CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jack
I was bored out of my fucking mind. I was on the tour of Nico’s clubs, and all I could think about was when we got to Daisy.
We’d finished touring Saffron, the health club, and were standing in the middle of a large, glamorous room with multiple chandeliers hanging down a center line in the ceiling, lighting a long, catwalk-style stage.
Beautifully carved antique wooden tables and plush chairs lined the room on either side of the stage.
It reminded me of when I’d attended a fashion show for a lingerie model I’d been fucking.
“What’s this?” I asked turning to look at Nico. He’d been talking the entire time, and now, when I actually wondered what was going on, he was quiet.
Nico smiled, his handsome face, sharp jaw, and suit were all a bit incongruous with the muscles and tattoos that his bespoke clothing barely hid. “We just toured Cinnamon, as you know.”
God, yes. It was boring as hell, and I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to spend time there. There weren’t even many hot women around. Just a few bartenders and a handful of waitresses. It was mainly full of men drinking and talking.
“I could tell you didn’t like it, and I get it. A lot of our club members close business deals there and really enjoy networking. It’s a club that Carmen designed to look like the high-end gentleman’s clubs that have been around forever in London.”
“Hmm.” I couldn’t even keep the lack of interest out of my voice.
Nico grinned and passed a hand over his mouth. I wondered if he was trying not to laugh. Maybe he knew I was about a second from just leaving him standing there, calling an Uber, and heading home or to the office.
The only thing keeping me here was Daisy. I knew she worked at one of these clubs. And I was going to find out which one tonight.
“There’s another part of Cinnamon, Jack. One I think you’ll be very interested in.”
I cocked an eyebrow, vaguely remembering that Tallon had said there was a top secret aspect to the Salazar clubs that members couldn’t find out about. “What is it?”
“Have a seat.” He walked over to the bar, pulled down a bottle of whiskey and two cut crystal glasses, and headed back towards me. As I sat down, he gestured to the catwalk stage. “What do you think that’s for?”
It looked like something out of a fashion show, but I knew it couldn’t be that. I couldn’t imagine the crowd of guys I’d seen downstairs being interested in the latest designer trends. I was starting to have an idea, but didn’t want to say it in case I was wrong.
“Carmen created an auction,” he said, sitting down and pouring out a couple of fingers for each of us.
Now this piqued my interest, and I couldn’t hold back my honesty. “This is the first damn thing you’ve said all night that I’ve been interested in.”
Nico tossed his head back and laughed. “I thought you would be. Especially when you said you wanted to see Daisy Tiller during the tour.”
“I’d like to point out,” I said, “that she’s not here.”
“Yeah. Just be patient.” He took a slug of his drink.
“Anyway, Carmen wanted an auction that was safe. She knew there were girls who couldn’t afford college, clothes, cars, medical bills, whatever, that were willing to exchange…
certain favors with a man to make their money problems go away.
But they would go to websites or apps for sugar babies, and, well, sometimes bad things happened to those girls.
That really bothered her, and she wanted to change that.
“She created this auction that required the men to be members of all four of my private clubs, have background checks, sign NDAs, have financial records analyzed, medical clearance of STIs, that kind of thing.”
This sounded intense. “And the women?”
“Have to undergo a similar process. They all work for the Salazars in some capacity. It doesn’t matter which club or restaurant they work at, they all qualify.
But,” he got a gleam in his eyes, “there is a featured cinnamon girl in the auction each month. Most often the featured women come from Sugar, but there are a few that have come from the other clubs or even the restaurants. We’ve even had a couple of real estate agents, even though that was handled even more discreetly than normal. ”
My mind flashed to my former neighbor, Tiffani Grace.
I wondered if she’d been one of them. Her parents had been strictly middle class like my family had been before CaveSphere had taken off.
But I remembered she’d seemed to hit it big almost as soon as she came to the city.
Although that had been a good while ago, and I wasn’t sure how long this auction had been around.
I sure as hell wasn’t going to ask, though.
“So… is the auction for a weekend or a night or something?”
Nico chuckled. “Not exactly. It’s for anywhere from three months to a year.”
I couldn’t hide my surprise. “Damn. That’s a long time.”
“It is,” he agreed. “But many of the men who ‘shop’ at the auction are looking for a long-time mistress. A lot of them are married, but some of them are extremely busy with work and don’t have time to meet the type of women they want to spend a lot of time fucking.”
I nodded. “So, the men get beautiful women to fuck and have as arm candy at society functions if they want. What do the women get?”
Nico grinned. “Whatever the hell they want. Within reason.”
I just raised my eyebrows at him and waited for an explanation.
He didn’t disappoint. He poured us two more generous helpings of whiskey before continuing.
I was beginning to think he was trying to get me drunk.
“The women ask for school debt to be taken care of. Many of them are in medical or law school. Some have sick family members and need help with the bills. Some just come from a poor background and are looking for a way to leave all of that behind. There are so many situations that bring a woman to the auction.” He took another slug.
“A lot of their needs are individualized. Some want a house, some want medical school, some want to put their younger siblings through college. But Carmen makes sure all women get certain things. They get a car, designer clothes and jewelry, weekly salon appointments, dates and vacations, and a luxury condo at Salazar Heights during the term they are cinnamon girls…”
“Cinnamon girls?”
“Carmen’s name. It makes them stand out a bit from sugar babies. Plus, it sounds a little more legal.” He leaned forward. “Even though it’s not, really. But Carmen’s a lawyer, and both the sheriff and the mayor are members of the club, so…” he shrugged.
I knew Reynolds Taylor, West Bay’s mayor, could afford a club like this. But the sheriff? “How does the sheriff afford something like this on his salary?”
“There might be a couple of members who were gifted their memberships as long as they looked the other way.” He got a devilish look on his face. “Believe me. Sheriff Richards is down in Cayenne, the sex club, most nights of the week. He isn’t about to turn us in.”
“Is the sex club illegal?”
“Nah. No money changes hands besides membership fees. There are no sex workers down there, and I even make sure that none of the strippers or waitresses from the clubs are down there. That’s what the VIP rooms in Sugar are for, anyway.
And that is illegal, but again, the sheriff enjoys his time there very, very much.
We’re not worried. The only crossover we have are some of the female bartenders, but members know they’re strictly off limits. ”
“Didn’t the mayor just get married, though? He might get upset by all this…”
He leaned in even closer. “How do you think he met his wife?”
I almost gasped in surprise. “The auction?”
He nodded. “Yep. Every month Carmen puts fifteen to twenty women in the auction. And like I said each month there’s one featured woman.
Nadine was the featured woman the month Reynolds bid.
She’s the only reason he bid. Anyway, that featured spot is coveted, because it usually goes to a woman the men are familiar with and have wanted to fuck for ages.
But they’ve been off limits, for the most part.
” He got a gleam in his eye. “Though there are a couple who will do a few things in the VIP room that also get chosen for the auction. It’s usually private dances with no touching, but there are one or two who’ve been known to give head for a little extra cash before the auction takes place.
And, as you can probably guess from what you saw the other night in Cayenne, my twin brothers bend those rules quite frequently. ”
I could tell he’d partaken of some of that himself as well and started to open my mouth.
He held up a hand. “What Carmen doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”
I leaned back, taking a long drink of my whiskey and going over all the information he’d given me. So far, I couldn’t see a reason why I’d join this club.
“This is all interesting, but I don’t have any desire to join Cinnamon, much less pay extra for the auction.” I stood up.
“Rumor has it,” he said calmly still leaning back casually in his seat, “your girl Daisy is going to be the featured woman in this month’s auction.”
I stood stock still. “What?”
He just observed me as he drank his whiskey. “Interested in the rest of that tour now?”
I looked around the room, trying to imagine my Daisy strutting down the catwalk half-dressed in front of who knows how many rich, handsome men who wanted her to be theirs for a while. I couldn’t.
“You mean she’s going to go up on an auction block and people are going to bid for her like she’s… I don’t know… a painting or something?”
“That’s right,” he stood up and stretched. “And if you want the chance to be one of those bidders, you better get your ass in gear and get joined up, Lancaster.”
“Fuck,” I spat out.
“Come on,” he said, totally unperturbed. “Let’s go see Daze.”
I hung back for a second, my heart starting to beat wildly.
He arched a brow at me. “Aren’t you dying to see her?”