Deep Surrendering: Episode Ten

Deep Surrenderings, Episode 10

Copyright
© 2014 Chelsea M. Cameron
www.chelseamcameron.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are use fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments or locales is entirely coincidental.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. All rights reserved.

Cover
Copyright
© Chelsea M. Cameron

Edited by
GreatImaginations.com

Interior Design by
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Somehow, I managed to grab the phone before it hit the floor and died an electronic death. Slowly, I raised it to my ear with a shaking hand.

“H-hello?” I said, my voice stuttering.

“Yes, this is Fin’s father. I believe we’ve met before.” His voice was ice cold and the tone made my stomach surge with unpleasantness. This was so, so not good.

“Uh, yes.” I couldn’t seem to sound like a non-idiot. But nothing could have prepared me for talking with Fin’s father.

“You used a different name though of course I knew what your real name was. I don’t just let my son wander around doing whatever he wants and seeing whoever he wants.” Oh. I’d been afraid of that, but I wasn’t surprised.

“Uh huh,” I said, sounding worse by the minute. “What do you want?”

“I want to know where my son is. He’s been hard at work ever since his little visit to you and now he’s up and vanished. And I’m very good at finding people, Marisol.” I didn’t want my name coming out of his mouth. He didn’t own me. But he owned Fin.

I took a breath and steeled myself to say all the things I’d wanted to say to him. “Listen, I don’t know where he is and it’s none of your business, actually. He’s a grown ass man. He’s not your slave. He can do what he wants and he’s not going to be held hostage by you anymore. Got it? Fin belongs to no one but himself. And if even I knew where he was, you’d have to kill me before I’d tell you. Fuck off.” My voice wavered at the beginning, but got stronger by the end. It felt good and my body surged with something that felt like power. I didn’t even wait for him to respond before I ended the call.

The phone rang again, but I didn’t answer it. I wasn’t talking to that asshole. Ever again.

Now I had to figure out my next move.

“I’m guessing that was Fin’s father. He’s an asshole,” Sapphire said and I nearly bit my tongue in half in surprise. She’d been so quiet, I’d forgotten she was even here.

“Yeah. He doesn’t know where Fin is either and he’s none too happy about it.” She shivered, as if from a sudden chill.

“Sorry, I just have a really bad association with his father.” Oh, right. He’d been the one who had “hired” her as a teenage prostitute for his son’s birthday. Bastard.

“Yeah, I can’t even imagine,” I said. For some reason, I almost wanted to give her a hug. Almost. But that would be crossing some sort of line that I didn’t really want to cross.

I couldn’t become friends with her. No way. Being nice to her, or helping her was one thing. But being friends was completely out of the question.

“Soooo,” Sapphire said (even though I knew her real name, I’d probably always think of her as Sapphire), “what now?”

“I have absolutely no idea. Wait for Carl or Fin to get back to us.” Us? I didn’t mean to say that. Oh well. We were temporary partners in Operation Find Fin.

“Are you sure you don’t want something? Coffee maybe?” She took a few steps toward my couch like she was going to sit down, but stopped before she followed through.

“Um, yeah. Coffee would be great. Do you have cream?” I went to go put the coffee on. It might not be the best idea, since the two of us were already jittery and on-edge, but at least it gave me something to do.

“Yeah, but it’s French vanilla,” I said, going to the fridge and pulling the container out. Having coffee would now always be associated with Fin. On our first date, we discovered we liked it the same way. It felt like fate then.

“Oh, that’s my favorite,” she said, still staring at the couch. Guess she was waiting for an invitation.

“It is?” I asked. What were the chances? Of all the ways to take coffee in the world. And all the people who didn’t even like coffee.

Sapphire turned around and gave me a puzzled look.

“Yeah, it is.”

Huh.

“You can sit down if you want,” I said, pointing to the couch as I took the coffee pot and filled up in the sink.

“Oh, thanks.” She sunk into the cushions with a sigh.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” she said over the rush of the water. I turned it off and gave her what I hoped was a confident smile. Inside, I was shaking worse than Jell-o.

“Yeah, I’m sure. He’s more than capable of taking care of himself.” Sapphire nodded in agreement. Strange how the two of us were so different, yet both of us were brought together by one man.

“So, um, how’s work?” I cringed the second the words were out of my mouth. “Sorry, that was totally uncalled for and none of my business.”

Sapphire laughed.

“You’re such a prude sometimes. Work is exciting. As always. My clients never cease to surprise me.” She gave me a grin that made her look so much older. How could she do that? Go from looking like she was just barely, if not still, in her teens to looking like some sort of sex goddess come down to earth to instruct humans on the art of seduction.

“Really? I’d think you would have seen it all. I’m sorry, I can’t seem to stop saying somewhat insulting things.” I got two cups for us and some spoons to stir in the creamer.

Sapphire threw her head back and laughed again. It was such a sweet and delightful sound.

“I like you,” she said meeting my eyes. “And no, I haven’t seen it all. I may have been doing this for years, but people still surprise me. I love that about my job.” She almost sounded like she could have been talking about being a teacher. Guess she was. Of a sort.

I poured the coffee in both cups, leaving room for the creamer and carried them over to the couch with the bottle of creamer under my arm.

“I wasn’t sure how much you liked, so you can add your own.”

She kicked off her shoes and curled her feet up under her as she took the cup from me and added a few splashes of creamer before stirring it all together. I did the same and we stared into our cups for a few seconds.

“So, Marisol, tell me about yourself,” Sapphire said, blowing on her cup and then taking a sip.

“Oh, um, what do you want to know?” This was awkward, but at least it was something to occupy my mind so it didn’t go crazy worrying about Fin. My phone was on the coffee table between us. Just sitting there. Silent.

“Whatever. Just start talking.” I didn’t really want to, but I didn’t want to sit here in silence either.

“Okay, I’m in college still. I can’t seem to find the desire to graduate, so I just keep getting degrees.”

“In what?” she asked and I sipped my coffee before I answered.

“Education and business. I think I’d like to be a principal at a charter school or something like that. Something where I’m making a difference instead of being a slave to the messed-up system we currently use.” Don’t even get me started on Common Core. Don’t even.

“You think? You’re not sure?” I sighed. Now we were getting into the complications of how my brain worked.

I sighed. What was taking so long for someone to get back to us? I stared at the phone, but it was dark and silent.

“Well… I don’t know. I guess I’m afraid that I’ll get into it and it won’t be like I thought it would be and then all of my hard work in school with be for nothing and I’ll end up making sandwiches, or something. Oh, and be in debt up to my eyeballs for the rest of my life.” I didn’t mean to open up to her like that, but there was something about Sapphire that made you trust her. Say things to her that you wouldn’t ordinarily to a stranger. That was probably why she was so good at her job. She could get people to let out their wildest fantasies and feel safe in doing so. I guess that was a sort of therapy.

“Or maybe you’re just using that as an excuse to never graduate from school and get a big girl job.” Of course, that was really the reason. I was a coward. I blamed some of it on my parents for telling me that going to school was a waste of time, but it wasn’t totally their fault. I had to take a lot of the blame for my inability to be done with school and get a real job.

“So what if I am? It’s my life. I get to choose how I live it.” I didn’t mean to be defensive, but I’d had the argument with myself so many times I couldn’t even count.

Sapphire smiled and raised her hands in surrender. She’d finished her coffee and had thoughtfully set the empty cup on a coaster so it wouldn't’ leave a ring on my coffee table.

“I’m not interrogating you, Marisol. We’re just having a conversation. But clearly that is a touchy subject for you, so why don’t we leave it alone and move on to something else?” I didn’t want to move on to something else. I wanted to know where the fuck Fin was and why no one was calling me.

I also needed to block the number Mr. Herald had used to get in touch with me. He’d probably just use another phone, but then I’d block that number too. What was he going to do, really? Come to Boston and tie me to a chair and waterboard me?

Maybe. I wouldn’t put anything past that psycho. But I would never let it get that far. I’d taken some self-defense classes in my undergraduate years and I was thinking now that a Taser might be a good investment. Not just to protect myself from my ex-boyfriend’s insane father, but to protect me from random creeps on the street. Boston might not be the Bronx, but there were still bad parts of the city where you had to be careful.