Pleasure Extraordinaire 3 (PURSUIT)

by Liv Bennett

  “He uses women for his pleasure and treats them like a piece of dirt. He’s a man-whore.”

  “I know. He works in a brothel, remember?”

  My little joke takes away the last drops of his anger, and he lowers his head to steal a kiss from my lips. Feeling grateful that he’s not an abuser but just concerned about my wellbeing, I let him devour me, his lips a little rougher than usual but otherwise passionate.

  “I’m still not convinced he’s being honest about his role in Michael’s plans,” Ace says, his lips brushing my own. “Be careful with the information you share with him.”

  “I will. What did he mean with you screwing all the women he’d slept with being typical of you? Did you sleep with Tiffany?”

  Inhaling deeply, he moves back, drops his hands by his sides, and nods.

  The thought of Ace with Tiffany on the same bed I slept with him on turns my stomach upside down. “Anyone else?” Besides me, of course.

  “Some girl he claimed he was in love with. Sally McNeal. I had no idea he was involved with her, otherwise I wouldn’t have touched her. She approached me at a party Michael organized and openly told me she wanted to have sex with me. It’s hard for a man to turn down an open sex invitation, you know?”

  “No, I don’t know.” I allow myself a little fury although it’s irrational. It’s in his past, but it still hurts. That must be how he feels about Zane and me. “What happened then?”

  “Well, we did it … in one of the rooms in Michael’s house, where he held the party. I don’t know how, but Zane showed up in the room all of a sudden and started hitting me and yelling at me. Then, Michael came with his men and threw me out of the house. That’s how I ended up moving to this condo.”

  “Oh, that happened when you were eighteen?”

  “Yeah, but I was legally an adult.”

  “That doesn’t count.” I move toward him and lace our bodies together. “How old was the cunt? She probably used you to make Zane jealous, but you wound up getting hurt in the end.”

  “It wasn’t too bad after all. I’m happier now than ever not living under the same roof with Michael.”

  “I can certainly understand that.”

  My phone buzzes in my bag, and I untangle my arms from Ace to catch the call before it’s too late.

  “Hello,” I answer without looking at the Caller ID. Anger is sneaking back at Ace’s face. He must be thinking it’s Zane calling me.

  “Lindsay, it’s Edrick. Hope I’m not disturbing you, but I have to remind you of the meeting in the marketing department at eight-thirty on the dot tomorrow. Michael won’t be attending but you should be there to oversee the new account the department is taking over.”

  “Seriously? Am I still working at Hawkins Media Group?” Edrick must have known about my latest conversation with Michael, including his intention to sell me to his associates. I faintly remember Edrick’s words about Michael’s admirable work ethic when it comes to his business. He’s as dirty a liar as Michael. And I’m a fool for believing them.

  “The contract you signed with Michael is still in place. You’re expected to continue your duties and responsibilities just like any other employee at HMG.”

  Yeah, right. Like the other employees are forced to satisfy some filthy men’s sexual desires, too.

  “So, you’ll be there?” Edrick asks when I don’t respond.

  “Do I have another choice?” I disconnect and throw the phone together with my purse over at an armchair and plop down on the couch. “Looks like I have to go to work,” I say to Ace as he takes his place next to me. “Maybe it’s not too bad, though. I’ll ask around about Michael. I might even get lucky and find out something useful.”

  “Don’t,” Ace says. “Michael will know it the second you open your mouth. His people aren’t the ones you should trust.”

  “Then, how am I supposed to find out what he’s up to?” I lean back and rest my head on the back of the couch. A feeling of exhaustion runs through my body, forcing my eyes closed. I’m trapped and drained out of my resources, and there’s no one, other than myself, who can help me out.

  *

  After a short night of restless sleep, I take a quick stop at my apartment to change into a black skirt suit and drive to work. Although Ace offers to come with me, I politely decline and promise to meet him at his place after work. As sweet and protective as he is, I have to face my demons myself.

  The meeting goes uneventfully, although I’d consider it high on the stressful scale in other circumstances, but now that I’m faced with the possibility of being a sex slave, the definition of stressful has changed in my life.

  After the meeting, I take my place in my cubicle and fire up my computer to work on the data I’m supposed to finish by the end of the day. How delightful my day would have been if this data were the only thing I have to wrestle with, but I have my ass to protect and a person to save. That’s why I can’t really sit around and work on the damn project the entire day. My fingers are itching to set up a meeting with Edrick, although he’s probably the last person I should try to squeeze information out of. But who knows? Anyone is prone to a slip of the tongue every now and then.

  Just when I start to get to my feet, my phone rings with an incoming text. I sit back in my chair and tab on the screen of my phone. A message from an unknown number reads: “Meet me at the deli across the street in ten minutes.”

  Who the hell is the text from?

  Despite my suspicion and annoyance, my curiosity wins and I gather my jacket and purse and head out to the elevators. Curiosities seem like the highlights of my day because I stumble upon Edrick in the elevator as the doors slide open.

  He nods at me curtly, with a distant smile playing on his lips, and moves to the side to give me space.

  “Is Michael in? I’d like to talk with him for a couple of minutes,” I say, although I know he’s not in town.

  “I’m afraid you can’t.” Edrick’s tone is spiteful yet calm. “He’s out of the country for business and won’t be back until the weekend. There’s nothing to talk about anyway. You should know everything you’re supposed to know.”

  There’s no point in posing as if I’m not aware of what’s going on. “So, you knew about his plans all along?”

  His answer comes in the form of a smirk. “Did you seriously think that amount of money would be only for a couple of dates here and there?”

  I did, actually. How stupid of me. “I guess money makes people blind.”

  He turns to me, and I look up at his face to see his friendly, casual self again. “Look, it’s not the end of the world. You’ll have a few bumps along the road, but when all is finished, you’ll leave with almost two million dollars in your bank account and unbelievable fame that can take you anywhere you want.”

  Money and fame can eat my shit. “How about Chloe? Is he going to hurt her?”

  “Michael has never been easy on his children, especially Chloe. But, as long as you do as he orders, he won’t touch her. And, never ever try to involve police in this matter again. You won’t get anywhere with it, and it’ll just make him more upset.”

  I roll my eyes. “I learned my lesson. I just wish I knew Chloe was fine.”

  “Sorry, hun, but I can’t give you that information unless Michael allows me to.”

  The elevator doors open with a ding, and I step out alongside Edrick. He smiles at me before turning in the opposite direction. I glance at my watch and realize it’s already eleven minutes after I received the text. Hoping my mysterious date hasn’t given up on me, I hasten out and cross the street.

  There’s a Subway and a local deli next to an Italian restaurant. Having no idea what my date looks like, or even if it’s a man or a woman, I pull the door to the deli and scan the tables for my date. Only two tables are occupied, one by a women in her thirties with a teenage boy, and the other by a man in a black tie suit. The possibility of the man being my mysterious texter is higher than the mother with a son. S
o I move forward to his table.

  He’s focused on his laptop, drinking coffee, and glances up at me with a surprised expression when I stand by his chair. He must be working for Michael, although his face is unfamiliar to me. Or perhaps, he’s from our competition and will try to take advantage of my status as Michael’s girlfriend and try to get information out of me. It might not be too bad to have friends who have the same hatred of Michael as me.

  “Hello, I’m Lindsay,” I say, hoping he’ll take over the talking and save me from this uncomfortable situation.

  “Hello, Lindsay.” He smiles and his eyes roam all over me.

  A hand grabs my back and I spin on my heels to see who’s holding me. My jaw drops with surprise when I realize it is Tiffany, wearing a blonde wig and sunglasses. The black-suit man isn’t the owner of the mysterious text?

  “Is she your friend?” the guy asks, but both Tiffany and I ignore him, moving to the back of the deli, and sit at a table for two.

  “Thanks for coming,” Tiffany whispers, leaning toward me and rubbing her hands together over the table. “I came to apologize for my behavior yesterday. I was a little drunk and there was no way I could talk about Michael when under the same roof with two of his men.”

  “He had men following you?”

  “Not me, but Zane and most likely Ace too. I can recognize them easily. They always wear a leather jacket.”

  I look around to see if any man with a leather jacket is around.

  “It’s like their uniform. So silly of them to have themselves easily spotted like that. Anyway, I hope you didn’t think I was very rude to you yesterday.”

  “If it’s why you came here, don’t worry. Your apology is accepted,” I say.

  “It’s not the only thing I came here for.”

  I move forward on the table to hear what she has to say, my nerves on a high alert because I know something big is coming. A waitress interrupts us, but as soon as we order coffee, she leaves us alone.

  “Yesterday you asked me if Michael expected me to service his business associates sexually.”

  “Yes,” I say to push her to continue.”

  “Well, he didn’t, but I think it was only a matter of time if I’d stayed as his girlfriend.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I know someone who works for him and has to attend to his clients’ needs that way as a part of her job duties.”

  “Who?”

  “His secretary, Julie Meadow.”

  “Really?” My eyes widen with surprise, and suddenly I feel guilty for looking down on Julie on my first day at HMG headquarters.

  “Yeah. She had no idea about it when she took up the job as his secretary, and now there’s no way she can quit her job because she knows too much.”

  Yet another person suffering at Michael’s hands. Does it surprise me? No.

  The waitress shows up with our coffee and the bill. Both Tiffany and I ignore the drinks.

  “There’s something else you should know,” Tiffany whispers as soon as the waitress disappears. I feel a shiver going through my torso with the serious tone of her voice. Something big is coming. I can feel it deep in the fibers of my body. “Last year, about two months into my contract with Michael, I was accompanying him to an event in New York. The morning after the event, he got a phone call that made him terribly upset. I stayed in the same suite with him, that’s why I could listen to the conversation.”

  “What was it about?” I hold my breath, not even daring to move my eyes.

  “It was about a video on YouTube and he literally spent three hours on the phone to get it deleted. Can you guess which video it was?”

  I feel blood draining out of my limbs, and my arms fall on each side of my body with shock. “The video I was in. The iron slap?” It’s a confirmation about all my suspicions about Michael. What he wants from me is beyond some sex slavery.

  “Exactly. I checked the dates last night to make sure I was right. The video was online on YouTube right after the kidnapping of your sister and you. But Michael made sure nobody saw it in those first weeks. I don’t know why it is so important to him, but I’ve never seen a man so furious in my life as I witnessed Michael when he received that phone call about the video. I literally feared for my life. It was also the day he canceled my contract with him. I can only imagine how much more upset he must have gotten when the video popped up again after two months. He couldn’t stop it that second time around.”

  “Do you have any idea why that video got him so worked up?” I can barely blurt out the words.

  She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. That’s the only information I have about Michael. I have to go now before one of his men finds out I’m talking to you. Call me at the number I texted you with if you need any help, although I don’t think I can offer much. Good luck with everything.” She pats me on my shoulder gently and leaves while I stare at the wall across from me with my mouth popped open.

  Can she be lying to lead me into the wrong direction? But, she was right about one thing. The Iron Slap video didn’t go viral immediately afterward. Now that I think about it, it took a little over two months before it became popular. Not just that, the kidnapping itself made it to headlines in all major newspapers both print and online after two months too. Did Michael also try to stop the news from spreading?

  What could be in that damned video that has turned him against me? That I killed a murderer with just the slap of my hand? Wait a minute … Can Michael be related to Macey Williams? If that’s the case, he’s now trying to take his revenge on me. But why the hell then would he try to hide the video from the public? To honor his relative’s dignity?

  This new information might not have brought me any closer to Michael’s plans, but it sure opened Pandora’s box with tons of new questions filling up my mind. And I don’t even know how I will use it.

  The Video - ACE

  After I drop Lindsay at work, I head to Pleasure Extraordinaire but can hardly focus on the tasks, so I leave Alexander as my substitute and take the day off to do some research. My first stop is Diana’s home. I pulled her into this mess when I asked for her help to host my sister at her place while she recovered from Michael’s last brutality.

  The door to her condo is unlocked; a subtle message from Michael to inform me that he was here. I step inside the neat living room and inhale deeply in an effort to catch a scent of my sister. Neither Diana, nor Chloe deserves to be manhandled by Michael or his men, but that’s what they must be going through every minute until someone saves them. That someone hopefully being me.

  I check the bedrooms and sit on the bed where Chloe was supposed to spend the night. Her phone is lying on the vanity alongside a jacket and a purse. I wonder if she even made it to the bed before Michael’s men kidnapped her. Probably not. If I thought the police could help, I wouldn’t hesitate to give them a detailed account of the events leading up to Chloe and Diana’s kidnapping, but if Lindsay’s experience at the police station is a sign of anything, it’s that Michael has arms and ears in every local police station.

  I go through the open suitcase at the foot of the bed with the hope of finding something useful among silk and cotton, but stumble upon a picture of Chloe, Irene, and me taken in a restaurant on Irene’s thirty-eighth birthday. It was one of the handful of occasions where Michael didn’t hover over us, or Zane didn’t ruin the moment with his capriciousness.

  I was very lucky having a woman like Irene as my mother, loving me as her own child despite the fact that I was adopted to cover up Michael’s homosexuality. She had love for everyone, even for Michael. But she didn’t have the power to leave him, and among us all, she was the only one who could have. She could have divorced him and ended his sadistic acts on us, but she never was able to. Instead, she chose to take her life and leave us alone and vulnerable in Michael’s hands.

  Michael ruined my mother, and now he’s onto Chloe. Maybe he won’t kill her, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to k
now he’ll do irrevocable damage to her, both physically and emotionally. What will I do if Chloe too chooses to follow Irene’s steps and kills herself? Will I be able to survive losing another person who I love and couldn’t protect?

  My disturbing thoughts come to a halt with the buzzing of my phone.

  “We need to talk ASAP!” the text from Lindsay says. I delete it immediately, although Michael’s people must have read it already if they’re monitoring my phone. I slip the picture of me with Chloe and Irene into the pocket of my jacket with my phone and leave the apartment.

  Hurrying out of the building, I get into my car in the parking lot in the basement, but as I start the engine, someone knocks on the window beside me. I roll it down and see Dylan Berenson, Chloe’s fiancé.

  “What are you doing here?” He’s one of the people who saw Chloe being beaten up by Michael, and like all of us, he couldn’t stop him either.

  “Can we talk?”

  “Sure.” I unlock the doors and watch him round the front of the car and climb into the passenger seat. “What are you doing here?”

  “I was worried about Chloe. She kicked me out of her apartment after the … But I couldn’t leave. I waited in front of her apartment building and then saw you going in and coming out with her. I followed you here.”

  “Michael had her kidnapped.”

  “Fuck it, I know.”

  “How? Do you know where they took her? They took my friend too.”

  He shakes his head. “Unfortunately, no. I saw them taking the girls and pushing them into a black van. I even followed them until I-5 then lost them.”

  “Did you get the license plate number?”

  He shifts in the seat to get his phone out of his pocket, fumbles with it for a few seconds before handing it to me. I glance at him then at the phone, and almost drop the damn thing when I see the photos of Chloe and Diana being hauled into a black van by four men who look like they just broke out of prison. There was also two close-ups of the plate number. I could go to police with these pictures to have Chloe located if I wasn’t sure Michael would find out my intention the minute I enter the station.