

"You don't have any clothes here and you can't keep walking around in Dimitri's shirt, now can you?" Adele winks and the embarrassment of the moment sets in. The dude clothed me before putting me into bed.

I can't keep walking around in my thong either.

Adele asks for me to stand up and starts taking measurements. She eyes the cart up from time to time and taps with supernatural speed on her tablet. I don't know what's going on, but I simply let it all happen. It's not like I have a choice in the matter.

"Oh, Nox," a female voice coos from the outside of the room. That must be Tammy. "You get bigger every day. Call me if you require my help in the gym, lifting, you name it. Anything." I imagine the woman batting her eyelashes, making Nox dizzy with the movement.

The mountain giant answers her with a grumble and Tammy walks in with a sashay of her hips. The toffee color of her skin is a stark contrast to Adele's paleness. She rolls a black carry-on into the room.

"Dimitri has asked to dye your hair and provide you with a new look," Tammy announces, chewing furiously on a piece of gum.

"What's wrong with my hair?" I respond without hiding my surprise.

I had dyed my hair bright red to appease the clients of the Pussycat Club to earn more money, and it had somehow grown on me.

Busty redheads were in demand.

"He thinks they may recognise you and it is for the best to lie low for the moment," Adele answers, more gracefully than Tammy.

The explanation makes sense. Dimitri got rid of my baby for the same reason, so maybe dying my hair back to its original color wasn't such an enormous sacrifice. I was alive amidst the chaos and I should count my lucky stars that I wasn't lying in a puddle of my own blood on the sticky floor like my former employer.

Tammy motions for me to sit at the vacant chair facing the vanity and starts working on my long wavy tresses. She works fast and with precision. I ignore the times that she pulls too hard while she is lathering the product, and I try to relax.

A bit later, I'm wrapped in layers of tinfoil so that the dye can do its job while Adele is hauling paper bags inside. She ordered clothes through her tablet after taking measurements and they already arrived.

I read names from different fashion brands, not quite believing that Dimitri is spending all this money on me, his kidnapped stripper.

"Dimitri wanted to make up for the pair that you broke in the chase," Adele says as she pushes a tan box in my hands.

I freeze when I read the white letters, Christian Louboutin, Paris.

"That's a lot of lap dances," I choke out, without a filter, making Tammy snort unladylike and Adele lift her brows inquisitively.

Maybe he expects something in return?

A knee to his precious balls if he doesn't watch it.

I'm here against my will. The guy will have to make his sugar daddy fantasies come true with someone else.

I cut my inside monologue short when Tammy directs me to the bathroom to remove the excess dye from my hair. She dries and brushes my new cocoa waves and the women clean up after themselves before leaving me to my new outfit and appearance. Tammy rambles off quickly about the makeup products on the vanity left for me to use.

Why am I getting Pretty Woman vibes?

Nox steps through the door while I'm mumbling to myself, going through all the boxes and clothing bags that Adele left on my bed. He glances at me with an approving look.

"If ye need anything, Kristof is taking over," Nox says. "Analovitz, the lad ye saw earlier," he explains, throwing a thumb over his back. "I'm going to the gym."

"Oh, gym." I clap my hands gleefully before rummaging through the bags to find the appropriate items.