The gates roll back wide enough for Soph and I to slide on through, and then the tall guy closes them behind us again, as if he’s afraid there are other interlopers loitering on the other side, waiting for their chance to sneak on through.
God knows how many people are here right now, but as we’re walked into the villa and out into the courtyard through the entranceway, a sea of chatter bubbles up around us. At least eight men sit at glass-topped tables dotted around the kidney shaped pool, mostly gathered around the far end, where a small waterfall feature cascades down into the deep end. At first I only see the men, but then something about the way Sophia stiffens next to me has me doing a double take. At the feet of the each of the well-dressed guys, a woman is kneeling or on her hands and knees, mostly naked. Some of them are sitting, heads bowed, eyes on the ground, hands tucked under their asses. Some of them are blowing the guys on the chairs. Some of them are bent over, while one or two of the men slide fingers into their pussies or their asses.
Sophia looks away, turning her back on the scene, her face a little grey. The guard who has escorted us through Julio’s villa smirks, displaying a set of yellowing, rotten teeth. “Bad day to bring a bitch out into the desert, huh, ese?”
I take a step toward him, snarling, but the asshole steps away, laughing a high-pitched hyena laugh. “Better keep an eye on that one, cabron. Julio’s other guests have big appetites. Your whore looks like she might be their type.”
It’s pretty pathetic that I react to him, but my blood is boiling in my veins. I’m ready to uppercut this fucker and toss him head first into the shallow end of the pool, but Sophia places a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.
“Don’t. It’s not worth it,” she whispers. “Let’s just sit down and wait for Julio.”
She’s right—fighting with Julio’s men, low life scum though they may be, really isn’t worth it. It definitely won’t ingratiate us to our host, that’s for sure.
Soph sits with her back to the bizarre scene on the other side of the courtyard, leaving me with a full on view from the other side of our small glass table. There are two small red spots of color staining Sophia’s cheeks, and I immediately know they’re not there from embarrassment. Certainly not from excitement. She’s angry. So angry that her hands are shaking as she stacks them one on top of the other in her lap.
“You don’t seem too shocked by that,” she says.
I clench my jaw, looking down at my hands. “I’m not. I’ve seen a lot worse.”
“Nice. Good to know.” She looks disgusted.
“Not because I wanted to, Sophia. Because Cade and I were looking for his sister. That was the kind of place Laura would have ended up. Those are the kinds of things she would have been forced to do. I don’t take pleasure in fucking unwilling women, sugar. I don’t take pleasure in watching them get fucked, either.”
Sophia hangs her head, biting down on her bottom lip. “I know. I’m sorry, that was a stupid thing to say.”
“From the looks of things, none of those women are unwilling participants, though. They all look like they’re enjoying themselves.”
Sophia blinks up at me like I’m simple. “You can’t be serious?”
I shrug. “Julio’s women are paid here, Soph. Most of them, anyway. He doesn’t keep stolen women here. He’s too smart. If anyone comes through his place that doesn’t want to be here, he’s quick to sell them on right away. He knows the cops would be investigating him in a heartbeat if they suspected he had missing girls here. And he knows I’d be putting a bullet in his head if I suspected it, too.
“But you know he does it.”
I sigh, running the pad of my index finger up and down the handle of the flick knife I’m carrying in my pocket. We didn’t bring guns, thinking Julio’s men would search us. Seems as though they didn’t really care if we were carrying, though. “I can’t prove it. Like I said, he’s smart.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes, the quiet interrupted only by the sound of flesh on flesh and women moaning. Sophia shifts uncomfortably in her chair every time someone gasps or calls out, and I try not to shoot daggers at any of the men who cast their eyes over my fully dressed girlfriend as if they’re trying to imagine what she looks like naked.
Julio finally appears after what feels like forever, waddling toward us, tucking a huge, tent-like short-sleeved linen shirt into his enormous pants. He does not look like a happy man.
“I didn’t think I’d be seeing you again so soon, my friend.” He says my friend like it’s an insult, which it undoubtedly is designed to be. “Something tells me you wouldn’t be here unless you absolutely had to be.” He’s been fixed on me, scowling deeply, but his expression shifts when he sees Sophia. Astonishment flashes across his face, his eyes growing wide. “Well, this is unusual. I thought you’d be dead in a ditch somewhere by now, girl.” He offers Sophia his hand but she looks away, refusing to meet his gaze. Her hands remain stacked in her lap.