Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
VIOLET
The training center isn’t what I expected on the outside.
Cade had said something about a fishing store.
And Frank’s Bait and Tackle is certainly that. Outside, and weirdly inside.
I follow Thomas and Macy in.
She doesn’t look at me, but I’m not sure what I expected. I guess from the look she gave me at the club which had vibes of we might know each other or maybe she didn’t like me to now, it’s just…weird? Right?
I don’t know.
Unease pricks my skin as we go through the store and through to the back, where there’s a lift behind a door marked cleaning supplies.
The elevator’s sleek, and it’s the kind of thing I’d imagine as part of an exclusive sex club’s training center.
I take off my coat and hold it over my arms, like it’s a security blanket. The USB is inside my bra, but the tools and the burner are in the coat. So, I’m not letting that go.
The elevator doors open, and we go in.
Thomas punches in a code, and I try to remember the numbers.
I don’t know what’s going to happen this evening. I have no idea if part of training is going back to the club.
I’m not sure exactly how to get out of this tonight after I do what I need to do.
Thomas is talking. And I know I need to listen, but panic rings in my ears and tightens around my chest.
“Sorry,” he says to me, one hand sliding around me, down my back to my ass, and along the crack of my cheeks like he wants into me anyway he can. It takes everything I am not to scream. “We were talking shop there.”
“That’s okay,” I say. “I’m a little nervous, so I didn’t take it in.”
He smiles down at me, eyes lingering on the swell of my breasts, and he lifts his hand from my ass as the elevator stops, and he runs a finger over my nipples, tweaking one.
I want to slap him so hard.
But I don’t.
I just stand there.
The bile bitter in my mouth. Letting him touch.
“I was saying I’d like you ready to start work in two day’s time.”
“So, I’m in?” I ask, sounding like a fool.
“You’re in. I have some important clients that Macy pointed out would love you. So…two days.” He smiles at me and leans in close, the oud crowding me as he does so. “Don’t worry, I’ve asked her to take you under her wing.”
He takes my hand then as he punches in a code, and the doors open. He leads us out.
One number different. I memorize that, too.
Thomas keeps hold of my hand and lifts it, kissing it, his tongue swiping across the back of it, and my skin crawls. Then he unclasps the bracelet and pulls out a white diamond one, putting that on.
“Staff,” he says to me.
Then he looks at Macy as we all enter a room with sofas. He motions for us to sit, even though he doesn’t.
“You’ll have her ready?” he asks her.
She nods. And I notice she has the same bracelet on as I now do.
It does nothing to diminish the bile burning in my mouth and throat.
“Of course, I will.” Macy nods. “It won’t be a problem.”
Once more, his gaze goes to me, lingering on my legs. “I’m sure it won’t be a problem, either. Not if Violet’s performances as a guest at The Dungeon are any indication. She’s going to be very, very popular.”
My cheeks start to burn, because he’s looking at me like I’m a meal, like he can’t wait to sink his dick in me and watch others do the same.
And my stomach starts to churn.
But I smile.
He pulls out his phone and looks at what I assume is a message. “If you’ll both excuse me…”
With that, he leaves.
And I sit there, cold and hot all at the same time as Macy stands motioning me to follow her.
For a moment, I don’t move. I can’t. Now I’m here, this is horribly real.
“What does training involve?” I ask. There’s no one else here, but then again, there must be. Other rooms, and other floors. There were two more below where we got off listed on the elevator’s floor pad.
“What do you mean?” She opens a door on the opposite side to where we came in.
I stay where I am.
“What do you think I mean?” I hiss. “Like, do you put me in a room to get fucked? What does training include? Is it women being taught to pretend to love having sex with strangers? Some tricks of the trade?”
She stares at me, snorting as she shakes her head. “Is that all you think this job is? Fucking?”
“I don’t know…”
“If that’s what you think, why the fuck did you put yourself up to work here?”
My cheeks burn hotter.
I’m honestly not sure how I’m meant to answer that honestly. I don’t really want to run through my extensive kink list, a list that gets bigger with every single thing I do with Cade, and this is a fantasy, one that sure, I want to keep as fantasy, but…how do I even begin to explain that?
I don’t. I can’t.
“Honestly? I have no idea what to expect. I just want to…you know.”
“I know. Me too. But, Violet…you need to know what you’re willing to do.”
“And if I don’t?” I look at her. “Or if I’m forced? Is that what training is, to hide the distaste?”
“Honestly, yes, part of it,” Macy says. “If you see a man who you know will tip you big time but you aren’t into him, you hide it or you let someone else take his attention.”
“So, it is sex.”
“How involved you want to be while working is completely up to you. Or the girl in question.” She smiles and shrugs.
“But flirting, making the man feel special is important. That’s the main role, and that’s the point of training, to make that seem natural and real.
You’ll need to remember names, favorite drinks if it’s a guy who comes by regularly.
The real kink guys might have girls they choose from for fun and games but those girls share those kinks.
And the guy only cares about catering to his particular needs, crawling, attention to him, submission. And so on.”
I swallow hard. “I see.”
“Real kink work isn’t something you’ll be asked to do. It’s something you want to do. But we’re not really that part of the club. Most of those girls are members and do it because they want it.”
“And sex? I’ve seen sex happen…”
“With us, it can turn sexual, but it’s not all the time.
Some guys like to watch and have a pretty girl flirt with them before they go home to their wives.
They’re faithful, but they like to be a member of the city’s most exclusive sex club.
And it’s a place some of them make business deals.
It’s a good way to keep the deals honest, sharing the secret both parties go there. ”
She continues to chatter about all the things I could do, or a girl could do if she chose. There are rooms to take the men, there are private parties. There is all the things Cade told me, except it sounds like it’s a choice of the girl and not part of the training.
But the thing is, Macy heavily implies that sex is part of it, and not just often, most of the time. It’s just how you want to frame it.
The best money is the private rooms but those are places a girl needs to be invited to and often, the girls who work at the club don’t even go there. Whoever they bring is so private no one sees. There are rooms to have sex in where a man might not want to be seen doing that, but…
Parties.
Wild gangbangs.
Things that might not be deemed acceptable on the other floors.
I glean there’s a complete other world in the private rooms. And what turns my stomach is her nonchalance about the girls coming in the rest don’t see.
Are they underage? Trafficked?
Someone like Gianna, sold to the highest bidder?
But apart from the whole thing of who those other girls are, I’m not planning on letting this get past tonight’s training.
The rest I’ll be helping Cade find out.
Inside, I shudder. As much as this appeals to me on fantasy levels, and all of it does, the fantasies I want to come true stop and start with Cade.
The thought of doing anything sexual where he’s not involved does nothing for me. And I’m not even sure I’d have sex with someone else under his guidance.
My pussy clenches at the thought.
Okay, maybe I’d consider it. I like the fantasy—
That’s all it is. Fantasy. But I know I’d be willing to do anything for him.
Like this.
I’ll help keep him safe by using what I have, being a female Thomas wants, to get him the information to bring Thomas down, to find and free Gianna.
“Come on.” Macy flickers a look at me. “I have to show you around. There are rooms where you can find your look, though that one is good, but I’d suggest having a few.
I can help you train how to pay attention to men in the right way, to treat him like there’s no one else around, to let him think you’re his, and he’s your favorite, to get out of situations you don’t want to be in without upsetting the guy. ”
“Okay.”
I follow her, and she opens a door to a room that’s set up like a bar, and there’s a table that looks like it’s been lifted from The Dungeon.
Macy leans against the bar, reaches over and pulls up a bottle of bourbon. “You look like a bourbon girl. Drink?”
She doesn’t wait as she pours two drinks, then she slinks up to me and hands me one. “Like that. Like he’s the only man, and you want him bad.” Then she turns and sits at the bar like she’s shy.
“If you were actually going through with this, I’d play the baby vixen role. Girl who’s both shy, learning, and oozes untapped sex appeal. Like you want a Daddy.”
I take a swallow of the drink, but I grimace at the tannin taste to it. “Tea?”
“For training.” She sets her glass down. “So, what’s your plan? I assume you have one?”
I nod. “Of course, I do. All I need is access to wherever they keep the computers.”
Macy snorts. “You say that like it’s easy. Shit, I need a real drink.” But she doesn’t get one. Instead, she stands. “No one’s allowed near the computers, not even me.”
“Fuck.” I frown. “Do you know anyone who can get me in? All I need is two minutes.”
“Fine.” She sighs. “Leave it to me.”
She disappears, and I set down the tea. I take the phone from my coat and hold it tightly under the material of my coat, just in case I need to leave it here.
Macy isn’t gone long but when she comes back, she holds up a swipe card. “Stole it from the guard who’s sweet on me.”
“Did you steal it?”
Macy rolls her eyes. “No. I got it by promising a whole lot of blow jobs.”
I stare at her, all the words out of my grasp.
“It’s not that bad. I told you, he’s sweet on me, and we flirt. And I like him back. We have sex, but I’m not willing to commit. Yet.”
“Do—”
“That’s a conversation for another time. You have five minutes, top. I’m going to go back to the main area and wait for you, because we can really do most of the training there, and me standing in here is suspicious. Up there, I can say you went to the restroom.”
I nod, and she tells me how to get to the locked control room.
“The guard won’t be there for five minutes,” Macy says. “They’re changing over, and Miguel will keep the next guard occupied a little longer. So go.”
She shoos me off and I go, hurrying as fast as I can, past unmarked doors I don’t dare stop and try.
It’s weird there’s no one around, no other girls, but if I’m the only one being trained at this moment and the others Macy is here to train won’t arrive for a while, I guess that makes sense.
I don’t have time to speculate.
I don’t want to speculate.
The swipe card works when I reach the control room, and the door opens.
I look around. There are images of most of the rooms in here on a big screen, and I just glance, but I only see guards, a few girls who aren’t having sex like I feared. And some rooms that are suites and what look like waiting rooms.
I put my coat and phone down and set about connecting the USB to the main computer system.
And it clicks into place, a small light on it flickering from under the table when I peek.
Pleased with myself, I call Cade.
“Where the fuck are you?” he bites out, making me shiver, the first good shiver I’ve had since stepping into the club earlier.
“I love you, too. I’m in the training center—”
“Get the fuck out, Vi. Goddamn it, you’re in danger. I’m going to give you a beating.”
“You can try.”
He gives a bitter laugh. “Not one you’ll like—”
“It’s done. Check. It’s done. You can thank me later with all the orgasms,” I say, trying to flirt.
“Get the fuck out, Vi. You went and did this behind my back, and now I need to clean up after you.”
“Clean up what? The fact I did what needed to be done?”
“Vi—”
“Besides, I’m in now, and arguing about it is just wasting time.”
“Go back to whatever the fuck you’re supposed to be doing and leave the rest to me. Now. I’ll deal with you later.”
“You—”
“Enzo and I’ll be there as soon as possible—”
I hang up.
For god’s sake, he’s an overprotective heathen, that’s what he is. No, thanks, nothing at all but anger and empty threats because he’d never in a million years lay a hand on me to hurt me.
He should be thanking me.
I start to turn. he should—
All thoughts go dead as I come face to face with Joseph Walsh.
A beat passes.
And he smiles. “When Thomas told me there was a new girl, one I’d like, I knew I had to check her out.”
I suck in a breath and start to circle him to get out.
While I’m now the closest of the two of us to the door, he’s closer now. And where am I going to run to?
I sort through excuses, but I can’t find even one.
“Can you even begin to imagine my shock when I realized it was the intern I just hired. Coincidence?” He looks me over. “I think not.”
“I believed in you. I thought you were one of the good guys.” I glare at him.
Joseph laughs. “I’m a politician. I’m a good guy, but to be a good politician you need to be willing to wade in the mud.”
“You disgust me.”
“Says the little bitch selling her wears.” He clicks his tongue.
I narrow my eyes. “And Gianna? What the hell did you do with your daughter?”
“She disappeared.”
“Bullshit. You had her taken, you sold her. I know. I spoke to her. Ivan, remember? You are the lowest piece of shit on this planet. Now, tell me where she is, or I’ll release everything to the press—”
Something stings my arm and two seconds later, the world wavers, unfocuses, and then turns black.
When I come to, nausea rocks me, and the world jumps into focus.
I shiver. It’s a damp cold, and the steel bar I’m tied to is cold, too.
I look around.
I’m in a cell.
But I’m not alone.
Next to me is an unconscious Gianna.