Page 46 of Spies Like Us

Whoa. That’s interesting.

“Shipment?” I press, and both of them seem to realize they said too much. Sam’s mouth slams shut, and she stands up, yanking Meri to her feet.

“Come on, it’s almost closing time, and James and Ted said they’d come back to our place for a while. Let’s hurry so they aren’t waiting.”

I stand there, gaping, as the two of them head back to the bar. Holy crap, the shipment they are talking about must be the next auction.

I turn around and head back out to the club, my mind churning with everything I learned. I thought for sure Ted and James were happy participants and members of the sex club, and they might be, but it also sounded like they have a long-term relationship with those two girls. Are they just drug-fueled delusions, or could there actually be something more to this? Maybe we should be looking at the motivation behind all of this. Are their marriages not everything they appear to be? I’ve never seen Martha and James be affectionate with one another. Meri and Sam made it sound like Ted and James had ready access to drugs. Is that part of the deal? Drugs in exchange for young adults who can be sold at auction? James’s part is letting them know which foster children who go through his house would be suitable, and Ted’s role is providing the shipping containers. Maybe neither of them is the head of the ring. It’s pointing more toward Father Sweeny or one of the others. I’m ruling out Brock because he’s just gross, but Matthew is starting to look good as well. I guess Friday night will help shed some light on things.

When I get back to the bar, Sam has taken the pitcher of beer to the booth. The crowd has really thinned out, so I can see her laughing and smiling with the men. She doesn’t seem scared or hesitant or worried at all.

I shake my head and turn to speak to Anders about what I just learned, but he and Keith are already cleaning their bar sections, filling up liquor bottles and dumping empties. My eyes catch on Miller, who has a cloth and is wiping down some booths in the back corner. Now’s my chance to talk to him alone. I grab a cloth and tell Meri I’m going to help clean up. She just smiles and waves, off in her own world, singing along to the last couple of tracks for the night.

I come up behind Miller, so he doesn’t see me and bolt. Placing the tray on the table, I put my hand on his arm. He startles but quickly recovers and stares down at me with that blank gaze. “What do you want, Mac?” he asks, continuing to wipe the table.

“Are you okay?” I ask him, and he finally stops what he’s doing.

“Okay?” He sounds confused. He crosses his arms, but then he actually looks at me.

“Yeah, I’m sorry about what happened. It’s not fair when you didn’t have a choice.” I kind of stumble awkwardly over the words. I’ve never had to apologize for giving someone a blow job before.

He’s silent for a moment before a slow grin creeps across his lips, and he chuckles darkly. “Are you apologizing for sucking my dick? I can assure you it was no hardship on my behalf.”

“Ugh, why do you always have to be an asshole? I’m trying here,” I hiss at him. “I know it wasn’t something you would have chosen if Matthew hadn’t insisted, alright? It felt wrong because he was forcing you. Anders and I both knew what was going to happen and were on board with it. You weren’t.”

He’s quiet for a moment, but then he slowly shakes his head and steps toward me, caging me between himself and the table. He leans forward, putting his hands on the table behind me, his mouth inches from mine.

“If you think that I didn’t know there would be a chance I would be forced to participate when I came to look for you, you’re wrong. I also enjoyed every single moment of it. I loved seeing tears in your eyes and my cock in your mouth. It would have been even better if it had been Ry destroying your pussy instead of Anders.” He pulls away quickly, snatches up his cloth and tray, and returns to the bar, leaving me reeling.

Fuck. He always keeps me so off balance. He’s really messing with my head. My eyes follow him across the club, but they stop when they meet Matthew’s cold gaze. He’s looking at me and smirking as he glances between Miller and me. I wonder how this looked to him. Did we look a little too cozy with one another, or did it look like we were arguing? He doesn’t seem upset at all, only pleased. Who knows what that could mean?

I move on to the next booth to clear. I’m not close enough to Matthew and the rest of the men to hear what they are talking about. Miller and I go back and forth a couple of times as security starts to herd people out of the club and the music turns off. Finally, only Matthew and his group are left. We’re busy cleaning when they all get up to leave. None of them acknowledge anyone as they walk out the door, and I head over to their table and start clearing it.

On the table is a fifty dollar note, a bag with a couple of pills, and a napkin with writing on it.

Mac, club is closed next Friday for a private event. You will be working. Don’t expect to be home before morning. I let James know. Good work tonight. Enjoy the party favors. There’s more of that if you’re a good girl.

I take a closer look at the pills. I’m guessing it’s ecstasy. I shove it all in the tiny pocket of my hot pants and clear off the table. We want to check out where the tunnels below us lead, and then we have to insert Miller’s tracker. It seems like James is going to be distracted for a while, so I don’t have to worry too much about getting home. Martha is bound to be asleep.

When I return to the bar, Keith, Meri, and Sam are putting on jackets and grabbing their stuff. Meri and Sam seem to be coming down from their coke high. All three of them wave goodbye, leaving Anders, Miller, and me to finish the job. It doesn’t take us long, since most of it was done. Miller disappears into the staff room, and when I go out to grab my own jacket, he has a little laptop in his hands similar to Lathan’s, his fingers flying across the keyboard as fast as our resident techy.

My mouth drops open in shock, and Anders chuckles as he joins us. “Miller is quite the tech savant as well. He’s our backup in case Lathan is busy like he is tonight. He’s looping the cameras for us so we can use the card to check out the basement.”

Miller looks up and smirks. “Didn’t you say you weren’t very good at tech stuff? Maybe I am the better agent after all.” He slaps it shut and stands up. “Done, let’s go. Mac and I don’t have a huge amount of time, and we still need to go back to the governor’s mansion for you to insert the tracker.”

We grab our things and make our way to the door next to the walk-in refrigerator. We lock it behind us, not needing to go back into the club again. There were no empty kegs to take out today, so the little alcove is empty. Anders pulls a card out of his back pocket and swipes it across the keypad.

“Lathan made us all a copy just in case. He has one for you too, Mac,” he tells me as the keypad lights up green before the doors open in front of us. We hurry in, and he swipes the card again and hits the bottom button. The top one has a plaque with “Life Lounge” scrolled on it, but they said it isn’t used to access the club, only the stairs on the inside.

The elevator descends, and the doors open to a dark room. Miller turns on a flashlight and shines it around, looking for a light switch. It doesn’t take him long to find one, and soon, the room is lit up. It’s full of old or broken furniture, and there are even a couple of poker tables and slot machines. They look a little newer, so I’m guessing the club has casino theme nights occasionally. There’s also what looks like a large birdcage.

“What’s this?” I ask, going over to it and opening the door, which swings wildly back and forth. One of the hinges is broken. I steady it and step in. The base of the cage is solid, and the bars are fairly sturdy.

“It’s a dance cage from the club upstairs. It needs some repairs, so it was removed. It hasn’t been fixed yet, which is why it’s here for now,” Anders says distractedly as he looks around, frowning.

“That’s weird,” he says, scratching his head. “Matthew and I brought some big wine barrels down here after church. He didn’t want to leave them out in the alcove, they would have taken up too much space, but now they are gone. I can’t see them anywhere.”

He’s right, there are no big wine barrels anywhere in the room, but I do spy large double doors down at the far end. There’s a card scanner there too. “Shall we see where that goes?” I ask them, nodding at the doors. “Maybe it will solve where the wine barrels went.”

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