Sizzle (8 page)

Celina

I HOPED ELEGANT ESCORTS
and Cartwright Modeling would call today. I’m antsy after my first client and don’t need extra time to think about what I’m doing. Not that I want to jump in someone else’s bed right away, but I need to make the money by deadline and not get pulled under by the sleaziness of it. I barely slept through the night because I was thinking and worrying about Kiley. It makes me sick not knowing what’s happening to her. She’s only a baby, and I fear my thoughts aren’t as bad as the truth.

I didn’t eat dinner last night, and it’s now ten in the morning. I’m starving. I take another shower and shave my entire body, including my hoo-ha. I moisturize everything, buff and paint my nails with a clear coat, and fix my hair. While in the shower, I let steam soak into the suit I wore yesterday for Alex. I also used a spray deodorizer on it before leaving the room. I don’t need a daily dry cleaning bill to go with everything else. I put on a pair of white shorts with a blue gauzy blouse and black strapless sandals. A few cheap bangle bracelets at my wrists and silver chain around my throat top it off. If a suit isn’t required, what I have on will work for customers. The look doesn’t yell “hooker” from the tips of my toes to my nipples, and to me that’s a plus. I can unbutton a button or two if I need a sleazier look.

I disregard my growling stomach as I use a metal nail file to unscrew a plate in the cooling system below the window beside the door. I tuck the cash inside and screw the plate back on. As long as it doesn’t cause a fire, it should be safe. I turn off the cooler before leaving the room just to be sure. I worked out a deal in place of maid service here at the motel. As long as I keep the room clean and grab a new set of sheets at the front office each week I get a ten percent discount on the weekly room fee. That doesn’t mean my room won’t be searched. I’m not an idiot. And in a very OCD manner, I placed my toiletries in a precise location and took pictures. I flip the zipper handle on my suitcase up. If someone unzips it, I’ll know because it naturally falls downward. I don’t know what the hell I’ll do if the room is searched. I have few options. With a twenty dollar bill in hand, I leave the room and walk to a small corner restaurant half a block away where I order toast and coffee.

My styled hair is pinned up with a large silver clip so it’s off my neck. But beads of sweat still cover the back of my neck as I slide gingerly into my hot car after leaving the restaurant. It’s Phoenix. It’s summer and it’s hot. Nothing new.

I start the car and turn on the air conditioner. All four front vents point in my direction. My parents gave me the car when I went to college. This was before my father was laid off. I’ve treated the vehicle well and she’s done the same for me. I lean my face closer to the vents when the air conditioning finally puts out cold air. I also roll up the window that I rolled down so the hot air from the vents could escape while they cooled down.

I decide to head to Cartwright Modeling and see if they have work for me. Mr. Cartwright said he would line me up with a customer within twenty-four hours and I expected a call last night. It never came. I put my game face on. Cartwright gives me the creeps. To him, I’m only a piece of meat. I saw it in his eyes when I interviewed.

“Take off your clothes and show me the goods,” he said sixty seconds after I entered his office. With a heavy heart, I did as requested. He walked around me slowly and made comments about my breasts and trimmed but unshaven pussy. He never touched me, but I swear his eyes raped me. They slithered over every inch of skin and it took everything I had not to cover myself and run. I repeated Kiley’s name silently in my head.

Now I’m going back to find out why he didn’t keep his word. Mak connected me with a client and I need Cartwright to know I’m available and ready to work too.

The difference in the two agencies is ridiculous. Whereas Elegant Escorts is in a high-rise building in downtown Phoenix, Cartwright’s office is in the Encanto area. It’s an older section of Phoenix that’s seen better days. The office is next to a corner convenience store. It’s not the one my mom works at, thank God, but it’s the same chain.

I head inside Cartwright’s office and try to keep the slimy feelings from making me puke. A secretary, who isn’t nearly as nice as Reanna, ignores me. I wait several minutes for any sign she knows I’m in front of her. The office is hot, though nothing like it is outside. I dread the types of clients I’ll get here. Not that it matters. I have no choice. Finally, I give up and speak. “Is Mr. Cartwright in?”

The woman glares first and then stands and walks to Cartwright’s door. She sticks her head in and I hear a deep moan followed by, “Hold on a goddamn minute, woman, I’m getting my pipes serviced.”

The woman watches whatever is happening in front of her, and I’m glad I can’t see it.

“Right there, right there,” Cartwright’s deep voice commands until, “Awwrgh,” blares from the room. It’s the most awful sound I’ve ever heard and I’m barely successful at keeping down my toast. “What the fuck you want?” he shouts a minute later.

“That chick is here. The one from two days ago. She wants to see you.”

“Send her back,” he yells.

I can’t believe this is happening or that this is the life I’ve been forced into. I walk past the secretary when she moves aside and stop dead in the doorway.

A large naked man is curled up on the floor between Cartwright’s feet. He’s twice the size of Cartwright. Cartwright’s pants are pulled down to his knees and it doesn’t look like he has any intention of pulling them up just because I’m standing here. The sickening combination of sex and sour sweat permeates the air. They’ve been going at it on a small couch next to a large wooden desk that’s seen better days. So has the couch and God, after Cartwright’s examination of my body, he had me get dressed and sit on that very couch.

“What the fuck do you want?” Cartwright demands as he stretches his neck and peers behind me. I look over my shoulder, but the secretary has gone back to her desk and no one is there.

I straighten my spine and go for broke. “Umm, you said you would call me.”

“Get the fuck out of here. You’re off limits. Gomez made that clear. I want nothing to do with him or Moon. If you come back,” he nods to the man on the floor, who is now staring at me with dark, deadly eyes, “I’ll have Trett take care of you. Go. Get the fuck out.”

I stand there like an idiot. He’s a lunatic. I have no idea who Gomez or Moon are. What kind of a name is Moon anyway? “You’re serious?”

“What don’t you understand about get the fuck out?” he yells and his ugly face goes apoplectic red.

I’m desperate and this can’t be happening. “I need the money. I think you’ve confused me with someone else.” My hands shake as I hold my ground even with the death glares shooting at me. Cartwright stands and I inch back. I keep my eyes on his and refuse to look lower.

“I’ll make this clear… Celina.”

Fuck, he knows my real name and I only gave him Ce Ce.

“Gomez said hands off and if I send you on a call, he’ll take care of me personally. I might not like him, but the last thing I’ll do is fuck with him. Now go.”

I take another step back. “I don’t even know who Gomez is.” Shit, it comes out whiney, and I think I’m going to cry.

Cartwright’s face turns from red to plum and he shouts, “Go talk to Moon’s fucking wife. You work for her. Not me.” He looks down. “Trett, take care of this bitch, but don’t leave any marks.”

That’s all it takes. I turn and run through the front door and charge to my car. I don’t even take the time to turn on the air as I peel out of the parking lot. The tears start. Mak must be Moon’s wife. That means she knows I took another escort job with another agency. She made it clear that it was against her rules. She said that her service is discreet and clean. She sent me to a doctor for an exam and waited for the results before she officially gave me the job. Cartwright didn’t care. Mak also said that her employees and all clients would be protected with condoms. Blow jobs—covered or uncovered were my prerogative. She said if she ever heard a man stuck his cock inside my vagina or ass without a condom, I’d never get another client from her again. I also had to agree to monthly exams.

I’m so totally fucked.

I pull into a parking area at Encanto Park to think this through and try to control my tears so I can drive. I have little choice but to throw myself on Mak’s mercy. Not that she appeared to have much. She had kind eyes, though, and just maybe I can appeal to her softer side. I take deep breaths to calm myself. My blouse is plastered to my skin and I feel like I might pass out. I allow the cool air from the air conditioner to flow over my face until I feel normal again. I touch up my smeared makeup and splotchy red face. I place the car in drive and head to Elegant Escorts. I’ll beg on my knees if I need to.

Alex

THE WORD
FRUSTRATED
DOESN’T
begin to cover my fucking bad mood. Most of what 199Cal uncovered on Celina is a bunch of nothing. Then there’s one line on the page in front of me that turns me inside out.

Name: Celina Joy Thomas

DOB: 08/01/1991

Age: 24

Height: 5’7”

Current Address: Information unknown

Personal Information: Graduated Summa Cum Laude, State College, 2014

Current Employment: Information unknown

Previous Employment: Thrifty Joe’s Books and Music, Tempe (6 years)

Parents: Alyce Rose and Charles Robert Thomas

Mother: Works part time for U-Tote-Them

Residential Address: 2601 East Caron Drive, Phoenix

Father Current Residence: Desert Meadows In-Patient Care Facility

*note: Father being transferred to a hospice facility within the next week

Sibling(s): Brother – Lee Robert Thomas

Residential Address: Information unknown

*note: Brother has gang affiliation with Desert Crow MC (NFIA)

*note: Brother’s juvenile record unavailable, no adult criminal record found

Celina’s brother is with the DCMC and there’s no further information available. Why the fuck is he tied in with a white supremacist motorcycle club filled with mostly ex-cons? I have no doubt Celina’s problem is directly tied to her brother. The DCMC operates from a small town a hundred miles north of Phoenix called Peach City. The “City” part of the name is a joke. Roughly a thousand people call Peach City home. The MC’s gig is methamphetamine production and distribution. Moon watches them closely. They’re a small-time operation filled with white trash shit bags. They stay clear of Phoenix because the large local outlaw MC would tear them apart. DCMC are basically their rejects.

No way can I bring the larger MC club into this. We keep our distance from them and they do the same. Two different worlds.

Staring at the piece of paper fills me with anger. I change clothes in my apartment and head to the gym at the back of the house to let off steam. After turning on Pantera to put me in the right frame for a workout, I glove up and hit the speed bag. This is what I do when I need to think. I’m not sure if it’s the rat-tat-tat that syncs my brain or the steady controlled movement of my fists, but it usually helps. Not so much today. After a steady thirty minutes, I hit the treadmill and up the speed as high as I can take. My legs burn within fifteen minutes. Doesn’t matter, I’m not stopping until they go numb.

Celina is fucking with my mind.

With buckets of sweat dripping off me, I power down the treadmill, ready to hit the shower. The music suddenly stops blaring and I turn my head. Moon is watching me closely.

“Something you want to talk about?” he asks. He’s not here to work out. He’s dressed in a suit and tie which is his normal attire when he’s working. I wear a suit and tie for work too but I’m most at home in the cut off sweat pants and the running shoes I’m wearing now.

He’s leaning against the door’s frame and I’m guessing he’s been standing there for quite some time.

I pick up a towel and wipe my face to delay the conversation. I walk over to the weight bench and take a seat. “It’s the new escort,” I tell him.

Very slowly, a rare smile splits Moon’s face. “I owe Madison a hundred dollar bill.”

I can only shake my head. Women don’t
get to me
. But Celina has. “If you don’t mind if I take a quick shower first, I’d like a few minutes of your time.”