Before I realize it, I’m pulling into the very bar where I first met Ava. I’m obviously not thinking straight if I brought myself here. This is one place Ava knows she can find me. The car sits idle as I pick up my phone from the passenger seat and check it. No missed calls. “Dammit!” Throwing my head back, I rub my eyes with my palms. My phone begins to ring and looking at it quickly, I see it’s not the person I need to talk to right now. I hit ignore and exit the car, heading into the bar. I’ll grab a quick drink and be out of here before anyone can find me.
My eyes adjust to the dimly lit bar as I walk in from the bright sun. I hardly notice that I’m the only one here when I take a seat in the bar stool closest to the kitchen door, so if I need to get out fast I have another exit at my disposal. I notice that there is glitter all over the floor, which is highly unusual for this place. I kick the bottoms of my shoes against the leg of the stool to get the excess glitter off them. As I throw my keys and phone on the bar, a glass slides in front of me.
“I saw you in the parking lot, figured I’d have it ready for you. Shitty day I take it?” Brandon’s looking down, wiping the already clean bar top. I think it’s a habit of his, or maybe his brain is on auto pilot.
“You know you’re wiping down a clean bar,” I say to him as I lift my glass to my lips, allowing the cold beer to graze down the back of my throat before placing the glass back down.
Brandon shrugs his shoulders and flips the cloth over his left shoulder. “Well now it sparkles.”
“Speaking of sparkles, what’s with the glitter all over the damn floor? I felt like I was walking through a stripper wonderland.” I joke as I motion my hand to the decorated floor.
Brandon lets out a belly laugh and slaps his knee as his uncontrolled fit of laughter takes over. “That’s a good one! Remind me to sing that during karaoke time at Christmas. For your information, I happened to be babysitting my niece today. She wanted to do crafts, and who am I to say no?” He reaches his arm in the kitchen door pulling out the vacuum.
“Bringing a kid to a bar, classy” I joke sticking my thumb up at him as he walks around the bar.
“A, this is a family establishment.”
“It’s a bar,” I cut him off as I spin around to face him.
“B,” his eyes narrow at me, “we’re not even open yet, so if I were you, I wouldn’t piss off the man serving you booze.” Turning on the vacuum, he sucks up all the remaining evidence of his niece’s crafts.
“You got a point.” I finish my beer and slide the glass forward. I think back to all the times I’ve been here with Ava and try to remember if there’s anything that could have hinted at what she did for a living. I come up blank as I keep forcing myself to dig deeper in my brain. That’s it! I need to dig deeper. “Hey Brandon, let me ask you something.” I turn the stool following him back around the bar.
“Shoot.”
“How long have you known Ava?”
“Your Ava?”
“She’s not mine, but yes, the Ava I hang out with.”
Grabbing my glass for a refill, Brandon looks up at the ceiling and his eyebrows are drawn in. “I believe a little over two years now.” He holds out the freshly refilled glass to me.
“Has she lived here her whole life?” I grab the glass from him and set it down. I want to make sure I don’t mishear any information he may or may not have.
“Yes, no? I don’t know. I haven’t really spent any time with her outside of the bar.”
“What about family? Has she ever brought any family members in here with her?”
“She’s always been alone. What’s with the twenty questions? Hell, you probably know more about her than I do. Isn’t that shit like pillow talk?” He laughs.
Glaring at him, I tell him, “We don’t do pillow talk. We have an er.. arr..”
“Yeah, yeah, arrangement. I know. Every time I tell Ava you would be good for her, she tells me the same bullshit. I try explaining to her that no one else will put up with her bitchiness but hey, what do I know? I’m just the bartender.”
“For a bartender you don’t seem to know much. Isn’t that your job? Get people drunk and listen to their woes and problems?”
“Hey, you want a therapist, go see a fucking doctor. I’m just here to serve people a nice cold one at the end of their day.” He says, as he bends down to fill the ice rack.
Digging for my wallet, I take two twenties out and leave them on the counter. I’ve stayed here long enough and I have to try and get to the bottom of this before Riggs calls me. As soon as I’m about to say bye to Brandon, he pops his head up. “You know, there is something I thought was odd. I almost forgot about it until you had me thinking.”
“What’s that?” I ask intrigued hoping he has something I can use.
“It was one of the very first times Ava came in here. She was wearing a black pant suit and looked striking in it. I thought she had to be a lawyer or something. As she walked closer, I saw what looked like a badge on her hip peeking out of her jacket and once seated I asked her what she would like to drink.” A badge? Why the fuck would she have a badge? She’s definitely not part of my district. “Anyway, we got to talking and I asked her if she was a cop.”
“What did she say?”
“She didn’t answer right away. She actually got bitchy, you know how she gets when she’s on the defense and said that’s none of my business. I apologized and told her I only asked because I thought I saw a badge on her hip.”
“Well, was there?” I take a sip of the beer I had no intention on drinking.
“Was there what?”
“A badge, on her hip.”
“Oh, right. She laughed and told me how embarrassed she was. Turns out she was playing with her nephew and they were playing cops and robbers. I guess she forgot to take the badge off before coming to the bar. I told her not to be embarrassed because lord knows I’ve left my niece’s house with nail polish on my nails. Not my finest moment.”
“I gotta go!” Grabbing my keys and phone off the bar, I run out of the bar and jump in my car. I race over to Sylva’s house to hopefully confirm what my gut is telling me.
Sylva is a good guy. I never really worked with him much, but whenever we did cross paths he never gave me a reason to not like him. He is in charge of creating new identities for anyone who goes undercover. He is amazing at backstopping them as well. The lies he created, or I should say truths, cover your whole life. All the schools you’ve attended, where you lived, everything down to the day you lost your virginity. Well, maybe not that far, but if you asked him, I bet he has that down too. Then he works with you until you have everything embedded in your head. If he does not feel you have this shit down, he will tell Riggs. He works his ass off to make sure everything checks out to keep us safe on the inside; so he doesn’t want some fuck up ruining his reputation for not knowing our shit. Got to respect a man like that.
When I called him on the ride over, he wasn’t too thrilled to hear my voice. I got lectured on how I shouldn’t be in contact with him, like I didn’t already know this. I quickly explained my situation and told him I needed a favor before I spoke with Riggs. If Ava is a cop, Sylva will be the one to figure it out.
Pulling up to the house where I’ve spent hours over the last few weeks, I turned the car off and rushed to the door, banging on it with my fist. I hear him yelling, “Alright, alright, I’m coming.”
The lock on the door makes a clicking noise as he unlocks and opens the door. He peeks out to check the surroundings but I push past him toward the living room.
“Hey, man.”
“Make yourself at home. Has Riggs called you back yet?” He shuts the door and crosses his arms in front of his chest.
“Not yet. I need you to get to the bottom of this before he does, though.” Everything in me is telling me that there’s more to Ava than she’s letting on. I honestly don’t believe she can work for the mob.
“Alright, let’s do some digging. I’m not prom
ising you anything though.” Walking over to his computer, he cracks knuckles and starts up his laptop.
Leaning over his shoulder I ask, “Are you telling me you don’t think you can do it?”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that and continue to help you. I can do it, but if she is who she says she is, then I can’t help you. You’re fucked and blew this one big time.” He starts typing away on his keyboard. Page after page pops up and I honestly don’t know how he’s keeping up with what’s on the screen. Before I can even read a paragraph, he’s onto the next page. After a couple minutes, his fingers start to pound the keys a little harder, almost as if he’s frustrated.
“Everything okay?” I lean over his shoulder to get a closer look at the screen.
“Do you mind?” He nudges me away with his shoulder and keeps looking. “Wait a minute.” He says, as he pulls up the page he just left. “Gotcha!” He yells out throwing his fist into the air.
“What? What did you find? Was I right?” I pray to God I am.
“There’s no evidence of her being a cop.” Fuck. “However, see this here?” He points to something on the screen.
Looking at the screen I see a Ramapo High School. “A high school? That was your big find? Great, maybe I can ask her if she would like me to attend her reunion with her.”
“Do you want my help or not, asshole? Let me finish. Now look at this page.” He pulls up another screen.
“DePaul High School. So she went to two different schools. People move all the time and switch schools.”
“Sure they do, but it’s impossible to be at two places at once. These two records show that she was enrolled in both schools during the same years. How can you attend two different schools, receive report cards for a full day of classes, and two diplomas with the same graduation year on it. I don’t know who she is, but if she’s a cop, whoever did her backstop sucks ass at it. That’s such a minor thing but can screw you over enough if found.”
“Print them off for me, would ya?” I pat him on the shoulder for the outstanding job he did.
“Sure thing.” The sound of paper being pulled through the printer fills the room. “So, what are you going to do with this? How are you going to handle it?” He hands me the papers off the printer, looking momentarily concerned.
Taking the papers, I fold them up and place them in my back pocket. “I’m going to do what I normally do.”
“And what’s that?”
“Invite her over for a fuck session, make sure she’s good and spent, and then interrogate her about this.” A grin breaks out on my face as Sylva’s eyes are widened in shock. My pocket starts vibrating and I pull out my phone seeing Riggs flash across the screen. I hit ignore and put it back in my pocket.
“You know he will keep calling, right?”
I turn to head toward the door before stopping and looking back to him, “I know. I need one more favor. Well, two actually.”
“It’s not like I’m doing anything. Whatcha need?” His sarcastic tone makes me chuckle before turning deadly serious.
“Do what you have to do to fix Ava’s background. If she is a cop, then she needs to be better protected.”
“I can’t just change her identity and expect her to know everything. She’s not a psychic.”
“Just be ready to fix the school. I’ll find out which one is ‘the right one’ and I’ll text it to you. We can worry about the rest later.” I head to the door and have my hand on the knob when Sylva stops me.
“What’s the other thing?”
“Call Riggs back. Tell him I’m working on something and I will call him when I can.”
“Oh, so you want me to get the backlash from the captain? I don’t think so. Your dick got you into this problem and I’m not going to have mine cut off for it. You tell him.” He’s shaking his head no with his hands held up.
“Just tell him I stopped by to check something out on Angelo. He’ll buy it. Don’t mention Ava. I’ll handle that after I see her. I gotta go.”
I sent Ava a text message as soon as I got back to my place and as if she was expecting it, she responded right away saying she would be over in thirty minutes. I had just enough time to take a quick shower and make sure all my guns, except one, were put away. If she’s dealing arms, I’m positive she knows how to use one.
I wish I could say that I’m calm, but I’m furthest from it. Here is this striking woman, whose body I know inside and out, yet I don’t know a damn thing about her, really. I have to have my gun holstered on my hip in case she tries anything before I can undress her. I have a solid plan of attack to make sure she isn’t packing.
I will do my usual lean in, kiss her on the cheek, and wrap my arm around her waist, leaving my other one free in case she tries anything and I have my first check point done. I’ll follow her into the living room, to where I will gladly slide her pants down her legs and spread them apart, showing good faith of the foreplay that’s to come. Once I see she doesn’t have one strapped to her ankle, I’ll take her to the bedroom, get her completely spent and ask the things I need to know. Piece of Cake.
The doorbell rings and I jump at the sound. Why the hell am I so nervous? I can go into a room guns blazing and the damn doorbell makes me jittery. This shit has to stop. She’s fucking with my head and that does not sit well with me. Walking to the door, I shake out my hands, tilting my neck to each side to try to relieve some of the frustration flowing through me right now. If there’s anything Ava can read, it’s my body language. She knows mine just as well as I do hers.
Looking through the peephole on the door, she’s standing waiting; and as usual, her hair is in a messy bun on top of her head and she looks like she’s wearing a t-shirt. Opening the door, I’m greeted with a smile as she leans in and kisses me on the cheek. She’s wearing a tight white t-shirt with a peach colored bra trying to peek through. I can tell she doesn’t have anything on her waist but I extend my arm anyway. Before I can wrap it around her waist she brushes past me and towards the kitchen and I quickly follow. Okay, so maybe this won’t be as easy as I’d hope.
“Hey, mind grabbing me something to drink? My throat is really dry.” She’s about to take a seat at the bar stool when I notice that the papers Sylva gave me are laying out on the counter. Shit! I spin the bar stool and assault her lips with mine as I use my free hand to swipe the papers off the counter onto the floor. Pulling away, I grin at her and walk around the counter.
“Let me get you that drink.” Bending down, I pick up the papers and put them in the junk draw. “Sorry, I didn’t have much time to clean up.” Grabbing a glass from the cabinet, I fill it with water and place it in front of her.
“That was some ‘hello’ kiss.”
“Well, given our current situation, I don’t know if I’ll get to do it again, so I figured why not go out with a bang.” I lean on the island and bring my face closer to hers. “Should we head to the bedroom before we have the ‘I don’t mix business with pleasure’ talk?”
She smiles and tilts her head to the side. “I like the way you think.”
“After you,” I say, holding my hand out toward the bedroom. A part of me is pumped because I know I’m about to have great sex and the other part is anxious to see what awaits me after. I know I shouldn’t sleep with her, but I need her distracted and exhausted. Wasting no time, I lift my shirt over my head and as it’s about to lift over my face, I feel a prick in my neck and everything goes dark.
Disoriented and feeling hazy¸ I open my eyes and am met with blurred vision for a moment. Blinking a couple times to adjust my eyes to the light, I try to rub them but find my arms are in bondage, to the damn bed nonetheless. I give them a tug, but there’s no use. She used handcuffs, my fucking handcuffs. WHAT. THE. FUCK. Looking over to the window, I see Ava messing with her phone and she looks up at the cuffs banging against the metal.
“Look who’s awake.” Standing up, she takes a seat at the end of the bed.
“You fucking dru
gged me?”
“If it makes you feel better, I do feel a little bad. I must have used too much because you were out for three hours.” She shrugs her shoulders and a laugh even escapes her mouth.
“Three hours? Are you kidding me? Uncuff me. NOW.” My voice is booming as I try pulling on the cuffs again.
“Calm down. You’re going to leave a mark.” She says pointing to my wrists. “Tell me about these.” She holds up two pieces of paper.
“So, was that your plan? Come over and drug me? Well played, I’d give you a round of applause but I’m a little tied up right now.” I purposely avoid answering her question as I shift in the bed. I’m in a sticky situation and I let her drop the ball on me. I never thought she would drug me. Who does that?
“I’ll ask nicely one more time. Where did you get these and who else knows about them?” Remaining silent, I stare at her and await her next question that will go unanswered. I’m supposed to be the one asking the questions, not her. ‘Piece of cake’ my ass, I suddenly feel like nothing with this woman is going to be easy. “Okay then, you leave me no choice.” Getting up, she walks over to the dresser where her purse is sitting and grabs something from it. Her back is blocking my view so I have no idea what she could be getting. Pushing my body up against the bed rails helps give me a better view, and just in time at that. Raising her arms up, her fingers push the bottom of a syringe and a little fluid trickles out of the needle.
“Plan on knocking me out again?”
“I asked you nicely to answer my questions. Now I’m not going to be so nice about it.” Walking over toward me she pauses as I speak.
“You drugged me! Did you honestly expect me to answer any of your questions after that?” I laugh.
Dante's Redemption Page 4
