Rum & Coke

by Kimberly Knight

  “Come,” she motioned for me to follow, “I will tell you while you and Colton eat.”

  “He only eats waffles with strawberry jam for breakfast.”

  “I will make for him. Come.”

  I picked up Colton—who was still engrossed in his iPad—and followed her into the kitchen. Two plates with bacon, eggs, and toast sat at the breakfast bar. Valentina took one of the plates away, and I put Colton down in the chair. “Do you have apple juice?”

  “Si.” She opened the fridge and grabbed a jug then poured Colton a cup.

  “Coffee?” I asked.

  “Yes, of course, cariño.”

  I slid off the stool. “I will make myself a cup while you do the waffles. Okay?”

  “Si. Colton must be starving.”

  “I’m sure at any minute he will make a fuss. He’s usually had breakfast by now.” I was actually really surprised he hadn’t had a tantrum. He’d woken up in a strange bed, in a strange house. It just showed me that he was making progress with his therapy, but now, I felt as though that was all about to change. I didn’t want to be in this position to see how much more resilient he would have to be to get through this change.

  “I’ll be quick. I went to the store this morning and bought everything I thought he’d eat. They just need to be heated in the toaster.”

  “You went to the store this early?” It was barely eight in the morning.

  She pointed to a Keurig. “Si,” she replied and handed me a mug. “I knew he would be hungry. My sons were always hungry when they woke up.”

  I smiled. “You have kids?”

  “Had.” Valentina paused and gave a sad smile, then resumed opening the box of waffles.

  “Oh,” I breathed. I put a pod in the coffeemaker and pressed the brew button. “I’m sorry.”

  She stuck a waffle into the toaster and turned to me. “Mr. Delarosa saved me.”

  “He saved you?”

  She nodded. “Si. Bad men came into my town and killed everyone I loved.”

  “Sebastian?”

  “No.” Valentina shook her head. “He took care of the bad men and gave my small town money to get back on our feet.”

  “And how did you come to Vegas?” I moved to the fridge, looking for creamer. I didn’t care that this wasn’t my house. I had no respect for Sebastian anymore.

  Mi casa es tu casa.

  Valentina replied, “He’d just lost his father and was hurting. He needed someone to take care of him, and since I had no one, I offered to help him. He brought me here because my country is dangerous.”

  “What?” I asked. “He lost his father and then went on a killing spree and gave your town money?”

  “No, cariño.” She cupped my cheek. I didn’t recoil because the longer I spoke with Valentina, the more she reminded me of Sophia. “Mr. Delarosa lost his father after he helped my town. He’d always come to check on us, give us money, food, whatever we needed. After his padre died, he was sad, grieving. I was sad too, and he offered to bring me to America. I told him I would if he let me take care of him because I missed providing for my family.”

  “But how can you think a murderer is a good man?”

  The toaster popped the waffle up, and Valentina moved back to get the waffle for Colton. “Because he only kills bad men.”

  “How do you know?”

  She shrugged and then pulled a jar of strawberry jam from a cabinet. “I don’t know, but I hope. He has a good heart.”

  “Valentina.” I moved to stand next to her and lowered my voice. “He won’t let me leave. That’s kidnapping. And, he is making me … sleep in his bed tonight. You have to know that’s not okay.”

  “It’s not my place, cariño. I do as he says because I can’t go back to my country. It’s not safe.”

  “Help me escape.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t. He has men who will stop you.”

  I rolled my eyes and grabbed a knife from the butcher block to cut Colt’s waffle into triangles. “What drug dealer has all these men working for him?”

  “He’s not just any drug dealer, Ms. Tessa. He’s El Diamante Rojo.”

  “El Diamante Rojo?”

  “Si. The Red Diamond of Colombia. He’s the drug lord between Las Vegas and my country of Colombia.”

  I didn’t sleep a wink. How could I?

  When I got home, I carried my cell phone with me as I paced around the house. Tessa never called, and that made me even more worried about her as I laid in bed, waiting and staring up at the ceiling. What was Tessa doing at that moment? Was she okay? Scared? How was Colton? I didn’t care that the cop had said she went back to her boss’s house on her own. I knew better. At first, I thought that maybe she was playing me and really liked this guy, but the more I thought about it, she wouldn’t leave her best friend out of the loop and worried too. She wouldn’t have made Sophia concerned either.

  As soon as the sun came up, I called in sick to work. There were only a few weeks left of school, and it wasn’t like me to take this much time off, but there was no way I’d be focused enough to interact with my students. I was determined to get to the bottom of why Tessa was at her boss’s house. Determined to save her because I felt as though she needed saving. Nothing was adding up. Nothing.

  After I took a shower, I called Melony to see if she’d heard from Tessa. She hadn’t, and since the cops weren’t going to be any help, I needed to find Joss and Seth. So, a little after nine, I went to Gabe’s. I knocked on the door and waited. Finally, it opened. It was Autumn.

  “Hey, is Gabe here?”

  “Yeah, he’s in the shower.”

  I stepped inside the two-story home.

  “He told me about Tessa. Have you heard from her?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing.”

  “I’m sorry. That’s crazy.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed. “Nothing makes sense.”

  “Want some coffee?”

  “I’d love some.” I followed Autumn into the kitchen.

  “I didn’t get to talk to Tessa much at the wedding, but she did amazing at the range. I think she’ll be able to take care of herself.”

  “She has no gun, and I’m pretty sure she didn’t take her pepper spray with her.”

  “Really?” She poured a cup of coffee and slid it to me where I sat at the kitchen table.

  “Well, I’m assuming so.”

  “Maybe she did?”

  “Then why isn’t she home? Her friend checked this morning already.”

  Autumn sat across from me. “Well, I don’t know much about Tessa, but I have hope she’ll be okay. She’ll call you.”

  “Hope so.”

  Gabe walked into the kitchen. “Hey, heard from her?”

  “Nope.”

  “Fuck, man. I’m sorry.” Gabe kissed Autumn and sat next to her at the table.

  “Cops were no help.”

  “What’d they say?”

  “They did a welfare check and reported Tessa said she went on her own.”

  “Really?” Autumn questioned.

  “I know differently. There’s no way. We had plans.”

  “What are you going to do?” Gabe asked.

  “I came to get Paul’s address.” I took a sip of the coffee.

  “Like I told you when you called, the mission started. We can’t get ahold of them.”

  “Just give me the address, and I’ll wait until it’s over.”

  “I don’t know when it will be over. Could be a while,” Gabe responded.

  “I can’t believe Paul is undercover with the FBI.”

  Gabe chuckled. “Me either, but I have faith in him. He saved my ass numerous times in combat.”

  “Do you know what the case is about?”

  “Nope.”

  “What are you going to do now?” Autumn asked. “I don’t think we’ll be much help.”

  I sighed and closed my eyes, wanting to go back twenty-four hours so I could go with Tessa to the party. Hell, I wouldn
’t even let her go. I would make up an excuse, cook us dinner, hang with her and Colt. I would cancel my date with Shelby.

  When I told Shelby I was taking a break from S&R, she was okay with it. She said she’d wanted to try a different guy for a while now, but hadn’t wanted to hurt my feelings. It wasn’t because I sucked, but because it felt as though we were in a relationship. In a sense, we were, but I totally understood. Everything worked out perfectly.

  Until it didn’t.

  “What can I do? He lives in a gated community, and the cops won’t help since Tessa said she went on her own. Something’s not right.” I knew I was repeating myself, but it was all I had.

  “Want to go to Red Diamond and talk to her boss?” Gabe suggested. “Is he there now?” Gabe asked me.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  Autumn smiled. “Go find Tessa.”

  Fuck, I hoped we did.

  On the way to Red Diamond, I told Gabe everything that happened the night before. Even things I’d already told him. He agreed that everything wasn’t making any sense.

  “I don’t know man,” he’d said. “Seeing you two together, I was certain she had it bad for you.”

  “We just made it official. There’s no way she’d jump ship.”

  “Let’s talk to this fucker and see what he says.”

  I now knew why Tessa didn’t work Mondays, or mornings for that matter. When Gabe and I walked into Red Diamond, it was dead. There were still dancers on rotation, but besides him and me in the seats, there was only one other guy. I wasn’t sure how I was going to talk to the boss. Galen wasn’t at the doors when we arrived—it was some other dude—and when I asked where he was, we were told he only worked nights. I had no one on the inside that I knew. No Tessa, no Melony, and no Galen.

  “Now what?” Gabe asked.

  I looked over at him. “Fuck if I know.”

  “Are we just going to sit here and wait and see if we spot the owner?”

  “Yep.” We saw the guy at the fight, and I was certain if I saw him again I’d know it was him.

  “He has to have an office, right? Let’s go there.”

  I looked around the dark, red room, looking for a door or something. I spotted stairs behind us and then looked up. There was a glass wall that overlooked the stage. “I bet he’s up there.” I pointed.

  “Let’s go.”

  “We’re just going to walk up there?”

  It probably wasn’t a good idea to go barging into this guy’s office because from what I knew or assumed of drug dealers, they had a gun on them at all times. I was certain that wasn’t only in movies because drugs were a good moneymaker and no drug dealer would want to lose their shit or get robbed.

  “I don’t think we should just barge in.” I looked around. “Let me talk to the bartender and see if we can get the okay.”

  “Yeah. I’ll wait here.”

  I stood and moved to the bar, thinking about what I was going to say. Just as I stepped up, an idea popped into my head.

  “What can I getcha?”

  I leaned on the wood top. “Actually, I work for Saddles & Racks, and I have this client who wants a woman to come with us on our date.”

  The guy grinned. “Really?”

  I smiled back. “She doesn’t want any of the women we have at S&R, so I thought I’d come here and see if any of the girls would want to make some extra money.”

  “I’m sure they would.”

  “Great. Mind if I talk to your boss about it?”

  “Yeah, let me buzz him and tell him you’re here.”

  “Perfect.”

  I watched the guy grab a phone and then speak into it. I couldn’t hear what was said, but after a minute he came back.

  “He said to go on up.”

  “Thanks, man.” I turned to go back to Gabe. “We’re in.”

  Gabe stood. “Really?”

  “Told the guy that I have a client who wants a girl to join our date and that I want to check with his boss about it.”

  “Smart.”

  I grinned. “Yeah, man. Now, let’s go find out where the fuck Tessa is.”

  I started to walk away, but Gabe grabbed my arm, stopping me. “You’re just going to go in there asking where she is?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Play it cool. He thinks you’re asking about girls for S&R. You want answers, so don’t go in there guns blazing. You won’t get any info.”

  I sighed. “You’re right, but how can I go in there, look this fucker in the eye, and not want to beat his face in until he tells me where she is?”

  “You do know where she is, but you need his approval to get past his gate. Take this slow.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed. “I’ll try.”

  We walked up the stairs, and I knocked on the open door. The man I’d seen at the fight was sitting behind a heavy wood desk. “Yes, come in. Have a seat.” He motioned for me to sit. “Oh, I thought it was only one of you.”

  “I’m just along for the ride,” Gabe stated.

  We sat in the red, wingback chairs, and I had to hold onto the armrests to prevent myself from flying across the desk and pinning him to the wall. There were no handshakes given, and I was certain that if I touched him, it wouldn’t be pleasant.

  “How can I help you two?”

  I rubbed the back of my neck. “I work for Saddles & Racks, an escort service. I have a client who wants to—how should I say—have a lady present.”

  Sebastian grinned. “You mean a threesome?”

  I smiled back, though it was fake. “I can’t confirm that.”

  He chuckled. “We all know what really happens.”

  I shrugged. “Can’t confirm that either.”

  He leaned back in his chair. “Then what can you confirm?”

  I looked to Gabe briefly, and then back to Sebastian. “That I need a girl for a date with a woman client.”

  “Saddles & Racks doesn’t have women escorts? Surely they do?”

  “They do,” I stated.

  “Then why do you need one of my girls?”

  “Actually, I have a girl in mind.”

  “Oh yeah? Which one?”

  “Scarlett.”

  He balked. “Scarlett?”

  “Yeah. I’ve been in a few times, and I think she’d be exactly what my client would want.”

  Sebastian shook his head. “She’s not available.”

  “Oh?” I furrowed my brows. “Why not?”

  “What’d you say your name was again?” he asked.

  “I didn’t,” I stated.

  We stared at each other, my blood starting to boil.

  “Do we have a problem here?” he questioned.

  “Yes,” I stated. I was done beating around the bush. This was Tessa—my Tessa—and he was preventing me from seeing her.

  “And what would that be?”

  I leaned forward in my chair. “I’m the one who called the cops last night.”

  His eyes cut to Gabe, and then back to me. “I think you should leave.”

  “I’m not leaving until you tell me what I want to know.”

  He leaned forward, only a few feet separating our faces. “And what is that?”

  “Why you’re holding her hostage.”

  Sebastian chuckled and leaned back in his chair again. “She came to me. She wants me.”

  “Bullshit!” I stood, slamming my hand on the top of the desk.

  He stood, straightening his gray suit jacket. “It’s time you two leave.”

  “No,” I growled.

  Calmly he said, “If you don’t, I will have you two thrown out.”

  “Let’s just go.” Gabe grabbed my arm.

  I shrugged him off. “No.”

  Sebastian leaned his hands on his desk, getting within a foot of my face again. “She’s mine now.”

  I lunged forward and grabbed his lapel, then dragged him across the desk and onto the floor. Before I could land a punch, multiple hands were pulling me off o
f him. I didn’t know where they came from, but he was lucky they did because I was seconds away from knocking him out.

  “Come on, man,” I heard Gabe say. “We’re done here.”

  Arms dragged me back, and I shrugged them off, glaring at Sebastian as he got off the floor. “You haven’t seen the last of me.”

  “Maybe not, but who’s bed will she be in tonight?”

  I started to reach for him again, but the arms grabbed me and dragged me out the door. I hadn’t seen Sebastian call for help, but he was lucky he did because I was ready to kill him.

  After Gabe and I left Red Diamond—or should I say, after I was thrown out—Gabe got a call from Paul that he was needed for the undercover mission.

  “Talk to Joss,” I pleaded.

  “I will if I can. I have no idea what Paul needs from me. He’s coming over to my place this afternoon,” Gabe replied.

  After I dropped Gabe off at his house, I had no idea what I was going to do with myself. I needed help. So, I went to Club 24 where I knew Blake Montgomery would be working. While he had no experience with this situation, I knew his brother did because Brandon’s wife, Spencer, had been kidnapped.

  When I showed up, Blake wasn’t there, and I didn’t have Brandon’s phone number, so I went on the Club 24 website and got Brandon’s e-mail address.

  Hey, it’s Vinny from Vegas. We met at Gabe’s bachelor party. I need your help. Can you call me when you get this message?

  Thanks,

  Vin.

  I left him my phone number and waited. Not knowing what else to do, I drove to Melony and Sophia’s. I figured they hadn’t heard anything because I was certain they would have called me. I stopped at Sophia’s first and knocked.

  “Vincent,” she greeted after opening the door.

  “Hey, Sophia. Mind if I come in?”

  “Not at all.” She stepped to the side, allowing me to enter. “Have you heard from Tessa?”

  I shook my head. “No. Have you?”

  “No.” She closed the door, and I sat on her couch. “I hope she’s okay.”

  “Me, too.”

  She sat in a reclining chair to the side of the couch, and we were silent for a few moments.

  “Mind if I stay here for a while?”

  “You can stay here for as long as you’d like. You don’t mind Court TV, do you?”