His Secret Baby

by Ashlee Price

  I called out to Sasha as I put my things down. I called her name several times as I made my way towards her bedroom. She should be at home. Sasha told me the night before that she was going to just stay in and relax some. I could relate. I felt like that was exactly what I needed.

  When I opened her door, there was no one inside and it looked like she hadn’t been to bed all night. Maybe she’d decided to go out and just stayed out. It didn’t even occur to me that she would have gone to the club. Not with everything going on. I didn’t imagine that she would go there alone. My thoughts were that she would be back soon.

  So instead of worrying about anything, I went to turn the shower on and get the bathroom steamy. It felt like I’d been beaten over every inch of my body. Scott had been gentle with me compared to other times and people, but it was the other things that made my muscles scream as I used them.

  The water felt amazing, and I leaned my head against the powder-blue tile of the wall. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Scott in my mind. The worst part of all was that I was most likely never going to see Scott again. I had to leave, and I knew that he wouldn’t want to deal with all of the drama that was going to be involved. Scott wasn’t going to run away with me, and I didn’t want him to get hurt trying to make things better. Last night was a one-time thing, even though I was going to think about it for the rest of my life. That was the ultimate punishment.

  I heard the front door open and smiled to myself. Sasha always did have good timing.

  “Hey, girl, I’m in the shower. I’ll be out in a minute.”

  I didn’t get an answer, so I turned back to the water. My heart stopped when the bathroom door opened and it wasn’t Sasha that I saw standing there.

  “What are you doing here?!?”

  Chapter 31 – Elie

  I smiled at Sasha. “Well, we found your little friend. In the shower. I’m sure that Bruno got an eyeful. One of them has the hots for her, but I forget whether it’s him or Lex. Now that she isn’t so delicate, maybe she’ll lighten up and give them some.”

  Sasha just looked away. Her eyes were swollen, and I genuinely hated to see her like this. This was why Travis wasn’t given the women who were profitable. I should have stopped it, but there was a principle involved. Sasha needed to see how life would be like without me. She was ready to leave, but I think that part of her mind was already changing. She was already seeing that without my protection, she would never make it in this city.

  “What do you think, Sasha? Do you think she’s going to be happy with her new assignment?”

  Sasha shook her head and then closed her mouth. The bruising on her jaw told me that she wouldn’t be saying much. She may not have been that good to look at, but she certainly was more pleasant now. Now I didn’t have to hear all of the backtalk and issues that she suddenly had. Sasha just sat in the chair with her hands clamped together on her lap. She didn’t say a word to me as we both waited for her friend to arrive.

  I heard the doors in the back open and close. There was an argument going on. Mariah was cursing out her captors. I would have thought that they would let her get dressed first, but that was not the case. When she was pulled into the room, she was not wearing a stitch of clothing. Her face was red, and when they finally let her go in front of me, Mariah stood there staring down at me with a murderous look in her eyes. Lex had a large scratch on the side of his face, and I knew then that Mariah was not going to be easy to work with. It wasn’t until she saw Sasha sitting there, her death gaze moving off of me, that she straightened up and I told the two men to leave.

  “You’re a little hard to find lately, Mariah.”

  “What happened, Sasha? Are you okay?”

  “Don’t worry about her, Mariah, worry about me.”

  Her blue eyes moved to me. There was the fire in them that I hadn’t seen before. It seemed that Mariah had changed in more ways than one in the last couple of days.

  “I am worried about you. You drugged me at the auction!” Her face was brilliantly red and her anger was something to behold. I knew she was mad, but I really didn’t care. I wasn’t there to make things better for her. She was here to make me money, something that she wasn’t doing.

  “So?”

  That shut her up. Maybe she thought I was going to deny it, but I felt no need for that. I felt a need to let her see things as they were. Sasha had to do the same thing.

  “You were not acting the way you were supposed to. Even with you incapacitated, I still got complaints.”

  Mariah was getting even madder. “Just give me my money for the auction, Elie. That’s all I’m here for. You’re a sick man, and I’m not going to deal with this anymore. Sasha, come on.”

  Sasha looked to her friend and I smiled when she looked away. Sasha had been taught her lesson, and now it was Mariah’s turn to learn hers. A little something extra in the way of chemicals never hurt, and I made sure to give some to her next client to help with all of her thoughts of getting out of the business. When she was dealing with Travis, it might even save her if she was a little more open to new experiences and people.

  “She’s not going anywhere, Mariah. Sasha understands that this is where she belongs. This is where you belong as well. Why can’t you see that?”

  “You said I could turn down anyone I wanted. That was a lie. I want to leave. Give me my money and I’ll go.”

  “No. I’m not giving you that kind of money. I don’t know what you’re going to do with it. I’m just helping you.”

  “If you want to help me, let me go with the money that I earned. You get your cut, but the rest is mine.”

  I shook my head again and told her that it wasn’t going to happen. I can’t say for sure that I ever had any intention of giving it to them. Not when the bids had gotten so high. I deserved the money more than they did. I was the one who’d set everything up. Their disloyalty just gave me another reason to hold onto it.

  “I’ll give you the rest when you come back from your next job. Sasha was offered the same deal and she took it. Don’t you see how happy she’s now?”

  Her friend’s eyes were deadened because of the drugs. I should have seen that that was the only way to deal with Mariah too. I just needed to get her started on them and it wouldn’t take long till her body would need them more than its next breath. Sure, it made them sloppy, less interesting to the clients, but at least they would still be around and I could still make something off of them.

  “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  “Not with me, with one of my better clients. He wants you for a business trip and I already said yes for you.”

  “I don’t care what you said to him, I’m not going anywhere. I don’t work for you anymore.”

  “No, I own you Mariah. I have since you got here. Sasha left out some of the details of employment with me. You work for me when I want and with whom I want. Your cut just got a whole lot smaller, and if you ever want to see the auction money, you’ll do as you’re told.”

  “I don’t even care about the money. I don’t need it. I’ve got enough.”

  “You’ve got nothing left. We found your shoeboxes in the closet. You’re as broke as when you first came to this city. Is that really how you want to leave it?”

  She was stubborn and told me that she didn’t care about the money. I could tell she did, just like Sasha did, although she had far more saved up. She was planning to leave me, they both were, and I was not going to let that happen. I just couldn’t.

  “You’re not going anywhere, Mariah. You’re mine, and I need you to understand that. You’re not going to leave me. You can’t. You and Sasha are going to be working for me for a very long time. One day you’ll be worn out like Louise, but until then, you’re not going anywhere.”

  Sasha didn’t give a response. I doubted that she really knew what was going on. The drugs had kicked in and she was not feeling any pain anymore. Travis had worked her over good. He had instructions to be less rough with Mariah.
Nothing was to be left on the face. I needed her pretty when she came back. He also knew that he had to bring her back. I wasn’t going to accept what happened last time.

  “You’re crazy, Elie. We’re not staying here. Come on, Sasha, let’s get out of here.”

  I shook my head slowly and told her that she didn’t quite appreciate the situation that she was in. “You’re here now, and I’ve got a feeling that you’re not going to be able to leave.”

  She looked to the door. We both knew that the two men who’d dragged her in here were still outside, waiting for my orders. Those two would do what I wanted to her, and she didn’t seem to see how precarious it all was. Mariah still thought that her life mattered.

  Mariah got up. I waited with a smile on her face. She was the type that had to learn the hard way. While I would appreciate that kind of attitude at the club, when dealing with me she needed to change her ways.

  “Bruno and Lex will take you to Travis. He’s very eager to see you. Sasha just wasn’t enough for him.”

  The look on her face was almost enough to make me question the chance I was taking with her. I didn’t know if Travis would bring her back in one piece. There was an agreement in place, but that didn’t meant that he would stick to it. It was a gamble, but one I thought I had to take to prove my point. If the worst happened, it might be hard to replace her, but it wasn’t the end of the world. She wasn’t as valuable anymore anyway. Now that she was no longer untouched, the loss wouldn’t be so great.

  I heard her fighting back when she encountered the two men in the hallway. I’d instructed them to give her something to calm her down before they got to Travis. If she stayed calm and complacent, there was a better chance of her coming back in a usable state. I was really just trying to help her out. I don’t know why she couldn’t see it.

  “Has Mariah always been like this, Sasha?”

  The dark woman just looked up at me and then back down again. Her next dose was going to have to be a little less. She wasn’t going to be worth a dime the way she was. Sighing to myself, I got up and went to the front of the club. The men were just now getting Mariah in the back seat of the car outside, and since she was being carried out, I figured that it was a toss-up if I saw her again. I’d wanted it all to go so very differently.

  Chapter 32 – Scott

  “What do you mean she doesn’t work here anymore? I talked to her yesterday and she said she was coming in to see you.”

  “Well, I haven’t seen her, Scott. You really should calm down. You’re getting all worked up over a whore. How am I supposed to keep up with her? I’ve got enough to worry about. I can’t be keeping tabs on each one of them when I’ve got so much to do.”

  The man in front of me was lying. His shifty eyes wouldn’t even meet mine. I don’t know what he was thinking, but I wanted to see her now. She wasn’t answering her phone, and I had a bad feeling about it. I knew that Elie was the one I needed to get the information from. He was the one who was going to know what was going on.

  “She said that she was coming here to get her money for the auction. That was a lot of money, Elie. Are you telling me that she didn’t try to come and get it? You expect me to believe that she just gave all of that money up and took off?”

  He shrugged and told me that he didn’t care what I believed. “She took off and I haven’t seen her since that night. How am I supposed to know that you didn’t do something to her and you’re trying to cover your own ass?”

  What was he talking about? Mariah had been just fine when she left my house. She was going home and then she was going to go see him. What happened after that was a mystery to me, one that I was bound and determined to solve. He wasn’t going to just brush me aside like he was trying to do now. He acted like I was going to be okay with it all, that I was just going to shrug it off like he was and ask for another girl. He’d offered a couple to me already, trying to get me sidetracked.

  “It will be fine, Scott. I know that you’ve got a thing for her, but she’s just like all of the rest. There are plenty to choose from.”

  I didn’t want anyone else. I should have stopped Mariah from even leaving. I knew what she was going to do, and I knew what kind of a man Elie was. I should have seen this coming. I should have kept her safe. All of the should-haves weren’t helping anything. I needed answers, not should-have, could-have, would-have sentiment. Those were not doing me a lick of good.

  “I’m not leaving here until you tell me where she is, Elie. I know that you know and that you have something to do with it. Nothing goes on around here without your approval.”

  “Fine, I do. I didn’t want to tell you because you’re a good customer and I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but she doesn’t want to see you anymore. I don’t know what happened between the two of you, Scott, but she has requested that you not be booked for her anymore.”

  His words threw me off, and I moved backwards like he’d delivered a physical blow to me. It was not at all what I’d expected him to say. I was sure that he was lying… but what if he wasn’t? What if she’d really said that and everything that I was feeling was wrong? The idea of it made me sit back in the seat and really think about everything. It was only when Elie spoke again that I realized I was just sitting there staring off into space.

  “I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, Scott, but you have to remember that they’re just whores.”

  He kept saying it over and over again, and it wasn’t helping anything. Calling Mariah a whore made no sense, especially considering what had been auctioned off just three days before. How much could change in three days was amazing. I felt like my life had been flipped upside down.

  “Where is she?”

  Elie sat up a little straighter. I don’t know what was on his mind, but I had a feeling the situation was about to change very quickly from here.

  “I told you that she doesn’t want to see you. If I have to, I’ll bar you. I take the safety of my girls very seriously.”

  “She’s not one of your girls, Elie. Mariah told me that she was leaving. I know that she was coming here to quit and to get her money. Now she’s disappeared? That sounds fishy, and you know it. Do I need to get the police involved?”

  His demeanor changed and he didn’t look quite so smug. “Do you really want to go down that road? I’m a sleazy club owner. I won’t fall too far. You’re the golden boy, on the front of magazines. How much do you think it would affect your life if the press got a whiff of how much you paid to deflower a virgin? I wonder how many women are on the board of your company, and how they would feel about what you do with your free time. It doesn’t look very good for you, I’m afraid.”

  Elie was sure that he had me, and although what he said wasn’t wrong, it didn’t matter. There was something eating away inside of me, and I knew that it was because something just didn’t add up. He was up to no good and Mariah wasn’t safe. This was just the gut feeling that I had, and I wanted to confirm it.

  “I don’t take kindly to threats, Elie. We all have something to lose. Just tell me where she is, and if she really doesn’t want to see me again, she can tell me to my face. I would walk away if that were the case.” I was trying hard to be reasonable, even though it was taking everything in me not to go across the table and started smashing my fist into his face. The day was young, though.

  “She’s out with a client right now. Mariah is not expected to come back for at least a week, so you’re just going to have to wait.”

  “Which client?”

  The idea of her with another man infuriated me. I’d wanted her to stay and not go see Elie. I never thought that she would get back into it. Why would she go back to the club when it was so clear that we were supposed to be together?

  “I cannot tell you that. That information is confidential. You wouldn’t want me letting go of all of your secrets, now would you?”

  “Just tell me who and where and I’ll leave you to it. No one has to know that you told me
anything.”

  Elie seemed to be chewing it over. I didn’t want to go to war with this man, he was complicated, but I would if I had to. All that mattered to me was Mariah. I didn’t want to go another moment with even the slightest doubt that she wanted to be together. I had to know if he was lying or if what he said was true.

  “I don’t know if I should, Scott. You look like you’re going to do something stupid, but on the other hand they’re not even in this country by now. So I’ll tell you, just because I know that you won’t go that far. She’s just a whore, after all.”

  “Stop calling her that.” I could feel the anger welling up inside of me and I wasn’t thinking clearly anymore. They were out of the country? Where the hell was she, and who was she with? Elie didn’t know much, because I was more than prepared to go after her to the ends of the earth. I loved her, and now that I realized it, I wasn’t going to go another day without her knowing that.

  “Fine, whatever. I never knew you to be so dramatic before. You’re a good customer and I don’t want to see you run off somewhere else, so I’ll tell you where she is.”

  I figured it had more to do with the threat of police involvement than anything else, but I was going to let it slide. If he was going to give me what I wanted, I didn’t really care how it had to be justified, just that it was.

  “She’s with Travis. I think you know him, don’t you? He was the man you bid against at the auction.”

  Yes, I knew him. The man was a monster, in and out of the boardroom. I’d had the unfortunate task of working with him a couple of times, and I didn’t even like to be in the same room as him.

  “Travis is going to hurt her, Elie. How could you do that to her if you’re so worried about her wellbeing?”

  He shrugged, and I realized that if he did that gesture again I was going to have to bond out of jail instead of helping Mariah.