by Price, Faith
She chose the bedroom that held a connecting balcony with the living room. The room was stunning with colors in three different shades of blue, accentuated with black. Serene turned on the T.V. and kicked her shoes off. The relationship with Lawson was so strained now, that she would just wait and see if he came to her. A few minutes later he stuck his head through the door.
“I have to take care of some stuff. Order room service if you get hungry.”
Serene let her eyes slide towards him in mock boredom. “Ok.”
Lawson pulled his head from the doorway but paused in the tiny hallway. He could hear the intermittent change in voices and sounds as she flipped through the channels. Rashly Lawson turned back around and boldly strode into the room. In one fluid movement he was on the bed and hovering over her. She fought the desire to shield her head and face. Deep down she knew she had no reason to fear physical harm from Lawson. The decimation of her heart was another matter. Lawson looked at her for just a moment before lowering his body onto hers while opening her mouth with a kiss. His tongue marked ownership within her mouth, and she couldn’t do anything except return the kiss and run her hand along the back of his bald head.
When the kiss was finally over, Serene looked breathlessly up at Lawson. Her eyes were bright and her skin flushed. Lawson wanted to stay right where he was, but now was not the time. There were scores to settle. He kissed her on the forehead and backed off the bed. She reached a hand towards him which he just touched with his fingertips.
“I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Just go ahead and order me a cold sandwich when you order dinner.”
Serene watched him leave before turning her eyes back to the T.V. screen. She could taste him and her skin still held his heat, but it was cooling quickly.
I still have a chance. She thought to herself. I won’t give up without a fight.
* * * *
Lawson listened to Ted Roberts’ raspy laugh. Let him laugh now. He won’t laugh later. “So do we have a deal or not?”
“Well, I’m not saying me or any of my crew did it, but we can meet.” Lawson could hear several snickers and knew he was on speaker.
“Tell you what, Ted; let your buddies stick around, too. Maybe there will be some action they would be interested in.”
He could hear Ted’s muffled voice. Lawson wasn’t dumb; Ted had his thumb over the speaker and was planning something with his moron friends. Let them plan; it will be the blind leading the blind.
“Yeah, ok Lawson; come on over.” Ted hung up and Lawson grinned at the two dark-skinned men sitting in front of him.
“How long will clean up take?”
The long spidery form of Abidemi rose from the porch swing. He was over 6’5” and the best member of the cleanup crew that there was. He was proficient with seven different weapons not even mentioning what he could do with a gun, and was lethal in three different forms of martial arts. Having lived the first nine years of his life in Rwanda, he often laughed how his adult occupation was cake compared to the survival occupation of his youth.
Aside from being a killer for hire, he also owned a lucrative, and legit, cleaning business that specialized in crime scene and environmental damage cleanup. The ironic part was the crime scene cleanup. More times than not the blood being scrubbed off the walls was put there by Abidemi himself or his partner, Luis.
Luis was a first generation American whose parental roots lay in Cuba. The two were partners, and Lawson hoped would always be on his side. Neither man had any qualms about killing. They’d kill their own parents for the right price.
“We’ll have your home back to normal within two days.” Abidemi said in his thick accent. His ultra-bright smile broke free of his dark skin and he stuck his hand out to Lawson. Lawson shook it and looked at Luis. Luis was odd looking standing next to Abidemi since he was only just over 5’3”, but Lawson knew exactly what he was capable of, and he was every bit as lethal as his friend. Luis followed suit and stuck his hand out as well.
“All right, gentlemen,” Lawson said handing each man an envelope full of money, “let’s go have a little fun.”
* * * *
Lawson sat in the back seat and watched the city grow seedier the closer they got to Southside. He wondered where Serene had grown up. Was it here in this bar-riddled place where hope in itself was only a dream? After that night at least one of the people responsible for her abuse would have paid. The thought didn’t make him smile. He hated the fact that there had been men with the greatest honor of tending to her heart, and they had abused that privilege. In some ways it was something worse than abuse; it was a perversion.
The three men pulled up to same curb that Lawson had seven months earlier. The scene looked similar. There was the burn barrel with a couple of guys standing around it, but Ted was not there. The windows of the Town car were tinted, and Lawson didn’t feel a need to get out quite yet. The idiots were probably confused. Last time he had arrived in his truck. Lawson made a mental note to purchase a new vehicle the next day.
“It’s your call.” Luis said from the passenger seat.
“I’m just letting them squirm for a minute.”
Both men in the front seat chuckled. “Look at them. This will be too easy.” Abidemi laughed. Lawson didn’t doubt his words.
“All right, let’s go.” Lawson knew they were going to make an impression when they got out of the car. They had it planned perfectly. Luis would open Lawson’s door like he was royalty, and both men would flank him as they walked up the packed dirt back yard. All three men were dressed in expensive suits. Ted and his friends would either suspect their own deaths, or think they had just hit pay dirt.
One of the guys from the burn barrel eyed them carefully and ran into the house. They stopped halfway as an intoxicated Ted threw the screen door open. He looked at each man in turn that stood on either side of Lawson.
“Needed back up?”
“The gentlemen are business associates.”
“Right, right…” he waved a hand and pushed the door open with his body. “Well, come on in. Let’s talk business then.” Ted sneered and took a long pull off the whiskey bottle dangling from his hand. Lawson was amazed as he walked forward. He had just talked to the man less than an hour ago, and he didn’t seem smashed then. It could be an act he realized. Something to throw them off in case the situation didn’t go the way Ted wanted.
It will definitely not go the way you want it. Lawson grinned as he walked up the steps.
He had only been inside Ted’s house once and that was before he knew Serene existed. He doubted Ted even knew she existed then. The house looked exactly the same, only dirtier, a lot dirtier. Serene’s absence would explain why. Lawson was positive that she would have done the very best she could to keep the hovel orderly and free of as much dirt as possible.
Ted led them into the tiny living room that faced the front of the house. A woman with greasy red hair received the bottom of Ted’s boot in her hip as she was kicked out of the chair she was sitting in. She narrowed her eyes at Ted and began skulking away. Lawson grimaced slightly at the bruising around her neck. It was identical to the ones Serene had the night he picked her up.
Another woman with blonde hair was sitting on the end of the couch and Ted removed her the same way. The women were of indeterminate age. Maybe from a distance they could, if cleaned up, appear in their twenties; but up close they were tired and hard women. The kind of tired and hard that permanently lines a person’s face, and stretches the skin too thin.
“You just have women everywhere, Ted.” Lawson said and sat in the chair the red head had exited. He made another mental note to himself to have his suit dry cleaned, or burned. He was absolutely sure there was blood and some kind of whitish substance dried on the arm of the chair. He didn’t want to know what it was for sure.
Ted’s friends brought two kitchen chairs in and sat them facing the couch. Ted and his little cronies lined up on the couch like little kids. It was p
erfect actually. Any piece of furniture that was soft and low to the ground cut the whole jumping to your feet response time by at least a full second. Sometimes one second was all a person needed.
“I have another one in the back. I had to do something! You took Serene and my trade.”
Lawson crossed one leg over the other and folded his hands in his lap. “I paid well for Serene.”
“Yeah, well that money’s been long gone. How in the hell do you expect me to live?”
Lawson gave him a patient smile. “I’m not your father, Ted. You have to decide how you’re going to live.”
“Hey! Let me show you the other girl. You liked Serene, so you might like this one.” Ted stood and began to hurry from the room.
Lawson held up a hand. “No, that’s not necessary…” he stopped mid-sentence when he realized it was futile. Lawson looked at the two men on the couch. He was sure they had been here the night he picked up Serene. They had done nothing when Ted punched her.
Ted’s yelling voice burst into the room as he dragged a skinny girl behind him. He threw her into the middle of the room and she landed at the feet of Luis and Abidemi. The girl couldn’t have been more than fifteen years old. She was dirty and bone thin. She looked around the room with large brown eyes that were widened with terror. She was Hispanic for sure, and the way her hair curled, she was possibly black as well.
Ted and his friends laughed. Ted took his seat and pointed at her. “Go on, sweetheart, dance for them.” Ted looked at Lawson and grinned evilly. “She can dance better than any bitch I’ve had here. You should see what she can do in bed! She can take those big lips and suck the…”
“That’s enough, Ted.” Lawson’s anger was rising and they weren’t going to play the fun game now. “How old is that child?”
“Eighteen!”
“The fuck she is.” Lawson said quietly.
“It don’t matter how old she is; she works for me.”
The men sitting beside Ted were beginning to shoot nervous glances at Lawson and his companions. Lawson looked down at the girl.
“How old are you?”
Her terrified eyes grew larger when she looked at Lawson’s face. She shook her head and began to sob softly. Luis touched her arm and she slid a few inches away from him. He began speaking softly to her in Spanish. She answered hesitantly.
“She’s fifteen. Ted picked her up at the bus station. She ran away from home.”
My God, she’s another Serene.
“Ted, do you speak Spanish?”
“A little.”
“Did she agree to perform sexual acts for money?”
Ted eyed him nervously and drank from his whiskey bottle again. “She’s learning.”
“Did she agree, I said.”
“I told her what the fuck to do! I don’t care if she understood!” he spat, “Besides, some guys like the way she cries the whole time.”
“Because they’re raping her, you animal.”
The calmness of Lawson’s voice caused everyone to be completely quiet. All eyes were on him, and they knew that nothing good could come out of this situation. The men on the couch shifted their weight slightly to make weapons inside their jackets a little more accessible.
Lawson never took his eyes from the girl as he spoke to Luis. “Ask her where her home is and why she ran away.”
The girl spoke quietly to Luis and looked at Lawson again before quickly staring at the ground again.
“She said she’s from Fredericksburg. She was trying to get to her Aunt’s house, but ran out of money.”
Lawson nodded. “Luis, find out if this child has any belongings and then put her in our car.”
Ted stood and pointed his finger. “Now look here, mother fucker!”
“No, Ted, you look!” Lawson was on his feet before Abidemi mocking Ted by pointing his finger too. “That child is going to make it to her Aunt’s house, and you’re going to pay for what you’ve done to her and Serene, and any other women!”
Ted narrowed his eyes almost to slits and kicked the coffee table out of his way. “I should have smeared more than just shit all over your walls!”
They room fell into the kind of hushed silence that follows a big secret being revealed. One of the guys yanked on Ted’s arm and hissed up at him, “What are you doing?”
Ted jerked his arm away and sneered at Lawson. “Don’t make any difference. He’s not going to do a damn thing!”
Lawson’s hand moved quickly and Ted was still grinning smugly as the bullet tore through his neck. The next few moments were chaos. Luis grabbed the screaming girl from off the floor and ran from the room with her. Abidemi shoot both men on the couch in the chest as they were reaching for their guns and trying to stand. Lawson had been right, one second was all a person needed.
Lawson took several steps and stared at Ted’s dying face. Both hands were clutching his neck, but he was bleeding out fast. He could only make gurgling noises that pushed small sprays of blood from his lips. Lawson felt no pity. He turned and looked at Abidemi.
“Finish this quick, ok?”
Abidemi nodded and began walking down the hallway to find the hiding women.
* * * *
Lawson didn’t make it back to the hotel until after two in the morning. He was bone-tired but filled with a kind of joy because the little girl named Rosa had been pulled from the streets. The deaths of all the other people in that house meant nothing to him. Abidemi would ensure nothing could be traced to any of them. Southside had at least twenty unsolved murders every year. Ted’s place was a known drug and whore house. The police wouldn’t waste much time with it.
As for the girl, she would spend the night on a Greyhound and her Aunt would be waiting for her the next morning. Luis took money from his own pocket to feed her and buy her some clothes. Lawson thought it was funny how men as hard as they were could be so soft at the same time.
Serene was already asleep when he got there. He didn’t bother her. They could talk the next day, after he went to check on the progress of his home clean up. He walked quietly to the bed and pulled the covers up a little further on her shoulders, before bending low and brushing his lips across her forehead.
Serene listened as he shut the door quietly behind himself. She reached up a hand and traced where his lips had brushed her skin with a trembling finger.
* * * *
Lawson was determined to give Serene the best day he could. He ordered room service for breakfast and what came was like a buffet. Serene knew he was trying to make the day special, but she couldn’t figure out if he was doing it to try and fix things or just because he was that generous. When she thought she had the man figured out, he turned out to be as big a conundrum as ever.
When Lawson went to check on the house Serene stayed behind so she could shop at the boutique down the street. She walked through the cramped little shop with the air of royalty. Once, she had tried to look around in a boutique and the owner had followed her around the entire time, just waiting for her to try and use the five finger discount.
She had seen a pretty red and green scarf with gold trim and thought it would be pretty for Christmas. When she asked the woman how much it cost, she had sneered at her and said if she had to ask then she probably couldn’t afford it. Serene had stuck with the Goodwill after that.
Now things were different. She felt different. She didn’t feel ashamed. Serene circled a display of negligees. They were classy while still being sexy. Serene picked up a light pink one and held it up to her.
“That would look great on you, but not that color.” A smooth voice said from behind her. Serene turned and saw a stylish woman in a slim skirt and pumps smiling at her.
“What’s wrong with the color?” Serene asked, returning the negligee to the rack.
“You’re too pale for such a light pink.” She responded, going through the rack with long manicured fingers. “Now this one,” she said pulling a darker pink one out, “is perfect.” She laid
it against Serene’s chest and turned her towards the three-way mirror. “There, much better.”
Serene did see where it was much better. She liked this woman. Serene hoped she would be half the lady this woman was in a few years.
“Do you have it in a small?”
“Certainly.” The woman took the medium from Serene’s hands and placed a small one there. “Is there an occasion, or are you just feeling a little sexy today?” Her smile was relaxed and not stretched and fake like so many sales people.
“The occasion is that I’m trying to hold on to the man I love.” Serene stood defiantly before the woman and tilted her chin upwards. This stranger had nothing to do with her situation, but Serene was prepared to fight whoever might try to tell her that Lawson was a lost cause.
“Well, then, you will need a few more items.” She winked at Serene and crooked her finger before she walked nimbly through the racks.
* * * *
Serene left the boutique with three bags, a job application, and Rita’s phone number. Rita was in fact the owner and at the moment the only employee for her struggling boutique.
“What you need is a good website.” Serene had told her while sipping tea. She had sat on the folding chair in the backroom sipping tea from a real porcelain cup just like royalty! She was cool and composed on the outside, but inside she was giggling like a child.
Rita had sighed and nodded her head. “I hired a company to create one, but they wanted a very large amount of money for a terrible site.” She stirred honey into her cup and laid the spoon delicately on the matching saucer. “I admit I am a technological retard.” Both women had laughed, and before Serene knew what was happening she was telling the still strange woman her story, her entire story, and to her surprise she didn’t throw her out. She also didn’t judge her.
When she arrived back at the hotel room, Lawson still wasn’t there so she dove right into her bags to prepare for her evening with him.
* * * *
Lawson drove off the dealer parking lot in a brand new F-150. It was black and Lawson was very happy to have it. He was tired of his other truck anyway. He had already set up the appointment to have the windows tinted and after that was done he would go ahead and remove the dome light. It made it easier for people if they didn’t have to look at him directly and wonder.