Bound (Forbidden Series - Book 1) (3 page)

              When Jewell stepped in front of the unremarkable building, she double-checked the address. It didn’t have a business sign, didn’t have
anything
indicating it
was
a business. Walking up to the front door, she wasn’t sure whether she should ring the doorbell or go on in. Since there was no
Open
or
Closed
sign, she decided to go the doorbell route.

             
A year ago — heck, three months ago — the place would have seemed too sketchy for her and she would have turned around and walked away. But she no longer had the luxury of doing that. She needed another job and she needed to get money saved so she could ensure she would gain custody of her brother. Plus the woman had come to her, asked her to interview. So that was a very good start.

             
Jewell hit the buzzer next to the door and waited for what seemed like forever. A striking woman answered at last, but said not a single word. She just looked Jewell over with a swift sweep of her eyes before meeting her gaze.

             
Whatever this woman was looking for, Jewell had the feeling that she’d come up short. Was this the same person who’d given her the business card? Jewell had no idea, because the woman hadn’t spoken yet. She was wearing at least five-inch heels, doubtless an intimidation tactic. It was working to a degree, though nothing really mattered anymore except getting work. Still, Jewell wouldn’t cower. She was going to paste a smile on her face and make these people want to hire her, no matter what the job entailed. There was no way she could suffer the disappointment of seeing another door close in her face.

             
“Hi. I’m Jewell Weston, and I’m here to apply for employment. I was handed a card and told to come by.” Her voice came out strong, determined, positive. Amazing.

             
“I see you decided that you could do better than living on the streets — or in abandoned buildings.” The woman’s distinctive voice, with its low, sultry tone, was certainly the same one she’d heard a few hours earlier.

             
“Yes. I want the job.” She didn’t add that it didn’t matter what the job was. That would sound too desperate.

             
“Come inside.”

             
There was nothing in the woman’s words or her voice to indicate whether she was interested or not. Maybe she was just bored with what she did for a living. She could at least introduce herself so Jewell didn’t have to think of her as
the woman
. But, hell, she’d call the lady anything she wanted to be called as long as she provided a much-needed paycheck.

             
“What can you bring to us here, Jewell?”

             
They were now in a small room with a table and two chairs. The woman didn’t gesture for Jewell to sit, so she stood there awkwardly.

             
“I went through four years of college and finished with honors,” Jewell replied without hesitation. “I’m bright and always eager and willing to learn.”

             
“That’s a must,” the woman said with a cryptic smile.

             
“Well, then, you have your employee,” Jewell told her with a raised chin. “You may as well quit looking anywhere else.”

             
“Hmm. We’ll see.”

             
The woman gathered papers from a file in the corner and then sat down at one end of the table, still without offering one of the chairs for Jewell to take. Should she sit? Was this some sort of test? The walls were bare, with nothing on them for Jewell to focus on to make her feel less uncomfortable, but she was determined not to look nervous.

             
“Where did you attend school?” The woman wasn’t even looking up as she asked this question.

             
“I went to UC Berkeley on a full scholarship.” Jewell was quite proud of that.

             
“Very impressive. So you are certainly smart.” The frown between the woman’s eyes suggested that she wasn’t particularly pleased.

             
“I’ve always been at the top of my class, which is why I excel at any job I take on.” Jewell had to close her lips to keep from saying more. Some potential employers wanted a lot of talking, and some didn’t. She had the feeling that, in this case, the less she said, the better.

             
“Please have a seat, Jewell.”

             
The tone of her voice indicated she
was
pleased Jewell hadn’t sat down before she’d been asked. Good. Jewell was doing something right in this freaky interview. If only she knew what she was being interviewed for.

             
“Thank you,” Jewell said. “Might I have your name?” She was through waiting for the woman to introduce herself.

             
“I apologize. I should have told you that already,” she replied with a slight laugh that didn’t reach her eyes. “McKenzie Beaumont.”

             
“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Beaumont.” No, it wasn’t.

             
McKenzie’s hands had long, slender fingers, and Jewell noticed she wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.

             
For the next hour, Ms. Beaumont asked all sorts of questions that Jewell had never been asked before in a job interview, but the longer they sat in the small, stark room, the happier Jewell became. If she’d blown the interview completely, the woman wouldn’t continue wasting her time, would she?

             
“Do you have family, Jewell?”

             
This question made Jewell pause. Should she lie? What if the woman thought her personal life was too much of a hindrance and then didn’t give her the job? With a pang in her heart, she spoke. “My mother passed away a couple of months ago. I have no family left.” It felt like acid traveling up her throat as she denied the existence of her brother to this woman, but she had no choice. There was no need for her potential employer to know about Justin.

             
“And friends? Do you have close friends?” What a strange question to be asked, Jewell thought, but she didn’t care. On this subject she could easily speak the truth.

             
“No. I moved back home about six months ago to take care of my mother before she died. I had to leave everyone behind in California. I haven’t had time yet to make new friends here. I’m not a really social person, anyway. I much prefer to do my job and then relax alone at home.”

             
That was somewhat true. Sure, she’d enjoyed going to happy hour with her friends back in California, but her idea of a perfect weekend was sitting in front of a fireplace in the winter with a glass of inexpensive wine in one hand and a good book in the other. She didn’t need an exciting social life. She’d been teased about that, though good-naturedly, of course. That
was
California, after all, where the game of life was all about being seen.

             
“Would you like to hear about the position, Jewell?”

             
The intensity in Ms. Beaumont’s eyes made Jewell feel suddenly tempted to turn around and bolt from the room. She hadn’t the foggiest idea what this woman would say next and she wasn’t at all sure she wanted to know.

             
“Yes, of course. I’m willing to learn any job, and I guarantee I’ll do it well.” Those were the words that came out.

             
“Very good. We are an exclusive escort service. The clients we have like their escorts to be, let’s say,
accommodating
.”

             
When she didn’t elaborate, Jewell searched her mind to think of anything she knew about escort services. Weren’t they places people could go to if they needed a date for the night who wouldn’t humiliate them? Such as a cousin’s wedding, when they didn’t want to go alone, or a high school reunion, where they needed someone to be pawing all over them. That couldn’t be so bad. They weren’t prostitution places, right? She’d just have to go out on some dates. She could do that.

             
“I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting that, but I think it would be fun to be a part of an escort service, to meet new people each week and to entertain clients.” Jewell actually thought it would be far less than fun, but Ms. Beaumont didn’t need to hear that.

             
“I am glad you feel that way, because we guarantee our clients one hundred percent satisfaction. Whatever they want, they get.”

             
“
Whatever
they want?”
Whoa!
Jewell could have no doubt now what the woman was saying. This wasn’t a typical escort service, at least as she understood them. Maybe other people associated escort services with sex and maybe she was naïve, but right now she was scared. This was a place that catered to the needs of men who would want things from Jewell she’d never before given
any
man.

             
Could she do that? Could she sell her body? She wanted to recoil in horror, to tell this…madam what she thought of her disgusting business, but the image of her brother’s tear-soaked cheeks popped into her mind, the pain so vivid in his eyes. Was her “virtue” more important than his happiness?

             
“I need a job, Ms. Beaumont, a job that pays well. I think we would be a good fit for each other.”

             
The gleam that popped into the woman’s eyes told Jewell that she’d said the right thing. “Then you are at the right place, Jewell. Our escorts live here, and they go through a training period, paid of course, while they get ready to be the best they can at their job. Do you currently have anything you need to tie up before moving in?”

             
Wow! This was moving fast. Jewell wanted to run, wanted to hide, but it sounded as if she’d gotten the job, and she refused to run away from it.

             
“No. I can easily shift everything and move in,” she said, happy to know she could escape from the shelter and from the abandoned building she went to when she needed a break.

             
“Perfect. Then you will start today.”

             
With those curt words, Ms. Beaumont stood and walked from the room, leaving Jewell sitting alone, pondering what she should do. Was the interview over? Did she get up and walk out? She hadn’t left a phone number with Ms. Beaumont — she didn’t have a number to leave. So she waited right where she was.

             
After about ten minutes, when Jewell was wondering whether she could even get up and move around without endangering her new job, another woman entered the room. This one was older, with a kind smile on her face.

             
“Hello, Jewell; I’m Betty. Ms. Beaumont has informed me that you are joining our team. Our bosses are wonderful to work for and I think you’ll be happy with your decision. Please follow me.”

             
Betty left the room immediately, and Jewell scrambled to catch up to her. When they entered what looked like a spa, Jewell’s nerves had calmed somewhat. This really wouldn’t be
so
bad. And maybe she could even work there for the six weeks until she got her brother, saving everything, and then slip away before she had to do anything that she felt would compromise her integrity. It really depended how long their training took.

             
“The showers are over there. Please take your time.”

             
Betty handed her a thick, soft towel and then disappeared. Jewell stood there awkwardly for a moment, and then decided that a hot shower, one she didn’t have to rush through, sounded like a perfect start to her new job. After scrubbing herself, she was then led to a tub, where attendants practically scratched her skin off.

             
She’d never been bathed by another person — okay, certainly not since her toddler years. Thoroughly humiliated, she had to fight back tears.
This is for Justin
, she kept reminding herself. Things got easier after that.

             
She was whisked into a room where what they called beauty treatments began. Some were painful, some pleasant, but all of them changed her in one way or another. By the time the various cosmetologists were finished, her hair was softer than it had ever been, at least on her head, because virtually all the other hair on her body had been painfully removed. Her skin was silky, her face glowing — and her stomach still empty.

             
The people who ran the agency apparently liked the women who worked for them to be nearly anorexic. That was fine, Jewell supposed — she was used to going without meals. Each time she thought she couldn’t possibly endure another minute, she would just close her eyes and think of her brother. She could do anything for him, and if the brutal beauty routine was any indication of what she’d continue to go through, she probably
was
going to be doing
anything
, and
everything
.