by Cassia Leo
I meet with Brian under the pier at six. We have a couple of tequilas and paddle away from the shore on our body boards. The waves are big. The first storm of the season is approaching, and all the sane people are safely at home. Some are even boarding up their windows in case it turns into a hurricane.
“You know sundown is feeding time for the sharks,” he jokes.
“Yeah, but I couldn’t figure out another way to see your ugly mug,” I tell him. “It’s not I. A. that I’m worried about; it’s the Knights. I’m working at their strip club, and I could get into all kinds of trouble if they saw me hanging out with an Iron Tornadoes member.”
“I hear you,” he says. “How’s being a bad boy working out for you?”
“I’m not sure. Yesterday I enjoyed being uselessly rude to someone.”
Brian laughs. “Tell me more! That’s so unlike you. I wish I could have seen you do it.”
“There’s this girl who refuses to come back to work for the club, and we’re kind of in a rut with the talent search right now, so Slider and I—”
“Slider? As in the V. P. of the Knights?” Brian cuts in.
I nod and continue. “We showed up at her new place of work and scared the shit out of her supervisor.”
He whistles. “You know that guy is a killer, right?”
I nod again. I’d like to tell him that that’s all a legend, but I can’t. I trust Brian enough to put my life in his hands, but Slider’s life isn’t mine to play with. I cannot blow the cover of another police officer.
“As long as you know,” he says.
We paddle for a while in silence.
When we turn toward the beach, waiting for a perfect wave, he says, “You didn’t get her fired just because you wanted her to get back to work there.” He gives me a smirk.
The man knows me so well. Some days, I think he’s just as gifted as his brother at reading people’s minds. Well, at least at reading my mind.
“You got her fired because you want to keep an eye on her, and as long as you’re undercover, there’s no other way for you to force her to remain under your watch.”
I laugh and feel as though we’re fifteen again. I splash him, and I don’t need to tell him how much I miss him. He knows.
“How’s your father?” I ask.
“He goes through phases. Sometimes I think we’re close to the end, and he’s going to shrivel up and die while puking over the closest receptacle he can find, and some other days he’s so full of energy, I think nothing can get to him and he’ll live forever.”
“Chemo’s a bitch,” I say.
“He gets into fits of rage.” Brian searches for words. “He’s angry because just as he was making peace with the idea that his body’s betraying him, he became aware that he’s also losing his mind.”
“Is he?” That’s a scary thought. The man always had a temper, a violent one, but he also had control. If the control snaps, there’s no telling what he can do.
“That’s why I had to take over,” Brian confesses. “Someone has to supervise him. It couldn’t be Everest because they’re just too similar. It can’t be Juliya because… Well, she’s a girl, and anyway, she’s got another year before she finishes college and comes back home. It had to be me.”
“I’m sorry, bro.”
“It’s not that bad, really,” he says. “I actually love the MC, and I’m happy to turn it around to more legit activity.”
We let a few good waves pass us by. Neither of us is in a hurry to get back to dry land and harsh reality. We savor our little bubble of freedom, floating around in the ocean as if we don’t have a care in the world.
“I spoke to Lisa this morning,” I say and wait for him to prompt me to continue. I know talking about her is painful for him, and if he’d rather not know more, I won’t volunteer any more information.
“I can’t believe it’s been two years already,” he says. “She must be getting ready for her finals, no?”
“Yes, she’s almost done. Since she’s not happy with some of her papers, I’m ready to bet that if worse comes to worst, she’ll have As instead of A pluses.”
We both shrug. My sister’s always been an overachiever, and we’ve never seen her walk out of an examination room without wishing she could have done better.
“Did you tell her?” he asks.
“That you quit the police academy? Yes.”
“That’s it?” I nod. “She didn’t ask you why or what I was doing?”
I can’t tell whether he’s relieved or disappointed by the fact that I didn’t tell Lisa more about his situation. “She didn’t have a chance to ask. She was at the restaurant. I caught her just before the beginning of her shift, and by the time we started talking about you, she had to start work.”
“So she doesn’t know that I’ve become the V. P. of the club.”
“No, but she will eventually…” I leave my sentence unfinished because we both know that’s when he’ll find out what’s more important to her: her wish to be a D. A. or her love for him.
My sister has been in love with Brian all her life, and I have no doubt that Brian loves her too. No matter how many other women he’s been with, he’s crazy about Lisa and just biding his time with the others.
“Is she coming home this summer?” he asks.
“Nope, she has an internship with a top-notch Manhattan firm. I don’t think she’ll come back for another year to take the bar exam.”
He doesn’t say anything, but I can hear him thinking that it’ll be another long year. But it doesn’t have to be. I can’t understand why he doesn’t fly or even ride to New York to see her. If I really wanted to spend time with someone, I would sure do something to make it happen. Come to think of it, I just did.
I have no doubt that as of tonight—or even earlier if the team wasn’t short-handed—Mimi has lost her job at the hotel. Her boss will never come right out and tell her that it’s because she had unsavory visitors. If he does bother to give her a reason for her termination, he’ll come up with a bullshit excuse, but she’ll know. The only question I have is will she surrender right away and accept Slider’s generous offer tomorrow, or will she look for another job before caving in?
I make a bet with myself as Brian and I race toward the shore. If I win, I’ll see her naked tomorrow. If he wins, it’ll be later this week.
***
CHAPTER TEN
I won the race to shore, but on Monday, Mimi is a no-show. Then again, so are the clients and the barman. The rain is torrential. It’s bad enough that I decided to drive over in my mother’s car!
But there’s one positive point. The president of the Wizards is back, and he’s alone. My good buddy Zach—he and I are now on a first-name basis—is disappointed by the latest exotic beauty that Slider is testing. I’m sure Suzy will find a way to make it up to him. I chat him up, and after making sure his right arm won’t be joining him tonight, Slider and I set our plan in motion.
At the beginning of Suzy’s last number, I buy Zach his favorite bourbon and drop a pill in his glass. It’s some crap Slider’s given me to help Suzy neutralize him. I don’t think Suzy needs any help, but Slider thinks it’s better to be safe than sorry.
When she’s done cracking her whip on stage for the three clients who were desperate enough to brave the howling wind, she marches over to the bar, growls in Zach’s ear, “I’ve been preparing something very special for you,” and grabs his tie.
He follows her up the stairs like a gentle puppy. Slider and I inform the clients that we’re closing. The other dancers are happy to go home early. A few minutes later, we’ve locked the front door and are up the stairs.
Suzy’s waiting for us by the door of the playroom. “How much did he drink? I hardly had time to truss him up before he passed out cold.”
Out of curiosity, I glance in the room and regret it at once. Unlike Brian and his brother, I’m not into kinky sex—or at least I don’t think I am. Okay, I do really like to see what I�
��m doing, so I want light and, if possible, a mirror. Who knows, maybe my preferences are kinky for those who like doing it with the shutters closed and the lights off. Anyway, Zach is blindfolded, naked, and spread out, each limb tied to one of the four posts of the bed. He looks like a giant jellyfish washed to shore. Yuck! Whatever he’s paying Suzy, it’s not enough.
She catches the disgust in my eyes and chuckles. “I’m not an act, baby. I’m a true sadist, so you shouldn’t worry about me. I actually enjoy beating him up.”
I try to hide my surprise but apparently fail.
Slider laughs too as he says, “To each his own.”
Suzy points with her crop at Zach’s pants on a chair by the bed. “He’s got a chain with a set of keys attached to his belt.”
We get to work right away, and we somehow get lucky and hit the right key after a few tries. I go to the desk and turn on the computer. It’s an Apple Macintosh, one of the newer models with a hard disk. I’m in luck because I have used this kind of machine. A disk is already inserted in the drive.
The machine boots up while Slider goes through the drawers of the filing cabinet. One is used to store clean underwear and shirts and the other drawer has some paperwork. Slider’s quick; I hear the click of his little camera and the paper turning while I stare at the blinking icon.
As always, when I want to do things quickly, I feel as if my life is playing in slow motion. Everything takes too long, and it drives me crazy. I look for a printer, but there is none. However, right in front of me is a box of disks. I toss the contents of the box on the desk, remove the disk already in and feed another into the drive, praying for a virgin one or one with some space to copy files from the hard disk. The first two floppies I try are full, but the third one prompts the computer to ask me if I want to format it. Yes! That will work.
There’re dozens of files on the hard disk, and their names are initials. I have no time to look at what they are now. I decide to copy whatever the disk will hold. I watch the screen like those idiots who stare at the elevator floor numbers lighting up one at a time.
“What are you doing?” Slider asks, locking up the file cabinet after putting everything back.
“Copying fucking files,” I snap. “They don’t have a printer, and if they did, that would take too long anyway. I have no other choice.”
“Hurry,” he says.
As if I want it to take so long. I throw up my hands because as far as I know, there’s no way to speed things up. He goes to check on Suzy. I hear hushed voices in the adjacent room. Ten minutes pass, and Slider looks into the office.
“Still working on it,” I say. “How long will he be out for?”
“Who knows?” Slider says. “That stuff helps me fall asleep, but it doesn’t knock me out the way it did him.”
Right, but then again, Slider probably doesn’t take his sleeping pill with hard liquor.
In an ideal world, I’d make a list of the file names I copied, and I’d compare it to the files on all the disks, but this office is bare. There’s no paper, no pen, no stapler, and from what I’ve seen, there’s not much more in Slider’s office. Whatever mail comes to the club goes on an “inbox” pile on his desk to be picked up by the Wizards accountant who indirectly supervises Slider’s management.
I’m trying to think of a way to make the list when all hell breaks loose. There’s a flash of light, then thunder strikes so close that the entire building shakes… and the power goes off.
Slider and I go through a cursing competition, and he wins. I keep repeating “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” whereas he has a more impressive repertoire. Suzy walks in holding a weird-shaped candle. Where did she pull that from?
“I don’t smoke, but I like to do stuff with wax,” she offers as an explanation to the question I didn’t ask.
“Give it to me,” Slider says. “I’ll go look at the fuse box.”
“It’s not the fuses,” Suzy answers, pointing out to the window of Slider’s office across the hall.
It’s pitch black outside. No one else has any electricity.
“A paper clip,” I growl. “I need a stupid paperclip to dislodge this disk from the computer drive.”
“I don’t have that in my goodie bag,” Suzy says.
“Was there a disk in the drive when you started?” Slider asks.
I nod.
“Then we’re leaving and locking up behind us. We’ll figure out a way to get the disk out before or during one of their next visits.”
“I could drive—” Lightning immediately followed by thunder contradicts me. We’re not going anywhere for a while.
I listen to Slider’s voice of reason, put the disks back in their box, and let Slider check that the room is precisely as we found it. When we finish locking up, there’s not much left of Suzy’s candle. We make use of the little time left to put the belt back on Zach’s pants. We’re just in the nick of time too because he starts stirring.
Suzy blows out the candle as he asks, “What the fuck happened?”
“First you went out cold on me,” Suzy says, “and now the power’s out. But I think I can still make you see the light!”
Slider and I sneak out of the room, leaving the door open. I think he’s with me on this one—there are some things we don’t want to witness, even in the dark!
***
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mimi comes around on Friday night, twenty minutes before show time. I’m at the door when she arrives, and I don’t even try to hide how glad I am to see her. The feeling’s not mutual.
She doesn’t return my smile when she growls, “Happy now?”
I can’t help but grin. God, she’s even hotter when she’s mad! Following her as she marches in, I play dumb and say, “What’s the matter?”
“Right, you have no idea why I’m mad. Don’t tell me you didn’t purposely scare the manager of my restaurant to get me fired!”
She looks so upset that I feel a bit guilty. But not enough to offer to go intimidate the man into giving her her job back. I put on my best innocent look and turn up my hands. That sends her into a fit of rage.
She stops and turns toward me, jabbing her finger into my chest. “Next you’re gonna tell me that those weren’t your guys following me to every single interview and making sure no one else hired me.”
I bite my lips to hide the smile that’s likely to pop on my face. Good for Slider. I like a man who makes sure he gets his way, ’specially when his way could make one of my fantasies come true. I’ll get to see her every day and show her what a nice guy I really am.
She glares at me, and all I want to do is hug her to bits. Instead, I grab her hand and bring it to my lips.
She jerks it away as if I’ve bitten her. “What’s with you?”
“Mimi, I swear to you, I didn’t intimidate anyone but that pretentious man at the hotel.”
“Well, if not you, then those were goons of yours,” she says.
“I claim sole responsibility for their actions,” Slider says, cutting in.
She turns around to face him, and I’m happy she’s no longer directing her anger at me.
“I’ll take the job under three conditions,” she says after taking a deep breath to calm herself.
Slider looks around to check that no one is within earshot. When he’s sure Vic, the barman, is nowhere to be seen, he invites Mimi to speak with a movement of the head.
“First, I don’t do lap dances.”
Slider nods, raising his shoulders as if he’d never expected that of her.
“Second, I’m out of here by midnight no matter what.”
Slider shakes his head sideways and pucker his lips.
“And third, you actively keep looking for a replacement, because on September first at the latest, I’m out of here.”
“I’ll sure look for a way to replace you as soon as possible, but while you’re here, you’ll need to stay later than midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.”
Mimi frowns. “Fine.” Th
en she struts toward the dressing room, waving at the barman.
Vic’s wheeling in a beer keg and yells, “Welcome back, Starla.”
The man badly needs glasses. Mimi has at least thirty or forty pounds on her sister. Where Josette’s ass was bony, Mimi’s is luscious and—fuck, I already have a boner just from looking at her walk away.
“Get a grip, man, or you’re gonna lose it when she comes on stage.” Slider snickers. I look at him sideways, and Slider slaps my back real hard, laughs, and says, “Not your boner, man, your cool.” Then he leaves me with my frustration to help Vic with the keg.
I walk outside for a bit of fresh air. Well, it’s not actually fresh—it’s hot and muggy—but I need to clear my head. My hard-on subsides as I try to come up with a way to get that stupid floppy before Zach and his partners return and realize someone’s messed with their computer.
Sally arrives in the death trap she calls her car and comes up to me with a big smile. I give her a hug and mess up her hair. I’ve been treating her like a substitute for Lisa, since I know Slider’s got dibs on her. She’s cute, but she doesn’t hold a candle to Mimi.
Crap, whatever I try to think about, my mind always returns to Mimi.
Sally mock-punches me. “Is Slider here already?”
“Yeah, he was helping Vic a minute ago,” I tell her.
“Cool,” she says as she passes me.
“Hey, Sally, Mimi’s here too,” I say.
“Oh, I’m happy Slider talked her into coming back!”
“Well—we kinda forced her hand—”
“Don’t be so sure about that,” she says. “No one has ever forced Mimi to do anything she didn’t want to do, not even Josette standing on the ledge of a tenth-floor window.” She doesn’t elaborate before she scoots inside.
I follow her in. It’s dinnertime for the mosquitoes, and unlike Mimi, they think I’m the sweetest thing around.
I hang around the bar waiting for the show to begin. I’ve never been so anxious. I’m like a kid on Christmas morning who sort of knows what’s in the package under the tree but still needs to find out if it’s precisely what he wants. I have no doubt Mimi has everything I want and all in the right places, but I want to see what she’s like with the wrapping off. The only drawback is that all these other guys will get to look at her as well. But I have an advantage—I get paid to slap around anyone who tries to get frisky with her.