Bound by Her Best Friend (A Club Smex Story) Read Online Free

sitting alone after an evening with Freya was a recipe for disaster. He’d brood for a bit, then start plotting, before realizing the plots weren’t going to work, before going back to brooding. Tonight, for some reason he had yet to comprehend, felt particularly hard, so home was off the list. He needed a distraction and there was only one place to get it. The club.
    The streets were near empty as he drove, but then it was past eleven on a Thursday so that wasn’t really surprising. It took Zak only fifteen minutes to make the journey to the club and a parking space was waiting for him. It had been his car space for well over a year now. He pulled in, turned off the engine, and strode across to the building, smiling slightly as he remembered his first thoughts when he’d seen the elegant façade. An easy mistake to make, Zak suspected most passersby would think it was an up-market hotel too. The myriad of winking lights, the polished marble steps, the thick oak door, it all gave off that vibe.
    Of course, the façade was just that, a thin veneer that hid the truth of what really went on behind those closed doors. Perhaps if someone passing looked closely they might realize the lights actually hid the fact that the windows were reflective, that no one could look inside them. And the oak door would not open, no matter how many times a person pushed against it, because only those who were members knew about the card reader hidden discreetly to the side.
    Zak pulled his own card from his pocket and pushed the oak door open. The lobby was quiet, the checkerboard floor perfectly clean. Zak looked around him and let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. A moment later and his gaze rested on the hostess. She was sat behind a large desk in the back of the lobby, a smile on her face, and an enquiring look in her eye. Zak couldn’t remember ever arriving and finding that desk deserted no matter what the time. More than that, he couldn’t remember ever seeing a different hostess. It was always this one. Her name was Eliza.
    She was sitting down, of course, so Zak couldn’t see all of her, but he knew that she was wearing a black dress and ridiculously high heels. She always did. Her honey-colored hair was left loose, dancing around her shoulders and her makeup was discreet.
    Not for the first time Zak wondered how she always managed to be in the same place at the same time. Not that she wasn’t stunning to look at, God knew she was, but she never made him pause in that way. What did was the hair—because no matter what the shade of blonde—it always made him think of Freya. He compared every woman with golden locks to her…and found them all lacking.
    “Mr. Harker,” Eliza said as he walked forward. “Would you like someone to escort you to your room?”
    He shook his head. He wasn’t here for anything like that tonight. Not so soon after seeing Freya, it would feel like, he scowled, like a betrayal, and how fucking ridiculous was that?
    “No,” he said quickly. “I’m heading to the bar.”
    She and pressed a button under the desk. The double glass doors behind her opened, releasing a flood of warmed air. “Of course,” she said with a smile. “Enjoy, and if you need anything please let me know.”
    He shot her a polite smile as he passed through the doors and into the corridor. It went on for quite some time before opening up to a grand staircase and a number of doors. Zak chose the second door on the left—straight into the bar.
    He looked around and immediately spotted two familiar faces, Mitch and Rob. Zak had known both men before the club, they moved in the same business circles as him, and it had been Rob who’d put him up for club membership. That was the way the club worked, you couldn’t just turn up and ask to be let in, whether a woman or a man, someone had to recommend you. Only after finances and character were checked out would you then be permitted to apply for