It was the last day of our fake relationship. Tonight, we had to make a choice.

As though I’d summoned her with that thought, there was knock on my trailer door. I quickly pulled the gloves on for maximum effect, but when I flung the door open with a flourish, it was Max standing there instead of Elena.

“You ready to do this, Lord Steel?” He slapped a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, you ready for me now?”

“No, we’re having some lighting issues. I’ll have someone come get you.” He sat on a chair, so I did the same. “Just hadn’t had a chance to make sure you were okay personally. We haven’t had much time to talk lately. I don’t wanna get in your head, but wanted to check on you after all the rumors I’ve been hearing.”

I assumed he meant the cheating rumors about Elena that we’d been ignoring. We hadn’t started them, but it always happened when I started dating someone. He knew that, so I was surprised he was giving them credence.

“Yeah, it’s the usual bullshit. No truth to it.”

He looked surprised. “You sure? Seems like she’s finally showing her true colors with you…”

“What do you mean?” I asked carefully, dread coiling in my stomach.

“I don’t know if this is my place. I’ve been thinking about giving you a heads-up, but didn’t want to cross a line.”

He took my silence as an invitation to keep talking. He sighed and spread his hands open. “She did a number on me too, man. I hope she isn’t toying with your head too bad. I’ve talked to some of her other former clients and this is her pattern with men. She manipulates your feelings. Makes you feel like there’s something special between you, something real. Then she twists it on you and leaves you out to dry. She gets off on the power she holds over people, making them fall in love with her.” He shook his head disgustedly.

I sat there staring at him, incapable of forming a sentence. It was like he’d just spoken my worst fears aloud and my brain was spinning too quickly to assemble my thoughts.

“So you knew her from before? You were one of her clients?”

“Yeah, man. Years ago. A producer friend recommended her after my divorce and I got in way over my head with her. She manipulated the hell out of me. Convinced me to start seeing her outside of the dungeon.”

He held up his phone with a selfie of them in cocktail attire in a restaurant. Elena said she’d never dated a client.

I was clenching my fists with the effort it took not to jump up from the couch.

“She didn’t tell you we had a history, did she?” he asked, looking smug.

I shook my head.

“Can’t trust whores, man. They’re only ever in it for themselves. It’s for the best that you found out what she’s really like sooner than later.”