by Sophia Gray
“Dives?”
“Yeah, everyone thinks the food around here is best in these fancy restaurants where they give you a sliver of meat, a handful of steamed vegetables and a dot of sauce. That’s not food. The best food is in the little-known places where they know how to really cook a meal. You’ll see.”
“Sounds good already.”
Though he seemed fairly lighthearted for a bit, I could tell that his thoughts quickly grew dark again once we were on the road. He got really quiet, staring out the windshield, but looking as if his thoughts were miles away. No doubt he still had the whereabouts of Jack Knife on his mind. I wondered what it must be like for him to have such huge responsibilities with people’s lives. It seemed like we were at the diner in no time and enjoying our meals.
“This food is fantastic. You were right.”
“Of course I was. I love food. I come here anytime I am out this way. Usually it is on the bike, but I had to stick it in the shop after I dropped it yesterday.”
“You had an accident?”
“Yeah. No big deal. Some asshole ran me off the road.”
“On purpose?”
“Who knows. Maybe, maybe not.”
“Did you report it to the police?”
He sat looking at me with a smile. I realized what a stupid question it had been almost immediately. Of course, someone like D didn’t report it. He and his kind didn’t report anything. They dealt with it their own way. There was no doubt that the person who caused his wreck was already being hunted down by members of the club to determine their fate. Perhaps it was an innocent mistake that would just get them scared shitless. Or it could be something more significant.
“Yes. I called them and they came right out. I’m best friends with the chief.”
“Yeah. I know. It was a stupid question.”
“Nah. It wasn’t stupid. It is what normal people do in situations like that, right? They call the police, get a report filed, then call the insurance company to fix it. In my business, the less the police know about anything that happens with me, the better it is for everyone. In fact, the less anyone knows, the better off they are.”
“Same for me. The last thing I need to do is be found.”
“Then we have that in common. No police for anything. If you ever have a problem, you come to me and me only.”
“I will. Thanks.”
“You are a part of this club now. You don’t have to wear a patch to be taken care of. As long as you do your job and are loyal to the club, we will watch your back. Stay away from the drugs and take it easy on the alcohol. Seen a lot of the girls come in here as good little girls from Nebraska or some unknown shithole and leave looking like crack whores. Stay off the junk.”
“I’m not a drug user. You won’t see that with me.”
“I’ve heard that before. It’s a hard life what we do here. So many secrets. Talking to the wrong people can get you in hot water. Why do you think I’m keeping you close to me today? Jack Knife is missing and you were the last one he was with. You either know something you aren’t telling me or you could be at risk. I haven’t decided which yet, but will give you the benefit of the doubt for now.”
“Wait? You think I know something about Jack Knife disappearing? You are just keeping an eye on me?”
“I don’t know if you do or not, but I will find out. If you lie to me, if you betray me, you won’t like the consequences.”
“I hardly know Jack Knife. Why would I have anything to do with him being missing?”
“Maybe that is why you came here, got close to him right off the bat.”
“Are you kidding me right now? I was working when he went missing. The last time I saw him, he was walking away with you.”
“Calm down. I’m just yanking your chain a bit. Yes, I did consider it, but after spending some time with you today, I don’t believe it to be true. You seem like you are just trying to do the best you can after a bad time. I can respect that. Don’t make me regret giving you a pass though. I am not someone you want to fuck with.”
And just like that, I remembered that D was not a nice guy at all. My heart thudded in my chest, and I no longer felt comfortable with him. It seemed like an eternity passed during the time it took him to finish his meal and for me to cut mine up and push it around on my plate so it appeared to have been eaten. I had lost my appetite.
“Let’s go.”
His whole demeanor had changed. The D that I had gotten a brief glimpse of, the one who was just like everyone else, was gone. Now, there was the leader of the Black Aces. Arrogant, intimidating, cold. He stood, dropping some cash on the table and walking toward the door without waiting for me. I followed him out and got into the car beside him.
We drove back to my house in silence. I expected him to just drop me off and head back to the casino. It was late and I had obviously rubbed him the wrong way somehow. I was surprised when he killed the engine and walked around the car, trailing me to the door.
“You don’t mind if I come in for a while, do you?”
“Of course not.”
I did mind. I had a lot of mental notes in my head I was trying to hang on to and wanted to get them down in my journal, but I wouldn’t be able to do that with him there. I would just have to hope I could retain it all until I could make my notes. Hopefully he just wanted to take a look around and would leave after that.
“You got anything to drink?”
“More water?”
“I was thinking more along the lines of whiskey.”
“Sure. I’ve got some Jack and Coke.
“Just the Jack. Coke is bad for you.”
I looked at him. Was that an attempt at humor? How could he be so moody and then do a one eighty like that again?
“Ice, or is that toxic too?”
“Just a couple of cubes would be good.”
“Be right back.”
In the kitchen, I poured him a drink, myself a Jack and Coke and then brought the bottle with me to the living room. Perhaps if he was lightening up a bit again, a few drinks might work on him like they did some of his associates. I doubted it was that easy with D, but it couldn’t hurt to try. A half-dozen drinks later and he seemed just as lucid as when he started.
“So, why did you want to work at the casino?”
“I don’t know. Honestly, I just needed a job, and I heard it pays well.”
“I can understand that. We have to pay a bit better due to some of the things that go on there. It is important that all the girls respect the privacy of the members, our guests and anyone else in to gamble.”
“Yes, I was well versed on that during my interview.”
“You aren’t the sort of girl that usually comes in to the casino to work.”
“What do you mean?”
“Classier, smarter. I don’t see you sneaking drinks or slipping into any of the drugs that run rampant among many of the girls. Of course, it is still early, but you just don’t seem like them.”
“Just not my thing. I’ve been in a bad place with what happened to me and the last thing I need is to fuck up my life a little more.”
“See? Smarter.”
“I don’t know. Bad choices are what landed me here.”
“We all make them. It’s just a matter of fixing what got broken and moving past it.”
“I suppose so.”
“Listen, do you care if I crash on your couch? I know it might sound ridiculous for someone like me to worry about it, but I don’t want to drive after having drunk so much.”
“Sure. No problem. I’ll get you a blanket and some pillows when you’re ready to sleep.”
“Does that mean you aren’t ready for me to sleep yet?”
“Oh, no. I mean…I wasn’t saying that at all. It’s just still early is all.”
“I am still wide awake. You’re pretty good company. Plus, I need to make some phone calls to get some things going for in the morning. I still have to find Jack Knife.”
&nbs
p; “Okay. I’ll just go about my business a bit while you do that.”
He was already hitting someone up on speed dial as I went to my bedroom and grabbed a loose piece of paper, scribbling as fast as I could in case he barged in for some reason. I made notes on everything I could think of and looked around for a moment before deciding to cram it in the toe of a boot in my closet. I’d pull it out and transfer it to my notebook tomorrow when I was alone. Then I did my best to listen to his conversation.
“I’m at the new chick’s place…Janessa. I need you to run up to the sawmill and hit up Shorty’s crew at first light. Someone has to have seen Jack Knife.”
There was a long pause during which I thought he had just hung up, but then I heard him speaking again. I could only assume the person on the other end had been talking for a bit.
“It’s a lot of money. I have checked it several times and it doesn’t make sense. It’s club money, my money, and someone knows what happened to it. Maybe that person is Jack Knife or maybe it is someone else, but I can guarantee you that the two things are related. I need him found and found soon.”
There was another pause, and then he said goodbye. The first call was followed by several others, either asking if they had heard from Jack Knife or giving them instructions on where to help look for him. No mention of any money was made to any of the others, so whoever he called first was someone he trusted above the others. I was guessing it was his second in command, a big Brit from Liverpool they called Dodger. Jack Knife was the muscle, but Dodger was the money man and, when need be, Jack Knife’s backup.
In actuality, Dodger was known to be far more lethal than Jack Knife. A former Irish Ranger, his intellect was exceeded only by his brutality. Jack Knife knew how to hurt a guy by beating him until he gave in. Dodger knew how to completely break him with little effort. He practiced some very particular skills honed in his former life with an elite military force. No one tangled with him twice, either out of fear or from never being seen again. Yet, not one disappearance could be pinned on him by the authorities.
I stepped out of the bedroom while he was still in conversation with one of them so that it didn’t appear that I had been listening and only came out when he was done. Laying a pillow and a blanket on the arm of the sofa, I returned to my room while he continued the call. I began laying out my clothes for work tomorrow night while I waited for him to finish.
“Hey, Janessa?”
“Yeah?”
I stepped back out of the bedroom to find him standing shirtless in my living room. I tried not to gawk but it was hard to miss his rippled abs and perfectly chiseled chest. Unlike the many tattooed members of his club, D had only one tattoo. It was a single dollar sign right above his left bicep. I knew it was his only one from his arrest records I had reviewed. It seemed like a shallow choice to me, but who was I to say anything when my lone tattoo was a stereotypical butterfly on my ankle.
“You care if I take a quick shower?”
“No. Of course not. I’m having a bit of trouble with the one in the hallway, but you can use the one in my room.”
“What kind of trouble are you having with the one in the hall?”
“Drain is clogged. It fills with water and takes hours to drain. Pipes need to be cleaned, but the landlord doesn’t seem to be concerned enough to get it fixed up for me.”
“I see. Okay. I won’t take long.”
“Take your time. There are towels and a fresh bar of soap in the linen closet inside.”
“Thanks.”
I sat on the arm of the sofa for a few moments after he left, considering why he was really here. There was no reason for him to have come in or have stayed. I understood the bit about not driving after he had drunk so much whiskey, but it just all seemed more purposeful than happenstance. I seriously doubt that D did anything without a reason. If he had decided to stay over, he did so with a purpose.
I had finally shaken myself from my perch on the sofa to retrieve a bottle of water from the kitchen when I heard the shower kick off and then, a few moments later, the sound of D’s footsteps into the living room. I walked in to find him standing there in nothing more than a towel. I felt a flush sweep through my body and quickly diverted my gaze.
“I’ll be right back.”
I watched as he walked out my front door, still only in a towel, and walked to his car, opening the trunk. He sifted around in it for a moment and then brought a black duffle bag inside. I wondered how many of my neighbors saw him and how many knew who he was. It wasn’t the best neighborhood, and I wasn’t sure if having the leader of the Black Aces outside in a towel was good or bad for my tenancy here.
“You always just roam around outside in a towel?”
“No. Sometimes I don’t have any clean ones.”
There was a smirk on his face as he looked me over. I was pretty sure a small gasp escaped my lips as he dropped the one he was wearing and pulled some clean clothes from the bag to get dressed. I had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I didn’t want to look offended and leave, but I couldn’t just stand there staring at his nakedness. Instead, I picked up the remote and turned on the television, diverting my attention to the only thing I could think of.
“Did I embarrass you?”
“What? No. I just wasn’t expecting you to drop trow in the living room is all.”
“Did you like what you saw?”
“I…I, um, I don’t know what to say to that.”
“Yes? No?”
“Yes.”
“There. That wasn’t difficult, was it?”
I started to say no, but before I could even get that one simple word out of my mouth, he was pulling me to him. His mouth covered mine, his tongue parting my lips as he drew me into a heated kiss. I found myself responding instantly, not wanting him to stop. I knew that I shouldn’t be so attracted to him. He was dangerous and he was, for all purposes, my enemy. Still, I couldn’t resist.
His kiss was intense. His hands drifted to the sides of my face, holding me in place for a moment before reaching around to tangle his fingers in my hair. He tugged at it firmly, pulling my head back as his tongue continued to probe my hot, hungry mouth. My mouth opened further, my eyes closed, and I was transported to some place just outside my body, watching the way he aroused my every sense, my every passion.
My breathing grew faster until I felt dizzy and thought I might faint from the overwhelming sensations coursing through my body just from his kiss. It was like being possessed, inhabited by another body. I found myself melting into him, becoming one with him. I lost all track of anything but what I felt in those moments while he was kissing me and I wanted more, so much more.
D’s cell phone rang, but he didn’t pull away. Floating somewhere slightly above the floor, or so it felt, I thought we might take flight if he continued to kiss me like that. His phone stopped ringing, but quickly began to ring again, finally causing him to pull away and reach for it, even though he never took his eyes off me. They were dark, full of passion. I could tell he wanted me.
“D.”
His lustful look quickly changed to something darker as whoever was on the line spoke. I could hear their voice and it sounded like Dodger, but I couldn’t quite make out what was being said. D turned away, anger now taking over his expression.
“Tell me where he is and I’ll be right there.”
I could only assume they had found Jack Knife. From the look on his face, he wasn’t pleased about wherever he was. I heard him tell the caller he was on his way and then he was pulling a t-shirt over his head. Jamming the cell phone in his pocket, he threw the rest of his things in his duffle and headed toward the door without so much as a goodbye. I watched as he left, my heartrate beginning to slow and disappointment setting in.
I tried to shake it off as I locked the doors and then went to my room to go ahead and make my notes. It was hard to focus with his kiss still tingling on my lips. Sitting on the edge of the bed, I considered what it might mea
n to get involved with D. I was very attracted to him and being closer to him could definitely help with what I needed to find out, but was he someone I really wanted to know too much about? I was in very deep waters as it was.
Chapter Nine
I hadn’t heard one word from D since he had left my house the night before. Looking around the casino the next night as I reported for work, I didn’t see him. Instead, I was approached by Knuckles, the manager of the bar area. He called me over to have a chat. I was instantly on alert.
“You’ll be behind the bar until further notice.”
