Chapter 4 #2
Since she was our leader considering she started this Angels gig, Raye took control. “Right, Shanti, you’re not on shift yet so you contact Clarice. Tell her we need all we can get on the night manager of the Sun Valley Motor Lodge.”
“On it,” Shanti replied.
Clarice, for your info, was a top-notch defense attorney.
She was also our handler (we were strictly forbidden to call her our Bosley). She was our conduit to Arthur, who none of us had met, and none of us knew who he was.
Get it?
Angels?
Raye turned to Jess. “Can you call Jinx? If he can’t be seen coming to us, we probably shouldn’t be seen going to him. But Jinx is there every night to conduct business. It’s not going to seem weird if she talks to him.”
“Consider it done,” Jess said.
“Also, ask her if she’s seen anyone hinky hanging around or watching the motel,” I added.
“Maybe talking to Mr. Shithead or something. And a woman. She could be a colleague of hers, but I figure, after the Angels found the group of women those assholes grabbed, no one is going to try that again, or if someone is missing, Jinx or one of the girls would know about it and say something. So my guess is, it’s an outsider.
Not in the life. Not a regular at the motel.
But he said she treats him ‘decent,’ so maybe she comes to visit him. ”
“Good catch,” Raye said.
I smiled.
“If she has, then we need all the deets,” Raye told Jess. “What she looks like. Car she drives. Stuff like that. If it’s the hinky people, the same.”
“Gotcha,” Jess replied.
“You have cakes to decorate this afternoon?” Luna asked.
I nodded.
“Okay, then,” she said. “Raye and I’ll connect with Titus and see if he’s heard anything on the grapevine.”
“Why do you two get to connect with Titus?” Jess asked.
“Yeah,” Shanti put in. “Why does Jess get Jinx and I get Clarice but you two get Titus?”
“Do you want Titus?” Luna’s question had the tone of a verbal wagging of her eyebrows.
“I could take a shot at Titus,” Shanti answered.
We all laser focused on her, especially me.
“Really?” I asked.
Shanti shrugged. “He’s gorgeous. He’s loaded. He has his own army. I mean, it’d remain to be seen if he’s a keeper, but he intrigues me.”
“He intrigues me too,” Jess mumbled.
“I can’t wait to meet this guy,” Gemma said.
“You have a hottie,” Harlow pointed out to Jess.
“Does that mean I can’t be intrigued?” Jess returned. “I can be intrigued. Mostly, though, I just want an excuse to hang at the man cave.”
We all sighed (or at least those of us who’d been to the man cave did) just at the thought of the man cave.
“Are we done talkin’ about the important shit?” Tex demanded.
“If you mean our possible new mission, yes,” Raye told him. “Though, now I’m switching Titus to Jess and Shanti, and Luna and I’ll take Jinx and Clarice.”
“Fab.’ Shanti smiled.
“I’d be proud a’ you girls for your show of growth when it comes to outlining the opening of an investigation if you weren’t so fuckin’ annoying,” Tex mutter-boomed.
Aww!
He stomped off.
Tito silently followed him.
Tex headed to the coffee cubby where he reigned supreme as barista because his coffees were otherworldly (and the line at the door that formed before we even opened laid testimony to this).
Tito went to his “office,” which was the back corner table by the windows where he had books, plants, journals, and where he spent his days scribbling, reading, playing games on his iPad or silently butting into Angels Confabs.
Since the downer was gone (meaning Tex, Tito wasn’t a downer), I turned to Shanti.
“Are you really gonna go there with Titus?”
“Are you gonna go there with Gabe?” she retorted.
“No,” I said.
“Yes,” she said (but she was talking about Titus).
I beamed, liking this.
“Why no on Gabe?” Harlow asked me.
“Because men suck,” I told her.
“Javi doesn’t suck,” she returned.
“I haven’t done any research, except anecdotal, but it seems you hit a jackpot akin to Powerball with that one.” I looked to Jess. “And you.” Then to Raye. “And you.” Back to Harlow. “The rest of us aren’t so lucky.”
“Every guy isn’t Kev, honey,” she said softly.
“Uh, they totally are,” Joey decreed.
“Or versions,” Gemma added. “I had a date last week, and he said he had to make a detour to the restaurant. And that detour was him scoring coke off his dealer.”
“Gross!” Harlow exclaimed.
“Did you finish the date?” Shanti asked.
“I went to the restaurant with him, but I called a Lyft from outside,” Gemma told her. “He couldn’t believe I wasn’t cool with him taking me to his dealer on our first date. I couldn’t believe he was such a tool.”
“Last date I had swore it was a ‘joke’ when he asked if me ordering a dessert meant he was going to get a blowjob along with getting laid at the end of the date,” Joey piped in. “And that was a first date too. PS, after that, I demanded we split the check.”
“Ohmigod, I’m so glad I have Javi,” Harlow breathed.
“And I’m glad I have Cap,” Raye said.
“Ditto, Eric,” Jess put in. “We haven’t been together that long, but he’s so awesome, I completely blanked out what a wasteland the dating world is.”
Luna, Shanti, Joey, Gemma and I were morosely silent, because we were neck deep in it.
Or the others were.
Not me.
No way.
No how.
Never again.
“I think Gabe’s a good one,” Harlow said hesitantly.
“He might be,” I replied. “But you know what? Kevin was too, in the beginning. He had a steady job. It was upwardly mobile. And he bought me flowers just because. He would whistle appreciatively when I made an extra effort, telling me he noticed. We talked future. We talked kids. We were in line with everything we wanted. Then he got his hooks in me, ‘lost’ his job, and it went downhill from there. I was so sure the man I first knew was the man he was, that man being the man I loved, I kept telling myself he’d find his way back.
Not-so-spoiler alert, he didn’t. Sayonara four years of my life I’ll never get back. ”
“That ass really did put you through the wringer,” Luna validated.
“He’s changed you.” Harlow was still going carefully. “You used to be a lot like me. And now you’re…” she trailed off.
“Cynical? Bitter? Twisted? Distrustful?” I paused and finished, “Protective and smart?”
Harlow jumped on, “Protective.” She reached out and squeezed my wrist. “I just hate the idea of you giving up.”
I had been like her. Sunny. Positive. Cheerful. A bounce in my step all day every day.
Life was good. I loved baking and decorating. What I did for a living was considered a treat by the people who bought it. I had a great friend posse. My mom finally found a man who was worth her time, and we’d made a pretty rad family.
And sure, Kev was a relationship I wished I hadn’t had, not to mention, wished I hadn’t let last so long. But I was far from the first girl who let some man hoodwink me.
Then I saw all those women Trevor had blackmailed, and I knew either Kevin was in on that, or he wanted to take it over after his best friend died, and that man had been inside me. Looking in my eyes, telling me he loved me, while he was fucking me every way he could.
And I let him.
Sooooooo…
Nope.
Not me.
Never again.
Not ever again.
But Harlow looked so crestfallen, I lied, “It’s fresh. Maybe I’ll get over it.”
Not gonna happen.
Indeed, Logic affirmed.
You two suck, Dreamer groused.
But Harlow smiled.
And that was all I had in me.
Raye must have sensed it, because she said, “Right, we all have our assignments and we all have bills to pay, so let’s break.”
We huddled and put our hands in the center, said, “One, two, three, Angels Unite.”
Then, since it was our only choice, forever and always, we got on with it.