I told Paul I was meeting the girls. It was only a half-lie. I was meeting the girls, but he assumed it was Leah and Nina when really it was Martinez’s crew. I still had a job to do, I just hoped I didn’t get my heart broken in the process. If I was right and Martinez was the man in charge of the operation, then Paul would soon find out who I really was and everything would change. But he’d expressed numerous times that he no longer wanted to be an escort, so we could make us work. I knew we could.

When I arrived at PT’s, I scanned the restaurant for Jasmine. She was sitting at a moon shaped booth, sipping a cocktail. She waved me over and I slid in. I expected her to be sitting with a few girls because I wanted to meet with more than just her, but she was alone.

She reached over to give me a hug in greeting and I hugged her back. “Honey, it’s good to see you again.”

“Where are the others?” I asked.

“Oh, they’re coming. You know how chicks are. Always need to make sure they look good before leaving the house.” She laughed and took a sip of her drink.

Was I off base here? Were these girls just regular hookers out to make a buck? I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for in the sense of trafficking. Jasmine had said I would make three times what I was making at S&R, but what did that really entail?

“I seemed to make it on time.” I laughed.

“You’ve yet to reach this level. Let’s get you a drink and talk.” She flagged down the waitress and I ordered a margarita. “Now let’s get one thing straight.” She took a sip of her vodka and water. “If you choose to go on a date we set up, there’s no turning back. You work for Martinez, you do your job, and there are no problems. He’ll take care of you. Fuck up once? You better hope he can’t find you.”

As Jasmine was talking, I envisioned Martinez as your typical pimp. The kind who would slap you around when you didn’t pay or when you didn’t do your job correctly. I thought that maybe this would be my in; a way for me to find out more about the trafficking situation. As if right on cue, the group of girls we were meeting walked in and I overheard part of a conversation that peaked my interest.

“… Nelly is gone. That fucker sold her! We made the money we needed too and he still fucking sold her!”

Before I knew what was happening, Jasmine slide from the booth, pulled the girls aside and whispered something that looked like the fear of God in them. I didn’t know what was said, but after what just went down, I was certain Martinez was the guy I was after.

“What was that about?” I asked Jasmine as she slid back into the booth.

“Remember what I said about fucking up?” I nodded. “Her friend fucked up.” She glared at the girl who had talked about Nelly.

This was definitely the crew I needed to get involved with to learn about the trafficking that was going on.

The question was: How deep was I willing to go?

Chapter Sixteen

Paul

When I checked my back office for the week, I nearly had a stroke. A regular from Malibu had booked for Thursday night because she was going to be in town for a bachelorette party and wanted me to meet up with her.

Regular meant sex.

Any other time this would be okay, but now that I was dating Andi, this was horrible. But I couldn’t cancel because I had a long term relationship with this chick, and I at least owed it to her to show up and bring a guy with me for her to fuck. It would be a win-win for her. She would see me and she would still get laid, but she’d only pay for one of us.

I called up my buddy Nick and told him the game plan for Thursday.

“I’ll try to be home early.” I kissed Andi’s lips, savoring the feel. I didn’t want to leave her at home. I wanted to stay with her and watch movies—make her feel safe, comfortable. Ever since she’d told me about how her mom she sold her virginity, it was always in the back of my mind. I only wanted to protect her even if it was seventeen years ago. I just had that instinct now.

“You have a job to do, love bug, and I have a date on Saturday. Nothing changes.”

“We don’t need to do this job anymore, baby. I have my job with Gabe and Autumn. You can work with us, too.”

She laughed. “What do you think I can do?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Book new clients for us?”

She pushed on my chest. “Go have fun.”

I stopped walking, remembering I hadn’t told her who my date was with. I never needed to tell her before, but this one felt as though I should. I turned back to her. “Gorgeous …”

She looked at me from the TV, “Yeah?”

“I think I should tell you who my date’s with.”

Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “Okay?” I walked over to her, sat on the coffee table in front of her and grabbed her hands. “You’re scaring me,” she whispered, looking into my eyes.

Reaching up, I brushed a piece of her brown hair behind her ear. “It’s not like that. She’s a client from Malibu.”

She stared at me, realization dawning across her face. “Oh,” she whispered.

“I’m not like that anymore.”

“I know.”

“I called Nick. He’s going with me and he’s gonna … take care of business.”

Her gaze darted to mine. “You called Nick?”

“I’m not going to sleep with her if that’s what you’re thinking.”

“But—”

“Just because we’re not having sex doesn’t mean I need to fuck clients. I lo … I love being with you and I want to see where this goes. I’m not going to fuck it up only to have sex. My hand is doing a good job.” I smiled at her hoping she’d laugh.

She looked up from ringing her hands that were in her lap. “It’s not that I don’t want to have sex … I’m scared.”

I tilted her face, grabbing her chin lightly so she had to look me in the eyes. “I know, and we’ll take this slow. We have forever.”

“Right … Forever.” She sighed.

“Forever, gorgeous.” I kissed her one last time and then I left to meet Nick at the Bellagio where we were meeting Brina, my client at The Bank where she wanted to be picked-up at a nightclub as though she didn’t know who I was. Part of it were true; she didn’t know Nick.

We waited in line to enter the club. It sucked being a guy in Vegas. The women got special treatment while men got the short end of the stick, especially if we weren’t with a group of females.

“Don’t you have connections here?” I asked Nick.

“Yeah, but I don’t see him.”

I groaned. This wasn’t how I wanted to start off the night. I wanted to get in and get out. Nick this is Brina. You two fuck, have a nice night, peace out.

“Let me text him,” he remarked, pulling out his phone.

I checked mine. I didn’t have a set time to be inside the club. Brina knew I’d show. The plan was to surprise her, dance with her, seduce her, fuck her in the bathroom or something and then leave. I was going to do the surprise and dancing parts while Nick did the dancing, seducing and fucking parts. The plan was fool proof.

“All right, he’s coming out.”

A guy came out the doors a few minutes later and waved us over. We went to the front of the line as people groaned. The bouncer unhooked the red velvet rope and after Nick had introduced me to his buddy, we entered a hallway and into an elevator. The bass of the music thumped as the elevator rose to the nightclub.

“What does she look like again?” Nick asked as the elevator lifted floor by floor.

I shrugged. “You know, a blonde babe from Cali with big boobs.”

“My type.” He laughed.

“The trick is to find her.” I chuckled because really finding anyone in a dark nightclub in Vegas was like finding a needle in a haystack.