The Private Club (4 page)

“If that’s what you want.” His lips pulled back slightly, and I felt disappointed.

“That’s what I want.” I nodded and my body stood still as his fingers continued massaging my butt cheeks.

“Then I’ll go.” He nodded down at me, but he didn’t move. His fingers slipped between my legs and I felt them brush against my private spot lightly before he stepped back. “Have a good morning, Meg.” He gave me a quick smile and walked to the door.

I listened to the door open and close, and I stood there with my eyes closed, replaying the scene in my mind. My panties felt wet and my whole body was throbbing in anticipation. He’d barely touched me. I could have blinked and missed the light touch of his fingertips against me, but it was all I could think about. My nerve endings were on high alert and my mouth was screaming at me for not allowing his sweet tongue to explore its depths.

I sank back against the wall and all I wanted to do was scream. I had no idea what to do. Every fiber of my being was screaming at me to leave this place, this club. But there was a voice that was whispering in my head
, telling me to stay. My body was alive and on fire in a way that it had never been before. But not only that, my brain was on high alert. There was something going on here. Something big. Something that didn’t make sense. Something that could get someone hurt. Something that could get me hurt. But I ignored the warning bells in my head.

I’d been a doormat for too long. I wanted an adventure. I wanted to find out what this private club was all about. I wanted to find out Greyson’s story. I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. This was about more than helping Nancy and figuring out what was up with Brandon. I wanted Greyson Twining. Even if it meant I was going to get
burned. Maybe it was time for me to play with the fire. Staying back from the flames hadn’t helped me in my love life. I was ready to feel the heat.

Chapter 3

Nancy and I
silently walked to the courtyard. I was still out of breath from running to the bathroom to shower and then back to the room. Nancy had been waiting for me in the room when I got back, but we hadn't had time to talk since we were running behind.

"Glad you could join us, girls." Patsy's face was somber, and I knew whatever bonding we had experienced this morning was long gone. I stared at the other girls and frowned to myself. Aside from Patsy, I seemed to be the oldest one there
—
and by a long shot. I'd never thought I was old at twenty-five, but standing with all these girls in their late teens made me feel like I was positively ancient. I could tell that I wasn't the only one who had realized that I was the odd one out. There was another blond girl staring at me and whispering to her two sidekicks. One of them laughed as they looked me up and down, and I tried not to roll my eyes.

"Welcome to the club, ladies." Patsy gestured for everyone to follow her. "This is day one of your three-day orientation."

The blonde who had been staring at me spoke up. "When do we meet the men?"

"If you're talking about the heads of security, you'll be meeting them today." Patsy's voice was dry
, and I wondered if this was some sort of strip club. It would make sense. Maybe it was a strip club for the rich, famous, and powerful. Maybe this was the sort of club that had no rules. I shuddered at the thought of being expected to have sex with men for money.

“Are they paying customers?”
the blonde said and Patsy gave her a chilling stare.

“I’m not sure what you mean by that comment. This isn’t a
Girls Gone Wild video.” Patsy looked at the rest of us. “Any other impertinent questions?”

We were all silent
, and I cheered inside at the jab the blonde had received. I was already feeling like the redheaded stepchild, and it was nice to see negative attention directed at someone else. I stared at the other girls again and frowned to myself. I really didn’t understand why I had been chosen to move forward in the probation period. I sure didn’t feel like I fit the type they were going for.

“Shall we introduce ourselves?” Patsy stopped by a beautiful water fountain
, and I looked around the garden again. It reminded me of some ancient Greek setting, with its tall white columns and large expanses of grass and marble. It was grand
—
really grand. I felt like I was in some rich man’s mansion and not in what was possibly a strip club. But I suppose I’ve never seen a high-class strip club, only the seedy ones on TV. Being in this setting would make everything seem classier, even selling your body for money.

I shivered as I thought about sleeping with someone for money. There was no way in hell I was going to do that. I’d leave before that happened. I wanted to find out what
was going on, but not that badly.

“I’m Elizabeth
,” the blonde said confidently. “I’m nineteen, from Connecticut. I’m a freshman at Dartmouth, but I’m taking a year off.” She smiled. “I applied for a job here because I wanted to make some money and explore the world.”

I stared at her beautiful smile in confusion. In many ways, she reminded me of myself at
eighteen, only I hadn’t been as confident and I certainly wouldn’t have dropped out of school.

My brain tuned out as the other girls started talking. An overwhelming feeling of sadness encompassed me as I stood there. I felt like a loser. How had I ended up here? What was I doing? Had I lost my mind? I was a lawyer, for heaven
’s sake. I had a degree from an Ivy League university. I had an apartment in Manhattan. I was responsible, smart, in charge of my own life.

But you’re bored
, a voice whispered in my head.
Where has your perfectly lived life gotten you?

I thought about Katie and the drama in her life when it came to Brandon. She loved hard and got hurt hard, but still she was living her life and trying again. She was going for it. I didn’t want to be the woman who got to be
eighty years old and never had a real love or heartbreak.

“Oh, Mr. Twining.”
Patsy’s voice sounded reverent and the garden grew instantly still as I froze. “I didn’t expect to see you here today.” She cleared her throat, and I looked up to see Patsy blushing. I looked to her right and there stood Greyson. He was dressed properly now in a navy suit, and I could see all the girls staring at him in admiration. I looked at Nancy’s face quickly to see her expression, but it was blank. She wasn’t giving anything away.

“Good morning, Patsy. Good morning, girls.” He nodded and gave us all a welcoming smile. “My name is Greyson Twining. I’m one of the owners of the club.”

“Hi, Greyson,” Elizabeth called out and gave a little wave. Greyson gave her a huge smile back and I felt like screaming. “I’m Elizabeth.”

“Nice to meet you, Elizabeth.”

“I’m in the Rainbow Room if you want to stop by tonight,” she continued, and the two girls next to her giggled nervously.

“That’s enough.” Patsy’s voice was loud and angry. “I’m sorry, Mr.
Twining. This is day one. They don’t know all the rules yet.”

“No worries.” He nodded
, and I felt his eyes on me. I looked up and he gave me a small smile. I didn’t smile back, even though my insides were heating up. “I actually came to see how everyone was getting on before I went to a meeting.”

Elizabeth spoke up again
. “Will we get to meet the other owner?” I frowned.

“No.” Greyson’s expression changed and he was no longer smiling. Patsy was glaring at the girl
, and I could tell that the mention of the other owner was something they didn’t like being mentioned.

“Oh that’s a pity
. I’d quite like to meet Mr. Hastings,” Elizabeth continued, and I stared at Greyson. He looked at me quickly and his eyes bored into mine with a challenge.

“That’s enough, Elizabeth
,” Patsy said. Then she turned around and whispered something to Greyson. He looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded. All the while, his eyes never left mine.

“What do you think, Meg?” He spoke quietly, but I could still hear an acerbic hint in his tone.

“What do I think of what?”

“Of us contacting Mr. Hastings?”

“I didn’t know he was involved with the club.”

“There are many things it seems you don’t know.”

“But I’d love to find out.” I smiled at him and raised an eyebrow.

“It was nice meeting you girls.” He nodded and turned to Patsy. “I’ll see you later.”

“Thanks for coming out, Mr. Twining. I know you are busy,” Patsy beamed at him, and we all watched as he went back into the building.

“I’d fuck him in a heartbeat
,” Elizabeth proclaimed and her friends giggled. “He wouldn’t even have to pay me.”

“That’s why he’s the boss
,” another girl whispered and they all nodded.

"Girls, I'll be right back," Patsy suddenly exclaimed and walked out of the garden. I turned to Nancy.

"That was weird, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."
Her eyes were buzzing with something. "I wonder if we'll get to see Greyson again."

"Do you know him?" I asked her softly, not wanting her to know how important her answer was to me.

"No, of course not." She shook her head. "That girl, Elizabeth, looks like she is going to be a bitch."

"Yeah, she doesn't look nice."

"I thought she was going to kill you when Greyson said your name."

"Oh."

"Do you know him?"

"No, I just met him yesterday for about a minute
," I lied for some reason. "He seems like a nice guy."

Nancy made a face.
"I don't know that I would call him nice."

"So you do know him?"

"I know of him," Nancy sighed. "I know about him and Brandon Hastings."

"Oh?"

"The guy that Elizabeth mentioned." Nancy looked around and then whispered in my ear. "He was one of the founders. Along with Greyson."

"How do you know?"

"We can't talk about it here." She shook her head. "Later."

"Okay." I nodded in agreement. What else was Nancy hiding from me?

"Good morning, girls," a deep, gruff voice shouted out, and I looked up and froze. There were three men standing at the front, all dressed in the same uniform. The uniform was instantly recognizable to me as the same outfit the two men I'd seen earlier were wearing. But I couldn't tell which two men out of the three in front of me I'd seen.

"Hi
, girls. My name is David. I'm the head of security here at the club. I'd like to introduce myself and the two guys I work with, Bruno and Frank."

"Hi, guys
," Elizabeth called out flirtatiously.

"We are here to make sure that your time working at the club is a safe and comfortable one
," David continued in a serious voice while Frank and Bruno smiled at Elizabeth. I was pretty sure I knew who the two I'd seen in the corridor were now. "If at any time, you feel uncomfortable or in danger, you should call us immediately. Those who get through the first three days in training will be given a button that you will wear at all times. In the middle of the button, there is a small stone. Push the stone and we will be alerted right away. Each button is equipped with GPS, so we will be able to locate you as well." He looked around the group and paused. When he looked at me, I noticed a quick flash of surprise before he moved on.

I stared at him and wondered what his story was. He was a handsome man, but more in the retired boxer kind of way. He was tall and stocky, with a buzz cut and deep blue eyes. His bulging muscles were filled with tattoos and he stood with a straight and rigid back. He reminded me of some ex-military men I'd met the summer before at the
Navy pier.

I then checked out the other two guys. They both looked like boys trying to play men
. They were both about my age and had average builds. One of the guys had really bad acne and his eyes looked cold. He looked like the sort of guy that would make you shiver in fear if you saw him on a dark night. I wasn't sure if he was Frank or Bruno, but I knew that I didn't want to spend any one-on-one time with him.

"Any questions?" David continued, and I realized that I had spaced out.

"When are we going to learn what our job descriptions are?" Nancy spoke, and I looked at her in surprise. I hadn’t thought that she’d wanted to draw any attention to herself.

"Not until you pass the first three days," Patsy answered, and I looked around to see if Greyson had come back with her.

"When can we call our friends and family?" another girl asked, and Patsy gave her a hard look.

"So today, you girls will cycle through ten different rooms. Each of you will go in one room at a time. Each room will be testing you for a particular quality or skill. You have to complete the assignment in each room to the best of your ability."

"Oh shit, this isn't going to be some written exam, is it?" Elizabeth moaned. "I'm taking a break from college to get away from that shit."

"Such a vocabulary for a Dartmouth girl." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself.

"Did you say something, Grandma?" she shot back at me, and all the other girls, except Nancy, started laughing.

"I’d rather be a grandma than a bimbo," I muttered under my breath, and Nancy squeezed my arm.

"Ladies, let's stop with the name-calling." Patsy sighed. "We are all friends here."

"Until someone becomes more popular," Nancy muttered to herself,
and once again I realized that she wasn't as clueless as she had made herself to be yesterday.

***

The first room I entered was bare
aside from a black leather couch and a small side table. I looked around, wondering what I was supposed to do. There was no paper, and I couldn’t see any guidebooks. I stood by the door for a few minutes, waiting for someone to walk in, and then I walked over to the couch and sat down. I sat there in silence for a few more minutes, and then a voice spoke into the room. I jumped up in surprise, taken aback by the suddenness of the voice. I looked around the room, and it was then that I saw the speaker in the corner.

"Stand up," the voice commanded me, and I stood up slowly. "Do a jumping jack," it said, and I stood there for a moment feeling foolish.

"A jumping jack?" I spoke back to the voice and waited. The lights went out then and I sat back down on the couch, wondering if I had already failed the test. All of a sudden, I heard some music playing from the speakers. It sounded like some old-school R&B, something I’d listened to in grade school. The sound of the door opening made me jump again and I turned around quickly to see who had joined me in the room.

"You don't like to listen to instructions, do you?" I couldn't mistake Greyson's voice
, and I felt my cheeks warming.

"What are you doing here?" I sounded anxious and weak, and I wanted to rewind the clock so I could answer him in a stronger voice.