Free The Private Club 3 by J. S. Cooper, Helen Cooper Page A

muttered. “I’d like you to be gone by the time I get back.”
    “What?” Her eyes flew open then and she sat up. Her breasts sat high on her chest and I realized that they must be fake.
    “You heard me.” I sighed. “Please be gone by the time I get back.”
    “So that’s it.” She looked hurt. “What about —”
    “What about nothing, Janice. I don’t want anything from you or with you. This was a mistake.”
    “I see.” She bit her lower lip. “I thought that—”
    “Be gone by the time I get back.” I pulled on some jeans and a shirt and strode out of the room.
    I walked through the corridors quickly, trying not to think about all the questions and worries rolling around in my mind. The club was eerily quiet as I walked. Nothing much happened at 4 a.m.. Even the men who had participated in kinky sex were usually fast asleep at this hour.
    I walked past the doors of the room that I knew contained the dungeons for the more adventurous and couldn’t stop the feeling of shame from sweeping over my body. I stopped in the hallway for a few seconds as I tried to control my breathing. I wasn’t happy with what the private club had become. It wasn’t that it was so different from my initial expectations of what we wanted at the club. It was just that it felt wrong.
    I started to wonder if in some way I hadn’t been exploiting women who were too weak to do anything about it. As I’d grown older, I’d mellowed out a bit and forgotten the heartbreaks and aches of my childhood. I no longer despised or judged my father. I no longer hated my mother for dying. I no longer ridiculed women who wanted to sleep with me right away and let me know it. The fact was that a lot of the emotions that had made me who I was today no longer existed inside of me. As I’d grown older and the club had become more successful, the more I felt like maybe I’d taken the wrong path.
    My ringing phone interrupted my thoughts.
    “Greyson, where the fuck are you?” Brandon’s breathing was odd as he yelled into the phone.
    “I’ll be there in a minute. Chill the fuck out. What is it? Is Maria pregnant?” I muttered into the phone and hung up as I rounded the corner to the hallway of the girls ’ rooms. I saw the open door and walked in slowly.
    “Okay, I’m here . what’s going on?” I strode in, feeling irritated and annoyed. Brandon’s face looked back at me with an ashen expression.
    “I’m so sorry, Greyson.” His pupils were dilated , and I followed his gaze to the bed.
    My heart stopped for a few seconds as I saw a lifeless Maria lying on the sheets naked. There was blood on her pillow and her body looked like it was blue. I walked over to her quickly, not even conscious of what I was doing. I picked up her wrist and tried to feel for a pulse.
    “It’s no use.” Brandon’s voice broke. “She’s dead. Maria is dead.”

Chapter 7
    Present Day
    Meg
     
    I quickly ran down the hallways. I needed to find David. Even though I didn’t really like him, I knew he would be able to help as an undercover cop. I felt scared. I didn’t really know what to think about anything anymore. It seemed to me that Maria might have been killed because of what she knew about the club. And from the way it was looking, there was a long list of suspects.
    What scared me even more than that was the fact that I could be the next Maria or maybe Nancy was the next Maria. I knew from David’s comments and the worry in his eyes earlier that he definitely knew Nancy and that he was concerned about her disappearance as well.
    I made my way to the courtyard to see if he was still there, but it was empty. I paused for a second, trying to still my panic and think. Where could David be? What could he be doing? If I were David, I would be looking for Nancy. And if I were an undercover cop, I would be looking for clues. And the first place I would look for clues would be in her room.
    I started running again , and this time I tried to think of