She cupped her swollen belly with both hands. She was terrified. But she was also excited and desperate to hold her little one, even if it meant never getting to experience campus life and college boyfriends and wild spring breaks in Cancun with her girls. Or reclaiming the lavish lifestyle she missed desperately. Growing up on a ranch sounded amazing, but if she knew one thing for certain, it was that nobody could love her baby as much as she did.
“I’m sorry, Daddy. I can’t.” Declining her father’s offer was the hardest thing she’d ever done next to moving out of Casa Linus seven months ago.
Turning her back on him, she started for Duval.
She’d traveled just a few steps when her father caught arm and yanked her back hard. She fell against the brick building dropping her purse and the sack of sandwiches.
“I gave you a choice.” He squeezed her forearm until it hurt. “But of course, you made the wrong one. You’re doing this to spite me, aren’t you? For sending your little boyfriend away. Did he do this to you to get even with me?”
“No!”
“Is he influencing you? You are so easily led, April. You have no spine. I swear when I find out who impregnated you…” He let the ominous threat hang in the air.
April gripped her stomach as it churned with a fresh wave of nausea. This was the side of her father she could believe was an international arms dealer. This was why she couldn’t go home again. Once she’d stumbled onto the truth about his criminal activities, there was no going back ever. This was why she had to keep her baby’s father’s identity a secret at all costs.
“Get in the car.” Philip pulled her away from the wall and dragged her toward the SUV’s open door.
“Daddy, stop. Please!” She dug her heels into the sidewalk and grabbed her lower back, panting through the nagging pain. “I don’t want to give up my baby.”
“Let her go,” a deep male voice said behind her. He was so large he blocked the sun casting a broad shadow over them.
Philip’s grip loosened slightly as his face lit with surprise. “What’s this?”
“You heard her, Papi,” said a much lighter voice. “Let Mama Kitty go. Carly don’t play.”
April turned around to find the gigantic drag queen in all her fabulous glory sporting a baseball bat in her white gloved hands like she knew how to use it.
The blue sedan’s car doors started to open.
“No, don’t,” April said, begging her father not to hurt them. They meant well. They didn’t know what was going on or the danger they were putting themselves in. “They’re just trying to help.”
Juanita moved to April’s side and slipped her arm around her waist. “We don’t want any trouble, but a chica’s got the right to say no.”
“I’m her father and this is none of your business.”
“It’s none of yours either, Papi. She gets to live her life how she wants to live it.”
Philip’s gaze flicked from Juanita to the pleading expression on April’s face. He waved a hand and the car doors closed again. He shook his head. “You’re making a terrible mistake.”
Tears leaked from her eyes. “I don’t think I am.”
Philip glanced at Carly who still held the bat like she was pinch-hitting for the Miami Marlins and let go of April’s wrist. “Then I have nothing more to say to you, except that your mother would be so disappointed. She had higher hopes for you, as did I.”
When he started for the SUV, April panicked. “Daddy, wait.”
“You’re cut off, April.” He didn’t turn around. “You’ve made your choice. You’re an orphan now.”
“Daddy, please!” She took a stunted step in his direction.
“Let him go, my love.” Carly lowered the bat and rested it against the wall. “You can’t change him.”
“But…” April’s voice trailed off as her stomach swelled and a cramp pinched her just above her right hipbone. She rubbed the aching spot. “But he’s the only family I have.”
Carly touched April’s shoulder and squeezed it gently as they watched the car drive off. “You are more than welcome to join our little dysfunctional family, my dear. We’re orphans too. My parents are dead, and Juanita is the oldest of twelve children but her strict Catholic family won’t let her come home until she’s happily married to a woman.”
“As if…” Juanita sniffed. She gave April a sideways hug. “You can spend all the important holidays with us. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Cinco di mayo—”
Carly cocked an eyebrow. “Cinco di mayo?”
“Absolutely. Any day involving margaritas and a large Mexican burrito is a divine day on my calendar.”
Carly rolled her eyes. “I hope you don’t mind being related to a man-whore.”
April chuckled through her tears and swiped the wetness from her cheeks. They were right, of course. She wasn’t alone. She had friends who were like family… Molly, Anders, Cheyenne, and these two wonderful people who were willing to adopt her.
And the little one growing inside of her, he was her family now too.
“Thank you both so much.” April took a deep breath. Her back wasn’t hurting quite as badly now, but her belly felt tight and heavy. She really needed to sit down. She took another deep breath, but it was more difficult this time. She grabbed Carly’s surprisingly buff gloved forearm for support.
An auditable pop between her legs accompanied instant relief from the pressure in her lower abdomen. A stream of warm water wet her panties trickling down her inner thighs. “Oh!” April gasped. “I think I peed my pants.”
Juanita’s warm brown eyes twinkled. “No, Mama Kitty. Your water just broke.”
Chapter One
4 ½ years later…
“Ouch! I’m not a pin cushion!” April wobbled on her stilettos catching her balance on the overturned crate she stood on in the middle of the empty bar. At ten o’clock in the morning on a Monday, the stark house lights and the glare of the sun streaking through the open double doors muted the club’s sparkle. Glitter looked more like an abruptly abandoned sorority house than the home of the self-proclaimed: Most classy and fabulous drag show in Key West!
“Hold still, Mama.” Crouched in front of April, Juan pulled the fabric together forcing her to stand still. April was his favorite mannequin to work on whenever he decided to alter the staff uniforms. Mainly because no one else wanted to do to it and she owed him for four years of free babysitting, which she would never be able to repay. Today, he was piecing together the Oktoberfest uniform for the wait staff. He was aiming for trampy German beer maid, a look both the female and male servers would squeeze themselves into, regardless of gender, for the month of October.
“I am holding still.” April grabbed his hard shoulder to steady herself and inadvertently crinkled the notes for her mid-term exam.
Juan shot her skeptical look from beneath the fake eyelashes that accentuated his dark, hooded eyes. His alter ego “Juanita Bonita” was put away for the day, so he was wigless and makeup free except for the lashes. He wore his artfully mussed dark hair trimmed short on the sides and gelled. He’d traded the slinky sequined gown he’d worn the night before for a designer navy polo shirt and snug blue jeans. A lean and handsome man with amazing bone structure, Juan was just as attractive in drag as he was out of it.
“How much longer are you gonna be? I have to study.” She smoothed the crinkled paper and held it up in front of her. “And I can’t forget to swing by the bookstore on the way home to pick up the weekend’s cash sales and deposit them in the bank or Molly will give me heck.”
Juan tugged on the bodice, trying to straighten it. “Why don’t you quit the bookstore? You say you make better money waiting tables here in season, and the hours are better for you.”
“I can’t quit.” April took a deep breath but could only fill her lungs part way. “After all Molly’s done for me, I can’t let her down. Especially now, when she’s expecting twins.”
Juan clucked his tongue. “Somebody needs to
tell that woman her vajayjay isn’t a clown car.”
“Stop. I’m happy for Molly and Anders. They’re so much in love. I envy them.”
Juan pulled the bodice tighter before he continued pinning. The boning inside the fabric pinched her torso and pushed her boobs up and out making them seem even bigger than they already were. “You’ve lost weight, mama. You need to eat a sandwich.”
“Who has time to eat?” April focused on the list of Hospitality Law terms. Force Majeure… a common clause in contracts freeing both parties from liability in the event of an extraordinary event—
“I’m serious,” Juan said around the pin he stuck in his mouth. Removing it, he pinned another fold of fabric. “You look like stick with tits.”
“I do not. I have hips!” Force Majeure… she tried again.
“Barely.” He leaned back, surveying his work.
“Juan’s right.” Carly glanced up from her laptop screen. “From this angle, you look like a vine juggling a pair of cantaloupes.” Carly sat at a table near the bar in casual drag wearing a lavender satin blouse and white capris. Unlike Juan, who dressed in drag as a hobby and for work, Carly was a trans woman. The long, light brown hair she’d twisted up in a messy bun was her real hair, though she wore wigs when she performed. With a masculine boned face and a strapping body that was solid six-foot-tall in flats, she made a more striking than beautiful woman, but she owned it.
Juan giggled. “Grapes on a twig.”
“Balloons on a string.
“Me during my Dolly Parton phase.” Juan staggered backward as he pretended to cup a pair of very large imaginary breasts.
“Stop it!” April slapped him with her exam notes. “I get it. I’ll eat something when I get home.” She held onto Juan’s forearm as she carefully stepped off the crate.
He looped an arm around her waist and hauled her against his chest so they were nose to nose. She was always wowed by how disarmingly handsome he was, especially when she saw him up close like this. “I’m sorry, Mama. It’s just you’re the thinnest I’ve ever seen you. Are you taking care of yourself?”
The concern on his face made her heart squeeze. “I’m trying. I’m just a little stressed with school and work and taking care of Archie. He’s a little ball of energy these days, you know?”
Juan lowered his softly accented voice to a soothing timbre. “You are superwoman, you know that? You can get through this. You are so close to finishing school, your dream is almost a reality.”
She wasn’t so sure about the superwoman part, but he was right. She was less than two months away from graduating and hopefully starting a career in hotel management. She was on the road to one day owning her very own B&B. That was her dream, but what really kept her going was Archie. She wanted to give him a great life and start saving for his college fund. She couldn’t do that on a retail manager’s salary or waitress’ tips. She needed a better paying job.
Swallowing the lump of emotion in her throat, she kissed Juan’s cheek. “Thank you for always believing in me.”
“He’s right,” Carly said. “If you need anything from us… money, time off, child care, you just whistle, you hear?”
“I will. I promise. I love you guys.” She didn’t know what she’d do without them. She owed them just as much as she owed Molly and Anders for helping her with Archie while she used scholarships and the little bit of money she brought with her to put herself through a four-year online college degree program.
“We love you too, mama.” Juan kissed her forehead.
“Carly Calhoun?”
She and Juan turned toward the source of the question. Three men blocked the open front doors. The fair-haired man in front was half the size of the other two and impeccably dressed in a designer, cream linen suit.
A warm, friendly smile lit his face as he stepped away from his companions. “Carly, darling, there you are,” he said in a posh British accent. “I was worried I’d ring you up, and you wouldn’t be here.”
The two men standing behind him were intimidating in different ways. The black man on the left was huge and muscular. His pink fedora and plaid pink suit didn’t detract from his menacing glare. The man on the right had long, Eastern European features and a wiry build, but his pale blue eyes were chilling.
When the man in the pink fedora closed the front doors blocking out the sun and potential witnesses on the street, the colored drained from Carly’s face. She retreated a step and bumped the edge of the table. “What are you doing here, Terrance?”
Terrance’s grin widened. “I think you know the answer to that.”
“I told you, I don’t have the money.”
April sent a questioning glance to Juan.
He shook his head and shrugged.
Terrance’s cordiality vanished. “Unfortunately, that’s not what I want to hear.”
“What are they talking about, Carly?” Juan said. “What money?”
“It’s nothing.” Carly waved it off. “Leave them out of this, Terrance.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t do that.” He made the slightest gesture with his head and waited. When nothing happened, he turned around and motioned to the man in the pink fedora. “Pascale, I gave you the nod.” He demonstrated. “You see that?” He showed him again. “That’s the nod. That’s your cue, remember?”
“Oh, right.” Pascale tugged on his sleeves before starting across the room.
April and Juan stood there dumfounded as they watched Pascale come toward them and grab Juan from behind putting him in a choke hold.
Carly stomped her foot. “This is nonsense, Terrance. We had an agreement, and you’re reneging on it.”
“It’s out of my hands now, love. My new employer wants the debt paid in full by the end of the week.”
Terrance turned to the European. “Sergey, the nod was intended for you as well.”
Sergey’s frosty blue gaze turned to toward him.
Terrance blanched and fidgeted with his cane. “Uh, if you wouldn’t mind?”
Sergey stared at him for moment as if he was reluctant to follow orders. When he started toward April, she realized she could have run and hid by the time he reached her, but it just didn’t occur to her until it was too late. He grabbed her from behind. Looping a steely arm around her waist, he hauled her against him. When something cold and sharp touched her throat, it took her a moment to realize it was a knife.
Carly fanned herself with her hand and slumped against the table. “Please don’t hurt them,” she said weakly. “I’ll figure something out.”
“Now that’s more like it. Nobody gets injured, if you pay up.”
Carly’s face turned a sickly shade of white. “A week just isn’t enough time, Terrance. It’s been a slow summer. I can have the money by January. All of it. With interest.”
Terrance made his way behind the bar and selected a bottle of vodka from the display. “That’s not good enough. My employer wants it by Saturday or bones will be broken. Every month you don’t deliver, the payment goes up 25% and will keep doubling every month after that until the debt is paid in full.”
“Twenty-Five percent? That’s insane,” Carly shouted.
The steely arm around April’s torso wedged firmly under her breasts. As Sergey bent his head to sniff her neck, the blade of his knife pressed against her throat. Fear and nausea curdled her insides. Hot dogs. His breath smelled like stale beer and hot dogs.
Juan emitted a choking sound as he struggled to break free.
“Stop it!” Carly shouted. “You’re hurting him!”
Twisting off the cap, Terrance sniffed the Vodka and winced at the fumes before pouring a shot into a short glass. “Pascale, let the man breathe.”
Juan gasped, sucking in air, as the grip around his neck loosened. “What did you do, Carly? Did you borrow money from these turds?”
Carly’s eyes flared. “Please shut up. You’re going to get us all killed.”
“I’m going to get us killed? How much
money do you owe them?”
She hesitated.
“Carly!”
“Fifty-thousand dollars.” She covered her face with her hands.
April gasped. That was an enormous sum, and Carly and Juan definitely did not have that kind of cash lying around.
Juan muttered a curse. “We’ll get you the money, but not by the end of the week. That’s impossible. Give us to the end of October.”
Terrance moved forward until he was standing a foot away from Juan. “You have lovely skin, you know that?” He stroked his knuckles along Juan’s smooth jaw. Juan didn’t move a muscle. Neither did Carly, though the glare on her face suggested she wanted to lunge herself at Terrance and scratch his eyes out. “You’re lucky you’ve caught me in a generous mood. I’ll give you ten days with no added interest but not a minute more. I can only stall my employer for so long. If you don’t have the money by then, Pascale and Sergey will be back.” He cupped Juan’s chin. “It would be a damn shame to scar this lovely face.”
Juan tugged away from Terrance’s hand and glared at him.
Terrance chuckled and then twirled his finger in the air as he turned for the door. Pascale shoved Juan away and followed. Sergey was reluctant to let go of April. He nuzzled her neck and purred with pleasure. Panic fluttered in her breast as she struggled to pull away from him but felt like bird trapped in the claws of a panther.
Sergey chuckled low in his throat and released her. She stumbled and caught herself on the back of a chair.
Pascale waited for Terrance and Sergey to exit before he followed them out and slammed the door closed.
After a moment of stunned silence, Juan spun around. “Are you crazy, Carly? Were you so hard up for cash you had to borrow money from the fricken’ Gay Mafia? What the hell were you thinking?”
Passion Punch Page 2
