Dirty Sex

by Ashley Bartlett

  “Shit. Fuck.” The bar dropped loudly to the ground. “Damn it, Reese. I told you to pay attention.” I inspected my fingers in the feeble light. They looked fine; hurt like a bitch though.

  “Oh, fuck. Sorry. I am sorry,” she said. “Did I get you?”

  “Yes, you fuckin’ got me.”

  “Are you all right?” Reese grabbed my hand and looked at it. “Does it hurt?”

  “What do you think?” I snapped.

  “What happened?” Ryan caught on that something was wrong.

  “Reese dropped a bar on my hand.”

  “Shit.” Ryan started to lean closer then stopped when he realized that doing so would make him fall.

  “I said sorry.” Reese felt bad. I could tell that much. “Maybe you and Ryan should switch. What do you think?” She asked him.

  He just stared, presumably trying to understand the question.

  “Maybe not,” I said. Babysitting, I swear. “Hey, Ryan, do you want to go sit in the car?” I made it sound fun.

  “Okay.” He turned off the flashlight and wandered away.

  “Is he stoned too?” I asked Reese once he was out of earshot.

  “It is possible. Let me see your fingers.” Reese dropped into the hole next to me less than gracefully. I held up my hand for her to inspect. “I am sorry, Cooper.” She kissed my hand. I wasn’t sure when she went from contrite to sexy, but suddenly there was tongue involved and my spine started to melt.

  “We’re never going to finish.” The gravity of my statement was sort of lost because I just let her do her thing.

  “Hey, guys?”

  Reese and I stepped away from each other real fast.

  “Guys?” he said again.

  “What’s up?” I looked up at him.

  “It’s late. We gotta finish.” So bright. “Maybe I should get in the hole and take over.”

  “What a new and great idea,” Reese exclaimed. “You are so smart.”

  “Is that a yes?” He was confused. “I guess I’ll go get the flashlight.” And he was gone again.

  “You are so mean to him,” I scolded Reese.

  “Right. And you’re not?” Reese braced her hands on the ground and jumped up. I grabbed her ass. It was a great target. “Stop it,” she said.

  “Oh, sorry. I thought you wanted help.”

  “I can handle it.” Reese pivoted and sat with her feet dangling in front of me.

  I planted my hands and jumped out of the hole as well. As I turned to sit next to her, she slapped my ass.

  “Reese.” I used my best serious voice.

  “Oh, sorry. I thought you wanted me to do that,” Reese mimicked me.

  “Did you just smack Coop’s ass?” Ryan came back.

  “She asked for it.” Reese smiled her little drunk grin.

  Great, Ryan was going to shoot me. “I did not.”

  “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” Ryan held out the flashlight. “Who’s holding the light?”

  “I will.” Reese took it from him.

  Handing the bars to Ryan was a bit smoother than what we’d been doing before. Still, it took forever to pile the rest of the bricks in the hole. We were getting sleepy.

  “Last one,” I told Ryan as I handed it to him.

  “Finally. I’m dying.” Ryan placed the bar and climbed out. I gave him a hand to keep him steady. “I can’t believe we still have to fill this in.”

  “For real.” Reese turned off the light. “I’ll go get the shovels. With three of us, it shouldn’t take long.”

  “Yeah.” I followed to help her. When we were far enough away, I whispered, “All I want is to take a hot shower with you and climb in bed.”

  “That sounds amazing.” Reese closed her eyes and leaned closer to me. “Maybe we should tell him just so we can sleep together.”

  “I’d pretty much give my life at this point to have you and a bed.” I was so serious. Naked Reese was worth dying for.

  “Well, don’t. If you’re dead, I’ll be bored out of my mind.”

  “Glad to know you care.” I smiled at her so she’d know I was playing, kind of.

  “You know it.” Reese dragged the shovels out and handed me one. We turned back to the hole, but there was no Ryan.

  “Where is he?” I asked. Didn’t twins always know where their other halves were?

  “I have no idea.” She looked around then shouted, “Ryan?” No answer. “All right, Ryan. Good one. Where are you?”

  Nothing.

  “Let’s just get started,” I suggested. “He’ll get bored of hiding.”

  “Yeah. Good point.” She swayed a little.

  I started putting dirt back in the hole. After the second shovelful, I heard a weird moaning sound.

  “Was that you?”

  “No.” Reese tossed another scoop of dirt in. “He just doesn’t want to help.” Reese came to the same conclusion as me.

  We threw in some more dirt.

  “You guys,” Ryan called out. “Stop. It’s in my eyes.”

  “Where are you, Ryan?” Reese called again. He moaned in response. I was about to shovel more dirt in when there was a bright flash and sharp crack in the hole. A gunshot. Reese screamed and dropped her shovel. I jumped back too.

  “Fuck, Ryan.” I tossed my spade to the ground. “Are you in the fucking hole?”

  “Duh, I’m stuck.”

  “You idiot,” Reese screamed at him. “You could have shot one of us.”

  “Don’t shoot. I’m coming in,” I said in as calm a voice as I could manage. I dropped down into the hole that now had a half a foot of dirt in it. One of my feet hit something squishy.

  “Oww. You bitch, that hurt.”

  “Sorry.” I couldn’t see shit, just the glimmer of Ryan’s dress.

  A couple seconds later, Reese shone the flashlight down. Ryan was propped on his elbows and had dirt covering most of his body.

  “I fell,” he said.

  “I can see that, you idiot. Why didn’t you say something?”

  “Is he okay?” Reese asked.

  “He’s fine.” I cupped under his armpits and helped him stand up.

  “You guys tried to bury me,” Ryan said.

  “We wouldn’t have if you told us.” I pinned him against the wall of dirt with one hand. “Reese, I’m going to help him out. Steady him, all right?”

  “I can get out on my own,” Ryan told me.

  “Then why didn’t you?” He didn’t have an answer for that.

  Ryan placed his hands on the ground and jumped up. It wasn’t that high. With the gold in the hole, it was only four feet or so. I grabbed him around the waist and pushed him up. Reese helped him stand. I followed him up a moment later. Ryan was covered in dirt. The dress was a little torn. His once perfect makeup was marred by the pale streaks of dirt on his gorgeous face. And he was pouting. I struggled not to laugh.

  “Go sit in the car. We will be done soon.” Reese pointed him in the direction of the headlights.

  “Okay.” He stumbled toward the car. The second the door shut, Reese and I started laughing. She almost fell over she was laughing so hard.

  “He is so dumb.” I gasped. “Who falls in a hole?”

  “My brother,” Reese responded.

  We were terrible at this shit.

  I have no idea how we got back. Ryan and I were drunk. Reese drove. Ryan slept. At the hotel, the valet didn’t even blink when he saw three dirt-covered twenty-year-olds, one of whom was a boy in a dress, get out of the car. Maybe that was normal for dawn in Vegas.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Paulie called and said the passports would be ready within twenty-four hours so we got another rental car for Ryan to go up and get them. While he waited for them to arrive, he was going to sell two bars. He left the final brick for us to get rid of. I was a bit worried about selling the bar. We’d sold one two days before, and I didn’t think our buyer would have enough cash on hand for another. Reese insisted he would though. Logis
tics are so fucking boring.

  “I’m going in again, right?” We stopped in front of the cinderblock building. It looked different in the daylight, less sinister, but more decrepit.

  “Yeah. Have fun.” Reese handed me a backpack with the bar inside.

  “Don’t miss me too much.” I got out of her car.

  “I’m sure I’ll be fine.” She grinned, just a little.

  There was a different guy working this time. A younger version, probably his son. I hesitated once I was in the vestibule waiting to be buzzed into the store itself, but after a moment, the elder shopkeeper emerged from the back.

  “Hello,” he said. “You are back to sell another?”

  “Yep.” I took out the bar and handed it to him. “Do you have enough cash on hand?”

  “Do not worry,” he chided me. His son disappeared into the backroom. “It is interesting,” he mused. “I tend to know the movements of gold like this.” After a small hesitation, he continued, “but I have not heard of any missing amounts.” The speech was delivered carefully. It could have been his seemingly limited English. It wasn’t.

  “You’re wondering if I stole it?” I chuckled a little.

  He looked up sharply. “I would not imply such a thing. It is idle curiosity.”

  “I inherited it.” I was telling a partial truth. The twins were supposed to inherit it.

  “I see.” His gaze returned to the brick in his hands. “There was a…” Another hesitation. “A woman in here a few days ago. She sold me a bar whose serial number was very close to this one and the other that you sold me.” His thin forefinger traced the number.

  “Heather? Yeah, she’s my friend.” I chose not to elaborate any further.

  “I see,” he said. I didn’t care whether he believed me or not. Besides, I was pretty sure he was just curious. “My assistant will have counted your money by now. I will get it for you.” He disappeared into the back. Both of them reappeared moments later carrying stacks of cash. I didn’t bother to count it. Like before, I flipped through and did some math in my head. It looked to be the correct amount, and this guy didn’t seem the type to short someone. He didn’t have all of those photos on the wall from being dishonest.

  When I got back to the car, Reese took the bag from me and put it at her feet. She couldn’t help gloating a little.

  “I told you he would have enough.”

  “Yep,” I indulged her. “You were right. You’re super smart.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Where to next?” I asked as I drove back to the hotel.

  “We need to cash out. As soon as Ryan’s back, I want to get out of here.”

  “How many casinos do we need to cash out at?” By my count, there were two, not including the one we were staying at.

  “Four, I think. The place we’re staying, that one near that Eiffel tower thing, the one with those neon drinks, and the one Vito saw me in. What’s it called? By Circus Circus?” So damn descriptive.

  “I don’t know. You can’t go back there though.”

  “No shit.”

  “So I should do that,” I said. Reese agreed so I went back to the hotel to pick up her chips.

  *

  The chips weren’t too bulky in my pocket, but they weren’t comfortable either. I had about eight thousand worth, mostly in five hundred dollar chips. Before, when Reese made me carry her little loot, it didn’t bother me. Now that I knew how much it actually was, it made me a little nervous.

  The cashier at the casino didn’t even blink when I stacked the chips and pushed them toward her. She coolly counted out the cash in hundreds and thanked me. I separated the bills into two smaller stacks and shoved one in each of my front pockets.

  As I sauntered out of the casino, I started to pull out my phone to call Reese. Maybe she wanted to grab dinner.

  “Don’t move, Vivian,” someone said quietly. His hand grabbed my arm to keep me still. “Get in the car.” A dark blue sedan was waiting at the curb.

  “Fuck you.” I tried to shrug him off.

  “Don’t be stupid,” he told me. The sidewalk was flooded with people talking, laughing, calling to each other. Still, I heard the distinctive click of a gun cocking. Maybe I felt it.

  “You’re not going to shoot me on a crowded sidewalk.” I couldn’t believe I was having that conversation.

  “I have no problem doing so. But right now, I just want to talk. Would you rather I sent my men after Reese? I won’t be kind to her. She has made me very angry.”

  “And I haven’t?”

  “Not yet. Get in the car and we talk. You live. Or I can kill you and torture Reese. Your call.”

  There was a chance I could run, but there was an even better chance he’d shoot me, so I let him lead me to the car. I got into the backseat and he immediately followed. The driver started the car and pulled into traffic.

  Later, much later, I thought of a thousand things I could have done or said to get away. But I didn’t do any of those things.

  “See? That wasn’t hard.” He closed the door.

  “What do you want, Vito?”

  If he was surprised I knew him, he didn’t show it. “I just want to talk.”

  “Knock yourself out.” I gave him the go-ahead. “You guys can just drop me at my hotel. It’s up there.” I pointed in the opposite direction.

  “You must be turned around.” Vito smiled softly. “Your hotel is that way.” He indicated the correct direction. “The Wynn? In the Tower Suites, right?”

  “What do you want?” Shit, fuck, and double shit.

  “I told you. I just want to ask you a couple questions.”

  “Get on with it then.” I was going for annoyed and bored to cover what I was really feeling, fucking terrified.

  “All right.” He smiled again. It made my skin crawl. “Where’s Ryan?”

  “You know, Vic and Gino asked me the same question,” I said.

  “Vic and Gino are idiots.” The two guys in the front seat started laughing. “They shouldn’t have been sent to do man’s work. Now.” He brought it back to the point. Not too easily distracted, this guy. “Where’s Ryan?”

  “Which one?” I asked. He raised his eyebrows, probably amazed that I was going to play dumb. Well, buckle down, Vito. “I know a lot of Ryans. There are three or four guys I went to high school with. One of them went to UCSD. Another’s in Texas, I think. Not sure about the others. There’s a couple at Sac State. I work with a Ryan. So I’m guessing he’s still in EDH.” Vito’s eyebrows climbed continually higher and his creepy grin got even bigger. Glad to know I amused him. “Oh, and I dated a chick named Ryan last semester. But I don’t know where she is. After she dumped me, we didn’t really talk. That bitch was crazy.”

  “That’s cute,” Vito said like he didn’t find it so cute. “But I’d rather you just answer the questions.”

  “I don’t get it.” I slouched down in my seat like a teenager.

  “You’re going to make this difficult aren’t you?”

  “Maybe your questions should be more concise.” I shrugged. “It’s hard to answer when I don’t know what you’re asking.”

  Vito leaned back in his seat like he had all night to make me understand his questions. “How about you just sit tight? We’ll be at our destination soon.” After that, he didn’t say another word.

  We left the Strip and after that the city. I recognized that we were on Highway 15, but it all pretty much looked the same. The sun was dropping low so the shadows of the scrub and small boulders elongated to three times their size. My stomach was twisting in fear and desperation by the time the guy driving turned off the road and drove out into the desert. A second car followed us. I was dead. There was no other reason to drive out to the middle of the fucking desert. I was just so fucking dead.

  The car stopped and Vito hauled me out of the backseat. The second car stopped and there was a chorus of slamming doors as a bunch of mini-Vitos got out. Vic and Gino were among them. Despite
the heat waves rising off every available surface and the spine melting, brain-killing hot air, all of them were in suits. Vito was the only one smart enough to wear linen. The others were such tools trying to be tough.

  “What’s the deal, Vito?” I threw up my hands, waiting.

  “Where’s Ryan?” he asked. The other guys formed a loose circle around us. Awesome. I was back in ninth grade and about to get beat up. Not a great feeling.

  “Which one?” I asked again. Instead of the cheap grin, I was rewarded with a punch in the face. Awesome. “Fuck you.” I moved my jaw around. It was going to be bruised tomorrow. If I made it to tomorrow.

  “Where’s Ryan?”

  “Which one?” I ducked the punch, but one of the guys shoved me forward. Vito swung again and connected. I could already taste blood.

  “Where is Ryan?” He was a fucking broken record.

  “Oh, are you talking about Ryan DiGiovanni?” I asked, all innocence.

  “Good kid,” Vito congratulated me. “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know.” He slugged me on the other side of my face. Good, mix it up a little. A couple more and I’d be crying like a little girl.

  “How about the money? Where’s that?” Not much variety with Christopher’s bitches.

  “I’ve got a couple hundred. I’ll give it to you for a ride back to Vegas.” I feigned like I was going to reach into my pocket. Vito fucking punched me again. Fuck that. I hauled off and hit him back in his meaty face. Don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier.

  Vito laughed. “Spunky. I like that.” Three of his minions dragged me backward.

  “What’s with the bodyguards, Vito? Can’t beat up a kid without help?” I struggled to break free. They tightened their hold on me.

  “I just bring them for show.” Vito worked his face into that smile thing again. Did he have any other expressions? Or was it just serious no feeling man and smiling no feeling man? “Let her go.” He waved a hand at the guys holding me. They complied. “Where’s the money, sweetheart?”

  “I don’t have any fuckin’ money.” Yes, I was pissed off. No, I wasn’t thinking about the future.

  Vito hit my nose straight on. There was a nauseating crunch as my nose broke.