The Importance of Being Kept

Chapter 9. Repercussions

Brandon took Kaylee to his private room as his bouncers worked on clearing out the club. He leaned against his desk and stared at her as she stood in front of him. Kaylee felt her face growing hot as his eyes ran down her body from head to toe.

"Who the hell are you, tonight, Kaylee?" he finally asked.

"Bonquita," she answered.

He stared at her as if she was crazy, then frowned and rubbed his jaw. "Damn, you hit hard for a girl...."

"Thank you," she told him.

He raised an eyebrow.

"If you ever call me a prostitute again, I'll slap the shit out of you," she threatened. She knew she was being a hypocrite cause she'd said it herself while they stood in line, but still hearing those words come from Brandon hurt.

He stared at her in shock. She'd never spoken to him like this. "Again, who ARE you tonight?"

"There's more to me than you think Brandon, if you ever stuck around long enough, you'd see the real me, but all you do is go around intimidating me and bossing me around and scaring me so yes that's all you know about me."

"I'm sorry, Kaylee, for everything. I only said those words out of anger. I didn't mean it. When I saw how damn beautiful you looked in that dress, I mean, damn, I've never seen this sexy side of you before and the first time I do, you're grinding with one of my friends, well ex- friend now."

"I wasn't grinding with him; he was grinding against me and I was about to tell him to stop when you showed up and knocked the living daylights out of him."

Brandon grinned.

"Why exactly did you go so berserk in the first place?"

"I don't like other men touching you."

"Why not?" Kaylee asked.

"Because you're mine..."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I don't understand."

"I consider you as mine, Kaylee, what part of that do you not understand?"

"Oh, you mean you see me as those other girls that apparently had such a good time with you last night that they were crawling all over your body in front of me. Sorry, but no, I refuse to be part of your harem."

Brandon winced. "It's not like that Kaylee, you're not like those girls. You're special to me."

"How am I supposed to believe this now after seeing what I've seen and hearing what I heard?"

"I closed the damn club for you, doesn't that mean anything?!"

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I don't want to lose you."

"You never had me!"

"Kaylee," he took a step to her.

She stepped back.

He stared at her, the hurt clearing showing in his eyes. "You have always been a special part of my life. Why do you think I boss you around so much? I worry about you. I care about you. I've been confused about my feeling for you for a very long time. A part of me wants to have you, but there's another part that feels I don't deserve you and yet overall, I don't want anyone else to have you either. I thought that I could keep it that way until tonight. I didn't know how much you meant to me until I saw you here. The way you looked at me when you saw those girls scared the shit out of me. I'd do anything to have you in my life, to keep you in my life, give up this club, give up the women, give up everything just don't look at me like that again, don't push me out of your life, Kaylee."