And there was the swallow. It was, in fact, me swallowing my lie. “I went around the block while Cruella got ready for her date. She had a date on my birthday. You know she doesn’t care about me. When she got home, I left. I’d had enough. I can’t take her shit anymore, Seth. It was my birthday and she left in a limo to have a date. She didn’t even wish me a happy birthday.” More tears streamed down my face. Part of what I was saying was true and it still hurt.
He stood and wrapped me in his arms. “You can’t leave because you got in a fight. You’re seventeen. You need to go back and finish school.”
“I’ll stay here and get my GED.”
“You need to go back. If someone were to find out that you’re here—”
I pulled my head back. “What do you mean?”
“I’m a cop and there are laws. You’re seventeen. You have to be in school. And you ran away from home, Josie.”
“Like I said, I’ll get my GED.”
He took a deep breath. “Fuck, Joss. This isn’t good. Cruella’s gonna be pissed.”
“She’s not going to care.” Little did he know, she would. She was going to be livid. “You don’t even need to tell her I’m here. She’s probably happy I’m gone. One less mouth to feed.”
“I’m going to call Grandma and tell her—”
“No!” I shrieked and reached for his arm as he stepped away from me. I didn’t want him to call her. Before I could utter another word, his cell rang.
“It’s her.”
My heart stopped. I was screwed. I was one hundred and twenty-thousand percent screwed. This was the end of the road. He would tell her I was here, she’d tell Mother, and then I’d be on my way back to Miami to start my new career.
“Hey, Grandma, I have good news …What?” he exclaimed and my head snapped in his direction. My gaze met his. “Are you sure?” He ran a hand down his face. “Everything? … Boxes? … Bryce too?” I sat down on the couch. “Okay. Let me know if you find out anything else. Oh, right.” He smiled and I smiled back. This was a good sign. At least I thought it was. “Joss is here … Yeah. I’m not sure, but she is. She got into a fight with Maggie and ran away … I’ll take care of her until we find out. Okay, I’ll tell her. Love you, too. Bye.”
“What’d she say?” I asked as soon as he pressed a button on his cell.
“Your mom and brother are gone.”
“What do you mean gone?”
“They left with some guys.” I blinked at him, not saying anything. “Joss?”
“Are you sure?”
“Grandma went over to check and the door was unlocked. Everything was boxed up and gone.”
I didn’t know what to say. What did it mean? Why would Tony take them? And then it hit me like a ton of bricks:
“… you and your mother are going to pay.”
“What are you thinking about?”
I stopped swirling my straw in my iced tea and watched as Seth slid into the seat across from me. There was no way I was going to tell him that I was thinking about twelve years ago. He still didn’t know why I’d run away. After we’d found out that my mother and brother left, we’d waited a few days, but they never returned. In fact, Seth’s grandma told us the trailer was cleaned out and rented to a new family. She never saw them again. I never saw them again. I’d tried to search for them in our database but always came up short.
“Just a case.” I shrugged.
“You want to talk about it?” He smirked.
“Then I’d have to kill you.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want that.”
Seth still worked for the DCPD as a detective, so he knew I couldn’t talk about it. I eventually became a cop as well, but my heart was focused on special crimes and becoming a part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I wanted … no, I needed to make a difference when it came to crimes against children. At first it was hard to stomach some of the cases I was assigned, but it fueled my fire.
“How was your date last night?” I asked, changing the subject.
“I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.”
“Please. You’d miss me too much.” I smirked.
“This is true.”
“So?” I prompted.
“The better question is, when are you going to go on a date?”
All right so this subject needed to change. “Oh shit, look at the time. I have a meeting.”
He laughed and I fought back my own. “You’re so full of shit.”
The truth was I hadn’t dated much in the last twelve years. The bigger truth was that I hadn’t slept with any of my boyfriends. Those boyfriends never lasted; none of them ever wanted to stick around. I was twenty-nine now and none of them wanted to wait until it got serious. When it got hot and heavy and I pulled away, they would say they understood and then wouldn’t see me anymore. Seth and I remained best friends over the years. I needed him as a friend and couldn’t lose him, so I didn’t want to jeopardize our friendship by starting a relationship. Plus, he never once acted as though he wanted more and I never mentioned it either. I wasn’t even attracted to him anymore. I saw him as a brother now. He was my family.
“Bye, jerk face!” I punched him in the arm as I walked by.
“Big baby!” he whined as he rubbed his arm and I laughed.
We’d had plans for lunch, but I was always running from my seventeenth birthday, even when it came to my best friend.
Later that afternoon I really did have a meeting. I sat at the mahogany table with my black, leather portfolio in front of me. I stared at my phone, checking my emails as everyone started to file in.
“We have a new case,” my boss, Eric, informed us. I opened my notepad. “In the United States alone, there are over thirty-five hundred sex trafficking cases reported each year. Worldwide on average about twenty-two hundred girls are kidnapped every single day and forced into the sex trade. They are beaten, raped and almost always killed. On average, a single girl will be raped six thousand times and only have a life expectancy of seven years until she is killed by her ring leader. The odds of her being rescued is one out of a hundred. Word on the street is that women are being taken for sex trafficking in Las Vegas. We don’t have all the details, but we need to find out who’s behind this and where the women are being sold to. My cousin runs an escort business in Vegas, so that’s where we’ll start.”
“Is this a legit escort business?” Ella asked.
Eric nodded. “I’ve run some checks on his business and he knows who I work for. The Green family reunion would be awkward if it weren’t.” We chuckled.
“What’s the business called?” Brent asked.
“Saddles & Racks.” We all stifled our laughs. “I know what you’re all thinking, but they’re paid for companionship only.”
I sat quietly as I listened to everyone chatter. I’d never been to Vegas and had no idea what was involved in an escort business, but I knew if it was anything like Tony’s business, sex was definitely involved.
“I need either Ella or Joselyn to go undercover and see if you can find out what’s going on.”
My hand immediately shot up.
“Perfect. Joss, you leave next week. We’ll get you a new identity and a place to live. You’ll be undercover until you have something.”
I nodded. I’d never been undercover, but this was my chance to finally make a difference or at least try to make a difference when it came to prostitution. Being in the thick of things was going to light my fire more. Since that night I was sold, I’d felt it was my duty to save them all. And if I was able to get one girl off the streets, then that was one girl who would have a better life.
During the week, I tied up loose ends and told Seth what I could about my new assignment. It wasn’t much. He knew I was going undercover, but he didn’t know where. I gave him Ella’s cell number in case anything happened while I was away; that was the only way to get information to me. The bureau also had me take a few lessons in self-defense while wearing high heels. At first
I’d thought it was crazy until I realized it was hard to fight off an attacker in those things.
I tried not to think about what I was getting involved with. I knew if I thought about it, I would become nervous and start to freak out. I was going to be involved with girls who were being sold—just like I had been sold. I was lucky to get out, but now I was going back in. Hopefully to save as many girls as I could.
When the day finally came and I boarded my flight for Vegas. I didn’t board it as Joselyn Marquez.
I boarded it as Andi Middlebrooke.
Chapter Six
Paul
Throughout the week, I waited for that Andy guy to show. Delivery men showed up with his shit, but he had yet to arrive. What kind of guy couldn’t move his own stuff? I was already dreading meeting my new roommate. If he was some fancy motherfucker, we weren’t going to get along. Men needed to be manly. We were made to lift heavy stuff. God forbid we broke a nail.
I wasn’t sure if I needed to be home when this guy showed up or what, but I still had work to do. This afternoon I had a unique date. When I’d read the details in my back office on my phone, I’d laughed. Tanja had hired me for three hours to be a naked chef while she had a book club at her house. I wasn’t required to cook (thank God). She would have platters of food for me to serve.
Normally any date I would dress to impress, but since this one I’d be naked, I threw on a pair of grey cargo shorts and a maroon T-shirt before driving to the address provided. When I arrived, I was greeted with a bright smile.
“Howzit?” Tanja greeted.
I chuckled. “Hi.” I stepped forward and gave her a hug.
“Please come in.”
“Where’s your accent from?”
She smiled as she closed the door behind us. “I’m from South Africa.”
“No shit?” She nodded and I followed her toward what I guessed to be the kitchen. “What has you in Vegas?”
“My husband had a job opportunity and we took it. Better education for our children, too.”
I nodded. “So uh,” I rubbed the back of my neck, “does he know you hired me?”
She laughed and it was the first time I saw her dimples on each cheek—I had a thing for a woman’s smile. “It was his idea.”
I drew my head back, not expecting that answer. “Really?”
“He’s hoping this spices things up in the bedroom.”
“I see. So he wants you to get horny and fuck his brains out?”
“Pretty much.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged.”
“Perfect.” She bit her lip and a blush crept up her neck before she turned and started to put the food together.
I helped Tanja arrange the finger foods on platters, and just as we finished the doorbell rang. She smiled again and held up a black half apron. “You can change in the bathroom around the corner. Remember, only the apron. Nothing else.”
“I gotcha, sugar.”
Those ladies were feisty. I had no idea that women in book clubs were so horny. All they talked about was how my body compared to those of book boyfriends. What the hell was a book boyfriend?
When I would bend over to serve one of the ladies something, another would cop a feel. I was all for it, but it was turning me on. The closer their hands got to my dick, the harder I was getting. I wasn’t hiding it and they were loving it.
When I arrived home, I pulled my Jeep into the garage and then headed to my room to take a shower. I was tired and really needed to rub one out before my dick fell off. After lifting my T-shirt from my chest, the doorbell rang. I wanted to ignore it, but it rang again. I groaned as I left my room and went down the hall. This was probably Andy. He was already pissing me off and I hadn’t even met the guy. It was late in the evening and I knew it was Vegas—one of the cities that never slept, but seriously, he was an escort too. What if I was still on my date?
Before I reached the door, it rang again. “Jesus,” I barked. “I’m coming!” I swung the door open. “I heard you …” I stopped yelling. It wasn’t Andy, it was a woman—a fucking hot woman, and I was already horny as fuck.
“Are you going to let me in or are you going to leave me standing on the porch?”
I looked around her to see if she was with Andy. She was alone with luggage. Who the hell was this chick?
“Do you speak?”
“Yes, I speak,” I snapped. “Who are you and why the fuck do you want in my house?”
“I’m, Andi, you’re new roommate.”
I laughed. “Is this a joke? Andy’s a dude’s name and you’re a woman.”
She groaned. “Well, I see this is going to work out well.” She brushed passed me. “It’s Andi with an I. How about you just show me to my room, Einstein? It’s been a long day.”
I closed the door behind me and gestured for her to follow. She reached for her luggage to wheel to her room, but I waved her hand away to carry it down the hall.
“You don’t need to do that.”
“Seems we got off on the wrong foot. I’m sorry, I didn’t know my new roommate was going to be a woman.”
“Is it going to be a problem?”
The only problem I could think of at the moment was her naked across the hall from me every day. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was aching down below or because she was painfully stunning. She had long, dark brown hair, her face was lightly speckled with freckles, and her eyes were cognac.
“No, we’re both adults.” I walked her down the hall. “So ah, here you go.” I turned on the light to her room that was my old room—my old room that I could picture every inch of and could think about her naked in.
Fuck me.
“Thanks. Sorry for showing up this late. I had a few layovers.”
“No worries. I wasn’t doing anything,” I lied. I stood there and watched as she took in the space as if she’d never seen the items in the room before. I placed the luggage on her bed. “Well, I’ll let you settle in. If you need anything, I’ll be across the hall.” Thinking about you.
“Thanks again.”
Once in my room and behind closed doors, I hurried and stripped myself of all my clothes. Fuck, this wasn’t good. How could Mark not tell me that Andy was Andi? It didn’t matter. Like I’d said, we were both adults. Maybe if I weren’t going out of my mind and needing release, things would be different. The last two dates hadn’t been dates where I’d slept with them. It was all relative, but I still had hopes and needs.
The spray of the warm shower cascaded down my toned, chiseled abs as my head hung and I thought about what Andi was doing only a few feet away. I knew I shouldn’t. I didn’t know anything about her, but she was fucking gorgeous and I was hard as a rock.
I thought about her tight waist in her hip-hugger jeans and the way I would unbutton them, her gaze peering down on me as I kneeled and slid them over her perfect ass and down her legs. My dick ached as I imagined myself picking her up and placing her on the queen size bed in her room, her legs wrapping around me and her hand reaching for my already bare waist to stroke me.
My hand reached down and mimicked how I imagined hers would glide over my glistening shaft, her soft hand squeezing just enough as I brought my mouth to hers and kissed her feverishly. I heard myself groan, my hand stroking faster, flashes of her face dancing behind my closed lids as the water helped my hand move over my dick.
The water rushed down my body into my hand; the heat of the stream was exactly how I envisioned her mouth would be as she slid down my body to use it on my shaft. I wanted her perfect, sassy mouth wrapped around my aching dick as if it was my next breath. She was a feisty little thing, and dammit if it didn’t turn me on more.
Stroking faster and faster, I couldn’t last much longer—I didn’t want to. I wanted to come hard into her brazen mouth. I reached up with my free hand, placed it on the tiled wall in front of me and braced myself as my balls tightened, my legs weakened and I groaned again, shooting cum into the shower spray.
&n
bsp; The next morning I woke early, thinking I’d beat Andi so I could make breakfast—a peace offering. When I walked into the kitchen, she was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee, and her long hair was in a messy thingy on top of her head.
This was going to be hard on my dick.
Fuck!
“You’re up early.” I opened the cabinet and grabbed a coffee mug.
“On D.C. time I guess.”
I poured the black heaven into my coffee mug. “I didn’t know S&R had a location in D.C.”
She took a sip of her coffee before responding. “They don’t. I was with another company.”
“Oh, I see. So you decided to try your luck out here in Vegas?” I slid into the chair in front of her at the table and stared into her eyes—they were definitely on the lighter honey brown side. She smiled and I determined that it was my mission to make her smile every second of every day. It was my favorite part of a woman’s body, and Andi’s smile was perfect.
“Something like that. How long have you been with S&R?”
“Too long.” I chuckled. “How about I buy you breakfast and we can talk all about it?”
“You want to buy me breakfast?”
“Sure why not?”
“Don’t you have work?”
I laughed. “As in a date?”
She blushed. “Oh, right.”
I wasn’t sure why she blushed or why she seemed confused. Maybe her old company had weird hours. We had day dates, of course, but it was usually after coffee. “How long have you been an escort?”
She took another sip of her coffee. “Not that long.”
“Might need to show you some of my moves.” She choked on her coffee. “Are you okay? I was only joking.”
When she could speak again, she said, “Yeah, I’m fine. You sleep with your clients?”
“Aw, gorgeous, you think I’m gonna tell you all my secrets when we’ve just met?” I smirked.
“Will you if I let you buy me breakfast?”
“Oh, you’re good.”
She stood and went to the dishwasher. “I’m going to go change so I can learn your dirty secrets.”
Tequila & Lace Page 6