Page 72 of Reckless

“Hey!” Seb exclaims just before a sharp slap lands on my arse, and I let out a yelp. Spinning me round to face him, he says, “I could be offended by that if I hadn’t just had you coming on my dick so hard you saw stars.” His hand rubs over my still smarting arse, and I lick my lips as lust spirals up my spine.

Jay coughs behind us, and I shove Seb away, turning back around to the teas and coffees. Jay grabs a beer from the fridge for him and Seb, and I carry the teas and coffees through to the others.

Someone already brought the pizzas and Chinese in with some plates and cutlery. As I look around, I realise how small the lounge is or that it’s just not designed for three huge males.

Blue, Cam and Rick are on the sofa, while Jay takes a seat in the armchair to the left, and that just leaves the other armchair on this side of the room. I go to sit on the floor beside it so Seb can take the chair, but I’m lifted off my feet again as Seb sits in the chair, placing me on his lap.

We tuck into the food and chat casually, and it’s so good to have everyone here. Jamison sleeps peacefully in Cam’s arms, despite the raucous conversation and laughter around him. Slowly the conversation turns to tomorrow, and Jay and Seb finally tell us what happened earlier.

I’m not sure how I feel about Noah being dead. I mean I’m angry about what he did to me, and I’m disgusted at the idea he might have been involved in trafficking girls, but as yet, we don’t know if that’s true, so my feelings on his death are mixed.

What surprises and disgusts me more than that is Jasper and his role in all of this. From what Seb and Jay are saying they believe, at the very least, he’s involved with whatever is going on at Tempest.

“If Jasper is involved with Tempest, does me going with you tomorrow mean that your cover will be blown if he’s there and sees you with me?” Jay drops his head, and I see Rick look to Seb behind me at my question. “I’m right, aren’t I?” I ask when no one answers me.

“Yes and no,” Seb finally says, and I turn to face him. “Because we don’t know of Jasper’s involvement, if any, means we don’t know what he’ll make of seeing us there together.” And before I can say anything, he adds, “But we don’t even know if he’ll be there, so it’s a pointless discussion. You’re coming. I want you with us, with me.” His eyes burn with something that looks a little like fear and possessiveness, and beneath that I even spot the love he mentioned earlier.

It’s almost the exact same feeling I have in my gut for him. “I don’t want to put you in more danger, Seb. Either of you,” I say looking over to Jay. “You were already nearly shot that night at Rosco’s saving my arse.” I feel Seb tense beneath me, and now I have the answer to the thought that just ran through my head about what Jay was doing there in the first place. I lock my eyes on Seb, who’s trying to look everywhere but at me.

Leaning down, I whisper, “You had him follow me, didn’t you? We will talk about this later.” I turn back to the room, tuning back into the conversation going on between Rick and Blue.

The surprises just keep coming as I listen to Rick talking about a guy he’s had following my dad over the last few days but hasn’t seen anything out of the ordinary. I listen raptly, taking it all in and trying to put this puzzle together, but I know we don’t have all the pieces yet. I use this opportunity to share my concerns about my mum, even telling them about the guy, the same guy Jasper spoke with at the station the other day, who was there the last time I visited.

“We don’t know who he is, other than he’s a solicitor and most likely a legal aid one, and we don’t know how he’s involved or what he was doing at your mum’s, but I’ve asked Ray to look into him.” Rick confirms.

“Have there been threats made against my mum too?”

“That’s why we have Scott watching her,” Rick says.

I suddenly feel like a fish in a fishbowl with everyone’s eyes on me, and it makes me uneasy. “Yes, but has she been threatened, other than this solicitor guy, Rick?”

His moment’s hesitation is all I needed because Rick doesn’t hesitate. He’s always so sure of the answers, but this time he seems reluctant to answer. When the answer comes, it’s not from who I would have expected at all.

“Not a direct threat, no. Your dad was sent some pictures of your mum,” Blue tells me.

“Yeah, I know about tho—” I break off, going over that day at Mum’s versus the pictures I found in my dad’s office. “You’re not talking about surveillance photos, are you?” Blue shakes his head as Rick glares at him. “That’s what was in the envelope.”

“What envelope, Jamie?” Seb asks, turning my head his way. “What envelope?”

“That day, she had an envelope and couldn’t get whatever it was in it fast enough. When I asked about the man and what she had in the envelope, she got cagey and defensive and told me to mind my own business.”

“That’s why you wanted to go to your mum’s yesterday, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I knew something wasn’t right, and then when I saw the same guy talking to Jasper, well, I had to find out what she was hiding. My dad said she didn’t know everything, but I don’t think that’s true. I think she knows more than even he does because he obviously doesn’t know she has those photos.”

Rick seems pissed, but he agrees my mum is more involved than we first thought. When he asks me if I’ve spoken to my dad, I tell him not since we were last at his. And I’m surprised to find out that Dad hasn’t been answering Rick’s calls either. For now, Rick is at least happy he has eyes on both Mum and Dad, and I trust him to know what he’s doing.

We chat a little longer about the event at Tempest, but without being sure if Jasper is going to be there, we have no way of knowing how things will go.

Rick reluctantly gives me more details about what they suspect goes on there, and it turns the pizza in my stomach. Some of the girls come from abroad and others are already here, not all foreign, there are some British girls too.

Their intel claims the girls are initially lured there with the promise of work, such as waitressing or dancing in the private rooms. To be honest I didn’t even know they had private rooms. What they don’t know is that while they work, the men get to check out the goods for sale. The girls that have the biggest interest are then put forward for the VIP events and auctioned off. Some are bought outright, and others are bought for a certain amount of time, be it a week, a year and sometimes just a single night.

Up until the night of the auction the girls don’t have a clue what’s going to happen. Rick thinks they are drugged before the auction starts so they are docile and don’t cause problems. However, something has inevitably been going wrong with the bodies that have been turning up.

Rick didn’t want to go into too much detail about the dead girls, but all of them had high levels of drugs and alcohol in their systems, and all but one of them had suffered multiple injuries.

While Rick has been talking, Blue disappeared outside, returning several minutes later carrying a small box. Planting it on the coffee table, he opens it.

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