Read Duplicity for Free Online Page B

is a filthy piece of work. If you’d open your legs up
for him, your standards are too low for my taste.”
    Lilith let a slow smirk come over her face. “Oh,
Francis.” Her voice dripped with condescension. She splayed her hand on
his chest, drawing her fingers up to tap his chin. “You’re just mad that my
standards are too high, and you’ll never get a piece of this.”
    With that, she jumped off the stage, looking over her shoulder at
the perplexed buddies. “As for you boys, you’re cute enough. I’ll be around if
you shake your friend here.” She glanced at the furious scowl on Frank’s face
and winked before she walked off, her hips swaying in time with the club’s
pulsing beat.
     
    ~0~
     
    It was the small hours of the morning when Lilith walked out of
the club. She yawned, ready to be home and in bed. Luckily, Dana had lent her
the car, so she didn’t have to walk or find a taxi.
    The night was cold enough that she let the car idle for a few
minutes. She rubbed her hands together, blowing into them.
    After a moment, her skin began to crawl. She looked around,
positive someone was watching her.
    Sure enough, across the lot she saw a familiar figure. Frank. In
the darkness, it was hard to say if it was her he was looking at. He was leaning
on the roof of his car, turned in her direction, just standing there. Being creepy.
    Then again, he’d been an idiot all night. If he thought she was
unaware he’d been staring, he was mistaken.
    It had been a slow kind of night. The drunken buddies had paid her
well enough to let them do shots from her cleavage. After that, it had been
dance after dance after lap dance.
    The whole time, she’d felt Frank’s eyes on her, had seen his
glower when she happened to glance in his direction. At one point, he’d been
loud enough that it was clear he was trying to draw attention to himself. He
had Ginger on his lap, and she was playing it up like she was having a grand ol ’ time. He’d looked at Lilith with purpose then, his
expression cocky, as if he was trying to show her what she was missing.
    Idiot.
    At some point, it had become a battle of the wills. She was
determined to show him he wasn’t getting to her even though, when he looked at
her like that, she felt dirty. It had taken everything in her not to ask Ethan to
see him out. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction.
    So though she was ten times more creeped out now—it was the middle of the night in a darkened parking lot after all—she
resisted the urge to throw her car into drive and get the hell out of there.
Instead, she just stared right back.
    He gave in first. It was a couple minutes before he got in his car
and peeled away, tires squealing.
    Breathing a little easier, Lilith cranked up the heater and drove
home.
    For the most part, her mind was blank as she drove. She had the
next couple days off, which was nice. The only thing on her docket was a tryst
with Trey, and that was hardly work anymore.
    All in all, even with Frank being a jerk, it had been a good day.
    As always, Lilith was as quiet as possible as she slid the key in
the door. The apartment she shared with Dana was a one bedroom. They alternated
who slept on the pull-out bed of the sofa and who got the bedroom. This week
was Dana’s week on the couch, and Lilith didn’t want to wake her up.
    When she got inside, however, she saw that her discretion had been
unnecessary. Dana was thrashing and whimpering in her sleep. Her nightmares got
pretty horrendous some nights—it looked like tonight was one of those nights.
    Kneeling on the crappy mattress, Lilith ran her fingers through
Dana’s blond hair, careful to avoid the snarls. “Come on, honey. You’re okay.
Wake up.” She spoke in a soft murmur, trying to comfort her.
    The nightmares were scary, but once upon a time, Lilith would come
home to find Dana strung out on whatever drug someone had pressed on her that
night. There weren’t a lot she hadn’t tried. But that part