Page 31 of Hold Me
“It’s not that. I’m just... a little bit nervous. That’s all.” I force myself to smile. I can do this. It isn’t as if I haven’t pretended to be happy at a million parties that didn’t interest me. I can fake interest in whatever I want, even if it makes me uncomfortable. At least I hope I can.
As we’re striding through the long hallways, our heels clicking against the white marble floor, Alessandra grabs me by the arm and takes me to the end of the hallway, straight to a door that doesn’t have a room number on it. She knocks three times and the door opens. A tall guy with a white mask covering most of his face peers through the opening, his smile widening when he sees Alessandra.
“Hello, Xen,” she says.
“Allie.” The man’s dark eyes travel to me. “I see you brought a friend.”
“Yep. I did. Now, will you let us in or are you going to gawk at us?”
Xen steps aside, letting us into a long, mostly empty hallway. To my left is a big hanger rack and a box with masks. Alessandra quickly grabs two and hands one to me.
“Put this on,” she says, as Xen types something into his phone. I look at him as Allie puts on the mask that covers most of her face but leaves her eyes and mouth visible. The mask is completely white except for the black floral embroidery around the eyes. Alessandra glances at Xen as I put on my mask. It’s soft from the inside and doesn’t press on my face like I expect it to. It’s strange though, and a little exciting.
“Don’t worry about Xen. He’s just making sure you’re on the guest list. I assure you no one will ever find out you were here. Now come on.” Allie waves at me, and I follow her down the hallway to yet another door.
As I pass through it, I find myself in a huge room. A gasp is stuck in my throat when I see a naked girl tied up to a table, a gag ball in her mouth. Her head is lolling back over the edge of the table as a masked man dressed in a suit unzips his pants and pulls out his cock. I immediately avert my gaze, glad that no one can see my burning cheeks under the mask.
Alessandra has gone farther into the room, toward what looks like a bar. There are white and black couches in front of it, and men and women in masks sit there, drinking and chatting. At the feet of one of the men is a naked man on his knees, a collar around his throat, his back covered in red welts. I stop and look around, and I think I’m going to go dizzy from the sheer number of all the naked and masked people.
“Relax. It’s just a party.” Alessandra taps me on the back, making me jump. “Here.” She hands me a glass of a yellowish liquid.
I take a tiny sip and realize it’s champagne.
“I wasn’t sure if you’re into this kind of thing, so I brought you to one of the tamest parties.”
I swallow and look around the room. Yeah, that was a good choice on her part. But I already feel out of place here. I look for any sign that the naked people, who might be actual sex slaves and not just playing, don’t look happy about what they’re doing, but all I can hear is the moaning of the girl nearby.
Her eyes are closed, her lips parted, as a guy pumps into her, his fingers tightly wrapped around her wrists and pinning her against the table with an almost bruising force. I can see light bruises all over her legs, but how can I know if that’s something she wanted or not?
My gaze falls on the couple pressed against the wall. A masked woman is clinging to a naked man, her lips spreading into a smile as his hand roams up her leg and under her skirt. As they kiss, their tongues intertwining, I look away. Maybe this has been a huge mistake. I shouldn’t be here.
I turn around to find Alessandra and tell her that I’m leaving, but then I see a familiar face across the room and my heart skips a beat. I freeze in place, unable to move a single muscle, as a slow tremor runs up my body.
A tall masked man grabs Caleb’s chin and pulls him in for a rough kiss. Caleb doesn’t fight him, his naked, muscular body rigid. I know he hasn’t seen me yet and I don’t know if he’ll recognize me with the mask... if he even looks in my direction. The man then flips Caleb around and shoves him over the table so hard that I gasp. As the man unbuttons his pants, Caleb is perfectly still, his eyes focused on a spot on the floor.
I want to look away, but I can’t. My heart is beating so loudly that my whole body is pulsing with it. As the man runs a hand across Caleb’s back and squeezes his ass, I notice the red welts raising all over Caleb’s skin. Caleb grimaces as the man slides his cock inside of him, and my knees nearly give out.
The look in Caleb’s eyes when the man painfully grips his hair and tugs his head back cuts through me like a knife, and I can’t breathe. He doesn’t want this. He doesn’t enjoy it. I don’t know what has made him agree to this, or if he even had a choice, but it doesn’t matter. My vision is getting blurry, and I want to stop this, stop the unknown man from hurting Caleb, but I can’t just go over there and tell him to stop.
I don’t know what to do that wouldn’t cause even more trouble for Caleb and me. I’d never get us out of here alive. A dark part of my mind reminds me that I would rather not let anyone who hurt Caleb walk out of this room alive. Still, I take a deep breath and force myself to look away.
“Hey, you’re spilling it!” Alessandra comes toward me and I realize I’m still holding the glass of champagne in my hand, and it’s tilting so much that the champagne is seeping out.
“Shit.” I straighten the glass and set it on a nearby table.
“Have you seen anything you like?” Alessandra searches my face, and I force myself to smile.
“Maybe.” I focus on her silver earrings in the shape of an apple until my head clears a little and I can feel my legs again. “So, are you going to introduce me to our host? I’d like to thank him for letting me come here.”
Actually, I want to meet the man so I can place my hands around his neck and strangle him, but I know it’s not going to be that simple. Still, I need a clue for the cops, and if I keep saying that to myself, maybe I’ll manage to do this without showing my utter disgust with what is going on in here. Alessandra glances at the couches where some masked men are sitting, but I’m not sure who she’s looking at.
“Maybe later. He’s busy now,” she says, then turns on her heel and looks at me over her shoulder. “I’m going to...” She bites on her lip. “Enjoy myself a little. Hope you don’t mind that I have to leave you. Unless you want to join me.”
“No, you just go. I’ll be fine here.” I have no intention of going anywhere with Alessandra. I almost can’t believe I’ve been friends with her for so long and not known what she’s been doing.
I head toward the bar and order some vodka-orange juice, then gulp down the whole thing. The mask on my face is getting irritating and itchy, but I know I can’t take it off. For a moment, I wish I could see other people’s faces, even if that meant they could also see mine, just so I could remember them when I give their details to Lloyd.
When I turn my head, I see Caleb walking across the room, his gait slow and stiff. The man with the mask is laughing and drinking with some woman, and I grit my teeth together. I could kill him for laying his dirty hands on Caleb. Before I know what I’m doing, I get in Caleb’s way. He stops, his eyes wary, then his lips spread into that fake smile of his that doesn’t reach his eyes.