Chapter 14
An hour later, the door opened, and Geo came in, looking perturbed. “You need to sleep, Rue! You fuckin’ with my kid in there, and now you fuckin’ with my sleep, too! Lay down!”
“I can’t!” she cried, terrified. “The nightmares! Please!”
“Lay down, Rue!” he yelled, coming closer.
Sailor cried out in despair, going to the bed to curl up rigidly on the far side.
The bed moved, and she whimpered, then looked over her shoulder as a blue light lit up the room.
He was on his back next to her, his phone on as he scrolled.
“Go to sleep,” he commanded, not looking at her.
Sailor turned back over, but she was shaking now. The nightmare was here, next to her in bed. She had to get away!
The light went out just as soft music started—classical music, instrumental.
It threw her, seeming so at odds with who he was.
“They say they can hear that shit,” he spoke softly, suddenly, making her jerk. “Make’s ‘m smarter.”
She didn’t know what to say about that and had no idea if that was true. She had not studied what was good or bad for a baby in utero. She’d been pretending it didn’t exist .
“Move closer, Rue.”
She stayed still, hoping if she pretended she was asleep…
“Now.”
Cringing, she scooted back until her backside was against his hip.
“Get some sleep, Rue,” he sighed sleepily.
She knew she wouldn’t sleep, though, not with him in bed with her like this. It wasn’t going to happen.
He was the monster under the bed, the beast in the closet, the boogeyman under the stairs, and the goblin outside the window. All of them rolled into one, and he was real and here.
Jerking, Sailor gasped as the bed moved, then sat up quickly as Geo rolled out of bed and got up.
Mig was at the door, and light was coming in behind him.
Daylight.
She had slept.
She had slept next to Geo half the night.
He hadn’t hurt her or raped her.
He slipped out without looking back at her, whispering to Mig as they shut the door.
Getting up, she hurried to the bathroom, barely glancing at the man guarding her door. When she came out, she didn’t go back to her room. Instead, she went out front where Geo and Mig were talking.
“You need more sleep, you still hardly slept last night!” Geo told her quickly as soon as he saw her.
“Could I please go see my mom?” she asked him softly, hopefully looking up at his face. “Day has to know where she is! I’d like to see her before she passes, please? They said she has less than three months! It will be less now that she thinks she’s alone, I need her to know I didn’t…”
“Shut up,” Geo demanded. “Go back to bed or go get a shower and get dressed. I got shit to do,” he grumped, motioning her away.
Sailor sighed dismally but went and took a shower.
When she returned, Davon was out front with Justin, and they were talking to Geo.
She hurried closer, hopeful.
“... said he won’t have it until the first,” Davon said as she sat down next to Geo and curled up under the blanket, still there. “He can’t get it any sooner. I didn’t give him the… package. Told him no money, no goods. He wasn’t happy, but we left.”
“No, you did right. I don't fuckin’ deal in credit. So where’s my shit?”
“I took it up to The Inferno, actually. I knew a man there who’d want it. Quoted him 50 thinkin’ he’d try ’n talk me down, and he just agreed,” Davon smirked, then handed Geo a thick envelope.
“This is 50?” Geo asked, his eyebrows high.
“Counted myself,” he agreed.
“Yeah, but I know you bad at math,” Geo scoffed, handing the envelope to Mig, who sat down to count it. “He say he want more at that price?”
“He didn’t say, but I can find out,” Davon shrugged.
“Day?” Sailor interrupted. “Do you know where my mom is? Where they took her?”
“Naw,” he shrugged, not looking at her as his jaw set.
“Can you find out? Please?”
Davon looked at Geo then, the question in his eyes.
“Find out,” Geo agreed. “Get a phone number. If she’s good, I might let ‘r call. The old lady, too.”
“Yeah,” Davon shrugged. “Okay,” he agreed, pulling up his phone. “You got a pen and paper? I got the numbers and places here.”
Someone gave him a tablet of paper and pencil, and he wrote down both places and the phone numbers, then handed it to Geo without looking at Sailor. “Both places only take visitors on weekdays from 10-3. That one is downtown, and that other one is near Ollallah, but this side of it. Room 204 on Renee,” he went on, writing down the room number, “and Gina in 113.”
“Thank you!” Sailor told him, her heart aching.
Davon said nothing, setting the pencil down as he looked at Geo.
Geo snorted and cut his eyes at Sailor. “I don't think he’s into you no more, Rue,” he chuckled.
Sailor said nothing as she gave Geo a sober look. She had a million things to say about how anyone would pretend someone else didn’t exist if it meant their life.
Geo turned his smirk back to Davon. “Aight then. Find out if this new boy wants more. Give his info to Mig so he can vet ‘m. We don't deal with him again till he is, you hear? One time with no setup is fine, but not again till we know he can be trusted.”
“He’s family, I know him,” Davon shrugged. “He ain’t workin’ with pigs.”
“Suits? You sure?”
“Positive. He used to deal some hash ‘n shit but got too much heat and almost closed his club down. He backed off it, now he just deals in pussy.”
“He a pimp?”
“Nah, he does that internet shit. Has rooms upstairs where a girl can go on cam for an hour or night or whatever. Gets like, 20%? Sometimes they go in two and three at a time, messin’ with each other ‘n shit. Take men in with ‘m sometimes, too. Do what the feed says to. Better they are, more they make, an’ them bitches is fuckin’ shameless. They do it all. I seen one bitch put a whole baseball bat in her pussy. Rode that thing around for, like, an hour ‘n shit. Turned over ‘n had another bitch put it in her ass. That shit was fucked up. ‘Nother time, this dude came in and just started tyin’ this girl up with ropes. Didn’t do shit but origami or fuckin’ macrame or whatever it’s called and hang her up all tied up in an elaborate knot design. People were fuckin’ wild for it. Every time he comes with a chick, my cousin puts him top of the list and lets him in a room. That shit’s fuckin wild as fuck. They do other shit too, but I got bored watchin’ it all the time. Always the same shit. Still, thought about gettin’ some bitch in there with me, doin’ some fucked up shit to her pussy while rich assholes watched. They always want them ripped open, you know? Fisted and shit. Other shit inside ‘m. One guy paid like four grand to watch a girl shit on another bitches tits, then piss in her mouth. Rich white folks are fucked up. Still, I would piss on a bitch for four grand.”
Geo snorted. “Your cousin sounds like fun. What’s ne need my shit for?”
Davon shrugged. “He mentioned things were gettin’ dicey, you know? Bad folks comin’ round, people askin’ questions. He makes a lot at the club, but he makes more upstairs off them customers that come in and get drunk, wantin’ to get wild and shit on camera. People startin’ to wonder how much cash he keeps around. He pays in cash when they done with their time, you know? He gets the credit card payments in his account, but he takes the cash he makes at the door and on drinks and pays the bitches their percentage in cash. It ain’t all above board, and he’s fuckin’ with the books ‘n shit with all of it, so people think they might just get fingers in the pie, you know? He wants to make sure that don't happen.”
“So if he does need more, it won’t be soon?”
Davon shrugged. “Not real soon, but you never know. I think he expects shit to go down.”
Sailor suddenly realized what it was all about. “You sell guns,” she blurted.
Geo snorted. “What’d you think it was?”
“She thought you was a drug dealer,” Davon rolled his eyes.
“Nah, tha’s small time. I don't fuck with that shit, and I don't let them fuck with my boys… you think them crackheads in front of that place that night was mine? The ones who hang out there, not the ones with me that night. Do I look like I deal with that shit? Filth like that?”
Sailor turned to the wall, her face going red. They all looked the same to her, a bunch of thugs who didn’t care who they hurt.
“Press Shane on a time, and lemme know when and where,” Geo growled to Davon.
Sailor glanced back at Davon, feeling sick. “Why aren’t you at school?” she asked him, feeling betrayed somehow. She knew he wanted to graduate.
“What’s the fuckin’ point? I got a job, what do I need a piece of paper for?” he asked darkly, still not looking at her. “I was asked to step up, and I am. I’ll go now,” he told Geo, standing up. Justin followed him out, as quiet as he always was.