Three, Two, One (321)

“Keep me,” she says through her sob. “Please. Just keep me. I can’t go back.”

“Go back where?” JD asks, turning her away from me in a way that makes me think he’s jealous. “Who is after you?”

The girl shakes her head and starts to cry again. “I can’t say. I can’t. I need to go home, but I can’t go home, either.”

“Where’s home?” I ask.

“Montreal.”

“Where’s your passport?” JD asks.

She just shakes her head.

JD looks up at me. “She can stay here.”

I stare at them both for a second, wondering what this is. Something is off, but I can’t quite figure out what. “Of course,” I say, nodding. I need more time with this girl. More pictures. More talking. More everything. I place my hand on her cheek and turn her head back to me, tipping it up at the same time so she has to meet my gaze. “You can stay here until you sort it out.”

And then she collapses back against JD’s chest and sobs. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Hey,” JD says as he pets her hair. “Shhh. Forget it, OK? Just relax now.”

I’m about to tell JD to get the fuck out of the tub and give her some privacy, but I can hear my phone ringing out in the living room. “Fuck. I know who that is.”

Ray.

JD looks at me as I step out of the tub and peel my jeans the rest of the way off, leaving them in a soaking heap in the corner as I wrap a towel around my waist and go looking for my phone. It’s still inside my bomber jacket pocket. And it’s wet when I take it out, but it’s ringing again, so at least it’s not ruined. I tab the accept button. “Yeah.”

“Please tell me you’re on track.”

“The bitch we were gonna film this morning never showed.”

Ray lets off a long sigh. “I need to see you, Ark. Today.”

And then I get the hang-up beeps.

Fuck.

I walk back into the bathroom and find JD making out with the blue-eyed girl. “Who was that?” he mumbles through his kiss. I can tell his hand is between her legs, and she’s whimpering from the stimulation.

“Asshole. That was Ray. He wants to see me today.”

“Well, have fun. I’ll hold things down while you’re gone.” JD stands up. “Hey, darling, it’s my turn now.”

She looks up at him and nods. Her mouth opens and I turn around and walk out.

Fuck.

I dry off with the towel and then dress in some clean clothes. Jeans and a white dress shirt. Blue tie, loose. Dry pair of boots. And then I grab my leather jacket and leave them to do whatever they’re gonna do before I get too pissed off about it.

Because it’s pretty clear. JD thinks he’s entitled to this action and that’s a conversation for another time.

Ray’s business is in lower downtown, not very far from our place, but I never walk there. It’s got a sketchy approach because you have to bypass the trendy part of LoDo and weave your way into the more industrialized area on the other side of Union Station. And even though it’s probably only a mile or two to walk, I just don’t do it. I’m not afraid of a fight. But why start one if you don’t have to?

The assholes who work those corners, either with bitches or drugs, are strung out. They have no business sense. They just don’t get it.

I mean, look. I make porn, but I don’t do porn. Hell, I don’t even watch porn. I get enough dirty sex in my daily life. If I want to see a guy get his dick sucked by a whore, I have JD for that.

That makes me laugh, even though that asshole is upstairs fucking my Blue Eyes right now, I just know it. Normally he doesn’t fuck the girls, but I can feel this one-upmanship going on between us today. I just know he’s gonna fuck her.

But these wannabe thugs down here by Ray’s place all double-dip. They sell the girls and fuck the girls. They sell the drugs and do the drugs. It’s not good to get attached to your product.

So I drive.

I pat my red Dodge Viper as I pass her by. Poor baby gets no action around here. I drive her to Vegas or So Cal, when I need to do business out of state. But to rumble down to Ray’s, I take the Jeep. It’s got a few small rips in the soft top that make it loud as fuck to drive, and scratches all over the body. The wheels are still muddied up from the last off-road weekend JD and I had up in the mountains, and she’s old. Nineteen ninety-eight.

There is nothing about this Jeep on the outside that makes the dealers and pimps want to steal it. And that’s just the way I like it. She’s got a nice lift kit on her, I have to have that. But that’s about it. So this is what I drive around town.

JD has a bike and a similarly under-equipped Ford F-150 for his daily travels.

We might live flashy upstairs, but down here on the streets we are scum.

I get in and start her up. She might not be much to look at, but she purrs nicely in the engine department. And then I head out and take a left on California so I can go hear what Ray has to say. I already know he’s gonna try to cut a deal. That’s just his style. I mean, look. Reality is, I could pull two videos out of my ass. I have enough saved up for Public Fuck. But I’m not going to. And the only other way to get these videos in on time is to pay a visit to my old contact.

And I’m not sure I’m ready to do that. I like this life I’ve built for myself, and I don’t want to have to justify it to anyone. Least of all her.