Chapter 20 – Mariah
“I know why he’s doing this. He’s doing this to get back at me for leaving with Scott last night.”
Sasha shook her head. “You didn’t hear?”
“No, what?”
“Some guy came in with a gun and locked himself in the office at his house with Elie. I don’t know what about, but Lex and Bruno were off. Elie had to fight him off himself. I heard a gunshot, but I don’t know what happened next. All I know is that Elie was shot. He just got out of the hospital this morning. He doesn’t even know that you left with a client. You know that’s frowned upon, but this was set up before that.”
My mind was pulled in different directions. Last time I’d talked to Elie, it was about Greg and the threat he’d made. Elie had said he was going to take care of it, and I had to wonder what he meant by that. Was it Greg who’d come to him with a gun? It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. And if it had been Greg, then what had happened? Sasha told me what had happened to Elie, but I wanted to know how the other guy had faired. I wanted to know if it was Greg.
“What did the other guy look like? Is he okay?”
Sasha looked at me a little suspiciously. I was sure that I wasn’t showing the proper amount of concern for Elie, but there was still the reason that I was mad at him to begin with.
“Why are you so worried about the other guy?”
“I don’t know. I just wonder what happened. You kind of left that out of the story, and I was just curious, I guess.”
She didn’t really believe me, but I could tell that there was more that she wanted to share. I didn’t want to stop her from sharing, so I tried to look less interested. By the end of her description of what happened next, it was safe to say that it was Greg. While she didn’t say exactly what had happened to him, it didn’t take much to imagine that Greg wasn’t going to be around anymore. If I heard her right, he’d been shot multiple times and then the body was dragged off. I didn’t want to know all of that, but I didn’t seem to have a choice.
“So he didn’t call the police?”
“In this world, we don’t go to the police. Everything was taken care of. Just forget that you heard about it. I’m sure it was just some guy that was in love with one of the girls and didn’t want to take no for an answer. You know how guys can get. They think since they pay a little money for us that they own us.”
I knew what she was talking about. I could have told her the truth about her boyfriend, but I held it in. I felt guilty in a way. It was all my fault. If I wouldn’t have told Elie what was going on and just left, it would have ended so differently. Greg would still be alive and Elie wouldn’t have been shot.
“So is Elie going to be okay?”
“Yeah, it just went through his shoulder. They say it went right through and that that’s a good thing. I don’t know how long he’s going to be recovering, but he said something about being there for the auction. It’s something new that he came up with and he’s looking forward to it.”
Her words brought me back to why I was upset to begin with. Elie had come up with the idea of auctioning off all of the girls for a night. It was only for a night, and not much different than what we did now, but he was offering up more from me than I was willing to give.
“I’m not going to be in that auction. He never said anything to me about it. I thought he was mad about me leaving with Scott, but I guess not. I don’t know what he was thinking when he made that flyer, but I’m not going to give up my virginity to the highest bidder.”
Sasha looked puzzled. “I thought you knew about it? Elie told me that you said it was okay or he would have never done it.”
“Do you really think that I’m okay with this? I’ve waited almost twenty years to give it away to someone that I love. It still means something to me, even though I work here at the club. I think it’s worth more now because I want my first time to be with someone I actually want to be with.”
“I don’t know what to say, Mariah. I thought you knew. I’m sure this is all just a misunderstanding somehow. When he gets better and is back in, go talk to him. Elie is an easy guy to talk to and get along with. You just come to him with your problems and he’ll take care of it. He’s good at that.”
He had just taken care of something for me, in fact, but I wasn’t sure that I liked the way he’d done it. He’d most likely killed Greg, and that was something that he’d promised he wouldn’t do. He told me that he wouldn’t hurt him, but then he killed Greg anyway. I wasn’t going to come to Elie with any more of my problems. I’d learned my lesson the first time around.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m sure he’s tired from his ordeal. I thought that the club was safe.”
“It is. That was a fluke thing. Nothing like that has ever happened before, and it wasn’t even at the club. It was at his house.”
“So what are you doing for the auction? Are you in it?”
Sasha nodded her head that she was going to be in it. I had to wonder what she was willing to give up, but she didn’t really get into it. Even though I’d known Sasha for years, it was strange how everything was going now. She felt like a stranger, and I knew it was because of Elie. Who would she choose if she had to?
“Let’s not worry about the auction this weekend. You’re not the only one who’s nervous. Why don’t you take half of this with me and we’ll go shopping or something.”
I looked at the blue pill that she’d broken and was handing one half of to me. I didn’t know what it was.
“It’s just something to relax you. After you take this, you won’t care about whatever has your mind all messed up. I like to use them from time to time. It will make you forget about everything for a while.”
It sounded too good to be true, but it was exactly what I needed to do. To forget.
***
“Thanks for seeing me, Elie. I wanted to ask you a couple of things and see how you’re doing.”
“Pretty good, considering.”
I knew what he meant about considering, and I could tell that he was going to use the shooting to his advantage. I was already feeling crummy that it had happened to him, and now I was going to feel even worse. He was going to make sure of that.
“So what do you have on your mind, Mariah?”
“I want to know what happened the other night, Elie. I haven’t seen you since we had that talk. From what I hear, it was Greg who came to your house with a gun. Is that true?”
Elie nodded. “You were right to come to me, Mariah. That man is dangerous.”
“Is or was?”
Elie smiled at me and told me that I was a smart one. I didn’t know if that was a compliment or not, but I was going to take it as one.
“You don’t want to know the details, do you?”
I was torn between wanting them and not wanting them. But in the end, I knew that I was going to have to know what had happened to him. It was on me, and I wanted to know, no matter how bad it was going to be.
“I have to know.”
“Well, I sent Bruno and Lex to go straighten him out. I wasn’t going to touch him, but I wanted him to know that his time here in New Orleans was over. He didn’t take it so well. Greg tortured both of my men until they gave me up and then came here to teach me a lesson. I have to say, I didn’t expect the gun, but that’s why I’m always ready for days like that.”
“So then what happened?” I was at a loss from what he was telling me. The man he described doing all of those things didn’t sound like Greg. It wasn’t the man that I’d loved for all of those years.
“Do you really want to know?”
He kept asking me that, and it should have been the first clue that maybe I didn’t want to know what happened. Maybe I was better off not knowing. But I didn’t take the hint. I nodded my head that I was sure I wanted to know. Bracing myself like I was about to feel an impact, I waited for what I already knew he was going to say.
“He shot me while I was sitting here. The hole is still in the wall. So I shot him back. My aim was a little better.”
“So he’s dead?”
Elie stopped and really looked at me for a time. “Yes, Greg is dead. It wasn’t my intention, but that’s what happened. I’m sorry for it, Mariah, but you have to know that I didn’t want to. I would have talked it through and tried to reason with him, but he wasn’t interested in that. Greg was willing to go to any lengths to have you, Mariah, and I can’t say that I blame him.”
His words didn’t comfort me. Greg was gone because of me, and I didn’t know if I was ever going to forgive myself. It took me a minute to remember that there was more to talk to him about. It wasn’t just about Greg. I wanted to know about the auction I hadn’t agreed to, but I could tell that Elie was going to use my guilt against me. It wasn’t going to be hard, as bad as I was feeling about everything.