I’ve seen it rain bullets. I’ve seen the sky open up and swallow the earth whole. I’ve seen ditches and graves and pretty things in just their panties swaying their asses in front of my face. I’ve held the end of a chrome piece to enough skulls and slipped crisp, fresh hundred dollar bills into enough g-strings for a lifetime, and I’ve gotten hard at all of it. I don’t like doing some of it, but if it’s the choice between throwing a piece of shit who doesn’t deserve to live to the wolves and letting him wreak havoc, then it really isn’t a choice at all.

I’m not the chaos maker. I’m the one who evens the score. I settle the books, I make things whole. I keep the scales even.

Is it justice? It doesn’t fucking matter. All I know is that when you owe, you pay. You settle up and make things even.

What I don’t fucking like is when families get involved. And a poor chump who owes forty thousand dollars because of some fucked up addiction isn’t worth my time. It isn’t worth my family’s time. That’s what I’ve been trying to get through my uncle’s skull since I started.

Getting involved with this chump shit, lending cash to civilians? Not my choice. But now I do have a fucking say, and I’m not going to let my voice go unheard.

She’s obstinate. She doesn’t want to cooperate with me. Given the choice between fucking her and killing her, I know what I’d do. And she’d like it. She’d lick up every drop of my cum before I even touched her, and she’d be soaked from it, too.

No one’s going to fuck with her. I have my eyes set on her pink lips as I unload a clip from my piece and hook another onto my holster. I see the chrome flash in her irises. If I had my with her, she’s going to be seeing stars and getting down on her knees to beg me.

“You stay here. Don’t open the door. Don’t answer the phone. Don’t talk to anyone.” I push my way past her. My cock is like a fucking rocket. I should say fuck the meeting and stay here with her back against the wall and her legs wrapped around my waist as I pummel her tight pussy with my cock.

I don’t look back as I push my way out of my room, leaving her behind. I don’t give her a key. I don’t have an extra, so I couldn’t give her one even if I wanted to. No one comes into my room or leaves without me. I’ve never left anyone alone in there before, but it’s where she needs to be if I want to keep her safe.

The meeting I’m going to is between some land developers in Atlantic City and some developers here in Vegas. I’m brokering the deal, running point because I know the real estate game here better than anyone. My uncle isn’t supposed to be at the meeting, but I know from experience that sometimes he likes to show up where he isn’t expected.

I need to stop at his office first to talk to him about Cherry. I have the cash to settle up her debt. I’ll write this off as a business expense and eat the cost.

I’ve seen what he does with girls like her, girls who can’t pay. Sometimes they have problems - bad problems. Drug problems, issues with boyfriends. Sometimes they need to pay to have problems solved. There’s not a lot of good shit in this town when you deal with these people, and sometimes civilians need a loan to get out of trouble fast. There’s not a whole lot money can’t buy, but when you can’t pay back with cash, you pay back in other ways.

The girls, they pay with their bodies. And if they don’t comply, it isn’t pretty.

My cousin Mike once pleaded with his father to erase a girl’s debt. He said there was no use in making her pay, because there was no way she would be able to get the money. He had a soft spot for this girl. My uncle wasn’t convinced. The girl ended up paying.

And my uncle says that once they accept the money they aren’t civilians anymore. They’ve bought their way into the world and they need to pay to get out. Some of us can’t pay to get out, though. Once you’re in the family, you don’t get out.

I get to his office and walk past the guards as they open the door for me. I’m one of the few men who can get time with the boss without an appointment. Me and his sons, the governor of a neighboring state who’s about to be indicted and needs my uncle’s help. Not many people can walk in and talk with him.

My uncle points to the chair across from him and clasps his hands together on top of the desk. His knuckles grind white as the skin over the bones stretches tight. I drop a bag with the money to clear Cherry’s debt squarely on the desk in front of him. He ignores it and peers at me, his eyes narrowed into dark slits.

“Sean.” He says my name calmly, but his energy says something else. “I’m happy for you, but you know I don’t like secrets.”

“I didn’t think of it as a secret,” I reply, scrubbing the side of my face with an open palm. “I just didn’t mention her. No harm there. Do I have to tell you every time I jerk off too?”

“At first you said she was just a kid. Why didn't you come to me earlier if your girl was in trouble?”

My uncle studies my face. I'm not good at concealing my thoughts, but I try my hardest to remain like stone.

“We didn't know how we wanted to tell you, boss. And I didn't want you to be troubled by my stupidity.”

He pushes away from his desk and goes over to the safe in the corner of his room. The room is dimly lit, with the lights from the strip glowing down below. He turns the combination lock on the safe and pushes the bottom of his coat away from his hips, pulling two pistols out of the safe and slipping them into the holsters.

“I have my eye on you, son.” His words are a threat, but I can’t back out now. Exposing my lie will result in a worse fate for Cherry. I don’t give a shit about myself, but I can’t let that happen to her. “I thought you told me everything. This hurts, Sean.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you.” I stand up and go over to the tall window. The cool air inside the room is making my head ache with a dull tightness across my forehead. It’s too dry.

“I’m coming with you to this meeting. I want to meet these men for myself.”

He explains the deal to me, even though I’m already aware of it. I’m running point on this thing, and I should be explaining it to him instead. But I let the old man keep talking. Must make him feel good to be talking to me like this.

“There’s deed restrictions they need taken care of on the Jersey shore. I have one of my guys put together a bullshit NPO to lobby for the change, some crock about how the casino will create jobs. A guy at the department of buildings agrees it’s a good idea, and the deal goes through.” My uncle slams his safe shut after grabbing a stack of fifties clipped together.

My heart thumps with adrenaline at the cut I’m getting out of this.

“And what’s our score?” I ask.

“Cash. A payment from our friends on the shore. And as the broker, you get twenty five percent. And all you have to do is talk to these fuckers. That’s what you’re good at, right?”

He comes over and slaps me on the back.

“I knew having a pretty boy would sweeten the family. You talk to these people, you drink them under the table, you meet some nice girls.”

“No girls anymore for me, boss.” I smile cautiously as I lock eyes with him.

“That’s right,” he says. “You’re an upstanding fucking citizen now. White picket fence, and all of that. Just don’t let me catch you driving a minivan. And don’t go too far away, now. We need you here.”

He jabs my chest with an outstretched index finger and then points down to the ground. I could take him out right now, the puny prick. But I know he’s right. There’s no getting out of here. And if I were to settle down some day off in the fucking future, he’s right. I’d hide my wife and kid off in some castle out on the desert while staying here to get my hands dirty. I’d keep them out of harm’s way but I’d never be able to keep myself safe. I’d put myself in the line of fire to keep them safe, though.

Uncle and I walk through the hallway to his private elevator down to the clubs. He hits the button to go down with his knuckle and the doors open. We get inside with his two guards and ride down in silence. My heart pounds hard inside my chest. But it’s not fear. It’s something else. I’m eager to get to the meeting, but I also know my uncle could call bullshit on Cherry and I being engaged. I almost want him to. I’m tempted to challenge him. I’m already on notice with him. He’ll keep his eye on me. A careful, watchful eye, because he’s right: there are no secrets with him, and the fact that I just revealed this information to him makes him right to not trust me.

“We should bring your girl down here,” he says slowly, casting a glance over at me. “There’s plenty of girls at the club. Your wife can chat with them.”

My blood runs cold and I shake my head slowly. I can’t have my frightened doll out with me. She needs to stay locked up in my room for her own good.

“Cherry’s had a long day. Remember she didn’t know who she was meeting when she came to deliver the money.”

“Cherry.” My uncle says her name hungrily. “I’m looking forward to getting to know her better.”

My heart clenches up in my chest as he brings a finger to his lip and taps it lightly. My hands clench up at my sides and I quickly relax them when the elevator door opens in the hallway off the kitchen of the club.

We step out and walk through the restaurant, retracing the steps Cherry and I made when I had to bring her off the floor. Gone are the dinner patrons. We make our way past waiters and busboys cleaning off the tables for the night, pushing in chairs and blowing out candles. Everyone keeps their eyes cast down, their faces turned away from the boss.

As we leave the restaurant, we make a quick, sharp right out of the casino and out into the thick, nighttime desert air. It’s hotter than usual, and less dry. It feels like rain. I look up at the sky, at the limitless expanse above me.

I can smuggle Cherry out to the suburbs tonight, tell my uncle I need to take care of some business with one of my clients for a few days. I have a pickup at a hotel about a hundred miles out into the desert and I’m scheduled to go out there tonight. I’ll keep her out there for a few days. After that, we’ll say goodbye. I’ll tell my uncle things didn’t work out. There’s been more than one girl who’s come in and out of this world faster than Cherry has.

Sometimes it just doesn’t work out with them, for whatever reason. Sometimes it’s for no reason at all. Sometimes the reasons are simple. My cousin Kevin once wifed up a stripper on the third night he saw her. He was out in Reno for a hit and him and one of his fuckup friends put a third of the money they made right up their fucking noses. The girl was a darling but she was as fucked up as my cousin and his friend were. The last I heard, the girl and Kevin’s friend disappeared. I don’t know if they were made into bodies. It doesn’t matter. Sometimes things just don’t work out.

Sometimes things go wrong on the Honeymoon. Sometimes you don’t even make it to the Honeymoon.

I’ll disappear Cherry safely tonight. She won’t be able to come back to this town, but she shouldn’t want to. If my uncle had his way with her, she might not ever get out. It might be hard to say goodbye to her, but at least she’ll get a fucking goodbye.

“Samuel,” a man says as we keep walking on the strip. He’s an older man in his fifties, about my uncle’s age, but they look nothing alike. He’s tall and imposing, and has a narrow, long face. His smile is broad and wide, but there’s something sinister in his eyes.

“Vincent,” my uncle says as the two men shake hands. My uncle puts his hand on Vincent’s arm as they shake. I recognize that move. It’s the move of insecurity. The man doing it wants to assert his dominance because he feels vulnerable.

Introductions are made and we make our way down the strip. It’s just me, my uncle, Vincent and one of his associates.

We get to the club where my uncle likes to have so many of his meetings. It appears to be a classy club on the outside, but I know what happens behind doors. Not behind the first door, as we make our way through, past a guard with a shaved head and the shoulders of a linebacker, stationed there to pick up men by the throat and fling girls over his shoulder if he needs to make them go someplace or do something. He can pick up one in each hand if he needs to.

And not behind the second door. We walk past a group of young men with lustful expressions painted on their faces, and then women with them looking bright and excited. It’s strange, and the way I see it, the people working here need to make the women feel comfortable, but it doesn’t matter if the men feel comfortable. They just need to think they’ll get their dicks wet.

Behind the third door, this is where things can start to happen, where it’s not a place for good, clean, nude fun. It’s dirty behind the third door. We pass another guard as the thick bass of the music overhead controlling the topless women dancing around us dissipates. There’s a lounge back here. I’ve been here before.

A blonde woman with her tits out and wearing only a g-string saunters over to us. Her hips intoxicate the other men, but all she reminds me of is Cherry sitting back in my room, alone for her own safety.

The girl takes our drink order - my uncle is the only one who orders, placing his request for a bottle of Dom Perignon. The four of us settle into a tufted booth under one of the dim red lights in the corner. On a low stage in front of us is a woman with light skin and black hair dancing against a pole. I catch her eye. All I want to see is her eyes. She looks familiar, but she doesn’t smile back at me as we look at each other.

She’s someone’s daughter, like Cherry is. I wonder what choices lead her here. Maybe she happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or maybe she’s an adrenaline junkie like I am. We’re really no different. We both use our bodies to make money.

I’ve met her before, but I don’t know her name. I wonder what her real name is. I wonder what name she uses with the men she entertains every night.

Her hips sway, and the waitress comes over with the champagne and four glasses. She hands me one of the glasses and I take a long pull. I don’t like bubbly shit, but this tastes fucking good. It’s weaker than what I usually go for. I want something dark and amber but this coats my tongue and spreads across my chest. It feels good.

My cock doesn’t get hard as I look at the girl, though. Her tits are perfect, but she’s doing nothing for me. My uncle interrupts my thoughts and puts his hand on my shoulder.

“He won’t be able to look at these whores like this for much longer. Isn’t that right?” He grins at me, his face inches away from mine, and then he looks at Vincent. I lean in to the table where we’re all sitting, directing my attention to our guests.

“My uncle is correct,” I say. “I’m about to be married.”

“I don’t understand the connection between being married and looking at other women.” Vincent leans back in his seat and glares at the woman dancing near us. Her eyes flash between mine and Vincent’s and she bends forward, pressing her ass against the pole. She’s all perfect, smooth flesh. Her stomach swoops in at her ribs and she stands back up, putting her hands over her head, grabbing the pole behind her.

She spins around, hooking one of her ankles behind the pole, holding on with both hands. She puts her back to us and bends over, the thin black fabric of her thong covering her pussy.

Vincent takes a long sip of his drink and empties his glass before the waitress comes over and refills it.

“Where is your fiancee tonight?” Vincent’s eyes bore into the woman dancing in front of us in a sick expression of lust. “Out getting a pedicure with her girlfriends, I assume?”

“What is it with you and feet?” My uncle guffaws, slapping the table as he grabs the champagne bottle from the waitress, topping off each of us.

My heart squeezes up inside my chest. I can’t explain it, but all I want to do is go make sure Cherry is alright. Her debt is already cleared. I dropped the cash with uncle earlier when I checked in with him. But I can’t let her slip through my fingers now that I have her. Not without getting a taste first.

She doesn’t owe me anything, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have something I want. Something I need.

“We should have your girl come spend some time with us,” Vincent says. I cautiously slide my eyes back over to my uncle. I don’t need her entering this mess, but she’s already in it. The best thing to do now is go with the flow and keep things even. If that means my uncle wants her to come meet Vincent, then I’ll have to allow it. “I would love to meet this girl. She sounds like a good woman.”

I shrug casually, but it’s measured. I stay calm and focused.

“She’s very beautiful, Vincent,” my uncle says. His eyes are cast down and a smirk plays across his face. These men are dancing precariously close to me pummeling both of them for talking about my girl like this, because I know what’s unsaid between them, just below the surface.

Women are used all the time to barter and trade. We treat them like pawns. They’re chips to play. Pieces to bargain with. But not her. She’s above it, and I’m not about to let her get dragged down into it.

“If you let me see your Cherry, I might slice a few percent off my cut of the deal,” Vincent says. He spreads out his legs lifts his ass off his seat slightly.

“I’m not whoring out my woman,” I say, jolting out of my seat. My legs crash into the table, making a few glasses tumble to the ground and shatter, and my chest expands and rises. The man stays where he is. He just smirks at me, making the blood inside my veins rage harder, my head pound more with the fury inside me.

She’s mine. Mine.

“But surely you trust your fiancee, don’t you?” My uncle mocks me. “This is the woman who you’ve sworn to protect. To love. Until death.”

He has no fucking idea.

“Do this for me,” my uncle says as I ease back down into my seat, pulling me in close to him with an arm draped over my shoulder. “Do this for us. For your family. Give the old man a taste. She’ll be safe. We have our men here. And you can take care of your woman just fine.”

I look over at Vincent, my eyes scanning between him and my uncle. They’re both testing me. Tempting me. They’re forcing my hand, pushing me into a corner where I’m liable to break out like a fucking beast.

“Let me make the call,” I say, sliding my phone out of my jacket pocket.

My uncle looks at the girl dancing on the stage. Her energy is waning, I can tell, but she tries her hardest to look interested in these old fucking disgusting men.

“That’s not necessary,” my uncle says. “I’ll have my men escort her here. Now, where do you have Cherry hidden?”

I swallow thickly. She’s hidden, he’s right about that, and I don’t want them to know where she is. She’s in my room, and it wouldn’t be hard for them to figure that out quickly, but no one goes into my space and no one touches her but me. No one touches her, and she’ll be scared half to death if my uncle’s men show up knocking at her door with steel. Even more importantly, she’ll blow up this whole fucking cover we’ve created. She’d blow it up and all the pieces will be scattered around us. I won’t be able to put them back together again.

“Please,” I say, standing up. “I insist. There’s no reason to bother your men with this.”

“Take your time,” my uncle says. “There’s more than enough entertainment for me and Vincent to keep ourselves occupied.”

I step away from the table and put my jacket on, collecting my thoughts as I walk out. There’s a strange ringing in my ears as I pass through the lounge and out of the club. I decide to take the short way up to my room, through the lobby of the hotel and the elevators the guests use. Once on the highest floor accessible to our guests, I abscond to the secret, code-protected elevator that takes the family up to the final and top floor above where guests have access to.

I swipe my keycard past the lock and open up the door, ramming it wide and crossing the threshold. I noisily shoulder into the room and find Cherry asleep on the bed, where I left her. She’s still in her clothes. The poor thing was too shy to change.

Even though this is a hotel, it’s technically my home too. I have everything she could have needed. Drawers full of t-shirts and shorts, all the comfortable shit she could have wanted; a full kitchen with cabinets stocked with staples. I leave her lying on the bed, curled up on top of the covers, and walk into the kitchen area. The sink is bone-dry and nothing’s been used.

I go back over to where she’s sleeping like an angel. I shouldn’t wake her up. I should throw her over my shoulder and carry far the fuck away from here.

But when I took her and kissed her, fate took a different turn. And when she kissed me back, fate held a gun to my fucking head, and I’m going to see this thing through.

For her.

It’s worth a try. She’s worth it.

But fuck trying. I’m determined. I ball up my fists. I want to scream at what her father’s done to her. But I don’t. I keep it in. I swallow it.

For her.