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Chapter Four

Griffin’s Beach Hailey

L ast night, when the trunk of the car opened, Hailey Lawrence did her best to figure out where the hell she and her roommate, Lindsey, were taken to. It looked like a garage or warehouse of some sort, but a blindfold was pulled over her head before she got a clear look at her surroundings.

One of the guys, likely the guy who waited at the car, carried her over his shoulder, and all she focused on was the way his shoulder dug into her stomach and ribs with every flight of stairs. There will no doubt be a bruise.

It felt like an apartment building, and she just prayed her cell phone didn’t slip out of her jeans or get detected as she bumped against the man’s body. It’s the only hope she has right now to get out of this.

When they finally reached the destination, they were tossed onto what felt like a worn-out mattress, and a spring poked Hailey in the back. The zip ties and blindfold stayed firmly in place as they were left alone. All night.

Hailey knew having a roommate in college was a dumb idea, but she didn’t get approval for a single.

Lindsey seemed sweet and innocent, if not a little too eager to experience her sexual liberation.

And now that she succeeded in that, she chose a guy who was grooming her to be sold.

Along with her roommate who will serve as a two-for-one deal, it seems.

Gary, if that’s even his real name, gave Hailey the creeps the moment she met him.

At least twenty-five, he picked Lindsey, no doubt, because she looks underage as it is.

Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough, he bought her clothes to make her look like a slutty-yet-younger version of herself.

Like a preteen dressing up as a slutty Britney Spears for Halloween.

Lindsey’s innocence is undeniable, and it was obvious from the beginning that Gary believed he could easily manipulate her.

With her family in Oregon without a significant amount of money, and Lindsey telling Gary that Hailey’s an orphan, they quickly became perfect targets. At the end of the day, who would be looking for them?

“Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey,” Gary’s voice sings out.

Growing up the way Hailey did, her stepmom marrying an alcoholic abuser, she learned early on how to spot a sketchy dude a mile away. And everything about this psycho screams red flag. Fondling Lindsey while he stared at Hailey was also a glaring sign that this had no other option but to go badly.

His boss, Mel, turned out to be even creepier than Gary when he showed up in the room. Hailey knows she and Lindsey aren’t the only ones in this place, and she had the sinking feeling settle last night that the chances of escape were minimal. As in, not a chance at all.

The blindfold whips off Hailey’s head, and she strains to see in the dim light. Window coverings block out almost all of the natural light from the outside, assuming it’s daytime. The only light comes from the barely visible lighting in the hallway that Gary blocks with his tall body.

“Gary, what are you doing?” Lindsey asks, her eyes red and swollen from crying most of the night. “I thought you liked me.”

“Oh, sweet girl, I do. I like you a whole hell of a lot. And popping that cherry was phenomenal. Really, you’ve been great, but the truth is, you’ll make me more money than you’ll ever please me.”

So, they are going to sell us. Maybe that’ll allow a chance to get away.

Hailey almost pities the fair-haired woman on the bed next to her.

Her freckled face makes her look like a young girl who spent just a little too much time outside to bring out the adorable spots on her skin.

If there was a picture in the dictionary next to innocent, she’d be pictured right along with the definition. And again with na?ve.

“I want to go home,” she whispers as the tears fall.

The tears seem to excite Gary more than anything, and it irks Hailey. “Baby, if you do that with our customers, they’ll pay us double, so keep it up. Crying will only make defiling you that much more realistic.”

“Leave her alone,” Hailey says. “She’s not used to being betrayed and having a general distrust of people.”

Gary saunters over to grab Hailey’s chin roughly between his thumb and index finger. “Like us?”

“I’m only going to tell you this once. Let us go, and you’ll live.”

“Ooh! I’m so scared,” he says with a laugh before dropping her face and shaking his hands. “What are you going to do, Hailey? Miss orphan with no family… I’d love to see what you’ll do.”

Snorting, she leans back, thankful the phone has yet to be discovered even as it sits along her hip in her jeans. “It’s not what I’m going to do. My parents may be dead, but I know people. People who will break your neck for doing this.”

“Yeah? Well, I’ll believe that when I see it. Now, the rules here are simple. This is your home now. Accept it. Trust me when I say it’ll make it a lot easier for you.”

Lindsey lets out a sob, but Hailey just glares. If she can get in touch with Colt, she knows he’ll come for her. She hopes. Unless she’s pushed him too far away to care enough.

“We want you to feel as comfortable as, well, you can be. I’m going to cut the zip ties because you probably have to take a piss. This is your room, and you’re able to wander around this floor and the one below.”

Okay, get out and test the boundaries. See where they screwed up, and maybe I can get out to get far, far away before I call Colt. Then I’ll come back for Lindsey.

“The doors below the fourth floor are locked, and there’s no way out without a key. All the windows have bars, so you can dream about jumping to your death all you want, but it’s no use. There is no way out, so don’t even attempt it like I can see you considering right now, Hailey.”

Fuck.

“Oh, and if you feel like you need something to help calm your nerves, we have a small pharmacy filled with all sorts of drugs to help you out.”

A pair of shears appear from the back of his jeans, which seems overly excessive considering he’s cutting zip ties.

Scare tactic. Keep in line, or we’ll do something terrible. Fuck off, dude.

Hailey doesn’t fight him when he cuts them, and he doesn’t say another word after cutting Lindsey free before leaving them alone in the room with no doors to shut.

“What the hell did he have those for?” Lindsey asks and rubs her wrists.

“Intimidation.”

“Care if I use the bathroom first? I thought I was going to pee myself.”

She nods and waits until Lindsey’s inside the doorless bathroom and out of sight before sliding the phone from her pants and placing it underneath the mattress.

“Hey,” a woman’s voice says as someone walks into the room. “Don’t bother looking for anything to help you get out of here. They don’t even give us sheets for the bed. I’m Amanda.”

Amanda looks gaunt, her large eyes sunken into her face, and she’s so pale that Hailey can see every vein beneath her exposed skin. Her hair could be dark blonde or brown, but it’s hard to tell with all the grease slicking it back.

Do they feed us here? Because Amanda looks like she could fall over if I sneeze too hard. Skin and bones has never had more relevance than right now.

The pale purple lingerie she wears hangs off her, and the cups slip down enough to show the tops of her nipples. At one point, the garment may have fit, but being over-worn mixed with excessive weight loss likely created this effect.

“Hey. Hailey. Lindsey’s peeing.”

“How are you holding up?”

Is that a serious question? “Oh, just peachy, actually. I was just thinking to myself yesterday that I needed a vacation, so imagine my luck to be brought to this luxury resort.”

“Don’t sass off to them,” Amanda warns, her eyebrows lifting high enough that they nearly disappear along her hairline. “You’ll pay for it. They’ll make sure you never do it again.”

“What will they do?” Lindsey asks as she comes out and sits on her pathetic make-shift bed.

She sits cross-legged, and Hailey wants to remind her that she’s not wearing any panties. If they don’t get out of here, Hailey suspects she’ll get a full-on view of everything Lindsey has to offer, so it doesn’t really matter.

“They’ll beat you. If that doesn’t fix it, they’ll force themselves on you, two or three at a time, until you can’t walk for days.”

Lindsey gasps, and Hailey puts it together. Amanda’s their den mother from hell. She’s the one who can provide the information Hailey needs, though.

“How long have you been here?”

“Three years, I think. You kind of lose track of time after a while. I’ve gotten older, so I don’t get bought as often. They keep me around to show the new girls the ropes, help with the transition and all.”

“They trust you?” Hailey asks, eyeing what looks like a key hanging around her neck.

Her hand grips the key. “Don’t get any wild ideas. It’ll get me killed.”

“Your family hasn’t come looking for you?” Lindsey asks, her bottom lip quivering as large drops gather on her eyelashes.

Shaking her hand, Amanda sniffles. “I don’t have any. I was couch-surfing while doing whatever I needed to earn money for food. That’s when they lured me in, and now I’m doing things to earn them money.”

“Any idea where we are?” Hailey asks.

“I have no idea. The buildings around here are taller than the top floor, but I think we’re in Riverview. Or on the outskirts.”

“What should we expect? How long do we have until they sell us?”

The sob from Lindsey doesn’t deter Hailey. She needs as much information as she can get, either to pass to Colt, to understand, or to set expectations. Maybe all three.

“You two will be safe for at least a couple of days. If they try and sell you too soon, it usually backfires and creates an issue for them. Their clients like to believe you’re here willingly and playing a part.

If you want to know what you’ll be doing, you can go to the floor below.

Just… maybe do it when you have an empty stomach. ”

“What?” Lindsey gasps. “They’re… They’re really going to sell us? To men?”

“Only for a few hours. They’ll move you to the fourth floor when you’re ready to be bought.”

Hailey looks over Amanda’s shoulder. “There are open rooms?”

Moving to sit next to Lindsey, Amanda puts what is meant to be a comforting hand on her knee. “The veterans get moved to the lower floors. After a while, you become complacent, and you won’t try to run. You’re given more freedoms because in the end, if you try and run, they’ll just kill you.”

“Jesus,” Hailey says.

“Don’t try to escape. There’s a large room on the first floor, and they gather all of the girls together to watch as they rape and murder you for trying to get away. I hope you never have to witness it.”

The look on her face shares how many girls she’s seen this happen to. “We were grabbed because they shuffle people around,” Hailey says, giving Amanda a look that shows she’s aware it likely means someone was killed to trigger it. It’s the last thing Lindsey can handle right now.

The returning reaction from Amanda makes Hailey’s stomach flip, and if she’d eaten anything, she might throw up right there.

“You’re smart. You look quick on your feet, and I would recommend you lose that real quick.

They’ll see it, and they’ll target you. Don’t talk back, don’t fight, and don’t try to run.

It’ll never work, and you’ll just get hurt. ”

Looking at the ground, Lindsey begins to rock back and forth. “They’re going to sell us to have sex with random strangers?”

“Yes.”

“Are they… Are they nice to the girls?”

Amanda looks up at Hailey, and she shakes her head to indicate not to tell Lindsey the truth. The last grip of sanity she clings to will snap, and she’ll completely fall apart.

“As long as you’re good to them, you’ll be okay.”

Okay, so they have at least a day. Hailey refused to sleep last night so she could hear all the noises around her.

The noises in the rooms are loud until what she suspects is six or seven in the morning.

That’ll be the best time for her to execute her plan.

The only chance she has to get out before being forced to do something she never wants to do.

“There are outfits in the dresser there. You need to pick one and change into it. If you do it now and show you’re willing to follow orders before they have to strong-arm you into them, they’ll go easier on you. At least, to start with.”

The glance Amanda gives Hailey says they’ll be given to someone softer to start with, instead of the hardcore sickos, if they don’t need to be broken in . Ones who are into sex that would be considered normal compared to alternative.

A loud sob comes from down the hallway, and Amanda looks out through the open doorway. It seems Hailey and Lindsey aren’t the only new ones in this place.

“We’ll pick outfits. We’re okay here,” Hailey says.

Amanda smiles and scurries from the room, and Lindsey finally looks up at Hailey. “Is this really happening? Are we really doing this?”

It’s hard not to snap at her. Hailey’s far more jaded than Lindsey, and she hasn’t lived through tough enough times to know not to trust people.

She will never trust anyone like she has until now. This will ruin her.

“We don’t really have a choice.”

“This is all my fault, isn’t it?” she asks, tears filling her eyes. “I got us into this mess, and now we’re going to have to…”

“We’ll figure something out,” Hailey assures her and stands to look through the dresser.

Most items are see-through and barely worth putting on because they’re basically naked, but she manages to find two teddies that cover most of the important bits. As long as they don’t bend over.

“Hailey, I’m scared.”

“I know. Me, too.”