Back in the casino later in the day, I sat up on the bar stool listening to Knuckles talk to a new girl who had been hired to take my place. She was a leggy redhead who seemed to have the IQ of a granite rock from what I could surmise. Her high-pitched squeals of delight at Knuckles’s jokes were more than a bit annoying and I finally stepped away, walking over to where I saw some men who D said I should watch were standing. I was nearly there when I felt a hand on my arm pulling me toward a less populated area.
“What are you doing here?”
“You left me no choice, Janessa! You tell me people are dying and then you don’t check in for days. I had your house watched for several days and there were no signs of you, so I had to come in here.”
“What can I get you to drink?” I asked Jeremiah as I saw a biker approach. Though I wasn’t supposed to be serving drinks, he would have no way of knowing that and I didn’t need someone questioning who he was.
“Myers and Coke, please.”
“I’ll be right back.”
I walked over to the bar and stepped behind it to get a short glass of coke over ice. I knew Jeremiah couldn’t drink if he was on the job but I had put him on the spot. Returning to his table, I handed it to him. He held it in his hand, not drinking it.
“It’s okay. Unleaded,” I told him quietly.
“Thanks. Why haven’t you checked in?”
“It’s a long story and not one I can tell you here. Also, I don’t have access to the burner phone right now. I need your number. I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?”
“Fine. See that you do. I have some things to tell you, as well.” He pulled out a five and scribbled his number on it quickly, handing it to me as if it were a tip.
I shoved it my pocket and walked away as if I didn’t know him and had only been retrieving his drink. Instead, I focused on getting myself situated near a group of men who I had overheard mention Ringo, but not the rest of the conversation. Sitting at a table beside them, I began to make small talk with a couple of the other girls who I knew didn’t like me, but pretended to because I was now officially with D.
“So, you are back on the floor?” one of them asked.
“Yes.”
“I’m surprised. D’s girls usually don’t work once they’ve begun hooking up with him,” the other said a bit snidely.
“Well, I need the money, and it’s not as good behind the bar.”
“D usually takes care of his girls so they don’t have to work.”
The implications were clear. They were doing their best to make me feel like I was even less special than the usual variety that entertained D until he tired of them. I was not buying into their catty banter. I was only sitting with them because I needed to look like I was doing something so that I could listen to the men behind us.
“I’m not his usual girl. I take care of myself. I don’t need Damian Diaz to support me.”
“If you say so,” one of them replied, redirecting the conversation back to the other girl. They began discussing something that was obviously an inside joke between them, leaving me out of their talk. That was fine by me. Now, I could sit there with them and appear as if I was chatting when I was really eavesdropping. My focus remained on the women in front of me, but I had tuned them out, listening to the conversation behind me instead.
“I don’t know, man. It’s risky. I don’t want to end up with a bullet to the head.”
“You won’t. By the time all of this is over, we are all going to be smiling like the cat that ate the canary. It’s just business. His time has come and gone. Time to take what we want instead of what is given to us.”
“I’m just not sure. D can be quite brutal when you cross him. I’m not sure I want to risk it. If we fail, we’re all toast.”
“We won’t fail. This has been well planned and is a long time coming.”
“When?”
“Soon. You just need to wrap your head around whether you have the balls to stand with us or if you are going to stick around and lick D’s shoes for the rest of your life.”
“I’m in, man. Just say the word.”
“Good to know, brother. Now, let’s drink. We’ll talk about this some more when there aren’t so many people around.”
Their conversation turned to other things and nothing else was said about their plans. I pretended to be listening to the two jealous hens at my table prattle on for a bit for appearances sake and then excused myself, making sure I left in the opposite direction of the table on the other side of the tree that had been shielding me from their sight.
After a few rounds on the opposite side of the room to socialize with other members and guests, I ventured off to seek out D. I finally found him upstairs talking to Simon and one of the girls in the hallway. He motioned for me to come over when he saw me. The girl hesitated and he nodded at her to continue with what she had been saying.
“So, like I told you, I don’t want nothin’ to do wit’ it. You been good to me, and I ain’t about to forget that.”
“I appreciate that, Jade. I’m glad you told us about it. Just keep your head down and don’t let him know that you’ve shared it with me. Okay? I doubt that he’s going to tell you anything else since you didn’t cotton to it right away, but he might think he said too much. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Okay, D. I will watch it.”
He nodded his head toward her and she took the silent instruction, heading down the hallway and disappearing into the elevator. Simon and D exchanged a look, and then Simon shook his head.
“Well, so far, we have Roberto making off-book loans to folks and possibly killing them. We have Carlos telling his girl that he is joining up with some guys to take control of the club. Jack Knife and Ringo are already dead. This is going to get a lot uglier before it ends, D,” Simon said.
“Yeah, for them. I built this club and this casino from nothing. I lost my best friend in the process. If they think they can just take what they haven’t earned, then they have another think coming. The question is not who thinks they can take what is mine, but who is loyal enough to stand with me.”
“That might not be such an easy task to pick out who is with you and who is against you.”
“Don’t I know it.”
“Well, if it helps. I can pitch a few more names into the hat. I overheard Joaquin, Beau, Carlos and Tiger talking downstairs earlier. Tiger was spearheading the conversation, but no details other than it seemed he already had the three of them in his corner against you.”
“Fuck. What is wrong with these guys? I pay them well. I take care of them. I would have given any of them my last dime, and they have turned against me. Why?”
“No idea, but I think it’s time I found out,” Simon replied.
“No. You are to keep quiet, for now. If we spook them, we may lose whoever is at the top of the food chain and have to deal with this again a little farther down the road. Just hold off. We’ll get to the interrogations when it’s time.”
“I don’t like it. If we wait, they could make a move. I’d rather strike first.”
“They aren’t ready yet. I don’t know how long, but I heard Tiger tell the other guys ‘soon,’ like they weren’t quite where they needed to be. Plus, he was just then asking Beau if he was in, so I gathered they are still trying to get people in their corner.”
“Hopefully you are right. Bloody good if they hold off a little longer while we sort this out a bit,” Simon replied.
The sound of the elevator opening and someone coming down the hallway ended our conversation. Simon turned and walked silently away while D pinned me to a nearby wall, kissing me eagerly. It affected me in the usual manner, sending carnal vibrations all the way down to my toes.
“You two, get a room!” Tiger said cheerfully as he passed.
D pulled away and smiled at him, letting out a little chuckle, but the look in his eyes was murderous even from where I was standing. I found myself a bit afraid of him again.
“Let’s go home. I’m tired of this place today.”
His voice was angry, but I could also hear a touch of sadness to it. D might come off to those who did business with him as cold and calculating, violent at times, but this club was his family, and he was obviously hurt that they would turn on him like this. I followed along beside him as he headed toward the elevator and walked rapidly through the casino and out to the garage.
“Get on.”
I watched as he hopped onto his bike and began strapping on his helmet, waiting for me to do the same before heading out of the parking structure and toward home. The cool wind felt good on my face as we raced along in the darkness. My heart pounded steadily against my chest. I felt more frightened by what was happening with D than I had when I had first stepped into this whole affair. I knew we were close to answers but there could be a very high cost for him and for me.
I noted the haunted look in his eyes as we stepped into his place. There was no doubt that this weighed on him heavily, it seemed more from an emotional standpoint than out of fear. These guys were his family, his brothers, and some of them had betrayed him, were continuing to betray him. Though he had some names, there were more out there he wasn’t yet aware of. It was bound to hurt him on a personal level.
“Let’s get a shower and go to bed,” he said wearily.
“Okay.”
I didn’t know what else to say. I wanted to offer some comfort, but I couldn’t think of anything to say that would make it any better. Instead, I decided to console him the only way I knew how at the moment. Walking into the bathroom, I started the shower and stripped, climbing beneath the steamy water and beginning to wash. He joined me moments later, wrapping his arms around me and kissing my neck as the water ran over us.
I turned, retrieving the soap and beginning to wash him as he looked at me thoughtfully. I could see something in his eyes, a need, more than just a physical one, and it occurred to me that D was much like a child in some ways. Something had happened to him along the way, something that forced him into becoming the person he appeared to be to those who didn’t know him well. I saw him as a man desperately in need of affection, the real kind, not just a physical conquest.
Leaning into him, I kissed him, letting the soap create a slippery veil between our bodies. There was no doubt that I was in love with D. I felt something for him that I had never felt with another man. It made no sense that I would have fallen so hard for someone who stood for the things he did. He was the man I had believed killed my father. I had seen him capable of such things not so long ago. A part of me knew he was capable of them, but I chose to believe there was more to his choices.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured against my skin.
“I love you, D,” I heard myself say. It was almost as if it was coming from outside my body, an unwilling admission. He stopped what he was doing and looked down at me, a smile on his face.
“I love you too, Janessa.”
My heart felt as if it might stop then and there. D had sought to possess me, to own me, and he did. He owned all of me. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I would do anything to protect him, to keep him. I knew he would do the same for me. What he was, who he was, no longer mattered. We were a part of one another, and I couldn’t imagine life without him.
Turning me away from him, he rained kisses down my neck and across my shoulders, cupping my breasts in his hands as he took me from behind. A loud moan escaped my lips as he penetrated my wet folds, piercing me deeply, eagerly. Our bodies collided and parted against one another, wet skin suckling to one another and snapping away. It was intense, beautiful, as our noises echoed into the space around us.
“God, I can’t hold back anymore,” he moaned as he filled me, his semen dripping down my thighs, carried away by my own orgasmic explosions that had preceded it. We leaned against one another for a moment, just enjoying the afterglow, then pulled apart and finished cleaning one another up with soft, delicate strokes of the shower sponge. Stepping out, we dried off and went to bed, reaching for one another again not far into the night and making love slowly in the comfort of D’s king-size bed.