by Stella Hart
I nodded. “It’s also implied that you won’t be considered for an invitation unless you have a certain net worth and a prestigious family name. So it’d be okay for you, but not for me, because I’m a nobody by Avalon standards.”
“What’s the second option?”
“Application. It looks like absolutely anyone can do that. Age, name, and financial status aren’t an issue. But there’s a thorough vetting process, and the waitlist is up to a year long.”
“Shit.”
“I wonder if there’s a way to sneak in,” I mused, scratching my chin.
Nate sat up straighter. “I think there might actually be a way to get bumped up the waitlist.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, but I just remembered that an old friend of mine tried to get in once, and she managed to make it all happen pretty fast.”
“Can you call her and ask about it?”
A rueful smile tugged at his lips. “I’m not sure she wants to hear from me.”
I felt another twinge of jealousy in my chest. “Oh. She was that sort of friend, huh?” I said, hoping my voice didn’t betray my feelings on the matter.
“Yup.”
I bit my bottom lip. “Call her anyway. We really need to figure out a way into this club.”
He nodded and dialed a number on his cell. As it rang, he set it down on the table and put it on loudspeaker so we could both hear everything his old ‘friend’ had to say. I could see on the screen that her name was Georgina.
She answered the phone with an angry huffing sound. “I was wondering when you’d come crawling back,” she said, as if she’d been expecting this call for weeks. “Unfortunately for you, I’ve decided I can do better than a guy who can’t stop saying another girl’s name in bed. So you can hang up right now and fuck off back to Alexis, whoever she is.”
I tilted my head and stared at Nate with wide eyes. “What did she just say?” I whispered.
He ignored me and kept his eyes on the phone. “I was just calling for some advice, Georgina.”
“Oh? Here’s a freebie for you,” she snapped. “Try not to say the wrong name when you have your dick halfway down a girl’s throat.”
Nate smirked. “That’s pretty solid advice, but it’s not quite what I’m looking for.”
Georgina let out a heavy sigh. “What exactly do you want?”
“I want to know about the Devil’s Playhouse. You tried to get in once, right?”
“Yes. Last year. I thought I might find some hot older guys there,” she replied in a smug tone. It seemed like she was trying to make Nate jealous, but he didn’t even bat an eyelid.
“How did it work? Isn’t there a long waiting list?” he asked.
“Yes, but I got around it, because they let you jump the queue if you have a respectable last name. You’d have no problem if you ever wanted to apply.”
“Good to know. Did you actually get in?”
“No, but it wasn’t because they didn’t want me. I quit partway through the process.”
Nate raised a brow. “Why?”
“Well, you know the reputation that place has, right?”
“Yeah, I’ve heard a few stories over the years.”
As he spoke, Nate speedily typed out a note to me on the laptop. Rumor has it that the DP has a few extra services beyond the bars/clubs. Apparently there’s some sort of BDSM dungeon under the main building, and one of the movie theaters only shows porn. I think there’s also a reason the private suites can be hired by the hour.
The ‘Devil’s Playhouse’ nickname made a lot more sense now. Avalon’s richest citizens clearly liked to play at the venue in every sense of the word.
“I think all the stories are true,” Georgina said. “After they vetted the first part of my application, they invited me in for an interview. Obviously, they liked what they saw, because they said I’d made it to the next stage of the process. Then they asked me for a blood sample.”
Nate’s forehead creased. “A blood sample?”
“Yes. Crazy, right? At first I thought I was getting mixed up in some sort of Satanic cult. But then they told me they have a rapid-testing lab right there on the premises, and they test all potential members for sexually transmitted diseases. I asked them why they needed to do that, and they didn’t really answer properly, but it was implied that some of the members are into partner swapping and other stuff like that. So I guess it’s a precaution they take to make sure there aren’t any sudden outbreaks of syphilis at the club.”
“Right. So you turned them down after that?”
“Yes. If a club wants my fucking blood, then I’m not interested. I don’t even care if it’s got bars packed with hot billionaires who wouldn’t be caught dead at regular bars. It’s just too weird.”
“Do you have any idea what happens after the blood test?”
“No, but my cousin does. He made it further in the process when he applied a few years ago,” Georgina replied. “Do you want me to ask him about it?”
“Could you just give me his number so I can hear it all firsthand?”
She made another huffing sound. “Okay, fine. I’ll text it to you, and I’ll let him know you’re going to call him. But you owe me one.”
“Sure. I’ll buy you a drink next time I see you.”
Georgina laughed. “As long as it’s just a drink, and you don’t try anything else.”
Despite her standoffish words, her tone had turned slightly flirty. It made me want to reach through the phone and jab her in the eyes.
Stop it, I told myself. Nate is not yours. You have no right to be jealous.
That didn’t stop the gnawing feeling in my guts every time I thought about him hooking up with the other girl, though.
“It’s weird, right?” I said, raising my brows as he finally ended the call. “That they want to blood-test all the applicants?”
He shrugged. “Not really. They need to protect their reputation, and that includes protecting their investments.”
“Investments?”
“The elite members. Imagine the shit they’d kick up if one of them met some young hot thing in one of the nightclubs, took them to one of the private rooms for an all-night fuck-fest, and ended up with gonorrhea after paying ten grand a year in membership fees.”
I lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Fair enough. I didn’t think of it like that.”
Nate glanced down at his phone as it let out a short beep. It was a message from Georgina with her cousin’s number.
He dialed right away.
The phone rang four times before a man with a deep voice answered. “Ben Silver speaking.”
“It’s Nate Lockwood here. Georgina gave me your number.”
“Oh, yeah, she told me you might call soon. She said you’re interested in the Mayfair Club.”
“Yeah, I’m thinking of joining. What can you tell me about it?”
“I applied to join it a few years ago. Didn’t really know much about the place at the time, but my girlfriend was really into the idea,” Ben said. “Ex-girlfriend now. She was a bit of a social climber. I think that’s why she was so keen on getting into such an exclusive place. Probably wanted to find an upgrade on me.”
“Right. What was the application like?”
“We filled out a bunch of forms online. My girlfriend wasn’t originally from Avalon, so she didn’t have the sort of connections that would let her skip ahead to the top of the list, but we were told it would be fine if we applied as a couple. That way she could skip ahead using my last name.”
Nate nodded slowly. “That’s useful.”
“Yeah, it made it a lot easier. Anyway, after that, we were invited to an interview.”
“How long did it take for that to happen?”
Ben paused. “Hm. Not long. Two or three days after we lodged the application, maybe?”
“What happened at the interview?”
“They asked us a bunch of general questions about ourselves.
Then they asked more specific questions about what we hoped to gain from membership there.”
“What did you say?”
“I just said I wanted to party with people who were on the same level as me. I know it sounds pretentious as fuck, but that’s the sort of stuff they want to hear.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“After that, they wanted to run some tests on us to make sure we were healthy. A nurse came in and took some blood samples from us, and then we were taken to a lounge to wait for the results. That part was cool because we got free drinks. Anything we wanted.”
“What happened after that?
“Someone came in and told us that our results were clean, which meant we’d progressed to the final stage.” Ben paused and cleared his throat. “That’s when we finally left. It got too weird.”
Nate’s forehead creased. “How?”
“They told us that people who aren’t directly invited to join the club have to earn their entry. At first we thought they were just asking for a bribe on top of the membership fee, but that’s not what they wanted at all.” He paused to clear his throat. “They said the ‘lower’ members who get in via application need to be trusted amongst all the elite members, and to do that, they have to perform a certain task.”
“What is it?”
“We were taken into a room and presented with a group of men and women. They were all hot. We were told they were dancers from one of the nightclubs,” he said. “Anyway, we were told we had two choices. I could have sex with one of the women while my girlfriend had sex with one of the men, or we could have a threesome with our choice of a man or woman. Either way, it would be filmed and kept by the club.”
Nate’s eyes narrowed. “Are you fucking serious?”
“Yup. By the way, I had to sign an NDA after all of this, so you can’t say you heard any of it from me, okay?”
“Got it. Did they ever explain why they wanted you to make a sex tape?”
“Yeah. They said it’s for the club to ensure the silence and compliance of the lower-ranked members. Like, if one of them ever decided to gossip about an elite member they hooked up with one night, the club would immediately release their sex tape to the public to discredit and humiliate them as punishment,” Ben explained. “Obviously, no one wants a tape like that out on the internet for everyone to see, so it discourages them from gossiping and spreading stuff around.”
Nate rubbed his jaw. “So it’s blackmail, essentially, to make sure you keep your mouth shut about everything you see, hear, and do while you’re there.”
“Exactly. I think it’s also a way to see how sexually open and willing you are to participate in every aspect of the club,” Ben said. “The owners want to know that there’s a chance that the younger, newer members will actually hook up with the elite members instead of just going there every weekend to hang out and drink at the bars.”
“The elite members don’t have to do any of that application stuff, do they?” Nate asked. “They just get invited by the owners, right?”
“Yep. There’s no application process for them, and if they just want to drink or have dinner at the club, or go there to watch a movie, then that’s fine. It’s just a big entertainment center to them. But if they want to do sexual stuff in those particular parts of the club, then obviously they want their privacy to be respected, and part of that means making sure the other members can be trusted. The members who don’t have as much to lose, that is, in terms of social status.”
“Makes sense.”
“Yeah, in a really fucked up way.” Ben grunted and went on. “Anyway, I said no. My girlfriend did too. Neither of us were keen on the club having sex tapes of us in their permanent records.”
“Understandable.”
“You said your last name is Lockwood, right? As in those Lockwoods from Arcadia Bay?”
“Yes.”
“Just wait until you’re twenty-five. A guy like you will definitely get an invite from the owners. Then you won’t have to go through any of the weird application bullshit.”
“Yeah, it sounds like that’s probably the way to go,” Nate replied. “Anyway, thanks for your help, man.”
“No problem.”
Nate ended the call and put his phone away, lips pressing into a tight line. He looked as surprised and disappointed as I felt.
“That can’t be real, can it?” I said, staring at him with wide eyes. “Making people film sex tapes just to get in?”
“It’s like Ben said. It’s to keep you quiet and prove you’re up for anything. If you aren’t, they don’t want you as a member.”
“But it’s so unfair. The invited members don’t have to do anything like that,” I said hotly.
“That’s because they’re in-demand,” he said. “They’re rich, influential, and old enough to have real power in this world. They don’t need to debase themselves to have every door open up to them.”
“I guess,” I muttered.
Nate leaned back in his seat and sighed heavily. “Looks like we’re back to square one. We’ll have to figure out another way to find the other eight families.”
“But you said it yourself—the Devil’s Playhouse is our best bet to find them fast, because the richest of the rich on Avalon hang out there,” I said. “This Saturday night, they’ll probably all be there at the same time with their signet rings and pins. That’s exactly what we need to see.”
“I know, but we can’t do all that shit Ben talked about.”
“Well… we might have to,” I said in a small voice.
Nate turned to look at me. “You’re kidding, right?”
“No.”
“Do you really want to fuck your way into a club, Alexis?” he asked, narrowing his eyes.
I lowered my gaze to the table, twisting my hands in front of me. “No,” I said. “Not in an ideal world. But this isn’t an ideal world, and our time is running out. We need to identify the rest of the Golden Circle families and stop them before they hurt more innocent people. And we can’t trust the police with anything we know, so really, it’s up to us to figure it all out.”
He slowly shook his head. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“Yes. As crazy as it is, I think we have to do it.”
“Alexis…” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I saw what that deepfake sex tape did to you before everyone found out it was fake. If we do this, there’ll be a real sex tape of you out there.”
My stomach lurched at the memory of all those judgmental gazes at Blackthorne. “I know,” I murmured.
“And you’re okay with the risk that it might come out one day?”
I bit my bottom lip as I considered my response. “In normal circumstances I wouldn’t be okay with it at all. But this isn’t just about finding the Golden Circle. It’s about finding the truth and making sure everyone knows what really happened to my father,” I said. I lifted my chin high and squared my shoulders. “For that, I’m willing to do anything it takes.”
Nate stared at me, tilting his head slightly to one side. He clearly thought I’d lost my mind. “I think you should take some time to think about this.”
I shook my head. “It’s just a few minutes in the grand scheme of things, right? So as long as we’re careful, what’s the worst that could happen?”
He set his jaw and looked toward the window. Then he let out a deep breath and looked back at me. “If we’re going to do it, we’ll do it together.”
“What?”
“Ben said that’s an option, so we can do that,” he said. The deep, commanding tone of his voice let me know it wasn’t up for debate. “You can pick the third person. That way I’m there with you. I can make sure nothing happens, and I can get you out if you change your mind and don’t want to do it anymore.”
“I won’t change my mind,” I said stubbornly, folding my arms.
Nate lifted his brows. “So we’re really doing this?”
I gritted my teeth and
nodded. “We’re doing this.”
12
Alexis
“You look perfect,” Nate said, watching me in the mirror. He cleared his throat and quickly looked away. “For tonight, I mean.”
“Thank you.” I leaned forward and applied a coat of lipstick. Then I straightened my shoulders and smoothed down my black and gold lamé dress. It hit just above my knees and perfectly accentuated the curves of my waist and hips. “Thank god for your mother’s closet, huh?”
“I could’ve bought you something new.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes upward. “This is new. It still had the tags on it when I found it.”
“Fair enough.” Nate glanced at his watch. “We have forty minutes until we need to be there. Are you nearly ready?”
“Yes.” I tucked a strand of artfully-curled hair behind my left ear. “I’m ready now.”
Two days ago, we’d filled out the online application for our Mayfair Club memberships. We heard from the club’s PR people almost immediately, and our interview had been set up for five o’clock this evening.
If we made it in, it would be perfect timing, because it was Saturday night tonight; one of the club’s busiest nights of the week. With any luck, there would be multiple members of the eight remaining Golden Circle families roaming around the venue. With a little more luck, they’d be wearing identifying jewelry.
“I need to give you something first.” Nate walked over to a mahogany cabinet and returned with a small black and silver bag. He pulled my cell phone out of it and handed it to me. “I figured it was time for you to have this back.”
I was about to thank him when I realized how ludicrous it was to thank someone for returning something that they stole from me. I gave him a tight smile instead.
“I thought we might get separated once we make it into the club,” he said. “So we need to be able to contact each other.”
“Right.”
“There’s something else, too.” He reached back into the bag and pulled out a black velvet box. “I bought this for you.”
I tentatively opened the box to find a gorgeous gold watch sitting on a little white cushion. “This is beautiful,” I said, staring at it with wide eyes. “Thank you.”
