Saturday Night Special

by Mari Carr

  “Worry much?” she teased and he narrowed his eyes. One look at her face proved that while he was a nervous wreck, Riley was soaking up the atmosphere and already adapting. He reached over her shoulder for one of the beers the bartender delivered, trying to figure out the best way to engage Bella’s pimp without tipping their hand too soon.

  “You Johnny Sparks?” Riley asked, and Aaron fought back a groan.

  The man narrowed his eyes before turning to look at them for the first time. Aaron spotted the same surprise on Johnny’s face as he’d seen on the other customers in the bar when he saw tiny, clean-cut, pretty Riley sitting next to him. One quick glance around the bar confirmed that the only women who frequented the joint were either hardened hookers or tattooed amazons who could hold their own.

  “Who wants to know?” he asked and Aaron gripped Riley’s waist, warning her that he was supposed to be questioning the man.

  “I do,” she said, her tone pure smartass.

  Johnny didn’t seem to know how to respond. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Riley Collins…er, Young.” She put her hand out for a handshake and again, her actions seemed to fluster the man. He reached out and accepted her hand. “Nice to meet you. We’re friends of Bella’s.”

  “Riley,” Aaron muttered. “I thought I was going to handle this.”

  “You know Bella?” Johnny asked. “You seen her lately?”

  Riley shook her head. “I don’t really remember ever seeing her, but apparently I met her last night. Unfortunately I was sort of trashed.”

  It appeared trashed was a state Johnny could relate to and understand. “You don’t happen to remember seeing her with some big shot gambler from out of town, do you?”

  Riley snorted. “Big shot gambler? Trev?”

  Aaron tightened his grip. He’d lost control of this situation in less than five minutes. Johnny’s eyes narrowed when she mentioned Trevor’s name.

  “Trev?” Johnny asked. “Is that the motherfucker’s name?” His tone had crossed from bored to pure, pulsating anger. “You know him?” His eyes narrowed and he leaned closer. Suddenly Aaron was regretting putting Riley in front of him.

  “Listen, Johnny—” he began quickly, trying to divert the man’s attention from his newlywed wife.

  “Shut the fuck up,” Johnny said menacingly. “I’m talking to the woman.”

  Aaron felt Riley’s back stiffen. “Don’t you talk to my husband that way.”

  Johnny’s face darkened with fury. “Listen you little whore, if you know where my Bella is, you better start talking now.”

  Riley attempted to lean toward the furious man but Aaron held her back. Jesus, now he had two pissed-off loose cannons to deal with. Yeah, coming here had not been a fantastic idea and he could see Tris taking a swing at him if he ever found out.

  “Let’s go, Riley,” he said, leaning down to speak in her ear to be heard over the loud music. “He doesn’t know where she is. This is a lost cause and I think we’ve overstayed our welcome.” A quick survey of the room proved a couple of men were getting brave as they started to move closer. In about two minutes, he suspected things were going to get very ugly.

  Riley shrugged off his hand as he tried to pull her off the barstool. “Did you call me a whore?” Riley asked.

  “Tell me where Bella is.” Johnny stood, his voice raised over the din in the room. The two men who had been approaching them took one look at Johnny and turned around. Great, Aaron thought. The regulars were afraid of the pissed-off Wayne Newton wannabe. This wasn’t good.

  “Or what?” Riley taunted. “You gonna order up a hit on me too?”

  Aaron closed his eyes briefly and prayed for the patience not to turn Riley over his lap right here and spank her ass for real. “That’s it. We’re fucking leaving.”

  “A hit?” Johnny seemed completely taken off-guard by her comment.

  “A friend of ours said you ordered a hit on the last guy Bella took off with.” Aaron shook his head. Jesus, Riley sucked at the subtle art of interrogation. She’d just blazed her way across the bar and asked what she wanted to know. His first instinct was to pick her up, throw her over his shoulder and get her the hell out of there.

  Johnny’s response, however, pulled him up short.

  “A hit?” Johnny repeated, this time roaring with laughter as he said it. Aaron looked around and noticed the room full of drunks almost seemed to release a sigh of relief. He wished he felt as comforted. “Holy fuck. That is so twisted and stupid, it’s funny. How the hell could I order up a hit? And what dumb cunt told you that?”

  Riley looked back at him and gestured as if to say, “He gets to use that word”, and Aaron narrowed his gaze. “What happened to letting me handle this?”

  “You take too long. Hell, we’d still be sitting here sipping our beers if I’d left it up to you. I’m sort of horny. It is my honeymoon, remember?”

  Aaron shook his head. “This is my job, Riley. There’s nothing wrong with erring on the side of caution, Riley. Taking your time to feel out the situation.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Jaysus. I can tell you right now, I’m not gonna spend my life waiting around for you to make decisions. I do not have time for that shit.”

  “Listen, sweetheart…” He dragged out the term of endearment, lacing it with as much sarcasm as he could muster. “All I’m saying is—”

  “Who the hell are you two?” Johnny’s laughter had subsided, but at least his anger hadn’t returned. Aaron began to get a sense the man wasn’t as dangerous as they’d been led to believe. Despite his odd attire, he looked as though he could just as easily be sitting at the end of the bar in Pat’s Pub, shooting the shit over the latest sporting event with Riley’s pop and brothers.

  Riley turned and gave Johnny an exasperated look. “I told you. I’m Riley Young. This conversation is going to take too damn long if I have to keep repeating myself. Your…” She paused and Aaron assumed she was searching for a polite word for prostitute. “Lady friend, Bella, was last seen with our friend Trev. Trev’s wife is here now and she’s looking for him. We said we’d help because she’s just found out she’s pregnant.” After a brief pause, she added, “With Trev’s baby. We were hoping you might know where he and Bella are. Maybe you could help us find them.”

  Johnny shrugged. “And why should I try to help you find this man for his knocked-up wife?”

  “You do not want a pissed-off, hormone-imbalanced Johanna Blankenship running around Vegas. She makes this room of roughnecks look like a bunch of choir boys.”

  For the first time since they’d engaged the man in conversation, Johnny’s gaze landed on him. “You married this woman?”

  Aaron nodded wearily.

  “Voluntarily?”

  Aaron barked out a brief laugh as Riley put her hands on her hips. “Oh, that’s rich. You’re sitting here dressed like a washed-up goddamn Vegas singer and you’re criticizing my husband’s choice for a wife?”

  “Wayne Newton is far from washed up!” Aaron could see Johnny’s previous anger was nothing in comparison to his sudden fury now. Obviously, Riley had attacked him on a very personal level. “Where the fuck are you from? Wayne Newton has performed over thirty thousand shows here in Vegas—at the Tropicana, the Stardust. He has a street named after him. He was on Dancing with the goddamn fucking Stars. Jesus, they call him Mr. Las Vegas, for fuck sake! Where’s your respect?” His voice and his body had risen throughout his recitation of Wayne’s resume until he was towering over them, and quite a few of the people sitting nearby moved away.

  The bartender stepped closer and looked at Aaron. “Did you just insult Wayne Newton in front of Johnny?”

  Aaron shook his head.

  Johnny pointed at Riley. “No. She did.”

  “They call him Mr. Las Vegas?” she asked. “Seriously?”

  Shaking his head, Johnny resumed his seat on his barstool. “Fucking tourists. Yes. That’s what they call him.”

  “
Well, that’s pretty cool. Sorry I called him washed-up.”

  Johnny just stared at her and Aaron sort of felt a bit of sympathy for the man. Riley could wear out the most patient of souls. “I don’t know where your friend is. I wish I did. Bella—” Johnny’s voice cracked on the woman’s name and Aaron realized they’d found the chink in the man’s armor.

  “You love her.” Her words weren’t a question, but a simple statement.

  Johnny nodded. “Course I do. Been asking her to marry me for months now.”

  Aaron felt the same confusion he saw written on Riley’s face. However, while he figured out they’d misinterpreted the information Bubbles gave them, Riley didn’t make the leap as quickly.

  “Wow. Never heard of a pimp marrying one of his girls.”

  Aaron groaned and feared her comment would set Johnny off again. He tried to divert the disaster. “Um, Riley. I don’t think—”

  “Pimp?” Johnny asked. His body shook with laughter and for several minutes, they could only sit and wait as the man struggled to regain his composure. Each time Aaron thought he’d pulled himself together, he’d begin wheezing with laughter that turned into a coughing fit that ended once again with laughter. His face was purple with merriment and there were tears streaming down his face.

  Riley looked back at Aaron. “I think maybe we jumped to the wrong conclusion after talking to Bubbles.”

  “What was your first clue?”

  “I’ve sort of fucked this all up, haven’t I?”

  Aaron shrugged. They weren’t dead. They hadn’t been robbed. Johnny wasn’t the mob-connected pimp they’d feared. Really, the only bad part of this little excursion was they still didn’t have a clue where Trev was. “Yeah, you did, and yet, in typical Riley fashion, you appear to have emerged unscathed.”

  “Sorry we bothered you, Johnny,” she said, starting to rise. Discovering they were leaving, Johnny sobered up, his peals of laughter dying down.

  “Where you going? The night’s still young. Let me buy you two a drink and you can tell me where you got the fool notion I was a pimp.” Speaking the word pimp caused Johnny to chuckle once more.

  “That’s okay,” Aaron started, but Riley resumed her seat as Johnny waved the bartender over.

  Fuck. They’d been so close to escaping.

  “I think we just sort of misinterpreted something our friend Bubbles said,” Riley explained.

  “Sounds to me like you misheard everything that stupid cow said. What makes you think I can put a hit out on somebody?”

  The bartender brought another round of beers and Aaron pulled an empty stool over, placing it right up against Riley’s. She gave him a look that told him to back off, but he ignored it. Despite the fact Johnny appeared to be harmless, that didn’t mean the other men in the bar were.

  “Bubbles said the last time Bella ran off with a guy, you put a hit on him.”

  Johnny grinned and Aaron was taken aback by how much the guy really did look like Wayne Newton. In this dim lighting, hidden behind the haze of cigarette smoke, he was actually a dead ringer.

  “Bella didn’t run off with that guy and I didn’t put a hit on him. I hit him. With my cab.”

  “Cab?” Riley asked.

  “I’m a taxi driver, not a pimp.”

  “And you hit a guy with your car?”

  Johnny shrugged. “It’s not like I killed him or anything. Fucker was climbing out of our bedroom window—mine and Bella’s. Guess they’d heard my car pull up to the curb. Caught a glimpse of him coming out of the house and I gunned the engine. Chased the prick for two blocks before I was able to clip him from behind and knock him down. Got out of the cab, beat the shit outta him and then went home. That’s it.”

  Aaron was suddenly grateful for his job on the force in Baltimore. Though Maryland had its fair share of crazies, Vegas seemed to hold the current record.

  “Good for you.” Riley raised her glass to toast Johnny.

  Aaron looked at her with disbelief. “Good for him? Riley, he chased the guy down with his car.”

  “The guy was screwing his girlfriend. In Johnny’s house. Hell, in Johnny’s bed.”

  Johnny nodded, clearly delighted that Riley was defending him. “I had to flip the mattress. Couldn’t get the image of that fucker rutting away in my spot out of my mind.”

  Riley gestured to Johnny as if his comments reiterated what she’d just said. Aaron started to restate his stance, but the determined looks on Riley’s and Johnny’s faces proved anything else he said would be a waste of breath. He tried not to dwell on the fact that his wife’s opinions of right and wrong aligned more closely with the Wayne Newton taxi driver’s than his. Oh yeah, the next fifty years or so were going to be very interesting.

  Riley reached over and patted the man’s hand sympathetically. “You know, Johnny, I hate to bring up a sore subject, but Bella doesn’t seem to be the most faithful of girlfriends. Are you sure you might not be better off without her?”

  Riley’s comforting touch and softly spoken words seemed to open the floodgates and for the second time in one day, they watched a person fall apart due to Trev and Bella’s desertion.

  “It’s not Bella’s fault,” he blubbered. “It’s mine. I’ve been putting too much pressure on her. She was bound to break under the stress.”

  “Pressure?” Riley asked.

  “I want to get married, start a family, but Bella’s focused on her career. Claims having a baby would ruin that.”

  It just dawned on Aaron that he didn’t know what Bella did, now that hooker had been crossed off the list. “Her career?”

  Johnny looked at him. “She’s a stripper. Best fucking stripper in Vegas.”

  “Ah.” Riley nodded with understanding. “I guess having a baby could interfere with that.”

  “My Bella’s not a bad girl. It’s just she has these needs.”

  Aaron recalled the clerk at Sal’s talking about Bella’s penchant for pony play. He took a long swig of beer, hoping to finish it quickly and move on. The last thing he needed was for Riley’s curiosity to be piqued over that particular sex kink. He had absolutely no interest in putting a bit in Riley’s mouth and riding her around the bedroom.

  “Needs?” Riley prompted.

  Aaron looked at his watch. “Um, Riley. It’s getting kind of late,” he murmured in her ear. She gave him a look like he was a heartless bastard for suggesting they leave Johnny while he was so upset.

  Johnny didn’t seem to notice their exchange as he began pouring out all his woes.

  Aaron waved the bartender over and ordered another beer. Might as well get comfortable. He knew Riley wouldn’t leave until she’d heard every sordid and twisted tale Johnny Sparks had to share. He’d spent many a night like this, sitting at a bar as Riley served as counselor to every misfit toy on the island.

  Johnny explained Bella’s fascination and need to be in the spotlight. “She was born to be a star. Born to be admired. She gets up on that stage and I swear to God, it’s like magic.”

  “But that doesn’t explain why she feels the need to cheat on you, Johnny. You know, you really shouldn’t put up with that shit. If Aaron ever cheated on me, I’d cut his dick off.”

  Aaron looked at her with a playful grin, tapping his brow. “I’m definitely filing that useful piece of information away for future reference.”

  Riley gave him an annoyed glance. “You’d never cheat on me.”

  “You’re right. I wouldn’t. Although it is my honeymoon and we have been in this bar a long time…”

  She gave him a breathtaking grin. “I’ll make it up to you. Later.”

  He scowled as she turned back to Johnny. “If you’re really in love with Bella, you need to put your foot down. Tell her it’s you or the highway and you’re gonna have to tell her no more affairs.”

  Johnny looked down miserably. “I wish I could, but what do I have to offer her? I’m lucky the woman looked my way to begin with. What do I have to hold a woman like h
er?”

  It was clear the man worshiped the ground his unfaithful girlfriend walked on. Aaron sort of felt sorry for the guy.

  “Are you kidding me? You’re a good-looking guy. You’ve got your own business. I mean, it’s your taxi, right?”

  Johnny nodded. “Yeah. I’m an independent businessman.”

  Just not a successful one, Aaron thought. He figured that explained why Johnny was able to close down Jacko’s every night rather than work.

  Riley rested her cheek on her hand. “You know, Johnny. I’ve been wondering. How come you don’t do impersonation work? You’ve got this Wayne Newton look down pat.”

  “I can’t sing.”

  “What?” Aaron asked.

  “I’m tone deaf. Can’t sing a note.”

  Aaron rubbed his face wearily and wondered how he got here. Two days ago he’d been hanging out in his own apartment in Baltimore, minding his own business and watching baseball on the television. One phone call from Keira later, he was all the way across the country, sitting in a Vegas dive with a tone deaf Wayne Newton look-alike, looking for Trev and a stripper and to top it all off, he was now married to Riley Collins.

  Glancing over at his new wife, he grinned. Aside from the fact he was in Vegas, this night with her wasn’t all that different than a thousand other nights he’d spent in her presence. The woman had a knack for finding trouble and still landing on her feet.

  “Wow,” he heard her say, “that sucks. But do you have to be able to sing? Can’t you just lip-synch?”

  Johnny shrugged. “It’s not just the singing. I, um…” He lowered his voice and Aaron found himself leaning closer to hear his next words. “I’ve got terrible stage fright. Can’t get up in front of people without shitting in my pants.”

  “Oh.” Riley turned to face Aaron and mouthed the letters TMI. He fought back a grin at her joke as she twisted back to Johnny. “Listen, Johnny,” she said, grabbing a fresh napkin and asking the bartender for a pen. “This is my cell phone number. If Bella should come home, would you call me? We’re really pretty anxious to find Trev.”