Reckless (13 page)

***

"So sleepy head, you realize how late it is?" Kelly asked, when Tad hobbled downstairs at ten the next morning."

"You're telling me I overslept?" he asked. "It's Saturday, isn't it?"

"Looks that way to me," she replied.

She poured him some coffee.

"So when can I get on with my life?" she asked him. "I've got a million things to do. And I'd really like to get back in my apartment."

"Not yet," Tad told her.

She heaved an exasperated sigh, as though it was too much bother to be targeted by some unknown hoods.

"You know, Kel, you're not doing either one of us any good acting like this."

"I hate wasting time," she said, pointedly.

"You think I like it?"

"I just don't like the idea of being holed up in some guy's house that I don't know, until God knows when, with a man I can only seem to fuck or fight with."

"I don't like it any better than you," he said. "Believe me." He looked as pissed as she was. He got up from the kitchen table and limped towards the coffee pot to pour himself another cup, then rooted through his brother's cupboards looking for breakfast.

"There's not much there," Kelly informed him.

"I can see," he replied. Frustrated, he turned around and stared at her. "Well, I guess I should shove off, see what I can do to get us out of this mess."

"Don't you think you'd better have that ankle looked at?" she asked.

"Like you really care?"

"You want me to care?" she asked.

"Yeah, maybe that would be nice. Like me caring about you when you're off fucking a pimp and I don't know where the hell you are for twenty four hours. And caring about you when you're shoving your tits in guys faces, or when you disappear altogether, and I have no idea where you are."

"That bothered you?"

"Of course it did, what do you think, I'm totally heartless?"

"It's crossed my mind," she answered.

"Thanks. After all the times we've had in bed, I would have thought . . ." He didn't finish.

"Are you telling me that you want more than 'physical'?" she asked.

"Maybe I do. But maybe that's too much to ask."

"I kind of thought last night was special, but when you left me down here by myself, I got the hint."

"You were sleeping, I didn't want to disturb you."

"So that's suppose to be an affectionate gesture?" she wondered

"I would have liked to climb back on couch after I got up to pee, but there wasn't any room," he explained. "Seems your bed is always just a little too full."

"My bed? As if you're not out screwing whoever you want."

"That bothers you? I thought it was 'just physical'?" he asked.

"I thought so too," she said.

They stood looking at each other with combative eyes, like they should be fighting but there was no place else to take the fight. They'd run out of words and sentiments, at the same time they'd run smack dab into something they never expected.

"Are telling me you want something different than we've had?" he asked, his voice actually softening.

"I'm only telling you that I was disappointed when you weren't on the couch with me this morning. That's all I know." She was softening too.

"Maybe I was disappointed that I couldn't get back on the couch next to you," he answered her.

"So what does that mean?" she wondered.

He shrugged. "Maybe we have something more here than we expected."

"Maybe," she said.

The phone rang. They stared at each other sorry to have been interrupted. It rang again. Both wanted to pursue their conversation, but knowing their lives were still in jeopardy, Tad finally reached for the phone on the third ring.

Kelly could tell by the conversation that it was the police; and as soon as Tad hung up he started towards the door.

"You stay here, I'll call you as soon as I know something."

"What the hell's going on?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, I'll call," he answered evasively. He was taking the back steps two at a time.

"Don't you dare treat me like a woman, Stone!" she yelled at him as he limped towards the bike.

"You are a woman, last time I checked," he yelled, and since he gunned the motorcycle the next instant, her last retort was lost in the noise.

Kelly London had never backed away and hidden from a war, she didn't care if this was an underworld version. She'd sooner die than stay in Mitch Stone's stuffy house and wait for Tad to rescue her. But where the hell would she go?

When the phone rang, she knew it couldn't be Tad, not that soon.

"Mitch Stone's residence," she said answering the ring.

"Well hello, babe. It's been along time," the voice on the other end replied in a warm seductive tone she recognized.

"Juno." The reality of her predicament hit home.

"Yeah, it's me."

"How do you know where I am?" she asked. As she spoke, she could feel the blood drain from her face.

"Your boyfriend wasn't as smart as he thinks he is," Juno replied.

"I thought you were in jail?"

"Good lawyers take care of a lot of things."

That must have been what made Tad run out so quickly. He must have found out that Juno had been released from prison.

"So what do you want?" she asked.

"You, Trish. Or should I call you by your real name, Kelly?"

She was beginning to shake.

"I don't take kindly to being ratted on by my girls," he continued.

"I was never one of your girls."

"Well, I'm afraid I don't see it that way."

"You bastard," she spit out angrily, all her fear moving quickly to rage.

"You better be careful what you say, bitch. I either got to get you back under my wing, or eliminate you. It's one or the other."

"Why do you want me? Good god, there's hundreds of women more willing than me," Kelly said. She was on the verge of tears, her stomach doing flip flops, her heart ready to jump from her chest.

"You know too much, darling, and that's a liability."

"I know nothing, Juno. Believe me, I have nothing on you."

"I'm sure you'd like me to believe that," he said.

"You drugged me, I don't remember a thing that happened at that party." She was desperate.

"I know you remember the sex," he said. His voice was a whisper making something erotic tingle through her system, as if she could be turned on when her life was threatened.

Kelly heard a rap on the door, and turned to see the hulking shapes of three men through the curtain at the window. When she didn't answer the knock, the trio burst through the door. The redhead and two other men she'd never seen, grabbed her, and the phone receiver dropped to the floor with a heavy clunk. Taking her roughly by the arms, she was led to a car parked on the street. Though it was broad daylight, it was a lonesome neighborhood, and there was no one to see her. When they closed the door on her, they pushed her to the floor so she couldn't see outside. Her mind was spiraling downward, her world, her whole life closing in around her, coming down to this one horrifying moment. This price for sex, because she was too stubborn to shake off the fascination for danger and reckless thrills, because she had to get her jollies walking into risky situations. Even Tad had been more sensible than she was. Her heart filled with dread, and her mind overwhelmed with regret, she closed her eyes. A momen later, she passed out when someone knocked her on the head.

When Kelly woke, she was in the seedy house where she'd first been raped, on the same bed, the same bare mattress, at least one of the same men standing over her bound body. There were three plus Juno, their expressions angry, laced with lust and cruelty.

"I told you he'd have you again," the redhead declared triumphantly.

"She's pretty even when she'd bound, isn't she? All that blonde hair," Juno remarked. "Who would have known? I like you much better this way, my sassy whore. At least while you're still alive." Dangling her survival before her, he laughed maliciously then left her to wonder what her fate might be.

***

While Kelly lay tied by the ankles and wrists, Tad was on the other side of town with two detectives, getting names from Jake at the Blue Lady. They wanted to question all the girls about the pimp, Juno. Unfortunately, it was too early to for any of them to show up for work.

"You might find them at these places," Jake said. "But I've always suspected that the addresses were as fake as their names. Good luck."

They'd leaned on Jake a good fifteen minutes about Juno with no results. All he knew was that the louse was in jail, and he was just as happy, since he was hassling his girls. "I guess it comes with the territory in this business," Jake admitted. "Having pimps around." In the end, all Jake offered was a dubious list of names and addresses.

"Something better turn up with these," Tad warned, as he left the club with the detectives. "If we don't find her, I'll be back. You can count on it."

Tad had the same uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach that he had when he arrived back at Mitch's to find Kelly gone. He'd been so sure that they hadn't been followed to his brother's house. But then he remembered how crazy it was the night before. He'd probably lost it coming back from the police station. Finding the house empty there were only two choices: either she'd been kidnapped by Juno, or she'd left on her own. Since the door was broken in and the phone was off the hook, he opted for kidnapped.

"They think she knows too much," Tad explained to the detectives.

"Does she?" one asked back.

"I don't think so, but that doesn't really matter, does it?

***

Kelly waited in the semi-darkness of the musty bedroom for nearly a hour before her kidnappers returned. When they did, it was with the same scowling lecherous expressions that had frightened her before.

"You like getting used, don't you, Kelly London?" Juno purred to her. He lifted the T-shirt she was wearing and played with her breasts.

"Not today, asshole," she snarled at him.

He slapped her face.

"Don't get bitchy, my pet," Juno seethed. "You're in no position to play hardball. You've got to figure that you'll stay alive as long as you're sweet and your body keeps us happy. You get ugly, we'll get ugly back. And believe me, darling, that's something you won't survive. You have no idea how nasty these guys can get with a sassy dame." He turned to one of the men behind her, "hand me those things you found at the house," he said.

Kelly watched as Juno was given the leather skirt and bustier.

"Going to a party, were we?" he said, pushing the leather in her face. "I bet you got royally fucked."

"I didn't get there," she said.

"Ooo, too bad," he said. "Such a waste of a great outfit." He smiled. "You know what I think guys?" he said. "I think Kelly would like to model this for us, let us see how she looks all dolled up. He began to untie the ropes that held her hands, and then those at her feet. When she was freed, he handed her over to the redhead. "Take her to the bathroom. Make sure she comes out looking like she's ready for the street, and then we'll see her dance."

***

Tad knocked at the fifth apartment. In their first four attempts, they only found one girl home, and she'd never heard of Juno, or knew anything about some crazy redheaded man.

"I just started working at the place a couple of weeks ago." She shook her head. "No, I don't remember any girl named Trish."

At the fifth apartment, they found another dancer at home. The lush brunette was wearing a pretty red silk gown, her robe thrown over her shoulders. She obviously wasn't planning for company. At least not the kind that was knocking at her door.

"You're Debbie?" a detective asked.

She looked at the three men carefully, even as the two detectives flashed their badges.

"You must from the Blue Lady," she said. She opened the door and allowed them inside.

"That's where we got your name. You don't mind telling us your real name?"

"I suppose not. It's Rachel, Rachel Beck."

"We need just a minute of your time," one detective said. He was purposefully restraining Tad, knowing the reporter was much too impatient to make a good detective.

"Do you remember a Trish working in the nightclub a few months back?"

"Sure. She was beautiful, but a little hard to figure."

"Oh?"

"Looked like she didn't really belong there."

"You're familiar with a man named Juno?"

"Oh, god yes," she said. They could see the scorn in her expression.

"You ever work for him?

"No, never," she was adamant. "But he did rough me up once. He's a fuckin' animal."

"You ever call the cops on him?"

"Call the cops on him? You crazy? Girls in my profession don't get protection from the police. Not when Juno's involved. Now if they're working for Juno, that's another matter, at least that's the way it was until he ended up in jail."

"He was released yesterday, Miss Beck."

"Oh shit," she groaned.

"We need to find him," Tad said. "You have any idea where he might be?"

She thought a minute and shrugged.

"Do you remember a couple of guys that were in the bar before Juno got arrested? One was a wiry redhead, the other tall, thin, dark?"

"Yeah, maybe. We get a lot of men there."

"Anything you could tell us about these too?"

"I don't try to get personal," Rachel admitted. "It's not a good idea."

"I'm sure it's not," a detective remarked. "But then another profession would be a good idea too."

She looked at him annoyed by the put-down.

"You know anything about some rundown old house where Juno and these men might have taken women?"

"To turn tricks?" she asked.

"Possibly."

"Yeah, there was a house. I've never seen it, but one of the girls said that when they had out-of-town johns that couldn't be seen, they'll take them to this place near the river. I guess it was pretty shabby."

"Any idea where it is by the river?"

"I'm not sure, except that Audrey. That's her real name. Her stage name was Kit. Said she took off one night from the place, had to call a taxi because the guy was so drunk that he passed out, and she couldn't stand the place. She was a funny girl, had us all in stitches telling us about shivering in her little ankle boots while she called a cab from the Redlight diner. She was laughing, you know, because of Redlight district and whores, and all. She told us this crazy story about being assaulted there, just before the taxi showed up."

"You have any idea where Audrey might be?"

"No where around here. I think she moved some place south. She had a real Southern accent, said she wanted to go back home."