Hot Pink Heels (The Street Series) (23 page)

“Rissa, I don’t like where this is going,” Jackson growled. “There is no way you are getting
involved in this.”

“Jack, I’m not your girlfriend, and I don’t need your permission,” she stated simply. Amanda’s jaw dropped and Chuck hid a snicker, but she continued on. “I have hundreds of people at my disposal, and I don’t need your help with this—we can and will do this without you if that’s what it takes. But I am
asking
for your help, friend to friend.”

He dropped his head and motioned for her to continue. “
Okay,” Clarissa went on. “In order to get close to Whitney, we have to be either one of the girls or a client, but we don’t have a lot of control over which girl will get to the car first when someone pulls up, right Amanda?”

Amanda agreed. “Whichever girl is the most desperate,” she said, winking at Jackson. He just shook his head, his opinion on the whole matter evident by the look on his face.

“So, what we really need is to get a girl in there, and fast,” Clarissa said, eyeing everyone in the room as the bombshell began to sink in. One by one they all reacted just the way she expected they would.

“Out of the question,” Jackson shouted, pushing his chair back and pacing the floor.

“But honey, surely you don’t mean…” Laura trailed off as it dawned on her. She grabbed Chuck’s hand for support.

“Clarissa, you’ve been like a daughter to us, and there is no way we can let you do this,” Chuck said.

“You are either a genius or the world’s biggest idiot,” Amanda chimed in.

“Good, then it’s settled,” Clarissa said with a look of satisfaction. “I’ll make the arrangements and we should be able to pull this off tonight.”

Clarissa and Amanda started to head off toward Amanda’s bedroom, whispering plans about clothing and shoes, but Jackson stopped them in the hall. “Clarissa, we need to talk,” he said. “Alone.”

Amanda shrugged and moved on toward the bedroom, closing the door to give them some privacy. She couldn’t help herself though, so she leaned against the bedroom door, straining to catch part of the conversation.

“No, Jack, this isn’t up to you,” Clarissa said. “Amanda obviously means a lot to you, so we clearly cannot allow her to walk straight into such a dangerous situation. You and your dad can’t just pull up and snatch her right off the street. The safest thing to do is to send me in.”

Amanda couldn’t quite hear Jackson’s reply, but it obviously wasn’t a pleasant one. “Don’t you see, this makes the most sense!” Clarissa argued back. “I’ll use my dad’s Ferrari, it certainly could stand to be driven and it will definitely get attention, and if Harry is in agreement, he can pull off the part of the boyfriend dumping me at the curb, where hopefully Billy will be waiting to sweep me into his arms and rescue me.”

Amanda shook her head at Jackson’s response. It certainly wasn’t something she’d thought she’d hear from a pastor’s mouth, but then again, Jackson wasn’t like any other pastor she’d ever known. He was real, and he could admit when he was wrong. She thought about that for a moment before another thought came to her.

Clarissa was willing to take her place, and there was the very real possibility that she could be seriously injured or worse.
Why would she do that for me?
Amanda was lost in her thoughts when she heard Clarissa’s voice get louder.

“Weren’t you the one that was spouting all about how we need to get more involved in the community when you were trying to drum up support for your warehouse project?” Clarissa was certainly not going to give in, Amanda realized.

“Well, this is the way God is telling me to do it, and I’m scared to death, but I’m more scared of
not
doing what he tells me to do than I am of what could happen to me on those streets,” Clarissa said, calming slightly. “Are you going to argue against that?”

Although Amanda couldn’t hear his response, she heard Clarissa’s footsteps getting closer. She moved away from the door to sit quickly at the desk, pretending she hadn’t heard Clarissa’s side of the conversation.

“Ugh, that man,” Clarissa said. “He can be so pigheaded sometimes!”

“Why?” Amanda asked simply, but Clarissa misunderstood her question.

“Why? I don’t know why he is like that,” Clarissa said. “I guess that’s just how men are.”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Amanda said. “Why are you doing this for me? The lunch, the friendship, putting yourself in danger, all of it. Why are you doing it?”

Clarissa stopped pacing to look at Amanda. “Why? I’m doing it because God wants me to, and because I believe he wants you for something bigger,” Clarissa said. “Whatever happens to me, I don’t have any family that can be affected by it, other than Jack’s family. There’s no one to mourn my loss if something should go wrong. But you, well, I believe you and Jack belong together, and God…” she broke off on a sob.

Amanda stood, putting her hand on Clarissa’s shoulder, confused as to why Clarissa was suddenly in tears. Clarissa waved her off, trying to continue. “I had a dream last night,” she said, her throat thick with unshed tears. “In the dream, you were there with Jack, and you were holding a baby. Your baby. Jack’s baby. I knew it was just how it was suppose to be, so you see, I love Jack enough to want his happiness above my own. And I love God enough to know he wants me to do this for you both.
”

Clarissa turned away, attempting to regain control, while Amanda just stood there, numb. She’d just had her mind blown. Clarissa was willing to do the unthinkable, to take her place and face a possible beating or worse, for her, just because it was the right thing to do. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a verse from her childhood struggled to break through the years of lies, sex, fighting and hurt.

“Christ died for us, according to the scriptures…” Wasn’t that somewhere in the Bible? Amanda couldn’t remember, but she clearly saw the connection between what Christ did for everyone and what Clarissa was willing to do for her.

“Thank you,” Amanda said simply. She didn’t know what else to say, and her emotions were welling up in her so strongly she was afraid she herself would cry, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to let her guard down quite that much in front of Clarissa just yet. “Excuse me for a minute,” Amanda said
abruptly, and then she hurried from the room.

Jackson was nowhere to be seen, but Amanda wasn’t looking for him. She knew just what she was looking for, and she thought she’d finally found it. Shutting herself in the bathroom, she sat on the
edge of the bathtub with the Bible that had been lying on the desk in her room.

Flipping to the back of the Bible, she looked for the words she remembered, hoping to
find a verse to jog her memory.
Gift
, there it was, and it had Romans 6:23 beside it. She began paging through the back of the Bible, sure she was on the right track.

Romans. Ha, I remembered
, Amanda thought, strangely pleased with herself.
It’s in the New Testament. Okay, chapter six, oh shoot, what verse was it again?
She’d let the pages of the index fall shut, so she decided she would just skim through the chapter from the beginning.

Here it is!
Amanda had no idea why she felt so giddy when she located the verse, but she read through it several times, letting the meaning sink in: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The free gift, the free gift.
Amanda sat still as the phrase repeated in her head. All those years ago, she’d never really had a relationship with God, so when Matt had pressured her that night, it was easy to give in. She’d felt like he had paid for the limo and the dinner, the flowers and the hotel, so she had to give him something.

But all this time, she’d been wrong about God. He wasn’t like the men who had traipsed through her life since that prom night. He had something
free
, no strings attached. She’d always thought if it was too good to be true, then it couldn’t possibly work out. The tears were flowing freely now, and Amanda let them come. It felt so good to finally realize what had been wrong all these years.

She’d never really had a
friendship with God, she had just gone through the motions even though her parents had modeled their relationships with God in front of her and her siblings. She’d been so weak, she couldn’t see she’d never had what they had, and all it took was one night for it to all topple over and destroy her.

God
,
if you remember me, I think I’m back. I mean, maybe you never could hear me, because I wasn’t really trying to follow you. Why the hell did it take me so long to figure it out? Oops, I’m sorry, I don’t think I’m supposed to talk to you like that. Well, I guess you know how I really am anyway. I’m a hooker. I don’t know how many men I’ve let use me. I’m sorry I screwed my life up, but it says here that you want me forever, and I remember the Bible stories that said your son died for my sins.

Amanda had never really understood that until now, when Clarissa had
lived it out in front of her at her time of need. No strings attached, Clarissa was just willing to put her life on the line because it was the right thing to do. Wow.

She sure hoped that no matter what happened between her and Jackson, Clarissa would still be her friend. Amanda had a feeling she could learn a lot from Clarissa about what it means to actually follow God.

Following Clarissa’s example from earlier that day, Amanda continued on.
Okay God, I really need you to forgive me for all this crap I’ve done. I’ve done a lot of terrible things, and here recently, I made the biggest mistake yet.

I’m sure you know, but I let my baby die. No, that’s not even right. I
killed
my own baby. Oh God, I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to push it into a box so I didn’t have to deal with it right now, but it’s always there, reminding me of what I gave up.

Amanda could no longer control her sobs as she thought about what she’d done, but this time, they weren’t just sobs of remorse. There were also tears of forgiveness.
God forgives me!
Amanda could hardly believe it, but it was the best news she’d ever heard.

She knew forgiving herself would take some time, and there was no doubt she’d screw up again, but she thought she was starting off on the right foot now at least.

Looking in the mirror, Amanda realized she was a mess. She splashed water on her face, dried it with a towel and prepared to return to her room. Leaving Melanie’s Bible on the counter, she headed down the hall.

She opened the door, surprising Clarissa from her position at the desk. Clarissa stood, concern on her face when she saw Amanda’s tear-ravaged expression, but the smile on Amanda’s face told her everything she needed to know.

“Let’s do this,” Amanda said.

Clarissa grinned back at Amanda, her own tears dried. “Alright, girl, its time you turned me into a hooker,” she laughed. “Whatcha got?”

Amanda opened her closet door and scoped the situation. She would need to do a bit of tweaking, but she could make this work. She grabbed the black cocktail dress
and eyed Clarissa. “Put this on,” she ordered.

Clarissa obeyed,
and Amanda was already digging in the closet for her pink heels. She hoped they would fit Clarissa. When she turned, Clarissa was shimmying into the tight dress. It fit her much more snugly than it had fit Amanda.

“Yes, that’ll do,” Amanda said with a smile. She pulled open drawers on the desk until she found what she was looking for. Holding up the scissors, she locked eyes with Clarissa. “Stand very still.”

Amanda was on her knees by the time Clarissa realized what she intended to do, and when she’d finished, the tasteful cocktail skirt was riding just shy of illegal. She’d removed a good six inches or so, and she sat back to admire her handiwork.

“Oh yes, that’s gonna draw some attention,” she smiled again as Clarissa’s attempt to look down at herself raised the back of the dress another inch. Clarissa felt the air on her backside and her eyes were like saucers as she grabbed at the dress, tugging and pulling to no avail.

“Amanda, are you sure it needs to be this short?” Clarissa’s shocked voice was enough to have Amanda practically rolling on the floor. “I can’t even bend over without my butt showing!”

“That’s sort of the point, Clarissa,” Amanda said through a snort. She wouldn’t have believed it possible to turn the gorgeous and well-mannered heiress into a skanky slut, but she was getting close. She chopped the dress around Clarissa’s hips, causing the once beautiful dress to ride low on the hips while hugging her butt like a
man’s dream.

Then she undid the zipper and removed the top, leaving Clarissa in her bra. Clarissa’s entire body was one big blush, but Amanda pushed
forward. “You’ll need these,” she said, handing a pair of cushioned implants to Clarissa.

Clarissa stared blankly at the implants
then at Amanda. “Clarissa, they’re for your bra, to you know, boost the ladies? I mean, you’re pretty, but guys want boobs, and the bigger the better.”