Chapter 5
Allen
Another man stepped out into a spotlight and announced the big auction as the surrounding guys screamed out obscenities and cheered, making Brandon and I share a long look. They sounded like they were at a sporting event. This was some twisted shit. I watched the man talk as I narrowed my eyes.
“I can’t believe that we’re watching this,” I muttered to Brandon over the noise as he nodded.
“We should call it in,” he said.
I watched as the stage lit up more and the man gestured for someone to come forward.
Four women walked out, dressed in push up bras and chastity belts. My mouth dropped open. This guy really wanted to go with that gimmick, didn’t he? The men cheered and hollered again as I looked closely at the women, noticing the brunette with the highlights immediately. She looked scared and embarrassed as she stared forward, her eyes staying wide open.
Something stirred inside me as I stared into her beautiful, innocent face. Ricky was talking about each of the girls as my eyes passed quickly over the others but I quickly returned to the brunette. An overwhelming feeling of wanting to protect her from this came over me. I couldn’t stand the idea of any other man touching her. I leaned forward in my seat as the lights came on in the main room, and I blinked.
The redhead was first, and she smiled brightly as she was announced as number one. She seemed too comfortable with this, and I frowned as a thousand dollars was called out. Numbers went into the air, and the voice increased the price as more numbers were raised and cat calls filled the air. The redhead smiled, and I looked back at my girl as she watched the other woman with shock in her eyes.
This was fucked up and needed to stop. I held onto the table as the redhead went for ten thousand dollars, and Brandon leaned forward. “We need to do something about this.”
“We haven’t seen enough, and we need a warrant to search the place. That might take all weekend,” I replied.
He shook his head and sat back. Technically, we hadn’t seen any money exchanged at this point, and we needed a lot more to complete this case.
My girl stepped forward on shaking legs as I stood and pushed my way through the crowd. I didn’t even know I was doing it until I was staring up at Ricky, who looked around and finally noticed me. He was a short, heavy man and I fought the urge to take him down right then and there. I hoped that he didn’t touch this girl or any of the others as he leaned down to talk to me.
“Why are you interrupting my auction?” he said.
“I want this one to be mine. I’ll buy her from you for forever. I want marriage and life with her,” I said.
I couldn’t believe my own words as I spoke. I didn’t even want a relationship before this, much less marriage. What the hell was happening to me? I looked at the girl who was trying to cover her chest as she stared at the two of us with fear in her eyes. I was going to get her out of this and offered her a reassuring smile as she shrank back.
She had no way of knowing I wanted to save her from this and not just violate her body. She didn’t know I was different. I did some math in my head and looked at Ricky. “I’ll give you fifty grand for her.”
“Holy shit. That’s more than I’d ever get for someone to fuck her. You’re on. Can you pay me tonight?” Ricky asked as I thought for a moment.
“I didn’t bring enough tonight, but I’ll get it to you soon. You keep her safe and untouched until I do,” I warned him, a dark look in my eyes. He nodded with an excited grin on his face. I looked up at the girl, knowing that she was safe for now. At least, I hoped so. I’d figure out the money as soon as I could and collect her. I shook hands with Ricky to seal the deal, having to work hard to resist the temptation to break his hand.
I walked away knowing that something shifted in me tonight, and I looked back at the girl. She was watching me with eyes full of curiosity. One of the other girls stepped forward, and they started her auction. I wasn’t a good cop anymore. And I’d just made a deal with money that I didn’t have. I didn’t know how the fuck I was going to make all this work, but she was worth it. Girl number two was worth it.
The men seemed to get into the auction of a new scared virgin, and I sat down at the table as Brandon stared at me.
“What just happened?” he demanded as I raised my eyes to look at him.
“I wanted her. I bought her,” I admitted as he gave me a disbelieving gaze. I was always the good guy that followed every rule so a case could get handled as fast as possible. I was the logical cop that never strayed from his path when it came to work. I just had though. Big time.
“You bought her? You’re going to fuck one of the victims?” Brandon asked me softly, anger rising in his voice. “Remember what happened to me when I did that? I almost fucking lost my job. How the fuck do you expect this to work?”
“I needed to save her, Bran. I can’t explain it.” It wasn’t that I didn’t feel an attraction toward her because I did. It was stronger than anything I had felt before but much more than physical.
Understanding crossed his face, and he leaned back and took a deep breath. “Out of all the women here in Vegas, it had to be her?”
I shrugged.
“How much?” he said raising his eyebrows.
“More than I have right now. I need to figure something out fast,” I said, wiping the sweat from my forehead.
We both turned our attention back to the auction and watched as the remaining girls were auctioned off for over ten thousand dollars each and pulled off the stage. Mine was already gone. I watched as the buyers made their way into the hallway as the stage lights went off and the music started playing. I wondered where she would be staying, and if she’d be safe all alone since the others had been purchased.
Brandon and I left to go to a diner and write down our notes about this case. Leaving the part about buying the brunette out in a silent but understood agreement, we broke down the night and the club’s activities. While we didn’t see money exchange hands, we knew enough to send someone with a search warrant in to check things out. Our part was done here, and Brandon sipped his water as he finished the report and looked across the table at me.
“I’ll get this to the captain in the morning,” he said. “I can’t believe that I’m the good cop for a change.”
I stared at him, still in shock with what I’d done. “I’ll figure this out. I’ll make up a story about how we met or something. I don’t know. I just didn’t want any of those guys to have her. Did you see her, Bran? She looked so scared and innocent up there.”
He nodded in agreement.
“She did. That first girl seemed a little too into it. I wonder if she was a repeat customer,” Brandon told me as he scratched his rough goatee. “Hell, that’s a lot more than an auction. She’s getting paid to fuck as a virgin and lying about the situation.”
“There is a lot wrong with the entire thing. How do they get the girls there to begin with?” I knew that I could get that information out of my girl once she was with me and maybe make more of a case. I’d at least know.
“Maybe it’s part of a trafficking ring. The only one that looked happy to be here was the first girl, and the others looked terrified. If she was a repeat, she could change her appearance and name. He didn’t seem the type to care too much about those kinds of details,” Brandon told me as he tore a piece of toast and chewed it thoughtfully. “They’re all legal, from what I could tell. But they all looked to be of age. Maybe they knew what they were doing.”
“I can’t imagine anyone being okay with that,” I murmured as I thought about the ones that were auctioned off tonight. It made me sick to think what might be done to them tonight, and I shifted in my seat, hoping that my girl was safe somewhere.
“This is Vegas. People do strange things to survive here. If the girls got a cut, they might have enough to get by for a while. Maybe some of them start turning tricks for more money. I don’t know. We need to get in there.” I felt a rush of adrenaline as I spoke and pushed away my plate. “Let’s get this report on the Captain’s desk tonight. I can do some more research online about the club and check the reports again.”
How many girls have done that? I needed to stop it even though I knew that we’d get involved in more cases that were similar.
I’d never let a victim affect me the way this one did. Hell, I’d never let any woman affect me like this. I was all about work and catching the bad guys with the occasional one-night stand thrown into the mix. I wish I knew why this girl mattered to me so much as her face still haunted me.
We stopped at the station to leave the report on the captain’s desk and check in our own office for any new information, and then I took Brandon home. I claimed to be tired, but my mind was racing as I parked in the garage. I needed to make that money soon and get my girl out of that club, and I longed to know her name. They only gave them numbers at the bar, no names.
I looked around my house as I sat down to catch up on some sports scores, wondering if she’d like it here. Jesus, did I really think she’d want to be here with me? She could tell me to go fuck myself and just go home, fifty grand or not. I wouldn’t force her to stay here, but the idea of her in my bed made me pause as I caught the highlights of a basketball game.
I saw most of her body tonight. She was on the lean side but still had some curves on her. Her skin was creamy and her eyes were large and sultry with the heavy makeup and bright color. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen and cursed the fact that it had to be tonight in the middle of a case.
If she was a virgin, she’d never been fucked. I didn’t know what else that meant, and my intention wasn’t to fuck her, but what if she wanted to stay with me here? What if she was attracted to me as well? I could easily imagine the things I wanted to do to her once that ridiculous belt was off her body.
I wondered what she’d sound like as she came. Women were known to be quite vocal with me, and I smiled as I thought back to the last woman that was here. She was a screamer, and I was sure that my neighbors heard us. I shook my head.
I needed that money and to get that club owner arrested so he couldn’t do this to any more women.