Fat Louise (4 page)

Jane motioned for Teresa, who gave her an angry look as she came up beside the man who was trying to rip her arm out of its socket. “Juan, what are you doing? Are you trying to make me jealous?” Juan's scowl turned into a smile as Teresa rubbed up against him.
 

“No. Why would I want to make you angry, my little flower?” Jane wanted to vomit as Teresa passionately kissed Juan, rubbing her big breasts against him before pulling away teasingly.
 

“Go on upstairs. The door is unlocked. I’ll be there in a minute.” Juan was out the door in a flash.
 

Teresa lowered her voice to a near whisper. “If you keep making the men angry, I’m going to let you be the one to have to fuck them into a better mood. I’m getting sick of bailing your ass out of trouble.”
 

“I’m sorry.” She should have kept her mouth shut. Jane was angry at herself for placing Teresa in the position of having to bail her out of trouble again.
 

“Just keep your mouth shut and smile,” Teresa grumbled, leaving the bar.
 

“What happened?” A hateful voice from behind had her turning to face her new boss.
 

Jorge was an asshole. He had let Teresa and Carina convince him to let her have a job after they had gone into his private office with him. Jane didn’t want to speculate what it had taken for the two women to get him to agree. Regardless, he consistently kept her under his thumb, watching every move she made as if she were going to steal the money he kept in the cash
register.
 

When she hadn’t taken any of the customers upstairs the first two nights she worked, he had wanted to fire her, but Jane had offered to take less money in pay until she was working practically for free. Jane hadn’t missed the fact that, each time Carina and Teresa returned after taking a man upstairs, they would hand Jorge money.
 

“Nothing. Teresa was angry that I was talking to Juan.”
 

He gave her a doubtful look before moving away.
 

Jane returned to cleaning the counter, looking up when she heard the bar door open. Her mouth almost dropped opened at the man entering. She had always been a woman who could appreciate a good-looking man, and that man was more than good-looking; he was outstanding.
 

He seemed to be in his late-twenties or early-thirties. His hair was rich brown, which set him apart from the sea of black-haired men, but it was more than that. The men in the bar all carried guns, and Jane was sure more than one had killed to get what they wanted. However, the man who had entered carried himself with lethal intent. He was tall and muscular, wearing his jeans low on his hips, with his booted feet sounding on the creaking floorboards as he walked across the room.
 

“Give me a whiskey.” Jane nodded her head as he spoke to her in the first English she had heard in more than a week.
 

She stalked to the liquor bottles, automatically reaching for one that wasn’t watered down. Jorge had told her to start with the hard stuff then, as they gradually became drunk, switch to the bottles he had watered down.
 

Her hand shook as she poured the liquor into the glass. Being careful not to spill it, she placed it before him.
 

“Cade! What in the hell are you doing in here?”
 

Jorge reached out to snatch the money from his hand before she could.
 

“Getting a drink. What in the fuck does it look like?” He raised the glass, taking a large swallow.
 

“You think that’s smart after what you did?”
 

“What did I do?” He was talking to Jorge, but Jane felt his eyes on her. She tried to make herself look busy by drying the glasses she had washed, putting them away afterward.
 

“Carlos isn’t going to be happy you’re back in town after his guest disappeared with you.”
 

“You mean Joe? He wanted to hitch a ride home with me, and I didn’t want to make Carlos angry by refusing his friend’s request.”
 

Jorge treated the man to the same suspicious look he was constantly giving her. “That’s the best story you can come up with, Cade?”
 

“It’s the truth,” he said, emptying his glass. He pushed it toward her. “Give me another one.”
 

Jane put the towel down to refill his glass.
 

“You have a room I can stay in tonight?”
 

“I have one in the back, unless you want to stay upstairs with the women. Teresa or Carina will be happy to share their bed with you. That is, unless you can convince her.” He gave a sharp nod of his head toward Jane. “Though, so far, none of the other men in here have been able to.”
 

The asshole didn’t really believe he could make her feel guilty for not wanting to have sex with the revolting men who constantly hung out in the bar, did he?
 

Cade’s gaze slipped impassively over her body before answering. “I’ll take the room out back. I need the sleep.”
 

“Suit yourself.”
 

Cade handed Jorge several more dollars before finishing his second drink, and then he set his glass back down on the counter. Jane couldn’t help watching as he walked across the room to the hallway that had Jorge’s office, the bathroom, and the spare bedroom. Jorge always kept his office locked, which Jane had learned from trying several times to get inside after Carina had told her that was where Jorge kept several addresses of the men who came in the bar.
 

One man in particular had come in the bar two nights ago. Carina had told her his name was Silva, and she believed he was from Peñuela. The man had talked with Jorge for quite a while at a table before leaving. She had casually tried to question the other men in the bar after he had left, only to see fear on their faces and silence at her questions. When Teresa had warned her with a silent glare, she had stopped.
 

Carina managed to briefly get away from a table of men she was sitting. “Cade’s staying?”
 

Jane nodded.
 

“Stay away from him, Jane. Teresa doesn’t even like it when I talk to him. She gets angry if she thinks you’re trying to make a play for him.”
 

“I wouldn’t,” Jane denied, seeing no reason to tell Carina she had been attracted to him the minute he had walked in the door.
 

“Jane, Teresa isn’t nice. She won’t play fair if she thinks you’re trying to take something that’s hers.” Carina gripped her hand in warning. “She won’t care if you get hurt.”
 

Jane nodded, letting Carina see she would heed her warning.
 

She waited on tables then cleaned them down as the customers left. At the end of the night, her eyes felt heavy-lidded with fatigue as she finally climbed the steps toward the apartment.
 

She hadn’t seen Cade for the rest of the night. Teresa had pouted the entire time after Jorge told her he was there and Cade didn’t answer when she knocked on his door.
 

Jane was so bleary-eyed she nearly tripped over the top step. If she didn’t find out new information on her sister soon, she would have to make up her mind about whether to leave. She gave herself a time limit of two days, knowing she couldn’t afford to be away too long. She had bills to pay, and her mother depended on her. Jane tried not to think about how her mother was doing without her, and then her thoughts switched to Bailey. Her sister better make this shit up to her, or Jane was going to make sure Crazy Bitch kicked her ass.
 

Chapter 3
 

Benedict looked up from his breakfast when the maid came to stand hesitantly in the doorway.
 

“Yes, Jana?”
 

“Mr. Montgomery, you have a visitor.”
 

“Who is it?” his wife asked sharply. “Benedict, I have told you I don’t like your business associates to show up here. That’s why you have an office.”
 

“I don’t think they are business associates of Mr. Montgomery’s,” Jana said.
 

“I see. Whoever it is, show them to the living room, Jana.” Benedict cast his wife a sharp look as he stood from the table, following behind the maid as she walked to the front door.
 

He went into the living room to wait, expecting one of his friends or someone with a business interest to walk through the doorway, not who did. He would rather face anyone other than the group of women staring at him with dislike.
 

“Where is Fat Louise?” Sex Piston didn’t wait for him to greet his daughter’s friends, whom he had unfortunately met on numerous occasions.
 

“I can’t tell—”
 

“Bullshit.” Sex Piston moved forward furiously, like a tigress protecting her cub. Benedict wished Jane’s mother was as concerned. “I want to know where she is, now.”
 

He sighed. “Ladies, have a seat.”
 

Benedict watched as Sex Piston, T.A, Killyama, and Crazy Bitch all sat down on his large couch, staring at him as if he was the one responsible for Jane’s absence.
 

“You are aware of Bailey’s disappearance?”
 

“She didn’t exactly disappear. The stupid bitch followed that dick she married into a fucking real life cartel story,” Killyama stated harshly.
 

Benedict couldn’t argue with her.
 

“We haven’t seen Fat Louise for three weeks, and her dumbass mom won’t tell us what’s going on. She was living with Crazy Bitch, but she told us her mother wasn’t feeling good and needed her to come home. When we stopped by to check on her, that bitch didn’t know nothin’. If we don’t get some answers, I’m going to report her missing,” Sex Piston threatened.
 

“Don’t do that!” Benedict shouted then calmed himself quickly.
 

“Why not?” Killyama’s eyes narrowed on him.
 

“Because, if you do, they might not let her back into the States. I don’t know if she entered Mexico legally or not.”
 

“Oh, my God.” T.A.’s mouth dropped open. “She went after that stupid bitch, didn’t she?”
 

“I’m afraid so. I didn’t know until it was too late,” Benedict admitted. Their accusing gazes made him feel worthless as a father. “Her mother found the note she left behind four days after she disappeared and only contacted me when she realized she was out of money. By then, it was too late to reach her. She had already entered Mexico.”
 

The women on the couch had been his daughter’s friends for most of her life. They sat there as if they didn’t know what to do or say next. That was a first for the women, he was sure.
 

Sex Piston was the first to recover. “What are you doing about it?”
 

“I’ve hired a man who is capable of bringing her back. If he will be successful remains to be seen. We have to remain hopeful, though.”
 

“Fuck hope. I’m going to get her.” Killyama stood up from the couch.
 

“No! We are not going to make this situation worse than it is. Cade will bring her back. He’s
the best in the business, and he has managed to complete jobs no one else has.”
 

“Fat Louise isn’t going to survive. She isn’t strong enough. What’s she going to do without her candy? Her favorite restaurant?” T.A. said with tears in her eyes.
 

“Don’t say that!” Sex Piston ordered. “She
is
strong. Who is the one we depend on when we need shit done? She’s
always
there for us.”
 

The three other women nodded their heads.
 

Benedict felt bad for the women, aware of how close they were. Jane never went anywhere without one of the obnoxious women by her side.
 

“Benedict, why are they here?” Delphi came into the room, looking at the women with disdain. Benedict almost warned her; instead, he took a seat on his favorite chair to watch the fireworks.
 

“You the bitch who’s always putting Fat Louise down?” Crazy Bitch asked.
 

“Fat Louise? You’re still calling each other childish nicknames?”
 

“Delphi,” Benedict warned, trying to put an end to the heightened tension that had begun when his wife entered the room.
 

“You don’t mind them being so rude?”
 

Benedict shrugged. He had learned to deal with it long ago.
 

“You pretentious—” Sex Piston began, but Benedict decided to end the confrontation before it really began. If they decided to attack Delphi, he wouldn’t be able to pull them off her by himself.
 

“Perhaps you should go ahead and leave for your hair appointment,” he suggested.
 

“Very well.” His wife curled her lip, turning to leave the room, but was brought up short by Killyama blocking the doorway.
 

“I know you’re the reason Fat Louise took off after that stuck-up daughter of yours. She told me you were pulling a guilt trip on her, and I told her she should shove a fucking foot up your ass. If something happens to her, you’re not going to miss that daughter of yours, because I’m going to send you there in a fucking casket.”
 

Delphi’s hand went to her throat in shock at the warning. “Are you going to let this … this … trash talk to me that way?”
 

“Actually, it’s what I’ve been thinking myself,” Benedict said without sympathy.
 

Delphi brushed by Killyama, leaving the room, although not without a fearful glance back at the women.
 

After they heard the slamming of the front door, Benedict returned his attention to Jane’s friends. “Go home. I’ll contact you as soon as I hear something from Cade.”