by M T Stone
“Thank you.” I smiled. We really were on the same side after all.
“Tonight is the changing of the guard around here. Carter has crossed over the line so many times that he doesn’t even realize there are lines anymore,” she began her rant. “He took a perfectly legal business and began kidnapping some of our best girls and selling them to wealthy international businessmen.” Her eyes scanned the room. “Some of you were in on that. You might want to get your affairs in order.”
As she continued to speak, several gentlemen slowly made their way toward the exit. There’s nothing like a little self-incrimination. I glanced over at J.O. who was busy taking notes.
“Many of you might think I’m being a little too hard on him. After all, he is my father, right?” she continued, fighting back tears. “Well, this so called ‘father,’ abused me as a young child.” She then began to tell a story that no one in the room was prepared to hear.
“Abuse can take many forms. For my mother, it was psychological abuse. For me, it was sexual. It ended one day when my mother came home early and caught him. I’m going to spare you the details as to how old I was and what exactly he did to me. Just know that my mother was beside herself with shock and grief.” Suzanne stopped for a moment to collect herself while the rest of us stood by in silence.
“What did he do?” she asked pointing at Carter. “He drugged her and called the police. He told them that she had been experiencing psychological problems and had tried to commit suicide. He told me that if I ever told anyone what had actually happened, he would kill her. It was very traumatic to say the least.” She paused once again to collect herself. Carter just sat in silence.
“The next thing I knew, I was sent away to boarding school and my mom was committed to a psychiatric ward. I couldn’t for the life of me understand how that could’ve possibly happened. Why was she locked away when he was the criminal? I only saw her a few times after that and tried my best to avoid Carter.” She paused once again and took a deep breath. “My mom died two weeks before my high school graduation. He had finally gotten rid of the only witness for good.”
“You have no proof!” Carter managed to say, clenching the ball gag in his teeth.
You could have heard a pin drop as Suzanne motioned to J.O. and said, “Bring me the ledger.” She opened it up to the first page she had bookmarked. “July 13th, 2002 there is a payment to Dr. Fredrick Andrews for $25,000. He was the psychiatrist who declared that she suffered from severe schizophrenia and was a danger to herself as well as others.”
Carter sat there in silence, hanging his head. He finally found out where his ledger of criminal activity had gone.
She quickly flipped to another page that was bookmarked. “Here are two $25,000 payments made to an orderly who worked at the health care facility where she stayed. Coincidentally, one payment was made three days before her death and the other was the day after,” she said as everyone in the room began to stir. “That’s only the beginning, folks,” she said, handing the book back to J.O.
“Suzanne was kind enough to highlight all of the payoffs that you have made over the years, as well as noting the corresponding crime,” J.O. said, showing him a page of the book.
“Where did you get that book?” he hissed with fire in his eyes.
“Abe gave it to me the day before he died,” she told him with a smile. “Abe covered your ass for years, but unlike you, he had a conscience.” Carter just groaned and shook his head in disbelief.
“I’ll give you something to groan about,” she said, grabbing the cattle prod and releasing one more jolt, which must have hit him in the bladder. We all stood there in stunned silence as a stream of urine ran across the chair and onto the floor.
“All right, get him up and get his pants on,” J.O. instructed Blade and Renegade. He then read Carter his rights as the cameras continued to roll.
Gunner
Once Carter had been taken into custody and the guests had filtered out of the building, Raven and I went to find Suzanne. We found her sobbing violently in her office.
“I’m so sorry,” Raven told her as we both crouched down on either side of her.
“I just wish I could’ve saved my mom,” she sobbed.
“You were just a kid,” I assured her. “There’s nothing you could’ve done at the time.”
“I’ve thought about this day for years. I’ve always thought that I would feel better after he got what he deserved. But now I feel completely empty.” She laid her head on her desk.
“You’ve been fueled by revenge,” Raven told her. “It will take a little time to find a new mission in life, but you will.”
“This time it will be a much healthier mission,” I added. “Revenge has a way of eating away at you over time.”
“You’ve got that right. Who would’ve guessed that a twenty-six year old could be so bitter.” She smiled.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” I asked, thinking about all that she had been going through.
“I’ll be fine,” she said with a subtle grin. “I’ve had nearly thirteen years of therapy. I just need to let it go now and get on with life.”
“What are you going to do?” Raven asked her.
“Well, technically this was your ninth show, so you still have one more to go,” she said, popping back into business mode.
“You’re right.” Raven smiled. “The next show is going to be a little different, though.”
“No, gangbang?” I asked sarcastically, knowing her answer.
“We can. In this show, you are going to be my bitch. So if you want it to be a gangbang, I guess that’s up to you.” She smiled and slapped me on the chest.
“That’s a great idea,” Suzanne chimed in before I had a chance to say a word. “I’m going to send out a note to the members right now. Next Friday evening will be part two of Raven’s Revenge. They will love it!”
“Hey, I’ve already paid my dues. Why the fuck would I agree to this?”
“Do you ever want us to get past referring to each other as Raven and Gunner?” she asked without a hint of humor.
“Yes.” I slipped my arms around her.
“Then, you will do this,” she replied, pushing back against my chest.
“No cattle prod!” I demanded, after seeing what they had done to Carter.
“Ha! You wish buddy. By the way, are you more afraid of water or electricity?” She laughed, giving me a cocky smile.
She’s come a long way, I thought as I watched her give Suzanne a high-five and they both laughed at my expense. Suzanne looked down and smiled, then turned her iPad toward us. We had a ninety-nine percent approval rating for tonight’s show. I wonder how many of them thought that it was all an act.
Most of those attending in person had left the show in somber silence. They all knew that it was the end of the boys’ club, and that everything would be different going forward. Some of them would be invited back in the future, while others would be receiving a call from the Marshall’s office. They are all wealthy and have high profile attorneys on retainer, so I’m sure that most of them will walk away unscathed.
As for me, I’m going to let Raven have her revenge. After that, the only name I ever want to use off camera is Jillian. Raven is gorgeous and a true fighter, but I’m in love with Jillian. I want something real with her.
Chapter 17
Raven
When my phone buzzed first thing Sunday morning, I assumed that it was either Amber or Gunner. I fished it out of my purse only to see a picture of my mother. It’s way too early for her. Tossing it onto the nightstand, I crashed face-first back onto my pillow. I knew that it was going to buzz again because she always left a voicemail. I also knew that she was the queen of ambiguous messages, so even if I did listen to it, I still wouldn’t know what she actually wanted. That was her way of getting me to call her back.
Screw it. I decided to skip a few steps and called her right back.
“Darling, I hope that I didn’t wa
ke you,” she said upon answering.
“No, I always get up a seven forty-five on Sundays. Especially when Hannah is at her dad’s house,” I replied with a healthy dose sarcasm.
“I’m sorry, dear, but I’ve been worrying about you all night.” She actually sounded sincere for once.
“Why?”
“The guy you are dating… does he go by the nickname ‘Gunner’?”
Oh, holly hell! I shot straight up in bed. “Dalton? Who told you that?”
“Well, Toots and I ate at the Level Seven Café last night,” she explained. “When I told her that you lived just down the street, she thought we should stop in and surprise you.”
“Okay…”
“Well, obviously you weren’t home, but a nice young man named Tom let us in,” she went on. “I wanted to leave a note on your door.”
“You couldn’t just send me a text?” This is too weird.
“I suppose, but since Tom let us in, I thought leaving a note would be more personal.”
“I never saw a note when I got home.”
“Yeah, I know. I got so flustered after talking to Tom that I totally forgot all about it,” she confessed.
That’s just great. I knew I should’ve killed Tom when I had him by the throat. “What did Tom say?” I tried to speak as calmly as possible.
“I asked him if he had met Dalton and he went off talking about Gunner and Raven, saying that I should ask you about the two of them,” she told me. “Then when Toots told him that we had been to the Level Seven, he said that we should ask you about Level Nine. Is that a new place?”
“No. Do you want to go for breakfast?” I asked, needing some time to think.
“Sure. Where do you want to meet?”
“Our usual place. See you in an hour.” With that, I immediately got off the phone, not wanting to say anything more until I had taken a shower and collected my thoughts. It was way too early for this. I really need a cup of coffee. Actually, I should probably have a couple shots of tequila as well.
~~~
“You know it makes me nervous when you don’t give me a straight answer,” Mom muttered as we settled into our normal booth.
“I know, but some things are better discussed in person.” This was one of them.
While in the shower, I had made up an entire story about Raven being a temporary roommate and explaining that Tom had mistakenly linked the two of us. However, if she wasn’t satisfied with my explanation, she would start typing Gunner and Raven into her iPad and then I would have no control over what she found. She probably wouldn’t have recognized me right away, but she would’ve instantly recognized my voice. I did the only thing I could think of doing, I told her the truth. What’s the worst that can happen? It’s not like we are on the best of terms anyway.
“The good news is that Hannah won’t have to spend every other weekend at Perry’s house anymore.” I started out on a positive note.
“That’s great! How did you pull that one off?”
“I stumbled headfirst into a great opportunity and made a pile of cash,” I replied, shaking my head in amazement. “It honestly came out of nowhere.”
“Well, I hope it’s something legal.” Mom snickered.
“They tell me it is,” I replied, returning her smirk.
“Okay, Jillian Marie, what have you been up to?” The clock suddenly turned back to my high school days. I hadn’t heard her use my middle name in well over a decade.
“Do you know who this is?” I asked, showing her a picture of Raven on my phone.
“No. I can’t say that she looks familiar.”
“That’s Raven.”
“The one that Tom was talking about?”
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“Wow, she’s beautiful,” Mom, added, grabbing my phone to take a closer look.
“Flip to the next picture,” I told her. “That’s Raven with Gunner.”
After looking at the picture for a moment, she lifted her eyes to mine. “He looks a little like that Dalton guy, only with less clothes on.”
“Gunner and Raven have been working together on an amazingly successful live sex show. Together, they have made well over half of a million dollars in the past five weeks.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of money,” she replied, trying to wrap her head around the situation. “I still don’t get how you…”
“I’m Raven,” I whispered, placing my hand over hers.
“That’s you?” She once again pulled the phone up to her face to examine it through her bifocals. “I never would’ve…”
“I know. It’s a makeup artist named Jasmine. She’s amazing.”
“You’ve been doing porn?” she whispered. Her eyes nearly popping out of her head.
“It’s a long story, Mom. I kind of got tricked into it,” I started to explain. “I had no idea that he was recording the first session. By the time I found out, it was too late.”
“Did you sign a model release?”
“I did, but I didn’t really know what I was signing. He called it a liability waiver. It was so dark in there.”
“Oh my God!” she exclaimed as it finally started to sink in. “I never would’ve dreamt this in a million years!”
“Shh! I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you, but I didn’t want you to find out from anyone else.”
She just sat there for a moment with a strange look on her face. I could tell that she was processing everything that I had told her, but she also seemed to be debating on whether or not she wanted to say something to me.
“Go ahead and say it,” I finally told her.
“What?”
“Whatever is on your mind. Just say it.” I folded my arms and sat back in the booth.
“First of all, I instantly had the impression that Dalton was a gigolo. No one is that chiseled in his thirties unless he is getting paid for it one way or another.”
“I’ll let him know you said that.” I laughed. She still had the funniest look on her face.
I knew there was something else on her mind, so I just sat there and waited.
“Do you know how your father and I met?” she finally asked with a more serious expression.
“Yeah, you met at a night club on the night he came back from the war, and he always said that it was love at first sight.”
“It was love at first sight, alright. I was in a G-string with my legs wrapped around a pole,” she confessed. “Your father had literally just gotten off the boat from Vietnam. He hadn’t even stopped home to change out of his uniform.”
“You were a stripper?” My mind had just been officially blown.
“I came out here with dreams of being a star,” she said, looking down at the table. “When things didn’t work out, I did what I had to do.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“How long did you do that?”
“Not long.” A smile broke across her face. “Your father came back every night that I worked until he finally got up the nerve to ask me out.”
“And the two of you started dating?”
“Yes, and that’s when I started working at your grandfather’s jewelry store.”
“Wow!” Part of me was amazed that Mom had shared that story, but I think she wanted me to know that we weren’t as different as I had always thought. My older sister had always been considered the slutty one, so maybe that’s why she had favored her. Once she found out that I wasn’t above it all, she actually seemed more accepting of me. I had always thought that I was a better person than my sister. Maybe I had acted that way toward Mom as well.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked as we finished our breakfast.
“We’ve got one more live show left, then I’m not sure what will happen next.”
“I think you and Dalton should take that money and open your own real estate office,” she suggested. “I hear the market is improving.”
“That’s one option.”
“You could call it Gunner & Raven Rea
lty and use that picture of the two of you.” She snickered. “In this town, no one would think twice about buying real estate from porn stars.”
“Please, don’t refer to me as a porn star,” I pleaded. “And for god sake, don’t tell Toots or anyone else. I don’t want this to get around.”
“Well then I don’t know why you told me. You know that I never have been able to keep a secret,” she huffed.