I fell backwards then and clasped my hand over my mouth. The blood drained from my face as I walked quickly back to my room. Was that the real reason why Maria was dead? Had she found too much information about the club? Had she threatened to tell the police? Had she been murdered? My footsteps increased as a flash of pure worry and fear hit me. Was I going to be the next Maria?

Chapter 6

Greyson

Ten Years Ago

The room was smoky and the lights were dim. The music was pumping at just the right level—high enough to create some excitement, but low enough so that the businessmen could relax and chat without feeling like they had to shout. The ambience of the club was spot-on—it reeked of money, sex, and a good time. I should have been happy about that. I had the hottest, most exclusive club in New York, but yet I wasn’t satisfied.

I watched as some of the girls danced in cages on the stage at the front of the room. I watched as a senator walked up to the stage and just stood there gazing at a beautiful Asian girl as she danced her way to the floor. He called over his friend, a man I recognized as a top director from Hollywood, and they stood there watching the girls dancing. They seemed to be entranced by the dancers and waited there for a few minutes before going back to their booth at the side of the room. I watched as Patsy walked over to their table, ready to take their order.

I was pretty sure they wanted the girl from the cage, but those girls were not able to be ordered. They didn’t do anything but dance. But I knew that Patsy could still make them happy. We had a bevy of girls who were ready to give lap dances, blowjobs, whatever the men asked for—if the price was right.

“God, it was a mistake to go home with Maria. You were right.” Brandon grimaced as he distracted me from my thoughts. “I didn’t realize she thought this was serious.”

“What did you think it meant when a girl asks you to go home with her?”

“I didn’t know her parents and her sister were going to be there. Shit, her little sister basically asked me when we were getting married.”

“Did you throw up?” I laughed. “Two whiskeys on the rocks, Denise.” I nodded at the girl in front of me.

“Sure thing, Mr. Twining,” she purred at me as she bounced her br**sts around. I didn’t even bother to watch her as she walked away, even though she had the fittest ass I’d ever seen.

“She’s pretty hot.” Brandon watched her as she walked away, and I groaned.

“Dude, do not date another girl from the club. Do not even f**k them. It’s not a good thing.”

“How was I to know that Maria would turn out to be a psycho?”

“You know she does coke.”

“Coke doesn’t make someone a psycho.”

“Don’t mess with the girls,” I said again slowly. “This is already a mess.”

“You don’t even know the half of it.” He sighed and leaned forward. “She said she loves me. She said that she can make things difficult.”

“She can’t be making threats like that.” I jumped up as I saw Denise approaching, grabbed the whiskeys from her tray, and downed them quickly. “Two more.” I glanced at her as I put the empty glasses back on her tray.

“Yes, Mr. Twining.” She blinked her eyes at me as seductively as she could. I felt her ni**les brushing against my arm as she tried to flirt with me. “Would you like anything else?”

“No.” I shook my head and made eye contact with her. “Do you like it here?”

“Yes, I love it Mr. Greyson.” She nodded eagerly, and I could see adoration in her eyes.

“It’s Twining.”

“I meant Mr. Twining.” She blushed then, and I could see the terror in her eyes. She was afraid of me. That upset me. I didn’t want the girls to be afraid of me. There was nothing to be afraid of. I’d never hurt any of them. Or slept with them. Aside from Patsy, and that had been a mistake. That wasn’t to say I was a monk. I had plenty of women. Just women I picked up from outside.

“How old are you, Denise?”

“Twenty, sir.”

“Should you be serving alcohol?”

“Don’t know.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter though. I’ve been drinking since I was 12.”

“Do you have sex at the club?” I wasn’t sure why I asked the question. I’d never really cared about the girls before or who they were or what they did. They just had to look good, dance well, have a pretty or sexy smile, and be up for the job.

“I’ve had sex with some men, sir.” She tried to smile, but it never reached her eyes. “It paid very well.”

“Did you enjoy it?” For some reason, her answer was extremely important to me. I’d always been of the thought that women thought of sex like men did. It was fun and it felt good, and it was a bonus if they got a little something out of it.

“It was fine.” She looked at the ground and took a step back. I frowned as I stared at her. She didn’t look like a woman who was happy with the perks of the job.

“I see. Go and get the whiskeys now.”

“Yes, Greyson.” She hurried away fast and I went and sat back down with Brandon.

“Do you think the girls like their jobs here?” I asked him casually. He looked up at me in surprise.

“Who knows?” He shrugged. “I’m sure some do.”

“Not all though?”

“Who really wants to be a slut or a whore?”

“They’re not sluts and whores.” I felt annoyed at his choice of words.

“Greyson, half of these girls are on drugs and alcohol so they can sleep with some of these slobs.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, I don’t think most of them actually enjoy working here. But we don’t care, right?”

“Yeah. We didn’t force any of these girls to take the job.”

“They got lucky getting a job here,” Brandon continued. “Half of these girls don’t have any skills. What are they going to do? Most of them were getting high before they even got here. Most were probably sleeping with bums in the street for twenty bucks. We’re helping them change their lives.”

“Are we really?” We stared at each other for a moment and I knew that we were both feeling as much doubt as each other.

“We can’t change it now, Greyson. We’re in too deep.”

I changed the subject. “What you going to do about, Maria?”

“I’ll take care of her.” He sighed. “I’ll shut her up. Make sure she doesn’t go spouting her mouth off anymore.”

“Good. We don’t need her making any trouble.”

***

“Hi, want a dance?” A cute tan girl with dark brown curly hair approached me as soon as I entered the deviants room. The deviants room was dark and private. Only men at the highest level of the club were allowed to enter. There were about twenty girls who worked in the deviants room and they all knew that anything went.

“No, I’m okay.” I shook my head and continued walking.

“But I’d love to show you a good time.” She reached out for my arm and I stopped.

“What’s your name?”

“Janice.”

“Nice to meet you, Janice.”

“It would be nicer if you let me give you a dance.”

I stared at her for a moment, at her sweet impish smile, and realized that she must not know who I was. As the thought struck me, I smiled. “Sure, why not.”

Janice grinned, grabbed my hand, and pulled me to the side of the room to a black leather couch. “Would you like any particular music?”

“No. Surprise me.”

I sat back and concentrated on her, trying to stop myself from looking at what was happening elsewhere in the room, though it was hard. I could hear the sound of the sex swing as it moved back and forth and tried to make a mental note to get someone to come in and oil it. I wondered who was on it and smiled. I knew the sex swing had been a good investment. Who didn’t like finding new ways to have sex?

“I’m a sexy, sexy bitch.” Janice sang out to me and I watched as she started swinging her h*ps as she bent down to turn on some music. Her ass was sticking in the air for all to see, with only a small black thong. She was wearing some sort of cowgirl covering on top, and it had long leather tassel but it did a good job of accentuating her large breasts.

She stood up and walked towards me like a model on a catwalk as the music started playing. Her confidence surprised me as she sat in my lap and started her slow dance to a Boyz II Men song. She pushed my chest back so that I was sitting back in the chair and slowly undid her top. She rubbed her ni**les in my face as she threw it on the floor, and she started groaning.

“You make me so horny,” she whispered into my ear as she ground her ass into my lap.

I started to feel uncomfortable at the spectacle she was making of herself. Is this how she acted every night? It just seemed so fake, and I wasn’t feeling turned on at all. I was glad that she didn’t know who I was and she was showing me how she treated the patrons of the club. This behavior was not acceptable for the private club. It was too fake and artificial. This might be okay for a cheap dance at a strip club located at a seedy part of town, but it was not okay for an exclusive club.

“Janice, I need to go...” I started to get up and she pushed me back down.

“But, Mr. Twining, I wanted to thank you for being so nice to my friend Maria.”

I looked up at her in surprise. “What?”

“I know that Brandon used her, treated her for a f**king fool. But she said you were nice. You made her feel like she was more than just a piece of meat.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Just sit back and enjoy.” She smiled at me. “It’s been too long.”

“What’s been too long?” I frowned.

“Since you’ve had a release.” She reached down and massaged my c**k through my pants before I pushed her off of me.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but you’re done.”

“Don’t you like it?” She looked at me in surprise. “I thought you would have liked it.”

“You’re mistaken. Come with me.” I grabbed her arm and escorted her out of the room.

I could tell that some of the other girls had seen us, and they watched us curiously as we left the room. Some of them had jealous looks on their faces. I knew that they were wondering what she had that they didn’t. They didn’t know that I was about to fire her and not f**k her.

“Janice, this isn’t going to work out.” I looked at her as we entered my office. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to fire you. I don’t think you’re a good fit for the club.”

“What?” Her eyes widened and then grew small. “But I need this job.”

“I’m sorry.” I shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll find another one. You’re a very pretty girl.”

“I can’t believe this.” She sat on the chair in front of me. “Let me have another chance, please.”

She walked over to me and looked into my eyes for a second before reaching up and undoing my zipper. She pulled my c**k out, and before I knew what was happening, her lips were on me and she was bobbing up and down. I groaned as she started sucking me off and closed my eyes. I hadn’t expected her to try and convince me in this way.

***

“Greyson, you need to come right now.” Brandon’s voice sounded panicked on the phone.

“What’s going on? Where are you?” I yawned as I stretched in the bed.

I froze as I realized that I had company. I looked over and saw Janice cuddled up next to me. I wanted to slap myself. I couldn’t believe that I had slept with her. It went against my policy of getting involved with the women in the club.

“Greyson, it’s Maria. Please just come.”

“Where are you?”

“Maria’s room.”

“Why are you in Maria’s room?” I sighed and looked at the clock on my bedside table. “It’s f**king 4 a.m., Brandon.”

“Just f**king come now. I’ll tell you when you get here.” Brandon’s voice sounded strange, and he hung up the phone.

I stretched once more and rolled out of bed.

“Where are you going, honey?” Janice smiled up at me through closed eyes and I shuddered at her endearment.

“I’m not your honey,” I muttered. “I’d like you to be gone by the time I get back.”

“What?” Her eyes flew open then and she sat up. Her br**sts sat high on her chest and I realized that they must be fake.

“You heard me.” I sighed. “Please be gone by the time I get back.”

“So that’s it.” She looked hurt. “What about—”

“What about nothing, Janice. I don’t want anything from you or with you. This was a mistake.”

“I see.” She bit her lower lip. “I thought that—”

“Be gone by the time I get back.” I pulled on some jeans and a shirt and strode out of the room.

I walked through the corridors quickly, trying not to think about all the questions and worries rolling around in my mind. The club was eerily quiet as I walked. Nothing much happened at 4 a.m.. Even the men who had participated in kinky sex were usually fast asleep at this hour.

I walked past the doors of the room that I knew contained the dungeons for the more adventurous and couldn’t stop the feeling of shame from sweeping over my body. I stopped in the hallway for a few seconds as I tried to control my breathing. I wasn’t happy with what the private club had become. It wasn’t that it was so different from my initial expectations of what we wanted at the club. It was just that it felt wrong.