Page 8 of Falcon

I’d be paranoid, too, if I was running a prostitution ring. Sex work was legit work, but not if you were forced into it. Some of us came in as dancers, while others were lured in with big promises of a safe place with fancy things, and of course, all his love. Either way, you ended up stuck in this fucking place with no way out and nowhere to go.

Cops didn’t believe you, or didn’t care, if you escaped and tried to get help, and most places wouldn’t take in a single woman. Women’s shelters were full most of the time and the women with kids got first dibs. That’s the way it should be, but it made it tough for women like us. And that’s if you even could escape.

They kept us housed in this compound, which was more like a prison–guards at every entrance, shared rooms, no privacy, being told when to eat, sleep, shit, and work. And you didn’t choose your work. You just did what they told you.

Some girls had gone missing, and we didn’t know if they were killed or moved somewhere else. Regardless, they didn’t leave of their own accord.

I will, though.

At first, Tony only had me tip out at the end of the night, which was standard everywhere. It was part of his ploy to earn your trust before he fucked you for good.

He was smart, I’d give him that. Women are catty and suspicious, especially when you think you’re competing for a man. So, nobody ever warned the new girls. Not that it would make a difference, but they didn’t have the reins as tight on the new girls until they’d been driven to the point of no return.

Still, I wasn’t stupid. Naive, maybe, but I knew well enough that women could only be used so many times before we became damaged goods. And what do you do with damaged goods? Throw them out, of course. Except I was certain Tony’s idea of throwing us out wasn’t just out on the street. No, he’d be sure there was no possibility of the wrong soft-hearted cop finding one of us and taking a look around here.

When he stopped taking a cut and started taking all of my money, I knew something was off, but I also couldn’t believe that all the women could have been forced to stay, so I shook off the feeling. Then, when he explained the party room, I knew I was in trouble.

When I’d grabbed the handful of clothes I owned and tried to leave, that was when I figured out those men weren’t there for our protection. They were here to keep us in. I knew then that I needed to make a plan.

For men as invasive as these, they never went into the ladies’ restroom at the club. The vanity sink had a hole to throw trash into. I could reach my arm in there just enough to tape something to the underside. The only way anyone would find it was if a plumber had to come in and was lying inside with a headlamp on. I carried a pouch in one day, and nobody batted an eye. Vinny probably thought it was tampons or makeup, neither of which he gave a fuck about.

That same night, I found a roll of duct tape. That was harder to smuggle across the club. I had to make up some story about fixing one of the receptacles that holds used tampons and pads and that was enough to get them off my back. Nobody but the cleaning crew opened the cabinets, and even if they did, a roll of tape seemed normal enough to have laying around.

During every shift, I’d excuse myself when Vinny was preoccupied to add to the little pouch I had hidden away. I could only save a little at a time or they’d know something was up. That’s why him taking all the money those bikers left me stung so much. It would have been a larger stash than normal, speeding up my plan. It had been four months of this hell but felt like four years.

Remembering the biker I gave a dance to the other night sent a flutter to my core. I didn’t get a good look at all his patches, but I remember seeing GA on one and assumed that meant Georgia. They all had subtle Southern accents, too. They were probably just passing through and I’d never see him again. I needed to stop with the silly girlish daydreams.

“When you going back?” Lacy asked as she flipped the TV on, breaking my dumb thoughts.

“Whenever he says, I guess.”

She gave a soothing pat to my shoulder. “Girl, take advantage while you can.” She blew out a deep breath and her eyes glassed over as she stared at the TV. “Sometimes I wish…”

The way her voice trailed off worried me. “You wish what?”

She waved me off. “I’m just tired. Who knows? Maybe I wish for a million bucks like everyone else.” She giggled.

Lacy usually smiled through everything and laughed off uncomfortable moments. I wished we could both get out of here.

She was here when I got here, but our schedules were often opposite, so we didn’t speak much at first. I had let Tony convince me to “enjoy” myself, so I was rolling hard on X the first few weeks. When I wasn’t dancing or being his plaything, I was in bed coming down.

But once I was out of my drug-induced fantasy and reality smacked me in the face, literally, Lacy was the first to bring me some ice and a shoulder to cry on.

I got along with the other girls as much as a bunch of hopeless women could, but Lacy and I connected and tried to look out for each other.

“Lacy,” I whispered as I glanced around, “do you ever think of finding a way out?”

She cocked a brow and huffed. “I know better than to worry about things I can’t control. And you should learn the same.”

I trusted her but didn’t want to overshare. The less she knew the better. I couldn’t begrudge anyone caving to a beating. The chances of me taking her with me were zero. As much as I’d love to take her and somehow get all the girls out, I had to be realistic. I’d be lucky if I made it out alive. Another body would make it twice as hard to get out unseen.Still, the idea of leaving her behind ate at me.

I nodded, hoping she’d think I let it go. We sat quietly and watched TV for a while. A commercial for Sons of Anarchy flashed on the screen and my thoughts of the hot biker invaded my mind again.

I had to get over that. I’d never see him again. But maybe I could think of him next time I had to go to the party room.

Chapter 6

Falcon

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