Reckless (7 page)

She did stay long into the next day. She passed out for awhile only to wake finding the redhead taking advantage of her back portal again. Passed out again when he finished, she only remembered the sun coming in the window burning her body with its heat and she had no desire to get out of its path. They'd untied her feet but not her hands, so she could almost curl up in a ball. The tall man used her mouth, and the redhead went for her one last time before they were finished with her and finally let her go.

Dropping her in the Blue Lady's back alley, she slipped inside the door and grabbed for her things. It was early, but the show was already going on and the dressing room was deserted. She slipped out without being noticed and six blocks down the street she hailed a taxi.

"Where you going?" the driver asked.

"I don't know," she said shaking her head.

"You on drugs, or what?" he scowled.

"No, no I'm not, I'm just confused," she said. "Take me uptown, 223 Franklin." The address was out of her mouth without thinking about it. How she remembered it, she had no idea.

Twenty minutes later Kelly was climbing out of the taxi, crushing some bills into the man's hand, not waiting for change. Looking up at the high-rise in front of her, she wondered which apartment was his. When she found the registry, she read the number, Stone - 816.

After knocking on his door, Kelly was relieved to hear footsteps behind it. He was home.

"Good god, you look like shit! Where have you been?" Tad exclaimed when he saw her.

She stood there wanting to say something, wanting to fall into his arms and tell him everything. But she was silenced by a half-clothed woman on the other side of the door. A small T-shirt covered the woman's breasts, but otherwise she was naked, her pubic mound and round ass cheeks immodestly on display.

"Maria," Tad only nodded his head, expecting the woman to understand what he wanted. And Kelly waited in the hallway, while the woman snatched the rest of her clothes from the couch and hurriedly dressed.

"You call me, won't you?" she asked him as she walked out.

"In the morning," he replied tersely.

When the door finally closed, Kelly collapsed into Tad's chest like a frightened child.

Tad didn't ask questions, he simply put her to bed. When he crawled in next to her he didn't expect sex, but she moved close to him. "Make love to me," she murmured quietly.

His arms were warm, dangerously comforting, exuding the tenderness she'd felt before – that tenderness that made his often ruthless style bearable. Every part of her ached, her limbs were sore and her skin felt as if the nerve endings had been rubbed raw, as though they'd been brushed with a hard bristle brush. They didn't speak, wordlessly moving together in a unison that could only been born of some real affection. He slipped inside her quivering thighs, moving briskly towards an end. Then he held her as she moved on his receding cock until her climax appeared calmly and then quickly drifted away.

She slept, unaware of Tad or the rest of the world until late that next morning.

"I called in sick for you," he told her when she appeared in his bathrobe at the door of his room. He was making coffee in the kitchen, fully dressed.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Eleven."

"Oh, god, this is worse than a hangover."

"You want to tell me what happened?"

"I suppose I owe you that much," she acknowledged. "Juno gave me to his fiends."

Tad’s eyes opened wide and for a moment he stopped what he was doing. "And you were raped?" he asked.

"No, just fucked. I suppose it was consensual."

"You wanted to go with them?"

"Not exactly, they took me out of the bar. Still I didn't give them much of a struggle."

He shook his head. "You're going to have to lay low for awhile."

"Why?"

"You think you can let a pimp like Juno use you like that, and then walk away?"

"My life has nothing to do with the Blue Lady. What's the problem?"

"The problem is recognizing your face."

"Like I'd be walking in their neighborhood anytime soon?"

Juno's neighborhood is bigger than you think. If you think a wig and some make-up will change you all that much, you're kidding yourself."

"That's not what you said when I first got the job," she reminded him.

"This is different. You weren't in danger, you are now."

Kelly refused to let his fears sway her.

Tad turned to light a fire on the stove. Slapping a pan on the burner, he pulled a dozen eggs from the refrigerator.

"You're probably going to have to tell Sam," he said turning back to her.

She winced.

"Hey, I didn't recommend this."

"I didn't say you did," she replied, with the familiar disdain for the man rising quickly. She turned away. "I think I'll take a shower."

"You're going to miss breakfast," he said.

"I'm not all that hungry," she murmured, and she disappeared into his bedroom.

When Kelly returned to the kitchen she was toweling her hair with a thick cotton terry. There was almost a smile on her face, and the dreariness that had shrouded her since she'd walked in the door appeared to be gone.

"Feeling better?" he asked. He was just polishing off a plate of eggs. More were still steaming on the platter in front of him.

"Yeah, thanks, I'm sorry I snapped."

"Let me see you?" he said.

"See me?"

"Yes, take off the robe. I want to see how much they roughed you up."

Not sure whether this was a compassionate or sexual move, she was beholden enough to follow orders. Dropping the robe to her feet, she let him view her body front and back. He observed her critically.

"Looks like they didn't leave too many bruises."

"Just a couple on my arms," she said.

"And one on your bottom. Your skin's roughed up, but you'll survive. And you're beautiful as ever."

"Thanks," Kelly replied, actually blushing from the compliment. She picked up the fallen garment and pulled it around her body, tying the belt at her waist.

"I know you're not hungry, but why don't you eat anyway?" he said, holding a chair for her like he was a real gentleman.

Tad poured her orange juice, made her two pieces of toast after she finished off the eggs. Going from not hungry at all, she felt like a bottomless pit. It made sense remembering that she hadn't had anything to eat in two days. Somehow Tad sensed that.

"So, Kel, why'd you come here? Why didn't you just go home?"

"I don't know, I guess I didn't want to be alone," she said. "And you're the only one I didn't think would judge me."

"Judge you for what?"

"For the way I was fucked. For fucking in the first place, for putting my life in jeopardy, for liking it even if it was horrible."

"All that huh? Tell me, how horrible was it?"

"You want details," she asked.

"I like details," he answered.

"And you're going to gloat over them?" she wondered.

"No. I'm going to appreciate them." He smiled.

She wasn't sure if she owed him this much, but he was a better person to tell her story to than anyone else she knew.

"One was tall, the other was redhead, that's about all that I remember about the guys that took me from the Blue Lady. One was in my cunt to start, the other in my ass at the same time. When they were done with me, I was tied face down on the bed and this big guy used my ass again. All three places got used again when I woke up later, then they dropped me at the Lady and a taxi brought me here.

"You get paid?"

"One of them shoved a hundred in my hand when he was done. The others said they paid Juno."

He almost snickered. "So I suppose you'll want to go back for your cut?" Tad asked.

"You ass," she answered him, her eyes flashing.

"You made your bed, when you decided go home with Juno. Let's face it Kel, you liked it. Can't be so prim anymore, can you?"

Tad had every available excuse to gloat, but he was subtle with the sentiment. He was almost being gentle since half of her was still in shock.

"I have to tell Sam, huh?" she asked as she drank her third cup of coffee. Tad had risen from the table and was putting the dishes into the sink.

"You've got to tell him something. Especially why you need to lay low for awhile. Any excuse you come up with, I'll back you up. But that's not to say the truth won't work its way around."

"The truth that I was fucked by a mobster pimp and was then taken as a whore and used?"

"It's not going to look good on your resume," he observed.

He was obviously right.

After breakfast, Tad went out, telling Kelly to stay inside. She had no arguments with him, no desire to protest. Perhaps a first in her life, she was allowing someone to nurture her. Perhaps a first in Tad's, he was allowing himself to take care of a woman.

***

Tad brought pizza home at ten that night.

"Where've you been?" Kelly asked him anxiously as he came through the door.

"Ooo, the little woman worried?" he replied, amused.

"No. I just wondered."

He smiled. "Maybe I've been screwing a brothel full of women," he said.

"Have you?"

He chuckled. "No. I'd rather have my fucks one at a time, unless of course you have a girlfriend you'd like to do for me, just for the pleasure of letting me watch."

"You'd like that?"

"What man wouldn't?"

He opened the pizza box on the coffee table, threw some napkins her way, and went to the fridge to get a couple of beers.

"You want one?" he asked.

"Sure."

He brought out three. One he downed in seconds, gulping the way a man does, the second he offered to her, and the third he popped open for himself.

"So tell me, where are we with the story?" Kelly asked, really hoping to change the conversation away from her, and feeling a little guilty that she was "under the weather."

"All fell into place today," Tad said.

"It did?" She was shocked.

"I work fast with the right information."

"Anything I said helpful?"

"It all was. I even think Juno's going down when this is over."

"And the vice mayor?"

He winced. "That's a little more ticklish to prove. The cops did nail Forest. He's been looking the other way, taking payoffs. Juno had quite an operation, but your few tidbits of information opened the police investigation wide. The cops busted Juno the other night. He'll be in jail a while."

"And we've met the deadline?" she asked.

"What deadline?"

It hadn't occurred to her that she hadn't mentioned the deadline to Tad. "Sam was getting frustrated. I told him we'd be ready to print by Friday."

"You did?"

"And we'll be ready," she said, happily.

"Thanks for letting me know," he said rightfully annoyed.

"That's my prerogative," she said, sensing his anger rise. "Hey, don't be upset, I always figure a real deadline alerts the universe that things have to happen, and so they did."

"Interesting logic," he said. He polished off another beer, and went to the refrigerator for more. "You want another," he called to her.

"Sure," she said, taking another gooey piece of pizza in hand.

"By the way, I took care of Sam for you."

"Took care of him?"

"I explained stuff, sort of, about why you're going to stick close to the newsroom. I managed to leave out the fucking and prostitution parts."

"That's good," Kelly replied.

"He was okay, just don't bring it up."

"Thanks," Kelly said. Funny how she was feeling so comfortable with Tad, almost as though they were becoming friends.

They finished off two six packs by the time the night was over, toasted beer cans thinking of their triumph. And then got really drunk when Tad began pouring shots. Somewhere in the middle of the laughter, Kelly's clothes came off, and then Tad's, and they were naked making love, though they passed out before either one could reach a climax.

In the morning, she was hung over, and Tad took the story to the paper to finish, while Kelly nursed her headache and thought about Tad Stone way too affectionately.

Two months later

Stone, get in here," Kelly yelled to the disappearing reporter as he tried to exit the newspaper building without seeing his news director.

He stalled for awhile, flirting with a copy editor. He had been on his way out of the building and if he could, he might just ignore Kelly and slip on out. Unfortunately she was standing at her office door, arms crossed in front of her like some 19th century school marm. The way she was peering through her reading glasses, he must have really pissed her off.

"What's ya' need, babe," Tad said, sauntering past her into her office. He sat down at the chair in front of her desk and put his feet up on it as though he planned to stay for awhile.

"You conniving, devious, ungrateful bastard!" she declared, as she shut the door firmly behind her. "And get your feet off of my desk."

"Ooo my, we are pissed at something?"

"You're damn right and you know what?"

He looked at her as if he had no idea.

"I gave the Claussen murder to David Chow, and what do you do? You ignore my specific instructions and go after the interview he should have had."

"Is Sam pissed about it too?" Tad asked.

"Sam has nothing to do with this."

"David would have never gotten that interview and you know it. I was just saving the paper."

"You don't know that, you arrogant SOB," she snapped.

"Hey, I'm not satisfied with the assignments you're giving me," Tad said, sitting up and staring her straight in the eye. "You've been handing out the plums to your favorites, while you've been giving me mall openings and high school band concerts! You think I'm going to settle for that shit?"

"I do not give you mall openings and band concerts," Kelly shot back.

"Well, lifeless politicians are just as bad."

"I thought handling local politics was one of your forte's?" she said.

"Yeah, when there's story."

"Well sometimes there just isn't one."

"Well, I'd suggest you take a look at how your making your decisions, or I'll be upstaging your darlings every chance I get."

"Is that a threat?"

He shook his head. "Threat? No. How could I possible threaten you, unless, of course, I suggested that I'd be visiting your boss real soon."

"I'm not so sure he'd help you out after you pulled that stunt, flying off to Mexico, doing research on illegal immigrants, spending half the time on the beach with your girlfriend."

"You know you could have covered for me."

"Covered? How was I suppose to do that when you were running up bills right and left."

"I'm sure you could have figured out a way since you owe me big time, bailing you out of the brothel fiasco."

"And I've given you half a dozen damn great story leads since then, but you can't have it all. That's just the way it is."

"Yeah, I guess so. Of course I suppose I shouldn't expect anything more than your cold shoulder treatment."

"Cold shoulder? C'mon now, we've never been bosom buddy friends," she said. "What we had for a few weeks was just physical, if you remember, exactly the way you wanted it."

"How could I forget," he answered her. "Funny, I find it really interesting that as far as you're concerned, I haven't done a bloody thing right since the night you spent in my apartment."

"What's that have to do with anything?'

He shrugged. "Hell, I don't know."

"Are you trying to say that it wasn't just physical?" she inquired.

"Hell, no. Why would I want a relationship with you? You'd eat me alive."

"I'm glad our feelings are still mutual," she replied, her temper was beginning to rise. "And I'll tell you what, just because I still "owe" you, you can take a look at this story." She handed him a news wire.

Tad's eyebrows narrowed looking at the paper in his hands. "Cassandra Marble? Wasn't she a waitress at the Blue Lady? A friend of yours?"

"We were friends, yeah. She was a good woman." Kelly's anger at Tad was turning to sadness. "And she wasn't part of Juno's brothel. Funny, how she told me that every year one of the girls from the Blue Lady ended up dead. I never would have thought it would be her."

"I'm sorry, Kel."

"Me too," she said. "See if you can do anything with her story. I wouldn't trust anyone else with it, and that's the truth."

He nodded and left her office without another word.