Double Dom Fantasies

by Cassidy Browning

  She walked up Main Street, looking in windows to see where she might be able to sit down and have a hot drink. After ten minutes or so, a door opened just as she got to it, and a lively girl emerged, grinning at her. She was around twenty-five, Sami thought, with bouncy blonde hair and a friendly smile.

  “You’re staying at Clifftop, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.” Sami stared at her.

  “I’m april. I did the needle and violet wand demonstration—well, Beth did the demonstration on me, I should say.” The girl giggled.

  Comprehension dawned. “Oh. The needles! Of course.” Sami took a deep breath. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine. Do you want to come in? It’s kind of cold to be wandering around out here without a jacket.”

  “It is getting a little chilly,” Sami agreed, suddenly aware that she was shivering. She followed april back inside. “Is it normally this cold?”

  “Not really. But it is northern California and on the coast, so you just never know what the weather will do.”

  “Thanks.” Sami took a deep breath, feeling her shoulders relax in the warmer air of the salon. “But I don’t want to interrupt your business.”

  “We don’t have any clients at the moment.” april headed toward the back. “Do you want a cup of coffee or tea?”

  “Coffee would be fantastic, thanks. I was just on the hunt for some, actually.”

  A young Goth girl with short, spiky hair, a nose ring, and an oversized sweater over ripped tights was kneeling next to the styling chairs. She seemed to be searching out stray hairs hiding in the crevices of the immaculate floor, bouncing and singing along to the overhead music as she worked. She looked up as Sami passed, giving her a smile and a wave.

  “That’s steph,” april explained at Sami’s expression. “Her mistress owns this shop, and it’s steph’s mission in life to keep it in perfect condition. She’s in her zone.”

  “Nice to have something to be so passionate about,” Sami observed as she gratefully wrapped her hands around the coffee mug that april handed her.

  “Isn’t it?” april smiled and gestured to a chair. “Have a seat. Since we’re not busy, I’ll give you a free treatment. Pedicure, manicure, or shampoo?”

  * * * *

  Crash leaned forward and peered out the window of the Mustang. “Are we driving in circles? I know I’ve seen that tree before.”

  “Kinda. I’ve been trying to go in increasing rings with the diner in the middle. You haven’t given me much in the way of directions, Magellan, so I’ve made some wrong turns. How about some ideas on where to look, huh?”

  “How would I know where she is? I’m not Rand-fucking-McNally. I just can’t believe she’s gone. She’s just not here, that’s all.”

  AJ slapped the wheel, giving Crash his most authoritative glare. “She’s not gone, damn it. She can’t be. I don’t know what happened, but she’s not gone.”

  Crash sat back with a sigh. “She kind of looks gone to me, dude.”

  “Well, we can’t let that happen. I’d just made up my mind about her. Why would I have rented a bright-red Mustang convertible if not to impress her?”

  “I thought it was because it went so well with my complexion.” Crash’s voice sounded dull and heavy, as if he’d lost everything he had in the world, but he was trying to be positive.

  AJ looked over at him. He’d seen Crash depressed over girls before, but not like this. He had to do something. Besides, he was beginning to realize that his earlier words were true. He would never have guessed it, but having Buffy between him and Crash had been the most erotic experience of his life, and one he desperately wanted to repeat. He couldn’t let her go now, for either of their sakes. “I’ve never seen you give up when we were behind before, so don’t you start now. Pull your shit together, and point out a new direction to search.”

  Chapter 18

  The group that gathered back at the diner two hours later was solemn. They all stood around one of the tables, staring down at a pile of cloth. Crash reached over and picked up the oddly familiar bundle.

  “It’s my Condors jersey,” he said unnecessarily.

  “We found it about a block away, with this.” Allie held out a small cell phone.

  “I think that’s hers,” Carly said in a whisper, staring at it.

  Crash nodded, his eyes fixed on the torn and dirty jersey lying in his hands like a wounded animal. As he turned it over, they all saw a smear of blood on the shoulder. “What do you think happened?”

  AJ swallowed, not wanting to put his initial thought into words. The jersey had been ripped off her. She might have done it herself, but why would she? Hard enough to tear it and lose her cell phone in the process? It didn’t make sense.

  “There’s not much blood,” Karl said in a matter-of-fact tone that seemed to bring everyone out of their individual trances. “We had Chuck look over the scene just in case we’d missed anything, even though she’s not officially a missing person yet.”

  Allie opened the phone. “Looks like there’s a bunch of missed calls here and about seven voice mails.”

  “So what do we do now?” Carly asked, glancing around.

  AJ followed her gaze. They had begun work on her floor this morning, after Lou’s inspection had declared it unacceptable. It was late afternoon now, and they had a lot more work to do before nine tomorrow morning, when Lou had threatened to close down the diner. All of the kitchen equipment had been moved and the new fryer, refrigerator, and water heater were out back waiting to go into their new spots when the floor was ready for them.

  “There’s a lot of work to do yet,” Karl said, echoing AJ’s thoughts.

  “But Buffy is missing!” Crash’s anguished tone left no doubt what he thought the priority was.

  Carly’s face was grave, but she nodded. “I can’t think where she would have gone, and in light of what you’ve found I think we should all keep looking. The diner will just have to wait.”

  * * * *

  “I miss being Buffy.” Sami sipped her coffee, enjoying the massaging rollers on her back as her feet soaked in hot water.

  “What do you mean?”

  “In school I never would have let this get to me. I mean, I’ve been hurt before. Guys used to ask me out all the time just for the chance to get closer to Carly. She’d shoot them down, and we’d laugh at them for being such assholes.”

  april nodded. “Are you sure Carly was with Crash this morning?”

  “Yes. I mean, no, I guess not. I was mostly upset about Tammy. It seemed like such a perfect situation, having both AJ and Crash, and when I saw AJ with someone else it just seemed to make sense that Crash had deserted me, too. I mean, they left a note this morning that said, ‘Sorry. Something came up.’ What the hell does that mean?”

  april gestured for her to lift one foot out of the water. She rubbed it vigorously with a towel. “What if you’re jumping to conclusions?”

  Sami sighed. “I don’t know. I just don’t want to be hurt again, but I guess I was anyway. When I met Ron, I was convinced we were soul mates. We were both curious about alternative therapies and eager to run a business that could really help people. He had me completely fooled. The only thing he really cared about was making money. He talked people into trying things that were untested and potentially dangerous. He wanted me to do treatments I was totally unqualified to administer. How could I have misread him so badly? How could I have been so wrong about the guys, too?”

  “Everybody makes mistakes.” april began rubbing lotion into Sami’s calf. “It sounds like you might be making another one by not getting the facts of the situation straight before writing them off.”

  “I know, but I was lucky to get away without a criminal record the last time.”

  “If you run away now, you’ll be wasting the second chance you’ve been given,” april said. “You need to find the person inside you who refused to let other people dictate how she felt about herself. Everybody’s been rejected and
humiliated at some time. If one of us came to you in your position, would you tell us to lie down and give up?”

  “No, I would tell you to fight for what was important to you.”

  april looked up at her. “Sounds like good advice to me.”

  As april finished her pedicure, Sami debated with herself. If she was going to retain any of her self-respect, she was going to have to go and talk to Carly, AJ, and Crash. It wouldn’t matter if that other woman was there sneering at her and calling her a slut. She might have been wrong, even ridiculous, to throw herself at the guys like she had last night, but it happened, and now she had to deal with it. Embarrassed and humiliated she might be, but she had to talk it through with them, especially Carly. She owed her that much. The guys would go back to Oakland and live their own lives without her, and that was fine. Even if Carly went with them, she didn’t want to give up the friendship they’d shared since third grade. She wanted Carly to be happy, and if that meant taking the guy—one of the guys—that Sami loved, then so be it. She could make that sacrifice for her best friend.

  She thanked april for her advice and left, walking the three blocks back to the diner in april’s borrowed jacket. She wasn’t sure where else to go, but Carly would be there, and Crash was most likely hanging out with her while Tammy and AJ worked out their relationship. It was probably better this way, for Crash at least, Sami mused as she walked. Carly was a better cook.

  She was surprised to see a Closed sign still on the door of the diner as she approached. Had they all gone out to Clifftop to break the news to her? Were they eloping?

  No, that was silly. Maybe Carly had agreed to marry Crash and move to Oakland and so there was no reason to keep the diner open. Sami toyed briefly with the idea of taking it over and running it herself. But cooking wasn’t her passion, as nice as it would be to stay in the pretty little town.

  She walked automatically to the glass door and leaned forward to peer in, just in case Carly was inside. As she approached, she could see movement in the back, and she put up a hand to cut the glare from the late-afternoon sun.

  There was someone moving around, but it wasn’t Carly or either of the guys. It was a short, round man standing with his back to her. She squinted, trying to see what he was doing or if she could get a better view of him.

  He began to turn, and Sami instinctively jumped away from the window, back to the corner of the building where there wasn’t any glass. The man had looked a little like Lou, the building inspector, but she couldn’t be completely sure. It seemed obvious that whatever he was up to was not in Carly’s best interest. Building inspectors don’t break into restaurants to do covert cleaning operations, as far as she knew.

  A picture. She should take a picture. Sami buried a hand in her purse to find her cell phone. It wasn’t there. She fished for a while, then opened it to peer inside. It wasn’t in its little pouch, or on the bottom, or anywhere else that she could see. No wonder there hadn’t been any calls from Crash or AJ. She dug frantically for a minute, then gave up in despair and peeked around the edge of the glass again.

  She couldn’t see him now, although she could hear banging sounds. Looking around, Sami wondered again why it would be closed in the middle of the afternoon. Carly really must be moving to Oakland. The confirmation of her suspicions sent a sharp pang through Sami’s gut, and her breath stopped for a few seconds. Part of her hadn’t wanted to believe it, but she couldn’t deny that the place looked as if Carly really didn’t mean to keep it going. Everything was cleared off of the counters and tables. Tools and cleaning implements lay scattered around the room. Carly wasn’t doing any business today, that was for sure.

  Something had to be done. Sami racked her brain, trying to think. It was too far to walk back to Clifftop. She seemed to have either forgotten or lost her cell phone, so she couldn’t call Allie, or 9-1-1 either. She decided to go back to the salon and ask april to call Allie for her. Just as she stood up, she noticed a black truck pulling over to park in front of her. Sami stared, debating whether to run. It was broad daylight, and she probably had looked very suspicious, peeking into windows like some kind of burglar. Then again, it could be an accomplice of the guy sneaking around in Carly’s diner. There weren’t any other cars or people around at the moment, either, and nothing to stop him from grabbing her and throwing her into the truck, or dragging her into the building. She had a sudden image of a newspaper headline: Pathetic, mysterious woman found in burned diner. Arson and broken heart suspected.

  “Hello. It was Buffy, wasn’t it?”

  Sami took another look and realized he was the contractor that had been at Clifftop the other day. With only a quick recognition of the irony of being rescued by someone who had given a class on how to make implements to hurt people, she ran over to him, babbling in her relief. “I’m so glad you’re here! Lou is in there—at least I think it’s Lou. Carly’s gone, and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what he wants, but there’s banging—”

  “Hold on a minute.” Dennis held up his hands. “Lou’s inside and Carly’s gone?”

  “Yes. The place is closed, and it looks like she’s shutting it down.” Sami stopped. He didn’t need to know about Carly and Crash. Yet. Everybody would know soon enough.

  “Let’s go see.” Dennis went to the front door and tried it. It was locked. Then he peered inside, as she had done.

  Sami felt her knees go weak suddenly. They were going to confront Lou. She was pretty sure whatever he was doing wasn’t nice, and most likely illegal. Maybe he was even armed. What if he shot Dennis?

  They couldn’t hear any noises from inside the building. After a minute, Dennis pulled out his phone and dialed 9-1-1. He and Sami moved off to the side where they couldn’t be seen as he explained the situation to the dispatcher and asked for an officer.

  There was the sound of a car starting up from the alley. Dennis jerked and ran for the back, yelling, “Stay here!” over his shoulder.

  Sami ignored his direction and followed, just in time to see a dark car disappearing around the corner. Dennis looked as if he was considering running back to his truck to try to catch it, but then he stopped, seeing Sami behind him.

  “Didn’t I tell you to stay in the front?” He narrowed his eyes at her, and his voice went down a couple of notches.

  Sami blinked at him and took a step back. “Was that Lou’s car?”

  “I think so. But it could have belonged to any number of other people, too. Now, go back to the front and wait for the cops to show up.”

  She obeyed, wondering what it was about his voice that made her willing to. A minute later, a police car pulled up, and a young officer whose name tag said Phillips got out. Sami went over her story with him as she led him to the back. Dennis was looking around but hadn’t entered the building, although the back door was standing open. Phillips listened patiently to both of them, making notes and asking clarifying questions, and then he told her and Dennis to wait while he went inside to look around.

  “So you think it was Lou Maggiano?” he asked Sami again when he came back out.

  She flushed. “I thought so at the time, but I wouldn’t swear to it. All I can say for sure is that’s who he reminded me of.”

  “We’ll talk to him,” Phillips said. “I’ve got both of your numbers in case we need to get in touch with you for any reason.”

  “Yes, although I’m not exactly sure where my phone is,” Sami said ruefully. “I know I grabbed it this morning, but now I can’t find it.”

  “Where did you go?” Dennis asked. “I can help you look for it. Do you need a ride back to Clifftop?”

  “Oh, yes. That would be great.” She would have to wait to confront Carly. That was probably for the best. It looked like Carly had other things to worry about than her feelings.

  They drove back to the park and walked through it, looking for the missing phone. Then they retraced her steps back to the diner, checking the sidewalk as they went.

  “What do
you think Lou was doing at the diner—if it really was Lou?”

  He gave her a sidelong glance. “I can’t imagine. He wouldn’t be doing any kind of inspection without the owner being present. Just the fact he was there is trespassing, if she didn’t give him permission. I can’t imagine she would have.”

  “Me either, and then there was the banging.” Sami climbed in the door to the truck he’d opened for her.

  Dennis went around to his side and got in. “Hungry?”

  “Starving.” She suddenly realized she hadn’t eaten anything all day other than a cookie at the salon. Her stomach reacted to his question, too, letting out a huge rumble.

  “Let’s grab a quick bite before I take you back to Clifftop. I also need to stop and pick something up for Allie, if you don’t mind. I’ve been out on a job site all day and haven’t had a chance before now. You weren’t in a hurry, were you?”

  She grimaced. It hadn’t seemed like business as usual that morning, and the guys had been the first to take off. Nobody could expect her to just hang out there after what had happened. They probably weren’t even thinking about her. “Nope. I’ve got all the time in the world.”

  * * * *

  Lucy was standing on the front porch when they pulled up. She went running out to meet them, waving her arms and almost knocking Sami over.

  “You’re safe!” she squealed, enveloping her in a bear hug.

  “Of course I’m safe.” Sami looked around nervously, wondering if the guys had brought Tammy and Carly back here. Or they may have already packed up and left.

  Lucy let her go and took out her phone as they walked back to the house.