by Jessie Cooke
“I will be there, Curt, thanks.”
“Don’t forget to bring that little secretary with you. I wanna get a look at her. If I like what I see, you share with me, I share with you.” Noah opened his mouth and put his finger inside. Ava made a face and she couldn’t even hear what he was saying. Noah forced a perverse laugh and said:
“That’s the best offer I’ve had in a while, Curt.” The man made him sick to his stomach.
Two hours later Keira and Noah were waiting in the lobby to see Curt. When she walked into his office earlier neither Ava or Noah had recognized her. She was wearing a gray pencil skirt and white blouse with a gray jacket and heels and she had her newly red hair piled into a loose bun on top of her head. Ava was about to ask her if she needed help and Noah did a double take when he realized it was her.
“Wow, you look hot as a redhead!”
She laughed and blushed. “Thank you. Sean was pouting when I left the house.”
“Why?” Ava asked. “Is my brother crazy? You look so good.”
Her color deepened and she said, “He says there’s enough redheads in the family and…” She hesitated, and looked even more embarrassed.
“And what?” Ava asked. Noah got the impression from the look on her face she already knew the answer before Keira said:
“He says I look too much like his sister.”
Noah busted up laughing. He supposed getting it up might be a little harder for him under those circumstances. He kept his mouth shut about it, though; he was learning.
As they sat in the lobby waiting on Curt, Noah looked at the girl at the reception desk and down at his phone. The picture Ava got of the woman in the doorway was not really clear since Curt’s big, white head was in the way, but the two did look similar. Noah’s guess would be that she was about twenty-two and when he went up to tell her who they were there to see, he saw that she had a framed photo of a toddler on her desk.
He leaned over toward Keira and said, “After you meet Curt excuse yourself and ask to use the bathroom. Do your best to get friendly with this girl. I think she’s the one we need to talk to.” Keira nodded. If her career as a doctor didn’t work out, Noah thought they could turn her into a pretty good detective.
He saw the girl at the desk talk into her headset and then she looked at Keira and him and said, “He’s ready to see you now.” They stood up and Noah smoothed down the suit jacket that Ava had made him wear. She said he wasn’t believable as an insurance salesman in his jeans. Noah hated wearing a fucking suit. As they walked into the office he felt like the tie was choking him, and was tempted to rip it off. Ava’d told him he was being ridiculous because it was a clip-on, but it was what it signified that really bothered him.
“Bob!” Curt stood up. He was wearing a suit too but he’d taken off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt at the collar so that the brittle white hair and thick gold chain would show. Noah reached out for his hand and shook it.
“Thanks for seeing us, Curt. This is my secretary, Keira.”
He ran his eyes slowly from her face all the way down her body and back up again, ending by running his tongue along his bottom lip. Noah felt sick and could only imagine how poor Keira must feel. She was holding a smile on her pretty face, though, as he took her hand and instead of shaking it he brought it to his nasty lips and gave it a kiss. “Ain’t you a vision.”
She giggled. “It’s nice to meet you, sir.”
“Baby girl, you call me Curt. Y’all have a seat. Can I get you a drink?” That’s when Noah noticed the wet bar in the corner. The guy had one hell of a setup there.
“I’m okay right now, Curt. I brought that résumé for you.” Noah handed him the résumé that Ava made up for him. Curt didn’t even glance at it. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Keira. He licked his bottom lip again and said:
“I don’t think I’m gonna need to see that, Bob, as long as we have a deal on everything we’ve already talked about.” The pervert was talking about swapping their women. God, Noah wanted to punch him in his fat face so bad.
Noah glanced over at Keira. She was still smiling. She was good. He put his hand on her thigh and said, “I think Keira and I will like working here a lot.”
She looked over at him and with a wink she said, “This seems like a fun place.” She looked back at Curt then and said, “Sir, would you mind if I excuse myself to use the ladies’ room?”
“Not at all. I hate to see you go, little girl, but I’m gonna love to watch you leave.” Keira and Noah both laughed at his pathetic use of the old cliché. He kept his eyes on her butt until she disappeared out the door. When she was gone he said, “Mm-mm! Jesus, boy, you weren’t kidding about that sweet little piece. How do you think she’d feel about a pre-employment blowjob?”
Every fiber in Noah’s body was screaming at him to pound his face into the desk. “I’m not sure she’d go for that right off the bat, Curt. She’s the kind you need to ease into things. What about your girl? Is that her out there at the front desk?”
“Yeah, that’s Rebecca. If I called her in here right now and told her to blow you, she’d do it.”
“Really?” Noah tried to sound excited. “She looks so professional out there.”
“She is, but she can get down and dirty in here when I tell her to.”
“Nice. Let me ask you a question, Curt…I worked with Keira for almost a year before she finally came onto me. I was never sure how to bring it up to her. How’d you approach it with Rebecca?” Noah had his little recorder on in his pocket. He was hoping the slimeball would hang himself.
Curt chuckled. “That’s easy. She came to me one day asking about an advance on her paycheck. Her kid needed some medical procedure or another and her insurance didn’t cover it all. I told her I wouldn’t give her an advance, but I’d give her the money—and she wouldn’t even have to pay it back—for a blowjob. She got on her knees and that’s where this love story began.”
Love story my ass. She was desperate to save her kid. This guy made him sicker all the time. “Wow, I wish I had that kind of control.”
“I think you have the potential to learn,” Curt said with a wink. “It’ll be fun to have someone around here that’s not an old stuffed shirt like the relatives.”
“So, when do I start?”
“You mean we.”
“Right, when do we start?”
“Right after I interview your little secretary. Why don’t you go out there and get to know Rebecca a little bit? I hope you understand but I’ll need to see for myself if she’s gonna be worth my money.”
Noah knew that the smile on his face had to resemble a grimace but Curt didn’t seem to notice. “I’ll just go get her,” Noah told him. He had to consciously relax his fist as he stood up. He smiled at him again before leaving the office and closing the door. He looked over at the reception desk. Keira was looking at the photo of the baby boy and Rebecca looked like she had tears in her eyes. Keira’s eyes met Noah’s and she nodded. He smiled for real and looked at Rebecca. “Would you like to get your things and follow us to my office now?”
She looked nervously towards Curt’s closed door. Noah pulled out his little recorder and said, “He’s not going to hurt you anymore.” She nodded and picked up her purse and took the photograph Keira was holding out to her.
“I’m ready,” she said. “Thank you.”
24
Noah took the night off. Ava said he needed to get some sleep. She also told Collin that he and his brothers at the club could take the night off as well. After Collin talked to Finn, Bubba, and Gaston, however, they decided to give it another shot. Jace had given them the name of a bar that he thought they should try. He’d heard from one of the sources he’d begun cultivating in town that a lot of the more hardcore pimps hung out there and solicited johns for the women they controlled.
They got to the creepy, dark bar just before nine p.m. As soon as Collin sat down on the barstool next to Finn, his phone rang. It was a number he didn�
��t recognize and when he answered it he was surprised to hear Ann’s voice.
“Hi, Collin.”
“Hi…Ann?” At least he hoped it was Ann’s voice.
“Yeah, it’s me. I’m sorry to blindside you like this but I was wondering if you had time to see me tonight?”
Collin wanted to ask her how she got his number but then remembered it was on Aiden’s emergency card with the school. He was pretty sure teachers weren’t supposed to use those for things like that, but who the hell was he to judge? “It’s okay, Ann, but no, I can’t tonight. I’m actually helping out with that family problem again tonight.”
“Oh.” She didn’t sound like she believed him. He should have known not to fuck a good Catholic girl. All of that guilt shoved down their throats their whole lives was probably eating her up. Collin’s brothers had ended up with a heavy dose of it and Ava got more than her fair share…but somehow it had eluded him. It wasn’t like he didn’t have feelings for other people, but he learned to live with his decisions without beating himself up over them later. She said, “How about tomorrow? Maybe we can have lunch, or coffee?”
He didn’t like the sound of that. She wasn’t looking to hook up again, she was looking to talk. That could be dangerous. Collin was really glad they used a condom. “Well, I’ll have to see…”
“Collin, please.”
Shit. “Yeah, okay. I can do lunch.”
“Thank you. Can you meet me at Jasper’s at one?”
“Sure, I’ll see you then.” He ended the call and stared at the phone.
“Woman troubles?” Finn asked.
“How’d you guess?”
He laughed. “You looked like a deer trapped in the headlights. So when are you going to stop all the playing and find a woman you want to settle down with?”
“To tell you the truth, brother, I have a hard time imagining that ever happening.”
“Why?”
“I just can’t imagine being faithful to one woman and I wouldn’t ever want to commit to one and then cheat on her. I don’t have any desire to be a father. Growing up in a house with four kids was enough for me. I like my life now and the changes I’m making…I’m just not sure that’s one I ever want to make.”
Finn looked at the phone in Collin’s hand and said, “Just to play devil’s advocate here…you don’t think you’re hurting anyone?”
“You know, I usually lay it out there for them before we do anything she might misinterpret. There are those occasions when my dick gets ahead of me and this is one of those, but I’ll fix it.”
Finn smiled and nodded, like he didn’t believe him. They ordered their beers and Gaston volunteered to be the one to approach the guy who looked most like a pimp. He struck up a conversation and Collin, Finn, and Bubba listened as he finally said:
“I guess I should get going. I need to find me a woman tonight. It’s been a few days and my balls are turning blue.”
The man with missing front teeth and a mullet haircut laughed and said, “I know where you could find a few that would be guaranteed to do whatever it is you’re into.”
Gaston lifted his eyebrows and said, “Sounds interesting. Where are these unicorns?”
The man laughed again and said, “They’re unique, for sure. I only pick the best girls.”
“Are we talking about prostitutes?” Gaston looked slightly offended…he was good.
The creepy guy looked Gaston over and said, “I guess you pretty boys think you’re too good to pay for it, but I tell you what…paying for it means you’re the boss. Think about it, all your fantasies can be fulfilled in one night…if you’re willing to shell out a little cash for it.”
Gaston looked like he was thinking about it and then said, “I’ve got my friends with me.”
“I got plenty of girls to go around.” The guy took out a card and Collin shook his head. Pimps with cards…what the fuck was the world coming to? “This is the motel I run with my old lady. Pick your girl and take her here…and I know I’ll be seeing you all again. Like I said, my girls are the best. I got one that’ll suck you like a Hoover vacuum all night long.”
Gaston took the card and looked at it and then said, “This where the girls are at?”
“They work all up and down that street.”
“Got any skinny brunettes? I like ’em brunette, and thin.”
“I got two just like that. One of them hangs out in the alley behind the motel when she ain’t busy and the other one in front of the Wendy’s across the street.” Gaston started to stand and the man said, “By the way…make sure you pay up front, and pay well. I won’t have no trouble finding you if I need to.”
Collin wanted to roll his eyes at the threat. The little man was nothing; even if he had a gun, the four of them would have no trouble taking him. But Gaston kept his poker face as he nodded and said, “I’m just looking for a good time.”
Once the four of them left the bar, Gaston gave them all the address before they climbed on their bikes. Collin recognized the place as somewhere he and Noah had already checked, but street people are on the move a lot, so it wouldn’t hurt to check again. As he rode his bike next to Finn, his thoughts went to Ciara. He had helped Noah search for her in the past, but had never been with him when he found her. Sometimes he wondered what she was like. He knew about the prostitution and the drug addiction, but he wondered what she was like beyond that. The pictures he had seen of her were all mug shots, other than a few that Noah had of them when they were kids. She always looked exhausted, pale, and too thin, and her eyes looked haunted.
Collin shuddered when he imagined what it must feel like to be Noah. If it were Ava out there he would tear the city down until he found her and then he’d take her as far away from there as they could get. He’d make her get clean and he’d kill the next son of a bitch who tried to touch her. At least that was what he thought he would do. He knew Noah loved his sister, and he knew he’d tried hard to help her…so maybe, sometimes, it just wasn’t possible to force someone to change.
The guys parked their bikes near the motel, and somewhat nervously, left them there. The neighborhood was crap, and the motel crappier. Hopefully no one would be stupid enough to mess with the bikes, but in a place where most brains were pickled with alcohol and drugs, who knew?
They split up, with Gaston and Bubba heading over toward Wendy’s and Collin and Finn taking the alley. They didn’t see any girls there, but they did find an old guy sleeping behind one of the dumpsters.
“Hey!” Finn nudged the old guy with his boot. Collin frowned and said:
“Man, don’t kick at him like he’s an animal.”
“How am I supposed to wake him up?”
“Touch him on the shoulder or something. Jeez!”
Finn bent over and tapped the guy’s shoulder. The old man, startled, sat up straight. He scared the shit out of Finn, who jumped about a foot. Collin laughed. The look on the tough, tattooed biker’s face was hilarious.
The old guy didn’t have any teeth and his beard looked like it hadn’t been trimmed in ten years. It had food and grime matted into it in places. He was wearing an old army jacket and a pair of khaki shorts. He had socks on but no shoes and he didn’t have a blanket or any other gear from the looks of it.
“Hey, we’re looking for this girl,” Finn said when he finally recovered. He showed him the picture of Ciara. “Have you seen her?” Collin watched as the old man squinted at the photograph and looked back up at Finn.
“What do you want with her?”
“She’s a friend of ours,” Finn said. Finn’s accent sometimes got in the way of his communication. The old man looked confused, so Collin repeated what Finn said…in English.
“Oh,” the old guy said. “I ain’t seen her.”
Collin decided to try a new tactic. Something about the man’s face and demeanor was telling him he did know Ciara, or at least he’d seen her. He went over and sat down next to the old man. “I’m Collin. What’s your name?
”
“Bennie.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Bennie. What happened to your shoes?”
“I left them.”
“You don’t have a blanket or anything else either? That has to make things harsh.”
“Yeah…I reckon. It don’t get too cold in Phoenix, though. That’s why I stay here.”
Collin nodded and said, “All the same, it would be nice to have a blanket to lie down on. I could probably help you out with that and some shoes… if you help us out just a little bit.”
“What do you want?”
“I just want to find our friend. I think she’s in trouble.”
“Is she really your friend?”
“Yeah, she is, really.”
“What’s her name?” Ciara was on the tip of his tongue but he remembered she went by a street name. That’s what Noah always asked for her by.
“Ciara––Dahlia. Her name is Ciara, but she goes by Dahlia.”
Collin could tell by the look on the old guy’s face that he wanted to tell him something but he wasn’t sure if he could trust him or not. “You got any whiskey?”
Collin chuckled. “No sir, no whiskey. I can get you a brand new pair of shoes and a sleeping bag and some food.”
“If I tell you about Dahlia?”
“Yeah, please tell me what you know about her. We miss her.”
“She don’t want to be found. Her brother’s a cop or something.”
“Yeah, I know her brother well. He used to be a cop but he’s not anymore. He doesn’t want anything from her. He just wants to know that she’s okay. Have you seen her lately?”
“Not in a month…maybe two.” Damn! He was hoping for a more recent spotting.
“Where did you see her last?”
“She and I was staying at a place I had for a while.”
“You had a place…like a house?”
“Yeah,” he said with a shrug. “It wasn’t ours really, but we didn’t break nothing and nobody was staying there. It was going good for us, until that guy showed up.”
“What guy was that, the owner?”