The Red Door (The Door Series Book 1) (15 page)

“Mitch and Alex.”

“Are they your Doms then? Both of them? Together? Or was it a scene? I know they said as much in the bar, but I want to hear it from you,” he said a little too harsh.

“I thought they were. I wanted them to be.”

“Did they explain the rules to you? Did they explain how a scene can create an erotic bond? That intense feelings of a physical or psychological nature can develop? That it can make you think you feel more for the people in the scenes than you ever truly do.”

“Ummm…No, but I know, now.”

“I have seen Alex submit to Diana every weekend since he started coming. As for Mitch, he’s a player. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good guy, but he has dipped his wick in every unattached sub and several of the ones who have already found their Dom. The other Doms there enjoy watching him with their subs. Are you going to submit to Diana, too? Everyone knows she prefers a wet pussy over a hard cock any day. Are you going to sit back and watch Mitch as he fucks his way through a plethora of pussy? What about cocks? There are rumors that he swings both ways. I don’t know if it’s true, but I have heard some talk. They need to be open and honest about what they want or they don’t deserve you.”

“I know Mitch is a player. He told me as much. And as far as Diana and Alex, I saw it with my own eyes Friday night. I went into the club with my eyes opened, but with their soft words they made promises and I let those lull me into trusting them. Not only physically, but emotionally. And since I have been back here it seems that the dam has been opened and all I do is cry and hate it. I know there are people out there in worse situations than what I have been through, but since I’ve been back, it has hit home. I opened myself up and let myself do more than trust.” I pulled away from Jackson. “I let myself hope,” I whispered and laid down turning toward the wall. Jackson stayed on the side of the bed and rubbed my back until I fell to sleep.

I woke to hear Jackson whisper ‘boy trouble’ and then the door close. I rose up and looked at him. He was still in the bed but laying on top the covers.

“It was Dad turning off the light. Go back to sleep.”

I was so warm and safe I didn’t think about what I was saying. I snuggled into Jackson whispering, “Stay with me,” as I fell to sleep.

“Don’t worry, Ari. I’m here.”

I woke up the next morning when Jackson got out of bed and tucked me in before he left the room. I must have dozed back off because the next thing I know he was leaning over me with only a towel on.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well last night?”

“Umm, yes. Thank you for staying,” I replied to his chest. Growing up with Becca’s family—swimming and sleeping over—I had seen Jackson’s bare chest plenty of times, but after sleeping alone in his room it felt different.

“Oh, it was no problem. I enjoyed it thoroughly, especially when you snuggled your tight ass against my cock or when you wrapped yourself around me and pushed your breasts against my chest. I think I was hard all night. Looking at you now, I am no less so.”

“Jackson! I thought you slept on top the covers.” I knew he wasn’t lying. I liked to cuddle, big time. Lucky for me the towel proved the rest of his statement untrue. He wasn’t standing at attention, thank God!

“I got cold. What? Don’t like that kind of talk? If you’re wanting to be a member at the club, you need to get used to it. Some of the things you will see and hear in the club will be tons worse than that. Several of the Doms get off on watching how a sub responds to the littlest thing. Talking dirty to a sub to make her squirm, pant, and sometimes beg is a favorite because it involves no touching; therefore it’s not breaking any rules. Any Dom there can walk up and talk dirty to you. Your Doms can stop it, but only if they want to. Most don’t though. They like to see how their subs respond to other men. It opens up other avenues for later on. Be it that night or in a month.”

“I don’t know if I’m going back to the club.”

“Yes, you are. You’re not a quitter and no guy or guys are going to run you off. You’ll go with me. And no, I don’t mean as my sub, so you can remove that look off your face. I have decided to desensitize you. I will be openly flirty and honest with you. You’ll get a good taste of the life and get to decide if it’s what you truly want. And if it is, you’ll get to meet several other Doms in the club.”

“Really?” I started thinking that this could work. Jackson would be there to keep me from doing or saying the wrong things and protect me from unwanted advances while I got to see the club and judge my reaction to everything that happened.

“Awwe, is that pussy getting all excited and turning hot and wet now?” He sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled me over against his hip.

“Hot and wet? Ugh, shut up!” I asked feeling my face heat.

“We should talk about your cuddling. Do you cuddle like that with everyone?”

“Yes. I always have.”

“Even when you had your girlfriends sleep over? Because I can say that your shirt did not stay down last night, and you pretty much slept on top of me with only your thin panties protecting you. In the middle of the night when you grind your hot pussy on my leg and your shirt is up around your waist it’s kind of hard to remember who you are. And now thinking of grinding that pussy all over your girlfriends, well that’s a sight I would love to see.” He smirked down at me.

“Yes, well a good man would have pulled my shirt back down!”

“Maybe, but a normal man would have flipped you over and sunk into that tight wet channel.”

“God, Jackson this is embarrassing! I shouldn’t even be in your bed. You are in high school. What are your parents thinking?” I watched as he leaned down, putting a fist on either side of my head, pinning me to the bed.

“Correction, I was in high school. And they’re probably thinking that they would prefer me with you than some slut in college or a woman from the club,” he whispered.

“The club? Does your mom know about the club? And FYI, I am a woman from the club!”

He smiled down at me before he stood and gave me his back, dropping the towel.

“Jackson!” I rolled over, covering my head with the sheet, while listening to him laugh.

“I am not modest. You’ll probably see me in the club without any clothes. If you become my sub, I have a couple of guys I trust that can help you in areas that are more sexual. If anything bothers you, it will be stopped and if you let me know that it is because I am there, we will find a way to work around it. You good with this?”

“Yes, actually, I think I am. I’ll have to get used to some of it because it is you, but it’ll be fine.”

“Jackson. You’re going to be late for work.” We both looked to the door where Jasper was standing laughing at a nude Jackson and me in bed. I watched Jasper wiggle his eyebrows, turn, and leave shutting the door behind him singing that song “Do What You Want With My Body”.

“Fuck!” Jackson whispered looking at his bedside clock then looked back at me.

“We aren’t done yet, nowhere near done. Think about what I said today. You can go there with me and find out if you want this type of relationship. Find out if it was the submission you enjoyed so much or if it was Mitch and Alex.” I tried to read his face as he said this, but it stayed blank. I wondered if he really wanted to help or if he was hoping for more between us.

“Jackson…”

“No. Use today to think about it. I don’t see you as my sister, Ari, but as a friend who needs help. And babe, you don’t know who to ask or even the right questions to ask.” I watched as he dressed in front of me. He didn’t bother to hide any of his body, and by the time he left, I was disappointed I couldn’t automatically agree.

Then I realized that I spent the night with my best friend’s little brother, in their parents’ house, after he told them I was not innocent. And they knew about the club. I looked around and saw that someone had washed and laid out my clothes I had on the day before. I dressed and did my walk of shame into the kitchen to have breakfast with a woman who thought of me as a daughter. The woman who sent her barely legal son off to work after I watched him get dressed.

Hmm, I was feeling more like the street corner hooker every day.

Alex

I arrived at the club early to go over it. Checking for bugs and cameras like I had done every night I worked at the club for the last three months with no results. I wanted to get this done. I was walking toward the office when I heard Adam come in. He sent me a pissed off look as we walked into the office where Mitch and Diana were waiting. This wasn’t going to make any of them happy.

I wondered why I pushed him to hate me. Why, after all this time and everything that I have accomplished in my life, I still went out of my way to look like an ass in front of him. I could have included him in the details of my life long ago, but I never did. I hated that he could think I was so worthless, but treat me no different. Reactionless. I thought about Ari, in his house, with his family laughing and having fun. She fit with him. With his kind. Even if it wasn’t sexual, Adam would always be important to her because of the relationship Holly and he had with her parents. I hated that he had someone in his life then. I was jealous. I knew that now. I knew that I despised the fact that Adam didn’t need me like I needed him, like I relied on him. I hated that he had to give up his life to take care of me after our parents died but never once acted resentful for it. I also knew that was why I acted like I did; the sleeping around, the drinking, and the cocky attitude. I wanted him to get mad, to be pissed off enough to blame me, but he never did. And for some reason seeing Ari there last night made it all come back up and mix with the fear and worry from the details on this case.

I looked at each of them and decided to lay it out. I had my unit behind me, if need be, but this was to be viewed as a solo mission otherwise. The closest guys in my unit were actually working this from different areas. They would remain a secret until it was all cleared and they had the main guys behind the kidnappings.

Kidnappings. Trafficked girls. Sometimes boys. And all in the United States. This was shit you read about in small remote villages. Shit that was horrible, but it was rarely thought about because it never touched your life. It was so removed from our life that it was rarely spoken about or heard of. And somehow it was not only happening in our country, but in our backyard. I shook off the thought and took a step into the middle of the room.

“You all know my name. What you don’t know is that I command a special group working with the FBI. I’ve been working with this group for the last seven years. I left here ten years ago and went into the Army and was picked up within the first year for a private unit. I can’t say anymore on that, other than I was with them for two years until the group was broken up into different divisions. I chose the group I now lead and have used it to help the FBI, all undercover.” I watched their faces as it sunk in—saw the surprise, anger, and pride.

“I am here investigating a human trafficking ring in this area. It’s a sexual slavery ring that takes young women and girls and even some boys and men. Up until now our information was on girls who were traded to terrorists across our borders. Not much we could do but try to get them before they left the states. That is how it started, but we have since found that it goes way further than the terrorists. We have our own country’s politicians and businessmen selling girls to powerful men as a payment of services on some agenda.

“The men receiving these girls think of themselves as gods. And the girls and boys they want are virgins, though that isn’t all they take. They’re looking for the curious ones or the unusual ones. They want the ones with an interest in BDSM but never have been involved in the scene. They want to completely break them. They’re also taking men and women if they fit a certain description. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find out as much as we want about what happens after they get the victims. What little bit we have found is that these men use them until they are done and then pass them off, use them to entertain guests, prostitute them out to make money, or even force them to run drugs. They even use them to make money entertaining in live shows. The videos on the net caught the FBI’s attention, and they started an investigation. Its feed was rerouted many times, but it was eventually traced back to an old abandoned warehouse here in the US. Then they kept hitting dead ends until a couple months ago. Someone let the name of a club slip.” He looked at their faces waiting.