Second and Short

by Michel Prince

  “What the fuck? Okay think this shit out. Where could she have gone?” Dalton went back into the suite. The bathroom was the only other closed off room. Even with half of the top floor the suite was expansive, but open. Making his way to the closet by the door he found nothing. “What the fuck are you thinking Gresham, she’s playing hide and fucking seek?”

  Opening the door, he was met with a gust of air and two very confused guards whose eyes were straining to focus on Dalton’s face.

  “Willie’s not in the suite.”

  “And by Willie you mean what exactly?” the guard with blond hair asked as his eyes dropped to Dalton’s hips.

  “Quit looking at my junk and tell me where the woman went.” He didn’t have time for propriety and although part of him wanted to rush back in and toss on a pair of shorts, it was hard. Willie may have gone to get ice or something else. Either way, she was on her own because both guards were staring dumbfounded at him.

  “Woman?” the brown-haired guard replied as he took out a log book. “I have no record of a woman.”

  “She’s the whole reason I’m stuck in Colorado and not back in Chicago working out. She’s the one under threat.”

  “Didn’t the midnight guy say a hooker left?” the blond said.

  “Oh, we didn’t log that,” the brunette replied. “For appearances.”

  “She’s not a hooker. She’s my girlfriend and is currently being stalked by a man not afraid to have everyone that helped her killed.”

  The two men exchanged looks. “We have you getting on a plane to Chicago in a few hours. You’re going to need to get dressed.”

  “You sure that’s what you want?” Dalton mocked as he shifted his hips from side to side making his flaccid dick hit hip to hip. “I’m not going anywhere without her.”

  Slamming the door, Dalton found his shorts and his phone. Of course, her phone is going to voicemail. He begged her to call him back. At least let him know she was okay. Then he called his parents.

  “Dalton, this woman wet herself because she was petrified of this man,” his father’s harsh tone carried through the phone. “No real man puts that much fear into a woman. Scratch that, no man puts fear into a woman.”

  “I didn’t know about Willie’s past until yesterday.”

  “That and fifty cents gets you what in this situation?” his father asked. “What would you have done? Told her she was nothing but drama. Her fight wasn’t your fight?”

  “Well no,” Dalton replied like a middle schooler.

  “Then shut the hell up. When you first saw her, what did you think?”

  “Mom’s not listening, is she?” Dalton’s face heated from the memory of the spitfire woman with an axe in both hands, unsure eyes and lips he wanted to taste from the moment he saw her.

  “That’s what I thought. You got yourself a good lookin’ woman. Strong too. Anyone can have a moment of fear. Doesn’t mean they aren’t brave.”

  Dalton waited to hear his father go on about bravery like he had a million times before, but he didn’t. Instead he moved to the task at hand.

  “Get her back,” his father commanded as if he were standing on the sideline demanding they push through on second and short. “Don’t make me go after her. She’s a damn stranger to me, but she’s a woman in need of help. I never raised you to walk away from that.”

  “Yes sir.” Dalton looked out over the balcony and could feel his stomach tighten. “What if I don’t get there in time? What about the team?”

  “The team will be there for you when it’s done. If they don’t, there will be another.”

  “Coach Marshall says if he doesn’t see me in the Wednesday morning meeting he’s putting me on the waiver wire. I’ll be on the injured list. Not reserved.”

  “You have a choice to make. It’s hard for me not to side with your coach too. You’ll be a liability if you show up. You’re also bringing attention to not only yourself, but the whole organization.”

  “I love her.”

  “I know.” His father stayed silent for a few moments. “Just quit stealing my lines.”

  Tears flowed from Dalton’s eyes. “Who else should I act like? You and mom…there are worse things than being like you.”

  “Dalton, you’re a good kid and I know you’ll find your girl. Just don’t lose everything you worked for to do it because if you do, you won’t forgive her for her role in the loss.”

  After saying good-bye, he got another call from Rachel. “This is Dalton.”

  “Hey Dalton, I’ve been trying to reach Willie. I got another message.”

  “Another message?” Dalton questioned. “When did you get the first?”

  “Last night, didn’t Willie show you?”

  “Oh, that one, sorry it’s been crazy around here today. Trying to get packed up and go.” Dalton scrambled trying to get information. “Willie’s phone is turned off. She’s nervous about tracking. Can you send me both messages?”

  “Sure—oh hold on, Matty wants to talk to you for a second.”

  Shit. Just what Dalton needed, another person telling him what to do about his woman. She wasn’t trying to be an issue. This issue is deeper than anything they could comprehend. He was in the middle of it and he didn’t know what the hell was going on.

  “Dalton, hey man, I know you have strong feelings about this woman—”

  “Don’t go there.”

  “We’ve been teammates for over five years. I have a right to go there.”

  “I’ve been working with Myron.”

  “If your double oversized ass thinks this is about a Goddamn game, then I’m a shittier friend than I originally thought. You know, I sat as close as I could to the coaches on the flight back. Cuemark knew this man had a fistful of outstanding charges and he still walked him through our facility.”

  “Wait. Willie’s Hector is that porch dick who tried to peacock in front of me earlier this week?”

  “You didn’t know?”

  “Why would I think one Hector was the same as Willie’s?”

  “They’re both from Vegas.” Fuck, the only thing Willie ever told him about was her mother in Reno. “Dalton, Vegas has had gangsters over the years, but the authorities have a dozen cases pending against Hector and his so-called business. You’re big, tough and ninety-eight percent of the world wouldn’t mess with you when you were in a good mood. This guy has no conscious or off switch. He’s a fucking psychopath.”

  “He has a weakness when it comes to Willie.”

  “So do you. I’m just not sure which of the two of you will come out on the other side of this. You might as well be my brother.” Matty dropped his voice to just above a whisper. “It’s killing all of us to not be there with you, but this isn’t a club fight at closing time. How long have you known this girl? Is it worth your life?”

  Dalton respected the fact Matty wasn’t asking if it was worth Dalton’s career. This was about his life, but Willie had become his life and if he did nothing, he was sentencing her to death. Whether she lived on the run or lived with Hector, it was the same. Nothing would stop him from protecting the woman he loved.

  “Can you have Rachel send me the messages? Willie’s gone. Something triggered her in the night. I at least need to know what that was.”

  “Her mom,” Matty stated. “He’s holding her mother hostage.”

  “Have you called the Reno police?”

  “We would have if we knew where her mother lived,” he exclaimed. “I’ll get right on it. Do you know her mother’s name?”

  “I just know she’s a social worker in Reno and her last name is Fire.”

  “Couldn’t have picked a better name for her, could they?”

  Dalton hung up and waited for the messages. The first was in an apartment, but the second might as well be in the middle of nowhere. Hector’s voice carried over the phone. “You know, mi amor, where I am and that I am serious about my threats. I also see you were kind enough to get on a plane this morning. D
o not worry, as long as you go with my friend and come to me, this can all be resolved. I am not an unreasonable man, Willeen.”

  Powering on his laptop, Dalton booked the first flight to Reno.

  If nothing else, Reno’s small airport didn’t overwhelm Willeen as she got off the plane and made her way toward the ground transport. She was going to get a car when she arrived, but there was a part of her that figured what happened would come to pass. As she walked out she saw a man with the words Mi Alma on his white erase board waiting for her.

  “Alma?” the man asked as she approached.

  “Do I look like an eighty-year-old from Sarasota?” Willie spit irritated that Hector didn’t have the decency to let them know her real name. The moniker he gave her one night in bed. How sweet was it to have this man pledge himself to her in that moment? “You are a part of me Willeen. I was soulless. Adrift. You are what I have waited my whole life to discover. Everything I’ve ever done was in pursuit in finding you and now I have. I have found mi alma.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t?”

  “Do you know who you’re working for?” Willie barked. “The monster that sent you to fetch. I didn’t tell him I was coming, yet here you stand with your stupid white board and dumb asshat.”

  She shouldn’t be dressing down this poor kid who was too young to be caught up in Hector’s stupid games. When she took in his petrified eyes and acne, along with what should be his sideburns she knew he was out of his depth.

  “Give me the keys and address,” she commanded with her hand extended.

  “My company’s car? Are you crazy?”

  “Are you fucking crazy? You were hired by one of the most fucked up men in Vegas. You know how fucked up you have to be to win that award? Pretty damned high on the social register. Give me the keys and address and thank me for not putting your life in danger.”

  “I don’t under—”

  “I gotcha there.” Willie started patting down the kid as he fought to keep her away, but she found his keys. “Address?”

  “No, you take my car and I’m calling the cops.”

  Willeen stared at the keys resting in her palm. If this kid called the cops and told them the same address, how long would it take for them to get there? Would Hector kill her mother on general policy? She’d never gone to the police about Hector before. Did she still qualify as a battered spouse? Had she ever? She got away. She could have easily gotten on the plane with Dalton this morning and prayed her mother survived. Hadn’t she done that when she ran away from Hector in the first place? Abandoning her mother for her own safety. Hector confirmed she’d been in danger the whole time. He’d been watching for Willie to show up. The moment she didn’t go with him, he probably pounced on her mother. Even now, she didn’t know if she was going into a trap.

  Curling her fingers around the keys, she turned to her driver. “Give me the address. The cops can come there to get your car, but I have a feeling they are just going to say you gave me the keys.”

  “I didn’t, you practically molested me to get them.”

  “Ohhh…hmmm… can we leave out the molestation, just say I strong armed you. I have a good six inches on you. They could believe that.”

  “You’re a special kind of nuts, lady.”

  Grabbing his shirt and clip on tie in her hands, she pulled the little squirt up off the ground and brought him nose to nose with her. “You have no fucking idea how much crazy I have in me. Give me the address.”

  The tires squealed as she pulled away from the airport. Driving rules didn’t seem to be on her top ten list of things to worry about. She’d bring a high-speed chase to its conclusion at the abandoned diner at the edge of town if she had too. Her stomach turned the closer she got to the place where she promised to marry him. The last time she saw her mother, she’d brought him to meet her. Unlike everyone else, her mother wasn’t impressed. She’d said as much.

  “Marry me Willeen, be my bride. Break with your childhood completely and be with just me.”

  “Let me talk to my mother more. I really want her blessing.”

  “Are you a woman or a child? You need your mommy’s approval to be happy. She is a miserable single woman who does not want you to find happiness. She is jealous of our love.” His hand circled hers as his thumb stroked the back of her palm. “Make a choice because I no longer want to play house. Your mother or me?”

  “Hector, please,” she pleaded as she flipped open the box with the three-carat diamond ring sparkling back at her. “You spoil me. I know my mother doesn’t understand why I gave up college.”

  “Your mother doesn’t understand how important we are to each other. Mi amor, you must follow your heart in this. Your mother will go along with anything once we pop out a few grandbabies for her.”

  “Babies?” Willeen got lost in the future he had for her. His eyes stayed locked on hers and she could never say no to those. “Of course I’ll marry you Hector, but I really want my mom at the wedding.”

  “We will invite her. She will always be welcome at our home, but if she only extends her invitations to you I would hope you wouldn’t accept them. We are one mi amor.”

  She accepted his proposal with no reservations, including her mother. Only her running had delayed their marriage. Pulling up to the diner with half its windows boarded up, she was able to see her mother sitting in a booth with her face the same stone cold one that gave away nothing. Not a bit of what she was feeling or if fear was even a factor.

  Getting out of the town car, Willie left the keys in the ignition and her belongings on the front seat. No reason for the driver to get in more trouble than he probably already was. She’d thought about sending a last text to Dalton, but what was the point. It would relieve her guilt, not ease any pain he might be experiencing. The only solace she had at this moment was she’d told him she loved him.

  Hector opened the door wide for her and she bowed her head as she entered the diner. Between her stomach turning and the hair rising over her whole body, she didn’t know if she could muster the strength to do anything around him. Once her mother was in sight she fought back the urge to run to her side, but they both knew better. Tied up and gagged, she exchanged glances telling each other they love the other. The solemn gaze her mother shot to her was one of relief mixed with understanding.

  There were five other men in the building. She could see the bulges on their hips and under their arms from the weapons they were carrying. Pizza boxes were strewn around the abandoned restaurant that still smelled of old grease and dust. Willie sneezed a few times and Hector passed her a napkin from one of the fast food bags discarded on the countertop.

  “So many memories, the diner you worked in down in Vegas was like this one wasn’t it?” Hector said as he sat on a bar stool bolted to the floor in front of the counter. “Wasn’t yours blue, not this tired red?”

  “Yes,” Willie said. “I’m here, let her go.”

  “Can’t do that,” Hector said as he extended his arms as if she were to fall into them. Curling his fingers in a couple of times, the darkness that slipped over his eyes made his intention clear. Stepping toward him, she allowed him to pull her between his legs and wrap his arms around her waist. “This is better. I have been empty since you left me. You know what else I have mi alma?”

  “No.” Swallowing back the bile rising up her throat, she hoped she could keep herself from any number of bodily functions around him.

  “I’ve been made a person of interest in a few murder cases.”

  She froze in his arms. His hands came up to her face, but unlike Dalton’s that were gentle and cradled her like a freshly picked rose. His were tight to her cheeks. Could he snap her neck? Would he? She knew she had to hold back tears or he would mistake them for guilt.

  “Mi alma wouldn’t lie on me to get me in trouble.”

  “No,” Willie said adamantly. “How could I? I could never see you as a violent beast.”

  “No, not like that man you have be
en spending time with.”

  “I haven’t been with him,” she said, this time unable to keep the tears at bay. Not with a lie like that.

  Hector’s hands became a vice on her skull. “Do not lie to me, Willeen. Did you sleep with that man? Has he touched you in ways only I should?”

  “Please Hector,” she cried as her head felt as if it were about to explode. Her hands covered his, feeling the roughness of the signet ring he wore everywhere. One that had at one time left an indent in the side of her face for more than a week. “I’m here now, I’m with you. Only you. I apologize for wandering away. You know how easily I get distracted and lost.”

  “That was it.” He released her face. “You were just lost? Not running away from the only man you ever loved.”

  Trembling made her have to place her hands on his sides to keep him from understanding how scared she was. Fear was not an option. Not with Hector. Not now. Not ever again. “I made a mistake. Let me make it up to you?”

  He eyed her and the calculating Hector showed his face. The one who bought and sold people as he stepped on men to get ahead. Casinos were bought on his say so and owners who thought their money could protect them learned they were merely pawns in his sick game.

  “You know why I brought you here?” he asked, once again, grasping her face and resting his forehead on hers. Tears were pooling in his eyes as his bi-polar manic behavior showed its ugly face. “Do you?”

  “Because you asked me to marry you here.”

  “You remember. So many years ago and yet we are still not wed.” Willie was afraid her ears would pop with how much pressure he had placed on them. “You started running, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And I didn’t want my wife to run away from me.” He released her and got off the stool. Willie dropped to her knees to catch her breath and watched as his black leather shoes made their way to the booth where her mother sat. “You said you were going to choose me over your mother, but you never truly did. I should have respected your wish and made sure your mother came to the ceremonies you left. Well I have her now. You don’t need to run anymore. There is nothing to stop you from marrying me.”