9. Chapter 9 #3
“I’m a student at SFUD.” I decided on a half-truth. “I was looking for a summer job, and just happened to find out Bellissima was hiring…” My voice trailed off as I tried to think of what else to say.
“Was this before or after you tried to walk out on your tab?” Ricky gave me a wink before taking a long swig from his glass.
I shot a swift scowl at Bianca, who was clearly pretending she wasn’t listening to our conversation. She’d restacked the same chair on the table in front of her three times.
“Word spreads around here pretty quick.” He rested his chin on his palms. “But you don’t seem like the type of person who would do something like that, so I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation, right?”
I wanted to tell him everything that happened. To clear my name and prove to him I wasn’t just some lowlife like Bianca was trying to make me out to be. But that night wasn’t my story to tell, and I couldn’t sacrifice Tara’s trust like that.
“It’s complicated,” I start. “I am here to work, but…I also need some help finding some information about the guys I came here with last week.”
Ricky’s ears perked up at this. “Oh? What guys?”
“My friend and I were here on a date with two guys when I came here last week. They…” I racked my brain to come up with something. “Ghosted us.” I wished it were that simple.
“Boo!” Ricky slammed his hand down on the table.
“But they also…took something. From my friend. And we need to get it back, so I’m hoping to figure out how to find them.” It was so much more than that.
“I would stay away from those men if I were you.”
I nearly jumped at the sound of Bianca’s bitter voice. She was several feet closer now, and obviously not concerned about letting us know she was eavesdropping.
“Do you know them?” I ask her bluntly. She may be rude and conniving, but she was the one who served us that night.
A strange expression crossed her face as she walked around to sit on the chair next to Ricky.
Of course, it was the seat farthest away from me at the table, but I didn’t mind that.
She took a moment to take down the ponytail from her head and ran her fingers through her hair.
She took Ricky’s glass and filled it halfway and brought it to her own lips before she answered.
“I wouldn’t say I know them.” Her drawl was stiff. “But I’ve seen them before. They hang out at The Wire, one of the nightclubs off the Mission. It’s a shady place.”
“And what exactly does that say about you, if you go there too?” I asked cynically. This woman had been nothing but a total bitch since the moment we met.
She gave me a long, hard look. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if she was going to tell me anything else, but she carefully put together a response.
“My friend, Phoebe, was working there as a dancer. That was until she went missing a few weeks ago. I didn’t hear from her, so I went there to try to see if I could figure anything out about her disappearance. ”
“What the hell, B? You didn’t tell me that,” Ricky chimed in, his brow furrowed into a worried line.
“Did you find anything there?” I asked, my skin tingling uncomfortably.
“No, like I said, the place is sketchy. There are some really shady people who hang around there, that’s how I recognized those guys.
I tried going to the police, but they’re no fucking help.
They treated my report like she was a high-risk case because she was a dancer.
But that’s all she was, not a prostitute, not a druggie, a dancer. ”
My stomach churned and I nodded.
She tapped on her phone, then twisted it around to show me a photo of a beautiful woman with pale hair and dazzling blue eyes.
My heart twisted. Bianca wasn’t the sun shiniest person in the world, but I didn’t care right now.
She just gave me more direction than almost a week of scouring the internet did.
Not only that, but there was something we had in common; we were both worried sick for our friends.
I’d been a mess ever since Tara’s attack, and I’d been riddled with anxiety when she didn’t return my calls that night, but at least I knew she was alive now.
My lips tightened as my mind grasped for something to say. Bianca’s eyes met mine, and I caught a glimpse of something vulnerable in them.
Just as I was about to ask her more, startling warmth radiated from behind me and a shadow cast over the table between us.
My neck careened backward to see Dax gently rest his hand behind my chair as he gave a nod to Ricky and Bianca.
Up close, I noticed for the first time that the lengthy tattoo twisting down his arm was the wings of a phoenix.
The ink moved like a live flame as it flexed slightly, catching the light in a series of intricate strokes and details.
“Lucy.” My name sounded caught in his throat. “Can you come with me to the office? I have some…hiring paperwork I need you to fill out.”
Ricky’s disappointed sob filled the room. “Can’t that wait for tomorrow? We were having an important chat, and I was just about to ask Lucy if she knows how to play—”
“I’ll be here again tomorrow night,” I cut him off as I watched his hand hover over the card deck. “Rain check?”