by S. J. Smith
“We received a call about a break in and it seems your apartment was ransacked. You do live at 374 27th in downtown, right?” she asked.
Laura sighed.
“Yes, damn it. How bad is it?” she asked.
Brock’s eyes narrowed.
“Bad enough that I suggest you do not go there. Whoever did this was looking for something and that could put you in danger. I don’t believe in coincidences Miss Ranger. So I am working on the theory that your attackers are still in town. Do you have somewhere safe to go, out of town preferably is my number one concern.”
Laura looked at Brock and Jack. She made a quick decision.
“Yes I do. What could they be looking for Detective?” she asked.
“I was going to ask you that Miss Ranger,” she was told.
Laura had no idea but she was beginning to wonder if her companions did.
“You can call me Laura, Detective and I have no idea. I am a cocktail waitress. You could probably tell from my apartment that I don’t have much. Oh crap, that reminds me. I do have one stash. Are there jars on the top shelf in the kitchen? It is my tip savings,” she asked. Thankfully the Detective was actually at her apartment and could check for her.
“Only empty jars Laura. I am sorry it looks like they took that. Did anyone know you were keeping your money there?” she asked.
“I never told anyone. Shit, I was saving for a car. Now I am mad. Do you really think it is the guys from the casino, I mean hell, I just cut them off and they were drunk,” she told her.
“I don’t know Laura; this is not making much sense to me. For now, get to somewhere safe and I will be in touch. I may need to go over things further with you. Where will you be?” Detective Avery asked.
“Let me double check, hold on a moment,” she told her putting the phone on mute. Jack was back at the table and they were both looking at her.
“My place was tossed. The detective wants to know if I have somewhere to stay?”
They both looked stern and worried.
“Of course,” Brock responded.
“Can they know it is you?” she asked. He nodded and held out his hand for the phone. She slid it off of mute.
“I will be staying with Brock Wainright, one of the men who rescued me last night. Here he is,” she told her handing the phone over.
Laura listened to Brock charm the detective. The man was good, she could give him that. He had the right amount of concern and honesty in his voice to sell her on the idea of Laura staying with them for safety. After a time, he handed the phone back.
“Is this going to be cool with you Detective?” she asked. She was already getting a nod from Brock.
“That should work fine. Mr. Wainright has a good reputation from what I have learned. You should be safe. I will call you when I have more,” Detective Avery said, and that was that.
“Well I can’t go back to my apartment. I hope wherever we end up has a laundry service,” she said a little dejected. That had been all of her savings stolen. They noticed her depression and immediately started making plans. She rolled with it because she could not think of anything else to do.
***
Laura soon found herself walking down the hallway of another high end hotel with her arms full of shopping bags. The guys were carrying them as well as the bell hop. To cure her depression, they had taken her on a shopping spree. The Hotel Fantastic had many clothing stores on the ground floor and she was pretty sure they had hit them all. She was playing the part of Misty and having a wonderful time. It did not hurt that the stores all supplied champagne to their high end clients so she had a good buzz when they got to their rooms. Brock had booked a three room suite with a huge living area in the center. It had a great view of the city. She sighed and turned back around to face the two men, using her real voice.
“Thank you two for all of your care. I shouldn’t have let you spend so much on me. I won’t need to buy clothes for two years after this,” she told them smiling happily. They were both very pleased and Brock sat down on the luxurious cream colored couch. She moved over and sat on the couch too, leaning against the armrest with her legs curled up under her. Jack of course was making drinks and going through the hors d’oeuvres. She thought that was good. If she drank much more without food she would be really drunk.
“It is our pleasure my dear. Despite your courage you have been through a lot in the past day. You need a break and some time to rest and enjoy yourself. We do not have to be anywhere or do anything until morning, so the rest of the day is ours. Besides, we said we would pay you for your help. This is just the first part of that.”
Laura could not help her eyes widening slightly.
“Jeez, I didn’t realize what you meant when you said “paying me.” Do the jobs always pay so well? Do you need a full time employee?” she asked. She never would have said that without the help of the drinks but they did not seem to mind. Jack set the food and the table with her drink.
“We might. You may have guessed that we are very fond of you Laura,” Jack told her sitting on the floor next to where she sat on the couch. She felt Brock’s hand on her knee. She looked at him startled and felt Jack reach up to massage her neck.
“You are very tense girl, despite how well you are taking everything,” he told her. She looked from one to the other not sure what to do. She knew where this was leading. Her body was reacting positively but she was not sure in her head. Brock reached out and touched her cheek.
“Just say the word dear, and we will back off. It will not affect our working relationship in any way. Can you blame us though? You are a beautiful woman and we are smitten,” Brock said.
The massage felt so good, and Jack got up and sat on the end table behind her to reach her back better. It felt so good and she could feel her tension easing. She had not realized how tight she was. She looked over her shoulder at him and he smiled, soft and charming, compassion and desire in his eyes. Looking forward she saw the same desire for her in Brock’s eyes. She felt an internal conflict over what she should do. On the one hand she really should reasonably wait before leaping into a relationship like this. On the other hand, she trusted her instincts.
“So, are you two running a game on me?” she asked to test her instincts. All of her senses were on alert as she asked it. Booze or not she was ready for their answer.
“Not in this,” Brock said softly.
“We are many things Laura dear, and some of them are not always nice, but taking advantage of a woman in this way is not on our style. No does mean no,” Jack said.
His hands had stopped as had Brock’s. She felt they were being honest and her body was excited by the possibilities. Making her decision she reached over sideways and picked up her drink and took a big swallow and smiled. She switched briefly to the Misty voice she had developed.
“Then what are we waiting for dudes,” she giggled, not completely an act as Brock’s hand slid from her knee to her thigh. Jack’s hands went over her shoulders and she reached up placing her hands on top of his. She guided them down her front, under her blouse and gasped at the electric feeling it brought with it.
Jack kissed her, and while his one hand caressed her large breasts his other went down over her belly, tugging her camisole up and caressing her bare flesh. It felt amazing. Brock then moved back down the couch allowing her to straighten her legs. She moved forward as well, glad it was such a long couch. Jack moved so he was sitting behind her, with his legs outside of hers. She moved her hands down to his thighs, realizing only then than during their position adjustment he had lost his pants. The hair on his legs was velvet feeling and was an incredible turn on. The man’s kisses were like a fire in her veins that was growing hotter throughout her whole body. She moaned and lifted her hips. As she did, Brock undid her capris and slid them off with her panties.
“Oh guys…this is…is…is so!” she could say no more as Jack helped her out of her blouse, camisole and bra. She could feel his naked chest a
gainst her back. She could also feel his member throbbing and growing against her rear end. Brock stroked her legs, although it seemed Jack was building up for a home run and she would be glad to accept it from him. Her whole body began trembling and her moans of need and lust were becoming unstoppable.
“Ah baby…ah Laura, let me…oh you feel so good let me…” he gasped out.
“Yes! Oh yes!” she managed to gasp out, lifting her hips.
He held her up, positioning her for his sword of desire to find her moist opening. When he did find it, she squealed with an explosion of lust, and when he reached the depths of her desire she had an orgasm that made her shudder, then again as she bounced up and down on his lap in incredible pleasure. When he exploded his desire deep into her needy places they both cried out in a feeling of mutual release. Gasping they caught their breath, and Laura had never felt so relieved and yet excited.
She noticed Brock too was naked, and his toned, muscular body was a turn on in her buzzed state of need. She reached forward, putting her hands on his chest and he exhaled a lusty sound she was glad to hear. She had never felt so needy before and the fact that there were two men ready to see to her was an astounding thing. She felt glad she had chosen this route.
He leaned into her as she got up on her knees and moved against him, pushing him down on his back so she could lay her naked body on top of his. His hands cupped her buttocks and ran over her voluptuous hips, and the feeling of his chest pressing against her naked breasts put her into high gear once more. They kissed with an abandon that had not been present with Jack, and his hands went through her hair and she did the same as they writhed against each other. There was nothing that was going to stop this in Laura’s mind and he obviously felt the same.
Gasping she felt her raging need and desire flood her body and mind and lifted her hips, ready to feel his big member of passion complete her needs. She cried out as he entered her, and it was soon that they both were crying out in passionate release. She shuddered twice in mighty orgasms by the time he released his lust into her. As they lay back together panting she thought of it as a great gift. She felt she had released years of built up sexual tension as well as other tensions she hadn’t known she had.
“Damn guys, you really know how to treat a girl don’t you?” she asked rhetorically. They laughed, so did she. After another moment of snuggling with Brock they got up to dress and eat some hors d’oeuvres. Good sex always made Laura hungry. She was glad she was not the only one, that would have been embarrassing.
*****
Laura’s Game
Laura got out of the shower and dressed in some of her new clothes. It was all high end stuff and she was a little uncomfortable with having never worn clothing like it. She went casual and put on a lacey bra and a white silk tee. A pair of nice jeans and a black vest completed a good looking ensemble, she thought to herself happily. She had never had a silk t-shirt and it felt wonderful to wear. She went out to the main room and the guys were relaxing at the bar. Dinner had arrived and they began eating.
“So what exactly are we after?” she asked. They had never got around to telling her.
“Crap, we never said did we? I guess we were distracted by your loveliness,” Jack said with a smile causing her to blush.
“It is an old artifact from the time of Charlemagne. There had been an archeological dig that came up with a whole casket full of things. The thieves, probably the Tortelli boys, got to them before they had been transferred to the Louvre Museum in Paris. Not a bad way to do it. Now though, the bidders for it are all over the place and the authorities, as usual have no idea. So it is up to us to get it back. You have to understand; we are not law enforcement. The thieves getting arrested does not matter to us. Are you going to be okay with that?” Brock asked.
Laura thought about it while eating her burger. After a few bites she shook her head.
“No, not really. It would be nice. Especially since these are the guys who attacked me,” she said hesitantly.
“Oh, I want to see them go down for that. It lacked class in so many ways I don’t know where to start. Don’t worry, they will get busted for that. We just won’t be arranging things for the cops to get them on the theft. All of our contacts would dry up if they thought we were informers,” Jack said.
That made sense to Laura and she was glad that at least her attackers would be punished for the assault.
“So what exactly is this artifact?” she asked.
“Oh, it is an old coin from that era. About the size of a penny. Not much to look at, but it is of huge historical value,” Brock explained.
She nodded, holding her shock inside.
“That reminds me of something. I will be right back,” she said and went to her room and dug through her pants pocket.
There it was. A French coin from the days of Charlemagne, in her capris’ pocket. She went back to the others and hopped back up on the bar stool, holding it out.
“Does it look like this?” she asked calmly and watched their jaws drop in shock.
“What? How? What the hell?” Brock said succinctly. They both stared at her and Brock took it from her to examine.
“Where did you get this?” Jack asked and she could hear suspicion in his voice.
“Hey, hold on!” she began holding her hands up.
“It was in the tip box from the room I was serving those creeps in. Jason the security guy gave it to me when I left last night after dinner. I had no idea what it was. I just thought one of them took a bunch of change out of his pocket and accidently left his good luck charm. So I put it in my pocket for luck,” she shrugged and the two guys calmed down a little. Then they began smiling.
“It is the piece everyone is looking for. You, Laura dear, are our good luck charm,” Brock said and gave a shout of happiness, jumping up to embrace her and swing her around. Laura laughed and when she was set back down they both turned to Jack who was smiling slightly watching them.
“Done yet?” he asked.
“What’s wrong Jack?” Laura asked confused.
“Depends on your point of view. The Tortelli brothers are looking high and low for this piece and they think you have it. They set up this sale and international interest has brought many in the underground out to bid on it. These are people who do not like to have their time wasted so if the Tortellis cancel the sale they will never be trusted again. What’s more, they know this and have to get it back before tomorrow. Trust me when I say, they are looking high and low for you right now. From what you just described, I can only conclude that one of them dropped it in your box before they got arrested and now knows where it went,” he finished. That brought the mood down considerably.
“Kinda Debbie downer man,” Laura told him. He laughed.
“How about Dan downer at least,” he said.
“Why can’t you guys just hop a plane and be gone. It is their problem?” she pointed out.
“That would leave you holding an empty bag. I like you too much for that,” Brock said.
“Well, I was hoping you could take me with you?” she admitted sheepishly.
“Honey, you are free to accompany us anywhere we go. Unfortunately, that won’t work either. This would be a huge blow to their reputation, no matter how it goes down. They will never stop looking for you. The only thing I can think of is to set them up, lure them in thinking they can get it back. They should be getting desperate soon. I am glad we did not go back to your hotel Laura. We would be trapped there. At least now we have freedom of movement. It gives us a little more control for the game,” Jack said.
Laura could see his point and she too was beginning to think of it as a game. High stakes to be sure, but a game. She felt her blood pumping and her excitement level rise.
“So how do we do that. I agreed to help,” she said eagerly.
“Oh don’t worry, you are going to help. You will be earning your keep. We need to get you ready to go back to the Hotel Florence,” he said, confusing he
r completely. Brock laughed.
***
Laura walked into the Casino Florence just before eleven o’clock in the evening. She was dressed in her old clothes from the night before. Brock had said wearing any of the new dresses would set off alarms for other players in town. Especially the Tortelli brothers. Jack had added that they probably knew that she was with Brock and Jack, but wearing all new, expensive gowns would look like she was bought off. So she went as her everyday self. She smiled and waved to a few co-workers and said hi to Mandy.
She made her way to the back poker area, the place where the high rollers set up games. She had reserved a table for herself and several select guests. She believed she was good at poker, but had been warned that wasn’t the purpose of this exercise. Laura had pouted a little but understood. It wasn’t really that sort of game this time. She sent the dealer off, allowing that she would be dealing, as it was a private game. The dealer left and Laura set up the table. Then she sat herself down and played with her chips with her back to the staff door behind her. Within a half hour the Tortelli brothers came in. All of them had dyed their hair and were wearing more Americanized clothes, and not the Italian suits they had previously worn. She thought the baseball caps were a nice touch.
“Hi guys,” Laura said fiddling with some chips in her hands. “I wanted to offer you gentlemen a chance to just walk away and leave me alone. It has become clear that you are trying to get something from me and I want it to end so I can go back to my job and my life. What do you say?” she asked as she carefully set her chips in a tall stack with a little French coin on top. They all saw it and she glanced up at the cameras as they stiffened. She felt a nervousness in her gut now that she was here in front of the thugs. If anything went wrong she could become a statistic. Guys like this played for keeps.
“Someone is going to notice you soon, even in your excellent disguises, so if you go ape shit it will end it for you this time. You have to know that,” she told them. Mark, the better looking of the three, glanced at the other two and they sat across from her.