The Private Club 2

The Private Club 2

J.S. Cooper and Helen Cooper

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This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2014 by J. S. Cooper and Helen Cooper

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 1

“Just be quiet.” The man removed his hand from my mouth. “I’m not going to hurt you.” I listened to his voice and shivered, pushing him away roughly as I rubbed my lips aggressively, trying to remove the taste of him from my mouth.

“I don’t care what you have going on, Brandon. I am not going to let this complicate everything. Get your ass down here.”
Greyson’s voice was harsh as we listened to him through the door. “We have things we need to take of.” I stood there in the dark, biting my lip hard. I was scared to be in this room with a stranger, but I was even more scared of what might happen if Greyson knew I had heard his call. Was I the new girl he was talking about? Was that why Greyson was playing with me? Did he have darker intentions where I was concerned? My body shivered again and the man next to me grabbed me.

“Let go.” I hissed and pushed him again. “Who are you?”

“All your dreams come true.” He laughed loudly, and I wondered if I was with a crazy man.

“Turn the lights back on.”

“Want to be able to see my face when you kiss me?”

“I don’t want to kiss you
.”

“O
h, only Greyson gets that honor?”

I gasped at his words and stood there in shock as the lights went back on. David, the head security guard
, was standing in front of me. I stared at him in confusion. I had been positive that I’d been taken advantage of by Frank.

“You.” My eyes narrowed as I stared at his stocky build. How could I have thought, even for one second, that he was
Greyson? “Why did you find me in here and kiss me?” I tried not to look too disgusted. I didn’t want him to get angry.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you
. I’m sorry.” His eyes looked apologetic, but I didn’t feel like forgiving him. “I couldn’t resist.” He shrugged. “You’re beautiful.”

“That doesn’t answer my question. Why did you follow me in here?”

“You’re in danger. I had to warn you.” He whispered and came closer to me.

“How would you know?” I frowned at him, but my heart was racing. What if he was telling the truth?

“Meg, I’m an undercover cop.” He gave me a wry smile. “I’ve been working here undercover for the last two years.”

“Undercover?” I looked at him carefully to see if he was telling the truth. I’d taken some body language classes at a community college when I was in law school and I knew most of the
tell-tale signs of a liar: shifty eyes unable to make eye contact, constant licking of the lips or lip biting, playing with hands or hair, foot tapping, wide smile and wide eyes. But David exhibited none of those signs. He looked me directly in my eyes and his shoulders were straight.

“I work for the vice squad in the New York Police Department.” His eyes were serious now and his voice was low. “I’m trusting you’re not going to let anyone in on what we’re doing here?”

“I don’t know what you’re doing.” I shook my head and stepped back.

“Don’t play stupid, Meg. We both know you’re a smart girl.”

“How do you know my name?” I was staring at him, but my ears were still perked up to hear what was happening outside of the door.

“I know all of the girls
’ names.”

“You know what I mean.” I stepped towards him now. “Why did you come in here? Why share this information with me? You don’t even know me.”

“I know that you used to be a lawyer. I could use your help.”

“What help?”

“Everything is getting out of control here. We need someone on the inside to help us.”

“You are on the inside. You’re the frigging head of security.”

“I don’t know what’s going on.” He looked at me with a worried expression. “Twining is careful, very careful. He doesn’t let us see what happens after the tests.”

“What do you mean?”

“The girls disappear.” His voice was low. “They all just disappear.”

“What?” My voice was loud and his hand flew to my mouth.

“Shh,” he whispered angrily. “We don’t want to alert anyone to the fact that I’m in here.”

“
Greyson may come in,” I told him reluctantly. “He’s come into my last two test rooms. He may come in here as well.”

“He’s really taken a liking to you
, hasn’t he?” He looked me over in surprise.

“Why is that so surprising to you? Am I not his usual type?”

“I don’t know his usual type. He doesn’t normally come around the girls.” He scratched his head. “That’s another reason why I need your help. There’s something about you that intrigues him. You need to get us answers.”

“What answers am I supposed to get?”

“We think that Greyson is involved in some sort of prostitution ring. He’s grooming these young girls for rich men all over the world.”

“I don’t believe it.” I shook my head.

“Don’t you wonder what happened to Maria?”

“Maria?” My heart stopped as he said her name. How did he know about Maria
? And more importantly, which Maria was he talking about?

“Your roommate, Nancy’s sister?”

“How do you know that Nancy had a sister?”

“I told you. I know everything.”
His voice was slightly angry this time.

“I don’t really understand what you expect me to do.”

“Just keep getting close to Greyson. Try and find out what your job is going to be.”

“Won’t he just send me off with the other girls
, though?”

“You’re too old.” David looked apologetic
as his words crushed down on me. “These men, they want young girls, girls they can mold. You’ve got your own mind, now that you’re older. You would never be a desired woman.”

“Well
, thanks.”

“These men are sick, Meg. They want weak, pliant women. That’s how they get off.”

“So this is some sort of sex trade thing going on?” I frowned. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

“I don’t know all the answers.” He sounded angry that I wasn’t taking him
one hundred percent at his word. “That’s why I came to you.”

“Why did you kiss me?”

“Because I like you and you’re hot.” He grinned. “I’m still a man, after all.”

“So are Frank and Elizabeth working with you as well?” I thought back to the conversation I’d overheard earlier.

“What? No?” He frowned. “Why would you think that?”

“No reason
.” I walked over to the desk and started picking up files. My brain was racing a million miles a minute. There was no way that David was working with Frank and Elizabeth, which meant that they were up to something else – maybe something even more sinister, if that was possible. “What about Brandon Hastings?” I looked back at him. “What role does he have in this?”

“We think he’s on the outside, getting the Johns lined up for the girls.” David looked at me in anger. “We think he’s the one that corrupts the girls.”

“Oh no.”

“He’s this rich piece of shit that preys on younger girls.” David’s voice was emotional and I could see his hands were clenched. “I can’t wait until he goes away for a long time.”

“Goes away?”

“To jail.”
His words were harsh but when his eyes looked at me his expression was oddly empty. “I’m not going to stop until he and Greyson are imprisoned.”

“Oh.” A feeling of fear surrounded me then and I looked down at the files in my hand with heavy eyes. All of the information he’d given me was giving me a headache and a burdened heart. “Well, I’ll do what I can do help.” I nodded at him. “You should leave now, just in case
Greyson comes in the room.” I turned away from him quickly, my mouth feeling dry as I said Greyson’s name. How could he be that person? Was he pure evil? He had to be, if what David said was true. He was basically trafficking women. I felt sick to my stomach. I had made out with a human trafficker. I’d let him touch me and grope me, and I’d been about to let him fuck me. My body still ached for his touch. How could I still feel this way about him, knowing what I now knew?

“I’ll come to your room tonight, so we can talk.”
David interrupted my thoughts and I wished he would just leave.

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I have a roommate.”
And I don’t want you to think you can touch me
, I thought to myself.

“Nancy’s your roommate, right?” He asked casually and I nodded. “She’s fine. We can even enlist her for help.”

“Really? You trust her as well?”

“Yeah, she seems like she is trustworthy.” He walked to the door. “But I better go. Remember to keep your eyes alert and your ears peeled. We’ll talk tonight.”

“Okay.” I watched him leave the room and I felt my body relax. I stared at the door for a few moments trying to take in what had just happened. I couldn’t believe that David was an undercover cop. Or, really, part of me didn’t want to believe. Not because I cared about him or even knew him. I didn’t want him to be an undercover cop because then what he told me wouldn’t seem so real. I didn’t want to think that this private club was really a disguise to sell women into prostitution. I didn’t know Greyson very well, but my heart didn’t want to believe he could be capable of such a thing.

“Don’t be an idiot, Meg.” I muttered to myself. “You don’t even know him.” I continued filing the folders and waited for
Greyson to come and join me in the room. But he never showed. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I wanted to see him, to look into his eyes, and see if he was a monster.

The session seemed to take forever and it was extremely boring. I didn’t even bother looking in folders for more clues. What was the point? I already knew what was going on here. I most probably already knew what had happened to Nancy’s sister. She was most probably in some Arabic country servicing some sheikh, or maybe she was in Asia somewhere as a concubine. For all I knew she was on a ranch somewhere in Texas, servicing some rancher on a cattle farm. Or maybe she was in a basement somewhere in Manhattan, locked away from sight, being visited every night by her ‘master’, while his wife slept. Who knew where she was? I’d taken some human trafficking classes in law school. I knew enough to know that you never really knew who was involved in the trade. I took a deep breath as I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I wanted to cry. I wanted to break down on the floor and cry until I couldn’t cry anymore. It was all too much. I hadn’t counted on this. I could have dealt with a strip club; in fact, I’d been expecting a strip club, but this news, this new reality was too much for me. I didn’t want to be here trying to solve this problem. This was too heavy for me.

“Task completed.” A voice spoke into the room and alerted me that I was done with task three. I walked to the door slowly, not even bothering to wipe my eyes. I was done here. I couldn’t deal with this. At the end of the day, I was still me and I couldn’t deal with this. I was going to leave and then call Katie and tell her everything. I opened the door and stepped into the corridor quickly and jumped when I saw Greyson standing outside the door.

“Hey.” He smiled at me, his mouth curling up slightly as he looked at me.

“Hi.” I spoke back to him curtly, unable to make myself smile. My heart skipped a beat as we made eye contact, but I refused to allow myself to be happy at his presence.

“What’s wrong?” He walked over to me with a concerned look on his face.

“Nothing?” I shook my head and looked away from him.

“It’s not nothing.” His finger reached up and rubbed my wet cheeks. “You’ve been crying.”

“No.” I looked down.

“Yes.” His voice was angry. “Don’t lie to me. Why were you crying?”

“I wasn’t crying,” I lied, and looked up at him. He was staring at me and my breath caught as I saw the concern in his eyes.

“Meg, what’s wrong?” His tone was softer now. “It wasn’t the test
, was it? You only had filing to do. That shouldn’t make you cry.”

“How do you know I had filing?” I looked at him suspiciously.

“Because I put you in that room and I made sure your next task was filing.” He smiled at me gently and grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped my eyes.

“Oh.”

“I thought I’d surprise you after the test.”

“You didn’t come in.”

“I told you that I wouldn’t be able to stop myself if I came into the next room with you.”

“But you waited outside for me?” I spoke as if I were in a daze, which I was.

“I wanted to see your face.” His fingers lightly traced my lips. “I wanted to get a kiss before you went to your next test.”

“Why?” I questioned him and stared into his deep blue eyes. “Why did you want to see my face?”

“Do I have to have a reason?” He raised an eyebrow. “Can’t I just want to see it?”

“Yeah, you should have a reason. Most people would have a reason.” My voice was sharp and he stepped away from me.

“Are you mad at me because I didn’t come into the room?” There was a hint of a smile on his lips and I glared at him.