Read Online Always For You (Books 1-3) by L. A. Shorter - Free Book Online

to go back into the VIP area.
You sit there, as these hot girls come in, and you choose the ones
you like. The pimp girls set rates for them. Mate, it's crazy!”
    It wasn't for me. In fact, I found that
sort of thing pretty sick. The idea of women being drugged and then
sold into prostitution, even if it was semi consensual, really
sickened me. The thought that Grace might be doing that, that I might
have caused her to go down that path; that really got under my skin.
    I asked Krista one night back at mine
about her. I never spoke to her about anything real, but I had to
know.
    “ I've
seen a girl I know at your club. Grace.”
    “ Oh
yeah? And?”
    “ Does
she go to the VIP area?”
    “ Oh,
you know about that huh?” She sounded a little guilty.
    “ I've
heard about it from a mate, yeah. Girls getting drugged and sold,
fucking sickens me.”
    She went quiet. “Um, yeah, I guess
that does happen. But the girls, they all want to do it. They're not
forced or anything. And they're paid well – I think.”
    Her tone was defensive, like she was
involved in it all. I thought she was a barmaid, and I guessed she
had no problem selling herself.
    “ So
you do it then?” I asked bluntly.
    “ No,
no, I don't do it.”
    I didn't believe her, but I honestly
didn't care. She could do what she wanted.
    “ And
Grace?”
    “ No,
I don't think so. I've never seen her go in, I don't think she's very
keen. I've ask – I've seen her asked once or twice by this girl,
but she's always said no.”
    I
nodded slowly and lay back on the bed. “Good. Would you do me a favor ?
Keep an eye on her for me, would you?”
    “ Do
you care about this girl? Who is she to you?”
    I looked at her blankly. “Just an old
friend, that's all.”

Chapter 12
    April
18 th 2013
    Grace
    It had been a hard week. I'd spoken to
dad on the phone and had another big bust up. I found out that he'd
begun seeing someone new, just six or so months after mom died. I
couldn't understand how he could do that. How after twenty five years
of marriage he could so easily move on, so easily forget.
    Katie was away as well, leaving me
alone. She'd been seeing a new guy, a nice guy, a guy from college
who I knew. They'd gone off on holiday together for the week, a nice
romantic break leaving me there, only my thoughts and that awful job
for company.
    I think Katie had been finding it hard
with me. She was always trying to help, trying to be supportive,
trying to get me to stop taking drugs, stop working at that seedy
club. But I couldn't stop, I wouldn't. I needed the money, I needed
the job. I wasn't going to go back to living with dad, not now he had
this new woman. No way.
    I was in a particularly bad state that
night at work. I just didn't give a shit, serving people the wrong
drinks, taking shots behind the bar. Coco said I should take a break,
that she'd cover my section. I went into the back, sitting there
watching some of the other girls snorting in the corner. I'd grown
sick of it all, I hated everything. But nothing was breaking me free.
    I got involved, sucking the poison into
my brain. I did more that night than ever, a quick fix remedy for the
pain, numbing my senses, dulling my ability to care.
    Cain
    I
stood at the bar in Room
Z ,
scanning the barmaids for Grace. The bar was long, stretching right
across one wall of the cavernous space, throngs of men queueing up
for their drinks. The place was packed, and the dull thud of the
heavy base made it hard to think. I couldn't see Grace, perhaps she
wasn't working.
    I felt disappointed. I'd come out with
Brad because he wanted to go, but it struck me as a good chance to
see how Grace was doing. Whether I'd actually talk to her was another
thing, but I just felt this innate responsibility to her, to make
sure she was OK.
    Krista was there though, chatting
people up, focusing mainly on the women. She didn't know I was there,
I hadn't told her. Frankly, our relationship was purely in the
bedroom, so it really didn't