Elegant Sins (Dark Secret Society 1)

“Shut up.” She leaned in. “What I mean is that everybody whispers about them. The men want to be members and the women, well, the women… What you’re holding in your hand right there”—she sighed, leaning against the side of the brick building and looking longingly at the invitation in my hand—“is the golden ticket to a new life.”

“But what does that mean?”

Delilah pushed off the wall and got right in my face. “It means that you follow the directions on the invitation exactly. You go where they say. You wear what they say to wear. You do what they say. You do not talk back. For once in your life, Grace, you’ll have to shut the hell up and just obey.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop the bus. “Obey?”

I took a step back from Delilah, but she followed me, a determined look on her face. “They’ll give you whatever you want. You dream it up, they can give it to you. I’ve seen it happen. The women walk away, and all their dreams come true.”

“What are you even talking about? None of what you’re saying makes sense.”

“Oh my God, don’t be so precious.” Delilah looked disgusted with me. “So, what if you suck some cock for a few months and take it up the ass a couple times? Are you listening to me? You can get out of this town! After three months, you’ll be free to do whatever you want, all the money in the world. You get to name your price. They can make anything happen for you. Anything. The sky’s the limit with these guys.”

I just stood there as my mouth dropped open. “You want me to be a… a prostitute?”

Delilah rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, it’s not even like that. Some of the women who come out say it’s the best sex of their lives. Plus, the men are rich. The bluest of the blue bloods. They’re ultra rich. They run politics around here, the police, you name it. Just think of what you could do with that kind of money and influence. One woman started a multinational corporation that does relief for starving children in Africa. Isn’t that the kind of do-gooder shit you want to do?”

Damn it, that had me stopping in my tracks. That was far bigger in scope than I’d ever imagined. My dreams had always been small. Local. But what if I had money? Real money?

I had no power in this world. Hadn’t today taught me that?

I wanted to help others, but I couldn’t even help myself. I thought about earlier outside the bathroom. Bill apparently thought breaking up with Kyle meant he had full rein to move in. He assumed he had the right because of his measly amount of power over me.

Say he kept cornering me until I either finally gave in and started giving him hand jobs like Paula did, or I quit, and looked for somewhere else to work.

Just some other dead-end job where I’d no doubt get groped, too.

All the men in this town sucked, but I liked sex, and what if one of them eventually managed to knock me up? Condoms broke and the pill wasn’t a hundred percent. What fresh hell would I be in for then? Stuck to some loser with a kid I could never give the life they deserved, working a job I hate and forced to put up with handsy bastards all my life because I. Had. No. Power.

Or…

“It’s just three months?” I bit my lip.

Delilah’s face lit up. She nodded fervently. “Oh my God, tell me you’re going to do it. One of us has to get out of this shithole.”

I threw my arms around Delilah and pulled her close. She smelled like cigarettes, stale beer, and coffee.

“I swear if I get money and get out of here, I’ll come back and get you. If this really is a golden ticket to my dreams”—I felt ridiculous even as I said it—“I’ll come back and bring you with me to my new life.”

But when I pulled back, Delilah was just smiling at me sadly. “No, you won’t. You’ll forget all about me. You’ll wipe this town off your boots and never look back. And I won’t blame you.”

I stared at her hard, vowing she was wrong.

I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. I doubted there would be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow like she thought. In my experience, anything that sounded too good to be true usually was.

But life had me by the balls. I knew exactly what I was getting if I stayed on the path I was on now.

Or I could risk everything. Leap into the unknown.

And God knew I was clever, but I’d never been especially smart.

Because I was going to accept the invitation.