by J. C. Allen
“You need a key just to use the elevator?” I asked.
“You do when you have your own private floor,” he answered with a smirk.
“Wow. Ritzy,”
“It was my brother’s place,” he explained. “I was a bit skeptical about moving here, but I guess it has its perks.”
Maybe it’s messy because that’s how his brother wanted it. It’s his way of keeping in memory of him.
That’s… kind of sweet.
“And the Saviors can afford all of this?” I asked.
“This and more,” he said. “I’m sure you don’t get to see it, but from what I hear the Falcons are doing really well, too. Contrary to the old line, crime does pay, and usually pretty well.”
I frowned at that, but decided not to tell him just how right he was in how little I saw of what was earned. I worried that even by his low standards for the Falcons, it would shock him. I suspected that credit card companies made more off of business fees than I did off of my actual services.
The elevator dinged then, and as the doors slid open, I blinked.
I was standing in his living room.
I looked back, confirming to myself that I was, in fact, still standing in an elevator. Based on what I saw before me, I was certain that I’d suddenly lost a few seconds and maybe forgotten that I had already stepped out of the lift. I definitely had not remembered this part of the journey from the first time.
But, then again, my experience from the moment the elevator started taking off to Derek’s bed that first night was mostly spent tied to his lips, so I suppose there was a pretty damn good reason I had not remembered any of it.
“Oh…” I murmured, feeling like my brain had just rebooted itself.
“Yeah,” Derek said, sighing. “It’s weird, right? But you’ll get used to it.”
“I will?” I asked.
Even with all of the evidence I had that Derek wanted me around, it still blew my mind whenever he talked about us being together again in the future. My mind just could not wrap around the idea of seeing someone in the future beyond this exact moment, outside of maybe Crystal.
“Provided you keep coming over, I guess.”
I smiled and nodded, deciding I liked the idea of getting used to it. I also liked—and almost laughed at—the idea that I would have any question about continuing to come over.
I knew he hadn’t seen my living quarters, but it didn’t take a university finance graduate to realize I was in a much shittier place than he was. Hell, he could have had a studio apartment and it would have been nicer than this.
“Come on, relax; get comfortable. Let’s turn on a TV show or something. I think one episode will let you indulge.”
When he first said it, I wasn’t keen on the idea of watching a TV episode. That would basically take up all of my time with him that I was giving myself, and I didn’t want to suffer Rock’s brutality for having caught an episode of some cartoon.
But, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe it would do good to just shut my mind off for a bit. My mind wasn’t overloaded from intellectual activity by any means, but the persistent paranoia that felt like a jammed “On” switch needed to be short-circuited for just even half an hour. I would take it however I could.
I grabbed the remote, switching through different Netflix shows before settling one on vampires.
“What about this?” I said. “You can watch what I read.”
I’d meant to tease him, but he seemed tense, not laughing at all and with a noticeable grimace on his face.
“Derek?”
“Sorry,” he said, shaking his head but not the expression on his face. “This… it reminds me of my mother, actually. She loved anything vampire related. Had a room with all sorts of old posters and books and such. I guess you two would’ve gotten along.”
“Oh,” I nodded and bit my lip.
I couldn’t help the question that followed. My curiosity got the best of me.
“Is she gone then?”
He nodded and looked down. At least, fortunately, he had not reacted angrily.
“I was really close with her… and after she died, it was just hard, I guess.”
“I understand,” I said. I needed to make it clear I could relate all too well. “My dad died when I was in college. Mom didn’t take it well and decided to move, so I felt like I lost both of them at once. I was never that close with my mother, to be fair, but still…”
“That must’ve been tough,” Derek said, sounding genuinely sympathetic.
That one stirred another one of those shadowy thoughts—he actually cares about a whore’s story—but then I reminded myself who I was talking to. Derek Knight—a true gentleman. Not an asshole trying to cheapen the deal by making it seem like he cared about me.
For God’s sake, Eve, he already agreed not to have sex with you tonight. What greater proof do you need that he’s not into you as a whore?
“I guess, a little bit” I said with a dismissive shrug, though it wasn’t such an easily dismissed subject. I had an affinity for my family, often to my own personal detriment. “Before I got caught in this… life, whatever you want to call it, we still talked on the phone. Distance has a way of eventually cutting back on the contact you keep with people.”
Among other things. But Derek knows what those things are. No need to state them and go darker down the hole.
“I suppose that’s true. Do you still keep in touch at all?” he asked.
I looked down sadly and shook my head. I could see Derek regretted the question, knowing I had already said it, but I didn’t mind. At least, I didn’t mind given who was asking the question.
“Probably for the better,” I added.
“Any siblings—other than your deadbeat, jailbird brother—or…?” Derek tilted his head.
“Nope,” I said with a sigh. “Chuck’s all I got in that department, I’m afraid.”
And since he’s the only brother I’ve got… I know I shouldn’t care for him. But…
Derek reached out and took my hand, giving it a light squeeze. I smiled back and squeezed back, scratching his arm gently with my other hand.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
I only nodded.
“I’m not crazy in thinking there’s something happening between us, right?” Derek asked as he retrieved the remote and turned off the TV, making it obvious that we were not going to watch an episode of that vampire show.
I blushed and shook my head. Was this “the talk?” Was it too soon?
You out of your damn mind. Crystal would slap you, and she should. No, he’s not. Tell him.
“No. Not unless I’m crazy, too. But then again, I guess our two crazies would still make us sane in this regard. Our two damaged goods selves.”
Derek smiled at that and nodded. A gentle silence filled the air, the kind that felt the opposite of uncomfortable.
“So I wouldn’t be out of line in saying I wanted to see you again? That I’d like to do this again? Perhaps even tomorrow?”
I shook my head again.
“Not at all.”
I suddenly found myself laughing.
“Derek, you know I’ll make time to see you whenever I can. Hell, I just took off from my shift to see you some. That might’ve been stupid… but…”
“I know that this was a special circumstance,” Derek quickly interjected. “I can’t expect you to get off… well, uh—I can’t expect you to be able to do this all the time, but, without sounding desperate, the sooner the better.”
A bittersweet wave of emotions crashed over me and I nodded. If only Derek knew how desperate I was to escape my current life—the desperation for someone genuinely great to date me was anything but one-sided.
“I’d like that, too. I’ll make it work. At the very least, we can do the same thing that we did today tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll be counting the seconds,” he smiled.
“Yeah right,” I said with a te
asing eye roll.
“You’d be surprised,” he smirked, “but, in the meantime…”
He trailed off then, leaning in and capturing my lips against his.
I gasped, caught off guard by the kiss.
My world was spiraling as Derek wrapped his arms around my waist, seeming to understand that I felt dizzy. Catching myself as well, I wrapped my arms around his neck, returning his kiss fervently. This was nothing like working with clients, this was real.
Real desire.
Real passion.
Real feelings.
I got lost in his kiss, holding him tighter as we both seemed to refuse to part. Eventually, however, the need for air overwhelmed us, and we finally pulled back. I fought to catch my breath and could see that it had impacted him in a similar way, as well. Then, as if to punctuate the act, he leaned forward again, kissing my forehead.
“I’m a man of my word, and I would never make you have sex if you’re not ready,” he said. “But you are too goddamn cute not to kiss.”
I almost jumped him right there, so infatuated with him that I wanted to break my very vow… but the only reason I didn’t was because I could see Derek wouldn’t let me. It was oddly… I wouldn’t say sick, but oddly interesting how Derek was the one keeping my promise for me.
Well, what could I say? The man was hot, together, and everything else you could ever want.
“Can you drop me off? Just a few blocks away.”
“I suppose,” Derek said. “Although I will say, if you want to call it quits on that now, I’ll protect you.”
It was extraordinarily tempting. I knew Derek could protect me.
But when I thought about what it would mean for Crystal… what it would mean for my family… what it would mean for anyone who was remotely connected to me, I couldn’t pull the trigger.
Not until I had a better plan in place.
“We need a plan,” I said. “But I know you’ll come up with one.”
“I suppose,” Derek said, pulling me close as we headed back to the elevator. “It’s going to happen quick. I ain’t wasting any time for you.”
I couldn’t think of words to reciprocate my feelings, so I just let my body lean into him to show my affection. I think it spoke with way more detail and beauty than words ever could have, anyways.
We headed down the elevator and hopped on his motorcycle, holding hands the whole way through. I never wanted to let go of those thick, calloused hands—hands I felt safe in so long as I was within his grasp. I wanted to feel every imprint, every callous, every line in his hands and fingers, to map his hand so I’d literally know the front and back of his hand better than he did.
Alas, while I was beginning to realize that fantasies could come true, they had to be balanced with reality, and such was that truth when I let go to hop on his bike.
Fortunately, that just meant I got to know his back muscles and his abs a little bit better as we sped down the road.
The drive only lasted about ten minutes, just long enough that I couldn’t be thoughtless but just short enough that I didn’t lose myself in my thoughts as I had coming back from Samsville. I thought about what our next date would look like and wondered how Derek would top what he’d already done. Between the library and the festival at his hometown, I really had no concept of what he could do to top himself.
When we came to our stopping point, I almost went to kiss Derek. But he simply put his hand out, as if to say, “Not here.”
I understood why. And while I couldn’t say I wasn’t disappointed, I knew that out in public, eyes of the worst kind would be on us. All it took was for one member—no, just one friend of a friend of a member—of the Black Falcons to say something, and then I was a dead woman for having been with a Savior.
I watched as he drove off, saddened that my perfect day had come to an end but nevertheless grateful that I had at least gotten to experience such a day. Days like this didn’t come around often, but Derek had a way of making them feel like they would be a permanent part of my life. Perhaps it was this exact thing that made him perfect and my current situation so shitty—was it really that great?
Yes. Because it’s Derek.
I gave myself a nice smile and felt warmth as I walked toward the street corner, reliving all that had happened that day.
And it all went out the window when I saw one of Rock’s men standing at that corner.
I came into his line of vision immediately, so there was no chance of sneaking around, and what was I going to do anyways, sneak around for ten hours while getting Johns to pay me? His glare never came off me as I walked forward, doing my best not to look like I was terrified beyond all hell.
Which I was. I feared I was dead. About the only thing that kept me hopeful was knowing that Rock did the killings or ordered the killings—one of his minions would not dare act out of line, even if it was something Rock would have done on his own.
“You’re late, whore,” he said behind sunglasses as I walked up.
“I’m sorry, I—”
But the man slapped me hard, dropping me to the ground, and then drove a steel-pointed boot into my back, drawing a sharp cry of pain. I wanted to cry, the pain was so intense, but I had to focus on not dying first.
“You think you can just show up late like this and expect to get away with it? We have an operation to run, you little bitch. You showing up late does not make me happy. And when I’m not happy, Rock’s not happy.”
Grimacing through pain, struggling not to go into shock, I stared up at the man as he had his phone open on Rock’s contact info.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t report you right now and have you killed,” he said.
He seemed to almost take a perverse delight in this, a sort of thrill in seeing me grimace and fight back tears. It sickened me, most especially since I didn’t have Derek to help. I knew Derek wouldn’t just beat the man, he’d kill him.
“I’ll do anything, please,” I said, begging.
“Anything,” the man said, contemplating the words for a few seconds.
Then, as if to make a point, he drove another kick into me. By some grace, this one didn’t hit such a sensitive spot and only hurt half as much—which was still a fucking lot, but at least I didn’t fear having a seizure and just lying dead on the spot from pain.
“Show me,” he said.
Fighting the extraordinary, gruesome pain in my back, I reached for my purse and pulled out all the cash I had. It was about two hundred and thirty dollars. Rock would be pissed if he ever found out—or when he saw that the money I had made from that night was less than normal, accounting for the delay—but we’d had bad nights before. I’d never shown up late, however.
I sure was feeling pretty goddamn stupid for rationalizing my decision to show up late. I’d let my hormones and lust control me instead of the other way around, and boy was it costing me.
“It’s a start,” the man said. “But—”
His phone rang. He picked it up, and I began to assume the end was at hand.
“Yes?” he said. “Understood. Be there soon as I can.”
He hung up and looked down at me.
“It’s your lucky day, whore,” he said. “I’ve got another job to do. But don’t you dare fucking think you’re done. I need more out of you if I’m going to keep my mouth shut.”
And then, for good measure, he gave one final kick right to my spine, and for about three seconds, I felt paralyzed and numb.
Thank God that I regained feeling a short while later. I slowly rose to my feet, trying to fight back tears. At least in my current clothing, no one would see much…
Because I wasn’t dressed like a whore at all. I was dressed like a normal girl who had just gone on a date.
Fuck me. How badly could I have screwed this up?
How bad was it that I was thinking about how I could do my job as a whore better after everything Derek had done for me?
“Eve, oh my God, girl.”
<
br /> I turned to see Crystal emerging from an alleyway. Undoubtedly, she had witnessed it all, choosing to get out of the way of the crossfire. I didn’t begrudge her the move one bit—I would have had to have done the same to avoid dying.
“Where the hell were you?!? I thought you’d left forever. I was ten minutes away from making a break myself.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, grimacing with every word and stretching as I balanced on Crystal. “I… I asked Derek to spend more time with me.”
“WHAT?!?”
I quickly shushed Crystal before more eyes fell upon us. To her credit, she had the good sense to silence herself right there, but damnit if that didn’t strike a lot of fear into me. If just one person heard…
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“Eve…” Crystal said. “Girl, you know I love you. But don’t you dare be that big of an idiot again! You hear me? You know what I’m sayin’? You pull this shit again, you’re dead. Dead! You may still be dead, but a nice fuck for that guy may get you out.”
I knew that was what it was going to come down to—it always did. At least the corruption of the Black Falcons ensured they could be manipulated.
Well, one had to hope, at least. Just as likely I’d fuck that guy, who would then tell Rock, and then I was dead anyways.
At least under that scenario, I had time to figure out how to protect myself. I could rope Derek back in, especially if he was going to come and get me again tomorrow morning.
“I’m sorry, Crystal,” I said.
It was all I could say. I was in too much pain to keep going. I was in too much pain to think, let alone speak much.
“Oh, baby,” Crystal said, hugging me very tenderly. “Just be careful, OK!”
I nodded. It was all I could muster with what little energy I still had.
7
Derek
Nothing bothered me more than having to leave Eve.
Actually, to be more specific, nothing bothered me more than having to leave Eve without me making sure she would get to her corner safely.