Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set (42 page)

She decided against it, and went back to the bedroom and watched another movie.  She fell asleep.  When she woke up, she heard loud music and brightened, thinking that Chad had finally decided to come home.  But she soon realized that the noise was coming from the apartment next door.  She debated on smoking her last cigarette and decided against, it wondering what in the hell she was going to do if Chad didn’t bother to come home at all.

She used the last of the peanut butter and jelly dreading the fact that she’d have to make herself eat a tuna fish and pea sandwich in the morning.  She paced for another little while and blasted Chad’s stereo to give the neighbor’s the hint that it was rude to blast music so loud, no matter what time of day it was.  They got the hint and turned their music down.  She turned hers off, but by then she had a headache so she wondered if she’d really accomplished anything worthwhile.

She went back into the bedroom and wondered whether she had anything left that was worth anything at the pawn shop, but realized that other than a few movies, and an old DVD player, there wasn’t much that she could pawn for even enough money to buy something decent to eat.  Chad’s stereo was too old.  The TV was nice, but they were borrowing it from a friend of Chad’s until they had the money to buy their own.

She was very depressed by the time she fell asleep that night and there was still no sign of Chad.  When she woke up the next morning, she wasn’t surprised that his side of the bed was still empty.  She used the restroom and realized that the light wouldn’t turn on.  She flipped the switch in the bedroom, and it wouldn’t turn on either. 

“Fuck.  What in the hell did I get myself into this time?”

She threw Chad’s pillow as hard as she could at the bedroom door and wished she could throw something harder and not at the door but at his head.

She lit her last cigarette and got dressed in her best jeans and a low cut shirt, wondering if she could talk someone out of a ride to the local food bank or the church that sometimes helped people out with utilities when they had the funds.  She put her shoes on and decided to try one more time to call Chad.  She grabbed her purse and headed out the door, locking the door of the apartment behind her.

She reached the payphone and dialed Chad’s cell phone.  It went straight to voicemail again, and she knew that he was ignoring her.  She wondered how a drug dealer was supposed to make any money when he wouldn’t answer his damned phone, but then thought again that Chad had never been much good at dealing anyway.  She waited for the beep. 

“Okay Chad.  I guess it’s starting to get pretty fucking obvious that you’re not coming home.  If you’re hurt or in jail there’s not anything I can do about it because I am totally broke now.  An asshole like you wouldn’t get hurt or caught anyway.  I truly appreciate all that you’ve done for me.  I am so glad that I was never dumb enough to sleep with you without a rubber.  If I was pregnant I’d hunt you down and wring your neck.  I might anyway.  I hope you took your pussy ass out of town because I’m not gonna forgive you for this shit.  Ever.”

Brandy banged the phone back into the cradle and almost jumped when she realized that someone was standing right behind her.  It was her neighbor from the other side, not the one who had been playing the obnoxious music the day before.

“Hi Trina.”

“Hey Brandy.  Is everything okay?”

Brandy sighed.  “No, it’s not okay.  Chad’s stupid ass left me.  They shut our electricity off. There’s no food in the house and I have no money.  I have no idea what I’m going to do.”

“I’m sorry sweetie.  I’d loan you some cash to eat, but I’m broke myself.  Have you tried the food bank?  They’re open every day during the week aren’t they?”

“Yeah, but they give you a lot of food since you can only go there twice a month.  I can’t carry it all home by myself.  We had that cart so I could go get groceries while Chad was gone but it broke.”

“I’m sorry hon.  I’d give you a ride but my boyfriend has the car all day.  He’s a courier during the day and he delivers pizza at night.  It sucks not seeing him, but he makes pretty good money between the two jobs.”

“Yeah.  I guess I’ll have to look for a job, though that doesn’t help me right away.”

“What about your parents?”

“They don’t want to talk to me anymore.  They barely want to admit that I’m their daughter since I took off with Chad and started using coke.  Do you have a cigarette Trina?”

“I quit a couple weeks ago hon.  I’ll have my man bring you one if you still need one when he gets back okay?”

“Yeah.  I guess I’m gonna head downtown.  Thanks for trying to help Trina.”

“No problem.”  Brandy started to walk away, but Trina called out “Hey Brandy?”

Brandy turned back.  “Yeah?”

“I might know of a place where you can get some cash today.”

Brandy made a face.  “No way am I going down to sell myself on the street corner Trina.”

Trina rolled her eyes.  “It’s not that bad.  Well, not quite that bad and it’s a job.”

“Huh?”

“Have you heard of Gabe’s Place?  I’m sure you’ve walked by it.  Big neon sign with pink letters?  I worked there for a while.  The owner will hire any girl if she’s pretty enough.  You’re definitely pretty enough Brandy.”

“I’m not 21 Trina.  I thought you knew that.”

Trina shrugged.  “Put down a fake birthday and hope he doesn’t look too closely at your ID.  He pays at least eight bucks an hour.  Or at least he pays women that.  Give it a try Brandy.  It’s not like you have a lot of pleasant options right now.”

“It sounds way too much like being a hooker except with less pay and harder work.  If I want to sleep with some nasty guy with a beer belly I’ll go down to the street corner.  It’s okay Trina.  I’ll find a job at one of the stores downtown.  I’ll figure out some way to get through until I get a paycheck.”

“Gabe doesn’t have a beer belly.  He’s one of the best looking guys I’ve ever seen.  And he’ll give you money whenever you need it.”

Brandy rolled her eyes.  “I don’t want to sleep with my boss.  I’ve got to go Trina.  If Chad happens to come back tell him to come find me okay?  We need to have a little talk.”

“You know he ain’t comin’ back girl.  Well, remember Gabe’s if you get too desperate.  Though sometimes I think I’d pay him to sleep with me he’s so fine.”

“Are you talking about the married guy that hires girls on the same day they go in there and supposedly pays them more if they give him a blow job as soon as he hires them?  No thank you.  He must have every STD there is.”

Trina laughed.  “He’s clean.  He doesn’t hire girls that look too down and out.”

“Right.  I’ll see you around Trina.”

“Bye Brandy.”  Trina turned and walked away.

Brandy headed downtown.  She stopped every place she could think of and filled out an application even if they said they weren’t hiring.  By lunchtime her stomach was growling.  She wished she’d remembered to eat before she’d left.  Only two places out of all the places she’d stopped had seemed even half interested in hiring her, and they both wanted to call her to schedule interviews which was a little hard since she didn’t have a phone.  She was feeling dejected and pissed off by the time she passed by Gabe’s Place for the second time that day.

She could also feel the need for cocaine coursing through her veins.  She shook her head at herself and took a deep breath, adjusting the front of her shirt to make sure that it gave an ample view of her cleavage.

Brandy looked up at the neon sign above the door, wishing that she had a cigarette to take the edge off, but she didn’t.  She’d only been able to talk one person out of a cigarette all day and she’d smoked that the minute it was in her hand.  She was going to be shit out of luck if this guy didn’t hire her, she thought.

Brandy flipped her dark hair back over her shoulder, suddenly wishing that she’d worked harder to lose the five pounds she’d gained recently.  But there’s nothing I can do about it now she thought, and I know that my ass looks damned good in these jeans.

She pushed open the door and breathed in the scents of stale beer and popcorn.  There was a good looking guy behind the bar, talking to a tall blonde guy whose back was turned.  She sat down on a stool, raising her finger to try to get the bartender’s attention, hoping that maybe he’d give her a free drink.  Anything to take the edge off of her craving Brandy thought again.  It had been what seemed like forever since she’d went without coke this long.  She felt like she wanted to crawl out of her skin.

The bartender turned to her and smiled.  Brandy could tell that he was checking out her chest, but she didn’t mind.

He walked over to her.  “Hello beautiful.  What can I get you?”

She couldn’t speak for a minute because the blonde turned around.  She prayed that he was Gabe, because he was gorgeous.  Tall, with hair that brushed his shoulders and the most beautiful pair of blue eyes she thought she’d ever seen.  He barely looked old enough to drink, let alone run a bar, but as he smiled at her, she was willing to bet that he was Gabe.  His smile told her that he would give her the world, if she didn’t mind doing some dirty things along the way.  He had a black band tattooed around both of his biceps.  His muscles bulged from his tight t-shirt.  She had to close her mouth so she wouldn’t start drooling.

The bartender’s grin had frozen, she’d taken so long to answer him.  She looked at him. “I’m sorry.  Can I get an application?”  She turned a grin of her own on him. “And a drink on the house if you don’t mind.”

He turned towards the blonde. “Boss?”

“Get her a drink Todd.  Give this beautiful lady whatever she wants. Then I’ll take her back to my office and take care of the application process.”

“Okay.  What would you like?”

“Rum and coke please.”

“Sure.”

“I’ll get it Todd. We’ll take it back to the office with us.” Gabe winked at her.

“Okay.” 

Gabe fixed her drink and then handed it across the bar to her.  Brandy was sure that he let his fingers linger on hers extra-long on purpose.

He gestured for her to follow him down the hallway.  She took a sip of her drink to steady her nerves and followed him to an office with a sign hung on it that said “Boss Man.”

“Todd thought it was funny.  I didn’t want to hurt his feeling by taking it down,” Gabe said.

“Oh.”

He followed her into the office, shutting the door behind them.  He rummaged around in his desk, coming out with a single paged application which he handed across the desk to her.  She took another gulp of her drink, and glanced at the pictures on his desk.  There were two, one of a beautiful woman with red hair Brandy thought she’d seen around town, and the other of a dark haired little boy who looked about three years old.

She filled out the application and handed it back to him, hoping that her lack of work experience wouldn’t stop her from getting hired.  She’d heard from more than just Trina that Gabe would hire any woman off the streets if she was pretty enough.  Normally Brandy had no problem thinking that she was pretty enough, for most men at least, but Gabe wasn’t most men.

“So how long have you owned this place?” He was studying her application and it was making her nervous.

“A little over a year.  I’m surprised I haven’t seen you around here before Brandylynn.”

“Oh, I’ve just been in town a few months.”  She laughed.  “I never have any money to go out to the bar anyway.  I’m always too busy spending my money on other things.”

He looked up at her then.  Brandy felt like his eyes were looking right through her.  “I see.”

“Um, you can call me Brandy.  I mean, if you decide to hire me.”

He took her application and put it back in his desk drawer.  For a panicky moment, Brandy thought that he was dismissing her, then he said “What can I really help you with Brandy?”

“I do need a job.  But um, you wouldn’t happen to have any coke lying around would you?”

She laughed, though it felt strained. 

He studied her for a moment. “I do actually.  I took it from my wife because she’s pregnant.  Although I do like to indulge myself then and again.  But is coke what you really need Brandy?”

She drained half of her drink in one swallow.  She could almost feel the high.  Hell yeah she thought, coke is what I need.

“Yes Gabe.  I mean please.”

Gabe sighed and opened the bottom drawer of his desk.  He brought out a small baggie and gestured for her to come around the desk.  He laid a line for both of them.  Once the coke was in her system Brandy felt a hundred times better.  She wanted more but she was sure she could talk Gabe out of some money.

He’d felt her ass when she was leaning over to do her line and she was glad she’d worn her best jeans.

She went back around the desk, wondering again if he was going to hire her.  “Do you have a cigarette?”

He sighed again and dug a rumpled pack out of the same drawer he’d earlier pulled the coke from.  “We can’t smoke in here.  Let’s go outside.  I want to talk to you Brandy.”

“Okay.”

She didn’t think she’d mind blowing Gabe she thought as she followed him out of the office.  She thought she’d do just about anything for him if he’d keep her high.