Hey everyone! Sorry about the long wait. Life got in the way. Anyways, here's the newest chapter of my story! Hope ya'll like it!
CHAPTER FOUR
The next day, Lily made sure to follow through with her job by arriving to work early. She sat down at a makeup area and turned to the girl to the right of her.
"My names Lily, what's yours?" she smiled.
The girl set down her hair straightener and turned towards Lily. "My name is Raven. I've seen you around a couple of times. You're new right?"
"I am. I'm still trying to get a feel of everything here. It's not like Miami at all. McCaid has a lot of demands for his girls." She gave a quiet chuckle. Raven laughed too.
"He does, but once he gets to know you and trust you, it won't be so bad." Raven turned back to fixing her hair. "So are you performing tonight or are you scheduled to go out?"
Following Raven's lead, Lily started fixing her hair as well. "I'm just performing. I never get scheduled to go out, just last minute people who show up wanting sex."
"How long have you been here?" Raven asked surprised glancing at her.
"A couple of weeks."
"And you still don't have clients?"
"Um, no. Is that bad?"
"It just means McCaid doesn't trust you for some reason." Raven looked at her suspiciously before turning back to the mirror. "You're not a cop or something are you? Because if you are, I'd advise you to leave now. There was a cop here a while ago and when McCaid found out he killed him."
"Hell no! I'm definitely not a cop!" Lily laughed. "I don't want anything to do with them. Could there be another reason?"
"Maybe he's just nervous after the cop. You're the first new person he's hired since then."
"Any suggestions on how I can get him to trust me?"
"Just work hard. If you bust your ass and earn a shit load of money for him, then he'll take notice." Raven laughed putting the finishing touches on her hair.
"Noted. So Raven, where are you from?" Lily asked. She knew she had to get as much information about everyone as she could. The more information she had the easier it would be to track the people working for McCaid. Plus for all Lily knew, Raven could be his right hand woman. She didn't believe Raven was, but you never know.
"I'm from Florida."
"Me too. Like I said, I'm from Miami, where in Florida are you from?"
"The Orlando area. I moved up here when I was 18 and I've been here for three years now."
"I'm 17 almost 18. I was born in Troy, Alabama but moved to Miami when I was a kid and been there until a couple weeks ago when my pimp brought me here."
"That's probably why McCaid doesn't give you clients. Once you turn 18 he'll probably have a list of clients for you. He's a very cautious man." Raven touched up her makeup before standing up. "Good luck tonight." She said before walking away.
Lily stayed where she was and finished getting ready for the night.
Around 3 all the girls were getting off stage and making their way back to the dressing area.
Lily noticed a bunch of the girls grouped together towards the back door. She never showered here at work so she quickly changed back into her normal clothes, grabbed her things and headed out the door.
"Hey Lily!" She heard someone call. Looking across the parking lot she saw Raven waving at her. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to get more info, she walked over to her. "A few of us are going out to breakfast, did you wanna join us?" Lily looked around at the other girls. They all seemed friendly enough so she agreed.
Breakfast was uneventful. She didn't really learn anything new. Most of the girls either talked about how much they hated their client that night or about an upcoming event at McCaid's house. When Lily tried to ask about it, the girls were quick to change the subject. Otherwise, she got along with the girls really well. She felt very accomplished as she climbed into bed that morning.
The rest of the week went the same way. Lily would arrive to work early and spend the time getting to know the different girls. There were six girls in the clique; the other girls seemed to stay away from them. Lily felt these were the girls that she needed to befriend to make her way into McCaid's house.
Becoming friends with the girls was the best thing Lily could do. Before she knew it, she started getting clients of her own. She didn't know which one of them said anything or who they said something to, but it worked. Lily was getting more and more of the higher paid clients.
After about a month Lily finally received her first invite to the house to join the girls for one of McCaid's parties. She was so excited that she got an invite that she practically danced her entire way home.
She let out a little scream when she opened the door and saw someone sitting on her bed. Instead of Hotch this time it was Reid.
"I wish you guys would stop sneaking in here." She threw down her bag next to the door.
He ignored her rant. "Tell me you have some information. Hotch is ready to take you off this if you don't have anything."
Lily sat down on the bed next to him. "Hotch wanted me to meet McCaid's girls, I did. He wanted me to get invited back to the house. I was. I'm going there tomorrow night instead of spending the night dancing in the club or out with clients so I'm happy about that. I've actually made a friend with one of the girls. Her name is Raven. I didn't get a last name and I doubt if that's her real name. She's really nice though. She's twenty-one and from Florida. The other girls are nice too but Raven is definitely a friend."
"I'll see what we can find out about her."
"She's not his head girl but she's one of the ones he has with him most of the time. I think by staying close to her I can make my way up to him."
He nodded. "I agree. Anything else?"
"No, I've overheard them talking about the drugs he has coming in but I haven't seen them or heard anything about weapons. Maybe tomorrow while I'm there I'll over hear or see something." Lily shrugged.
"Don't be too obvious or eager to find anything out. Don't do anything to blow your cover. Considering it's only been six weeks I think you're doing great."
"Thanks." Lily turned and smiled at him.
"Did you want to go get some breakfast?" Reid asked. Even though they'd only talked a few times, he actually missed the conversations he had with her.
"I probably shouldn't leave the apartment. I don't want to take a chance of one of McCaid's men seeing me with a man. I don't wanna risk McCaid thinking I'm trying to make extra money on the side without him knowing."
"Smart, I didn't think about that."
"I have some things to make pancakes and bacon here if you want?" She stood up off the bed and made her way to the kitchen area.
"Sure." He followed behind her.
She pulled the pancake mix out of the cupboard, and grabbed milk and eggs from the frig.
"Here, you sit I'll cook. You've been awake all night." Reid offered taking out some bowls from the cabinet.
"That's okay. You're a guest in my apartment I'm treating you to breakfast." She grinned at him.
"How about we both cook?" He joined her in getting things set up for pancakes.
The next couple of hours were spent cooking, talking, laughing, and watching TV.
"I'm going to go. Hotch is probably waiting on me to hear about what you've found out. Plus you're falling asleep on me." Reid laughed getting off the couch. Lily was curled up on the other end with her eyes half closed.
"Thanks for staying with me. It's nice to have a real person to talk to where I'm not lying the entire time."
"No problem. I'll try to be the one to come next time too." He hugged her then left her apartment.
The next day Lily was leaving her apartment to head to Happy's when she noticed Raven waiting outside.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Lily asked walking up to her.
"We're going to McCaid's. You don't need to go to the club tonight. When you're invited to McCaid's, he sends a car to pick you up." That was when Lily noticed the Lincoln Town Car behind Raven. She opened the door and signaled for Lily to climb in.
"How did you know where I lived?" She didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. She knew Reid was there that morning and hoped he wasn't caught sneaking out of her place.
"I didn't know where you lived until tonight. McCaid knows everything about his girls. If you think you can hide something from him you're wrong." Raven laughed. Lily laughed too just so she didn't look as nervous as she felt.
"So what happens at McCaid's house that's so special to get invited to?"
"He only allows for a select few of us to go back to his place. We're the ones he knows he can trust. We've all been putting in a good word for you and here you are. He does listen to us. He's actually a nice guy. He's not an asshole like some of the other girls at the club thinks he is. Like I said, he actually listens to his people. If a guy treats us wrong all we have to do is tell him and he makes sure they don't bother us again."
Lily shivered knowing what that meant.
"Tonight though is just a meeting with some of his biggest business partners and potential clients. Another words, it's a boring business meeting. There's gonna be alcohol, dinner, and more alcohol. We're there for enjoyment. If any of his partners or potential clients wants to, they can have anyone of us for the night."
"So it's the same thing as before except we're in front of McCaid and its worse because if we screw up something, then he can lose a client."
"Exactly, so don't mess up." Raven smiled at her. Lily looked out the window of the car. She didn't want to do this but knew she had to. This was make-it or break-it time for her. If she could impress McCaid tonight she knew she was in. If she screwed things up, then it was all over. She'd go back to the team and have to tell them she failed and she'd end up in jail.
"We're here." Raven woke her from her thoughts. Looking around she noticed a huge brick wall around the property and a long driveway. Once they made it to the house Lily was amazed by the size. The car stopped and Raven climbed out with Lily right behind her.
"Hope you're ready for this." Raven laughed.
"Not really, but let's go." Lily laughed and followed her up to the house. This is it, she thought walking through the doors.