Page 32 of Jersey

"She can't just sit there for free," the waitress explains. "If you aren't paying her, then she needs to move on."

"I see," I say as I look down at the woman kneeling by my side. "My mistake. You're free to go."

Her eyes narrow, and the submissive side she was pretending to have disappears with the blink of her eyes.

She stands, pulls her shoulders back, and wanders away.

"Are there any women here who aren't paid whores?" I ask the waitress, the words feeling like acid on my tongue.

"Not usually on a weeknight," she answers, unaffected by the tone and nature of my words. "The weekends usually bring in a couple."

"I see." I stare off into the distance, not really focusing on anything. "My tastes are... different."

"We cater to all tastes here, sir," she says.

I turn my eyes back to her, judging whether it is too soon to tempt something illegal out of her. We have a team waiting not far from here, but I don't know if now is the time to pull the trigger on the raid.

"I'll keep that in mind. My drink?"

She gives me a tight smile before walking away.

I could tell by the shrewd look in her eyes that she was growing suspicious, and it wasn't the best time to push the limits.

What started as a relief and an escape from how I've been feeling is quickly turning into something akin to torture.

The drink comes quicker, and when the waitress asks if there's anything else she can get me, I get the distinct feeling that she's urging me to request whatever it is I was considering earlier, but I simply wave her away and empty my glass in one gulp.

When I stand a few minutes later, I know the drinking was a mistake. I'm not tanked, but I'm also not in fighting form. My arms are heavy, and my steps are slow and uneven.

A quick glance down at my watch tells me that I've lost a little time while contemplating all the things in my life, and other than some prostitution, I haven't found much else. I hate the idea of wasting the team's time, but we need solid evidence that this place is hurting people before we mobilize.

I press my back to the wall when two husky guys drag a man toward me down a back hallway.

"She wanted it," the man spits as they pass. "Ask her."

"She said no," one of the security guys growls, making me wonder if this club isn't more on the up and up than I originally thought.

"You didn't pay for what you took," the other guy snaps. "And your card was declined when you tried to make it right."

Did she say no because he didn't pay or because she truly didn't want what was happening?

In my book, a no is a fucking no, regardless of the circumstances.

I walk further, opening doors as I go, only to find myself coming face-to-face over and over with couples and groups of people having sex. I've been to so many places like this over the last ten years that nothing surprises me anymore. I don't get turned on at the sight of naked people.

It's why seeing Caitlyn on that cross for the first time made me take notice.

Naked women are an everyday thing in my line of work, and as much as I can appreciate the naked form, my body usually no longer responds in a sexual way. I have no way of knowing if the women in front of me are there of their own free will or not, and that goes a long way in keeping my libido in check. Nothing makes me sicker to my stomach than a woman being forced to do something she doesn't want to do.

I turn the doorknob to the last room in the hallway right before the exit sign, but it doesn't turn. I could easily bust the door down. They aren't using anything more than doors you'd have in a cheap apartment, but the last thing I need is to make a scene by splintering the doorframe.

I pull my set of lock-pick tools from my pocket and make easy work of the lock, freezing in my tracks when I step into the room and find a crying girl tied to a bed.

She can't be more than fifteen or sixteen years old, and my first instinct is to pull a towel from a shelf on the wall and cover her naked body.

"Please don't," she whispers. "I won't tell anyone you took me. Just let me go."

Bingo. This is exactly what we needed to shut this fucking place down.

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