Complications #2
Jessie accelerated down the onramp onto the 405 freeway, heading north into the cool night.
Her mind was reeling and jumping between anger at herself for allowing herself to be angry.
Before she knew it, she was coming up to Van Nuys which was out of Los Angeles.
She cut off two cars and swerved onto the 101 going east. She decided she would drop down into West Hollywood and eventually head west toward her favorite place, Santa Monica pier.
Slowing down, she couldn’t stop being upset.
She tried to justify it with the fact that of course Simo would have a girlfriend.
She had been out of the picture for some time now.
Eleni knew how much she loved Simo, maybe she could help.
Hell, she was practically her wingman or wing-woman in Athens.
She wondered if whoever he was seeing made him happy.
Then anger rose in her belly again. She wanted to be the one to make Simo happy.
She realized, as she passed by the amusement park on Santa Monica pier, that she should head back. Sighing heavily and wiping tears away, she turned toward the freeway and eventually she found herself passing Club Aurae. The line was long as usual and exotic cars filled the valet lot next door.
Glancing at the dashboard clock she saw it was past midnight.
She pulled into valet and handed Chen’s keys to the valet and made her way to Becky’s car.
Using the spare key Becky had given her, she got into the passenger side of Becky’s Audi SUV, leaned the seat back and decided to try to sleep until Becky got off work.
Her sleep was fitful and she kept waking up. Suddenly, the interior lights came on, and Becky’s concerned face was looking at her through the window. Jessie mouthed ‘sorry’ and Becky came around and got into the driver’s seat.
“Jessie? Are you sick?”
“Ha… kinda of.” Jessie smirked.
“Do you need to stop off at urgent care?”
Jessie shook her head. “Not that kind of sick. There’s no medicine for what ails me, thank you though.”
“Simo…” Becky squeaked.
“Yeah… I didn’t know about him seeing someone. Chen told me.”
“I’m so sorry, Jessie! I wanted to tell you or at least hint… Simo gave me a direct order. I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault. I should have guessed and not let my hopes get high.”
“Wanna stop and get some booze and drink our problems away?”
“Nah.”
“When did you eat last?”
“Eat? Um… I dunno.”
“That settles it. We are heading to Denny’s off Wilshire. No buts, ok?”
“Ok.” Jessie sighed, thinking food didn’t sound good whatsoever.
From his office monitor, Simo watched the interchange between Jessie and Becky inside the Audi in the valet lot.
He could make out Jessie’s face through her window.
She was upset and her mascara had run down her cheeks as Becky drove away.
His heart twinged at the thought of Jessie being hurt.
He knew right then, that she knew he had been seeing someone.
It was better for both of them this way, he decided.
He wondered how he would feel having sex with Lilly if it came to it now that Jessie was back in the picture.
He shook his head and pushed the wrongness feeling away.
He checked over the reports from security and filed them away.
He looked at his phone and read the incoming text from Theo saying they would be waiting for him in the valet lot.
With a heavy sigh, he got up, turned off the lights, and headed down to the parking lot.
Simo woke up the next morning to Ari’s call on his cellphone.
“Simo here.”
“Simo? I got your text about my niece… she didn’t come home last night. Did she leave with Johnny Stone?”
“No, Ari. I thought I saw her leave alone. Johnny and Joel left together headed in the opposite way.”
“It is not like my niece to not call… would you mind going over last night’s tapes?”
“I’m on my way now.” Simo jumped out of bed, threw on last night’s clothes and ran down to his garage.
He barely cleared the garage door, his tires squealing against the concrete.
Ten minutes later he pulled into the secret garage close to Club Aurae, parked, and rushed through the security measures.
At the work station next to Chen’s, he began pulling up the feed from last night’s security cameras.
Fast forwarding to the approximate time Elara Swan left the club, he saw her on screen.
He backed the feed up and zoomed in on her face.
She was smiling and seemingly in a pleasant mood.
He watched as she waved to Johnny, then disappeared down the street in the opposite direction.
Simo called up the feed showing the valet parking lot in real time.
Using the keyboard, he moved the camera around and found that Elara’s car was still in the lot.
Simo reached up and rubbed his nose. “Shit.”
Simo emailed the feed to Ari, then called him. “Ari… Elara’s car is still in the lot. She left alone walking down Santa Monica. I lost sight of her. I’m calling Chen to see if he can infiltrate any traffic cams.”
“Thank you, Simo. This is so unlike her. Perhaps she is out with a friend. I admit that I am concerned. It may be nothing, but I need to contact Annabeth. Please have Chen contact me if he finds anything.”
“Will do, Ari.”
Simo hung up, quickly called Chen and filled him in.
Simo ran through the interior footage and saw that Elara Swan had eventually left Johnny at VIP and headed downstairs.
She sat with what he guessed were her girlfriends.
She had two cocktails then excused herself and left.
Simo then tracked Johnny and Joel. He saw they left together and headed in the opposite direction of where Elara Swan went.
Simo ran his hands down his face and looked up as Chen came bounding in.
“Anything?”
“Not really,” Simo replied and showed Chen the feed.
Chen nodded and sat down at his station. Soon his feed was showing Santa Monica Boulevard at the approximate time Elara left. “In this traffic cam you can see her turning south onto Wilshire. It looks as though she is headed east.”
“Back toward Aurae? Hell, she could be anywhere.”
“I’ll keep looking… how is Ari?”
“He didn’t sound good.”
“Always something…”
“No shit.”
“Simo, before you thank me… I must come clean.”
Simo nodded. “You told Jessie about me seeing Lilly.”
“Not Lilly, just hinted it was someone. She at first thought it was Eleni. My apologies. If you could have seen her these past few weeks…” Chen winced and continued, “She had a surprise for you. I… thought it best this way.”
Simo groaned. “Surprise?”
“Yes. She is flight qualified on the helo… she studied and worked at it tirelessly with Gunnar…” Chen paused and eyed Simo.
Simo remained quiet for a long moment then nodded. “I get it.” Simo cleared his throat. “I’ll let Theo and Eleni know about Ari’s niece. Call Ari with any updates first.” Simo began to leave, then turned toward Chen. “Chen… thanks for talking to her.”
“Of course.” Chen turned back to his screen and resumed scanning through the Los Angeles traffic network mainframe.
Jessie Veronica James arrived two hours early for her shift.
She took up her position at the VIP entrance and adjusted her short red mini dress.
In her red heels she stood well over six feet tall.
At times she would use her height to intimidate men who thought they could hit on her.
But tonight was different. It was Saturday and she knew Joel Miller would be coming in and, as usual, he would be early.
VIP was empty and she glanced at her watch; it said 8:11 and no one had commented on her being early.
The ten-foot-tall, red diamond-tucked double doors opened.
In strolled Joel Miller like he owned the place, like he was king of the world.
She smiled sweetly at him as he paid the exorbitant fee for a VIP suite, then headed up to her, ready to be checked for weapons.
Jessie smiled sweetly at Joel. “Hello Joel…” she purred. “Raise your arms for me, baby.”
Joel complied with his key fob dangling from his hand.
“Oh my goodness, Joelly. Is that a Ferrari key?” Jessie gasped.
“Why yes it is… Jessie? Isn’t it?”
“You remembered! I am so happy!” Jessie gushed.
“How can I forget a gorgeous chick’s name?” Joel smiled and waited for her to finish running her metal detector around him. “So, Jessie… why haven’t we gone out?”
Jessie played coy. “Joelly you are so silly… you haven’t asked me!”
“Well let’s go out then. I’ll take you for a ride in my new Ferrari.” Joel grinned and adjusted his thick black-framed glasses.
Jessie stepped close to Joel. Looking down on him, she breathily replied, “I have lunch coming up in five minutes… as long as you have me back by 10.” She watched Joel’s eyes widen as she silently ran her tongue over her lips at him.
Joel grinned like the proverbial Cheshire Cat. “Johnny Stone can wait. I’ll wait outside in my Ferrari.”
“Are you teasing me, Joelly? You really want to spend some… time, with me?”
“Who could pass up a hot chick like you? Hurry up so we can… spend more time together.”
“I’ll meet you out front.” Jessie gushed again. She waved at Joel and returned her metal detector wand to the girl manning the booth. “I’ll be back for my shift later…”
The girl in the booth made a face. “With Joel Miller? Really, Jessie? He’s sadistic…”
Jessie winked at her. “I like it rough, very rough. See you later.”
“Better have him wear two condoms.” The girl called out.
Jessie continued smiling as she left.
Cruising down Santa Monica, Jessie set her hand on Joel’s thigh and began circling her red-painted nails around and around. She felt him twitch and saw him smile. “Joelly… let’s head to my place… it’s closer.”
Joel grinned like an idiot. “What are we going to do at your place?”
“I heard you like to give it… mmm… hard and rough. I like it rough…” Jessie dug her nails into Joel’s thigh and felt him jump.
“You like being fucked hard?” Joel laughed.