Club X Ch. 03

After a very satisfying and insanely hot workout in the play room, Lila and Heath had almost made it into their room for a well-deserved rest when Lars came striding up to meet them. "I want to speak to you," he said peevishly to Heath, and sensing his foul mood, Lila quickly ducked behind Heath's back.

Taking out the pass key, Heath opened the door for Lila, before slamming it shut again once she was safely inside. That done, his eyes narrowed as he asked Lars, "What about?"

"About the rules of this place," Lars said smugly. The thin blond then held up a small black booklet. "According to the club's rules on bidding, if you are out-bid you must accept that you've lost and surrender the person you have bid on to the winner."

Heath nodded evenly, resisting the urge to ram the damn rule book straight down the simpering idiot's throat. "Exactly, you were out-bid. I out bid you, and I was declared the winner, so I claimed her. Case closed." Heath turned then to go into his room. As far as he was concerned there was nothing more to say.

"But-"

Heath turned his head, hand poised on the doorknob, his eyes narrowing menacingly. "No buts, Lars. I won her fair and square, and paid twenty-thousand dollars for the privilege, so as far as I'm concerned you can fuck right off."

Crushing the rule book in his hand, Lars began to sputter, "But I had a right to change my mind and raise my bid, everyone knows that. There are no time limits mentioned in the rules, so I should be able to top the price you paid and claim her as mine - at any time."

Heath was damn near worn out after his strenuous workout with Lila in the playroom, and this guy was getting on his last nerve. Letting go of the door handle, he decided to go for a more reasonable approach. Turning to face him, he said, "Look, Lars, there are auctions all the time in this place. Why don't you just go to the next one and bid on whatever woman catches your eye. And I promise I won't even show up."

Lars bristled, his face turning red. "I'm not interested in bidding on anyone else, you dumb fuck. I want the little blonde you've taken for yourself, who you clearly have no right to possess. And if you don't agree to surrender her, I'm going to report this to The Den Keeper, and you'll be the one thrown out on your ass. And once you're gone, I will possess her - she'll be mine. And it will be my cock she'll be sucking off for the rest of the week, not yours."

Heath went beyond seeing red when Lars put that disturbing picture in his head - his Lila being forced to suck off such a low life creep. Reaching out lightning fast and snatching him up by the leather belt he wore around his pants - partly since he was shirtless and there was nothing else to grab - Heath lifted him right off his feet. Jaw clenched like a vice, he viscously twisted the thin strip of leather, driving the seam of the little prick's leather pants straight into his balls until Lars was writhing in pain and screaming like a little girl. His head hanging back, twisting in the air, the pitch of his squeals rising sharper and higher with every cinch of the belt, still Heath refused to let go. Finally Lars shrieked, "Okay, I'm sorry. Just please, for god sake, let me down." When Heath still kept him suspended in the air, not completely sure he'd learned his lesson, Lars screamed, "If you don't stop this and put me down, you're going to castrate me, you crazy bastard."

Heath nodded his head thoughtfully, not a bad idea... No way could he ever fuck around with anybody without his nuts.

But not until Lars's pasty white face turned a nice bright shade of blood red, did Heath finally let him go - but from two feet off the ground - just to be sure he sent him sprawling on his ass. Bending over to get right in his face, spitting fire, Heath snarled like a man possessed. "Listen, you little shit, you come anywhere near my woman again and I will fucking end you. You got that?"

Cupping his nuts in hand, Lars began rubbing them in a soothing circular motion, tears filling his eyes. "You're crazy. Forget The Den Keeper I should report you to the fucking cops, you prick. And she is not your woman. You own her for one week, and then she we will again be available to the highest bidder - and then she'll be mine."

Closing his eyes, tiredly shaking his head, Heath couldn't believe the tenacity of the asshole. So stepping close to Lars's groin, he lifted his foot and held it in the air threateningly hovering right above his throbbing nuts, just to watch the jerk cower, telling him, "You go ahead and call the cops. I got plenty of buddies on the force, and I can have you arrested so fast your fucking head will spin if you ever dare go anywhere near her again, you got that?"

Eyes filled with terror, Lars slithered away from Heath like the snake he was. Barely able to scramble to his feet, he called back over his shoulder one last time, "You're insane," as he scurried away as fast as he could manage with his hand still cupping his throbbing balls.

When Heath entered the room, Lila's stopped pacing, her worried gaze shooting to his. "Is he gone?"

Heath nodded, reached out and pulled her into his arms, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. "I don't think he'll be bothering us again." At least he hoped not, or he might have to do a lot more than try to twist off his nuts.

Keeping her gaze fixed on his, Lila said, "I heard what you told him. Did you really pay that much for me?" She decided not to mention the part where he'd claimed she was his, imagining it was just something he said because he'd gotten so angry.

Flinching, Heath closed his eyes shaking his head. He never meant for her to hear that, or even that he considered her to be his woman, since no way did he own her. Although they both knew that he'd won her in one of the crazy auctions this place held. At this point, he didn't like her to think he'd ever put a price on who she was, or what she meant to him. Finally looking at her, he asked, "Does it really matter?"

It did to her. Aside from the fact it was an awful lot of money for him to have spent, Blake's original debt had only been twenty thousand dollars, and she'd already paid off ten with the vacation money she'd saved. So, it seemed they were making another ten grand off of her and forcing her to stay here to act as a virtual sex slave.

Heath cupped her face in his hands, his expression serious. "You want to know the truth?"

When she just looked into his eyes waiting and didn't answer, he said, "If I could, I'd have happily paid ten times as much to keep you safe, you're just that special. But of course there's no way I really own you. And if you ever want to leave, I'm sure you know I'd never try to stop you." But he just prayed she didn't want to leave him, because right now, with the way he was feeling about her, he was starting to wonder what he was going to do without her.

Swallowing hard, Lila wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her face to his chest, fighting back tears threatening to spill. Of course she wasn't upset with him. This whole sorry mess was Blake's fault, he was the one who got her into this, and Heath had nothing to do with it. In fact he'd stepped in and saved her from the rest, actually shuddering at the thought of what could have become of her, if not for him.

Heaving a sigh, she'd found out from the loan sharks, that her ex Blake was indebted to, that he had a serious gambling problem and gotten in over his head, then had lied to her about why he'd borrowed the money. He'd told her he was looking at a place where they could move in together and needed the money for a down payment on the perfect little house he'd found. Then he left her holding the bag when he took off with the twenty grand that she still had to pay back, after being foolish enough to have co-signed his loan.

Wondering what she was thinking and hating to see her upset, feeling helpless, since he never had been very good with women crying, Heath gently rubbed circles on her back, whispering soothing things in her ear - mostly because he had no idea what else to do.

And he was just being so kind Lila realized she didn't want to leave Heath, no matter how they'd met. And hadn't he proven to her this morning that he didn't consider her anything like a sex slave? If she was going to be honest, it had actually been fun for them today, and he hadn't made her feel the least bit used or abused. But she was pretty sure if anyone else had won her it would have been a completely different story - more a like a horror story - especially if it was that disgusting creep Lars.

Taking him by the hand, Lila led him to the bed, giving him a coy little smile, she pushed his chest, telling him to lie down, then got in beside him and curled in tight to his side. No matter the reason, enjoying the feel of being close with her like this, Heath circled her in his arms and held her tight, gently stroking her silky hair. At least for now she didn't seem to be going anywhere, which was good. Because there was no way he could leave now and go after her. Not since his team was starting to get some good information on the people who not only ran this place, but even the ones who frequented it, like good old puffy nuts Lars.

They decided on a quick lunch of sandwiches and some O.J. before Lila told him that she wanted to take a shower before she had a rest. Watching her leave the room, Heath wished he could join her, but since he'd promised to do his best to keep his hands off her while they were in the room, he didn't think it would be right to climb in there with her when he knew that he'd have, not only his hands, but his mouth all over her, even before she had a chance to get under the spray.

While he straightened his stiffening cock in his pants as visions of what that would be like ran through his head, Heath's phone went off and he plucked it off the night stand. With a quick look, he recognized his pal and top investigator Jerry's number. "Hey, Jerry, so what have you got for me?"

Jerry got right to the point. "I got plenty. You ever heard of a Sam Walters?"

Heath sat up straight in bed. "No, I don't think so. Why, how does he play into this?"

"Well, he just happens to be The Big Kahuna in that place, also known as The Den Keeper. And from what I'm hearing nothing ever goes on in that place that he doesn't know about. So if your sister was brought in there by some pimp who got her hooked on drugs, he had to have had Walter's okay, or they would have thrown the bastard out on his ass."

Heath tried to absorb what he was hearing. Of course he'd met The Den Keeper. He'd been the one who'd accepted his membership. And from what he could tell, he'd always seemed unfailingly polite, the type to smile and shake hands whenever they met up in the club. And now he was hearing that he knew about his kid sister being brought to this damn place against her will, when she was probably too high to give her consent or even understand what was being done to her. He was starting to see red again, and his palms felt like they were on fire, but knew he had to calm down and bide his time until all the pieces were in place. And then he'd have the cops come in and have the place shut down and everyone in it arrested who had anything to do with his sister being taken advantage of, through what when on in the club, and with the drugs they seemed to allow that had ended her life.

"You ever hear about drugs being sold or allowed in this place?" Heath asked his friend.

"No, the person I spoke to - a former club member - only heard rumours of drug use being condoned. But you've been in and out of there off and on for the last eight months or so, you ever see anything like that going on?"

Shaking his head, he said, "No." Heath couldn't say he had, but then again he'd only found out in the last two months that this was definitely the last place his sister had been seen alive. And that's when he'd started to show up on a more regular basis. When he came, he mostly kept to himself, quietly poking around, and until he'd made that bid for Lila, he'd never even participated in anything like an auction before. Of course he'd had sex with some willing women over the time he'd been here, mostly to keep up his cover - since he was posing as a Dom. And he'd enjoyed the gym, and occasionally stayed overnight in a room, like he was doing this week with Lila, although this was the first time he'd ever shared a room with anyone else.

Of course the whole time he'd been here snooping around as much as he could, asking carefully worded questions of members and staff that he thought might be able to help with the investigation into his sister's death. But he couldn't remember seeing anything suspicious that might make him think drugs were being sold or used in the club. Or even seen anyone that he thought might be here against their will, at least until Lila, who he still had his doubts about, no matter what she said.

When he heard the water shut off in the bathroom, Heath realized he'd better hang up, before she overheard what he was saying. "Guess I'd better go, Jerry. But let me know about anything else you uncover, and I'm going to try asking around in here a little more."

"Yeah, I'll do that. But just be careful that no one catches onto why you're really there, pal. Seems this Sam Walters character has a lot of mob connections, and I doubt he'd think twice about disposing of anyone he thinks might be snooping around and interfering in his business."

"Hey, hang on." Heath got up and checked that the door to the bathroom was closed tight before he said, "I want you to look a little more closely into that Lars Zucker guy I mentioned to you yesterday. I want to know where he comes from, what he does for a living and where he gets his money. Basically anything you can find on him."

"Why, you think he might be involved in what happened to your sister?"

"I have no idea, but I do know he's really starting to piss me off, so I'd love it if you could help me find a reason to have his ass tossed in jail with the rest of them when the time comes."

Just then Lila walked out not realizing that Heath was on the phone, she asked him, "Are you going to get a shower before we have a nap?"

"Hey, who's that?" Jerry asked, "And why is she asking you about taking a shower and having a nap with her?"

Heath closed his eyes and shook his head. Jerry didn't need to know about Lila, especially since she had nothing to do with any of this. So he told him, "She's none of your damned business, that's who she is. Now just look into that guy I mentioned and let me know what you find."

Jerry laughed. "Yeah, I'll get back to you. And enjoy your shower and sleepy time, boss."

"Yeah, thanks, asshole," Heath muttered into the phone before he disconnected.

Shrugging his shoulders, he said to Lila, by way of explanation, "Friend of mine," before he set down his phone and headed in for a shower.

As Lila watched him retreat into the bathroom, she could tell he was definitely up to something, but just didn't know what. She only hoped that he wasn't doing anything dangerous, because she couldn't stand the idea of anything happening to him, especially not since she'd gotten to know him the way she had. Curling onto her side on the bed, she reached over and turned down his side of the bed for him, hoping she'd be able to stay awake long enough to ask him what he was up to. But as her eyelids grew heavier, and she curled tighter into a cozy little ball on her side, feeling herself beginning to drift off, yawning, she thought, of course she could always ask him later.

Heath walked out to the bedroom smiling at the sight of Lila already asleep in the most adorable little catlike curl. Having tossed his wet towel in the bathroom, feeling just as wiped out as she looked, he couldn't stop yawning as he searched for a clean pair of boxers. After a cursory search of his suitcase, he finally gave up and climbed naked into bed beside her, just as he was. It wasn't like she hadn't seen him without his clothes before, so she probably wouldn't care if she woke up to find him next to her in his birthday suit. He looked down at himself. Although she might have a problem with the raging boner he was sporting, since he had promised to keep things platonic in their room.

Seemed he couldn't get within in twenty feet of her without getting a hard-on - and he had to wonder why that was. None of the other women around here ever had that effect on him, and a lot of them were pretty attractive, too. Then when he got on his side close to her, gazing at her gorgeous face as she slept, and the way her chest gently rose and fell with each little breath, pretty pink lips parted so invitingly, unable to resist, he reached out and carefully ran his hands through her silky hair, letting out a defeated groan. He had a pretty good idea what was going on. He was falling for her, and pretty damn hard. But until he'd figured out who was responsible for his sister being killed, he didn't really have time for a woman in his life. Not even one as sweet and sexy as Lila.

Especially since he knew she was still hiding the truth of why she was even here.

A few hours later, Heath awoke to find Lila curled against him, with her sweet little ass tucked up nice and tight against his still semi-hard package. A package that was quickly growing to a nearly unmanageable size with the way her nice tight butt was cradling it. Dropping a warm soft kiss to her nape, Heath quietly murmured, "Hey, Lila, I think it's time we got up."

When she yawned and stretched in his embrace, then just turned and wrapped her slender arms around his neck, Heath had to fight not to roll his eyes. So much for keeping her at arms-length in the room, with the way she had herself wrapped around him tighter than cling wrap. Rubbing up against him the provocative way she was, she was getting him so hard he wondered how the hell he'd even be able get up and walk once he got out of bed.

Warmly smiling into his eyes, gently brushing a soft, warm kiss over his lips, Lila just loved the feel of having him so close. Thrilled at the feel of waking up with him, she ran a hand over his bare muscled back, then reached down and playfully gave his tight butt a squeeze.

Heath shook his head at the mischievous glint lighting up her pretty blue eyes. "Are you forgetting that I promised not to touch you when we're in our room and that we agreed to save all the sexy stuff for down in the playroom?"

Grinning coyly, tipping her head up she ran her tongue teasingly along his bottom lip whispering against his mouth, "The thing is, I don't remember asking you to do that."

His brow shot up almost to his hairline. Holy shit, was she giving him the green light? Even as his cock twitched at the thought of hooking up with her again, clearing his throat, he told her, "But I've been trying to be a gentleman."

Her head falling back, she began to laugh, finding that pretty funny. Eyes dancing with amusement, finally looking at him, she said, "Like the way you were today in the play room, making me come so many times I lost count. And the way you smacked my ass and whipped me and took me from behind?"

Shit, her reminding him of all the kinky they'd done, was just getting him harder. Still doing his best to keep things cool, he said, "You know that's different. That's just sex, and putting on a show for whoever might be watching us, so they'll think I really own you. That kind of stuff is expected in here, and it's what a club like this is for."

Not quite sold, Lila narrowed her eyes on him. "So you can go all alpha male on me, acting like a Dom and ordering me around, like you really do own me, while of course getting yourself off."