“You don’t understand.” He sighed. “Greyson isn’t like most men.”
“What does that mean?” I sat down on the chair. I couldn’t stop myself from gripping the phone tightly. I wanted to know more about Greyson, even if it was from Brandon.
“What is going on, Brandon?” Katie’s voice was loud and she sounded angry. I knew that she had finally figured out that there was more going on here than met the eye.
“Meg, I have to tell you that whatever you heard, it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know.” His voice was bleak.
“But you lied about...”
“We were both heartbroken when she died.” He whispered and then the phone disconnected. I sat there feeling numb and whispered into the dead phone. “But you lied about dating Maria in college.” It was obvious to me now that Brandon had snatched the phone from Katie because he’d been worried about a much bigger problem. Maria was dead? And was his Maria also Nancy’s Maria? How had she died? What role had Greyson and Brandon played in her death? My mind was bursting with questions and for the first time, I was scared. Really and truly scared. I didn’t want to leave the study to go back to the room. I didn’t want to see Nancy or David, I didn’t want to see Frank and Elizabeth, and most of all, I didn’t want to see Greyson. My heart ached as I thought about him and the way I had given myself to him so easily. At the time, it had seemed natural. Our attraction was great, but a part of me had thought that there was something else there. Some deeper magnetism that couldn’t be explained, but had been felt as soon as we met. But I knew I was fooling myself. Greyson was just a sexy, older man who had filled me with lust, and I had succumbed like a two-bit whore. I jumped up and put the phone back on its charger. “Stop it, Meg.” I muttered angrily at myself. I hated it when I grew self-deprecating, which I was prone to do when things didn’t go well in my life. I was not going to allow myself to feel cheap just because I had slept with Greyson Twining. I was a woman, a twenty-first-century woman, and if I wanted to sleep with a man because his very glance made my panties wet, then I wasn’t going to ridicule or beat myself up for it. I could be my own worst enemy sometimes. I exited the room and looked down the corridor before deciding which way to go. I wasn’t sure if I should try to explore what was going on or if I should just go back to the room.
I decided to head back to the room as I was feeling tired and depressed. I needed a good night’s sleep so that I would be refreshed in the morning. I needed to know why Brandon was coming to the club. I prayed to God that Katie was questioning him about whatever suspicions she had. I only wished that I had been able to speak to her for a little bit longer before Brandon had taken the phone. I turned the corner and walked to the room, and was surprised to see the door open.
“Don’t make me look like a fool again.” David’s voice was loud and angry as he spoke, and I froze.
“Leave her alone, David.” Nancy’s voice was urgent. “She’s nice.”
“She can help us.” David’s tone was lower now. “If we want to get them, we can do it through her. She’s our best shot. We can finally get justice.”
“I don’t know.” Nancy sounded worried. “I just think that...”
“What they did.” David’s voice broke. “Justice has to be served for what they are doing to these women.”
“But...” Nancy said something else, but I couldn’t hear. I quickly backed away from the room since I didn’t want them to know that I knew David had gone back to the room. So I’d been correct: David knew Nancy, and from I could tell they were very well acquainted. I tried to think about the other facts I knew. Elizabeth seemed to know Frank and Nancy had said something about Frank as well. So, maybe all four of them knew each other. But it didn’t really add up. And who were the two guys I’d seen in the hallway? I was now thinking I’d seen Frank and David talking. That would make the most sense. But then who were they talking about? Nothing was adding up. Was Frank also an undercover cop, then?
I rounded a corner and heard some music playing from a room at the end of the corridor. It sounded like an old Edith Piaf record my uncle used to play when I was growing up, and I walked toward the music to see what was going on. This was a part of the club that I’d not been in before. It seemed more residential and homey. There was no office or dorm feel to this section, and I suddenly felt uneasy. This was a part of the club I was pretty sure I wasn’t meant to be in. I pressed my ear against the door to see if I was correct in my musical guess and almost jumped a mile when the door opened.
“Hello, Meg.” He looked at me with closed eyes and a short smile.
“Greyson.”
“Came to beg me for some more?”
“Some more what?” I asked dumbly, staring into his vivid blue eyes.
“You know what!” He looked me over and ushered me into the room. “Want to come in?”
“I was going to my room.” I shook my head and mumbled. “Sorry to disturb you.”
“Your room is nowhere near here. How’d you wind up down this corridor?”
“I thought I had someone playing Edith Piaf.”
“You listen to French music?” He looked at me in surprise.
“Not really. But I did growing up. My uncle used to play her records a lot.”
“That makes me feel old.”
“You’re not old.”
“I’m too old for you.”
“Is that something you’ve been thinking about?” I asked hopefully, allowing my emotions to get caught up again. Maybe this was something special and out of the ordinary for him as well.
“Not really.”
“Oh.” Disappointment filled me and once again I felt like a bit of a fool. That emotion was becoming too familiar to me, and I hoped that it wasn’t going to continue.
“Come in for a bit and have a drink.”
“I thought we weren’t allowed to have alcohol.”
“Most of the girls aren’t.” He nodded. “But you’re a special case.”
“I am?”
“You know that already.”
“Why, because we...” My voice cut off. I couldn’t bring myself to say “fucked,” and I knew that what we had done wouldn’t be considered making love.
“Come in and have a seat.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the room. I looked around eagerly and was surprised to find myself in a room that resembled a comfortable living room.