I spent two weeks in Seattle, hanging out with Max and
becoming all nice and sisterly. She
asked me to stay with her and Original Cindy in their apartment. It was large enough, but the cockroaches and
rats just didn't do it for me, not to mention the cold showers and the funny
smell coming up from the drains. I
decided to sleep at the hotel anyways.
I needed some space from Max. It
wasn't easy to be around her constantly, and if I hadn't had some breathing
room, I would have snapped.
There was some fun.
I spent a several days with her doing runs for Jam Pony. I stunned them all when I flirted with
Normal, and he responded. I'd say he
flirted back, but it was more stuttering and muttering unintelligible words
than flirting. From what I was told,
seeing Normal at a loss for words was a rather rare event. I thought about laying him just to see if I
could do it, but decided against it. I
was trying to be a sweet little sister, and screwing big sister's boss just
wasn't the "right" thing to do.
We spent quite a few nights at Crash's, and even more
running around for Eye's Only. Max
enjoyed having a partner as capable as herself to help her get things that
Logan needed. They told me about how
their arrangement had evolved, and I had to laugh over it. In theory they were still running on a quid
pro quo basis, but it was such an act.
Any excuse for them to get together was good enough for them. Those two were enough to nauseate a healthy
individual. It was like being trapped
in the middle of a sunny and green field surrounded by pretty flowers, fluffy
bunnies, baby ducks, and yorkie-poo puppies.
And Max and I talked.
That was a very important part of the two weeks. We skirted around the issue of Ben, and
instead talked about our lives, what we had been doing, and what we liked to do
now. I told her all about New Orleans,
and the club, and how great it was there.
She told me about Seattle and her peeps, the things she had done for Eye's
Only and her escapes from Lydecker. I
learned for the first time about Zack being recaptured and why the broadcast
had really gone out.
I knew how I wanted to set up my plans. It took all those talks to plant the
seeds. Not just with her either. Logan was very much a part of the plan. One night after getting some records from a
bank vault, he made us dinner and we talked about New Orleans and what it was
like there now. It was such a perfect
opportunity to start planting my special little seeds.
Max and Logan were both laughing as I was explaining what
happens when sick dancers take medication and then try to work, "and then Ruby
staggers to her feet, announcing 'I am not a lime flavored duck!' and then
passes out again, falling onto the stage, and tripping Opal. Opal lands face first in a gentleman's lap,
and then with great dignity, gets to her feet and demands a twenty for giving
him a lap dance." I couldn't help
laughing too. The gentleman was a
regular, and thought the whole thing was hysterical.
I looked over at Max.
"You know you are going to have to come visit me there," I said
casually. "It's like being permanently
at Crash's all day long, except better."
Max nodded with a grin.
"You never know about me," she replied.
"I just might show up there for a little R & R." She shot a smile at Logan. "Just have to make sure I don't run into
Uncle Jonas there."
"Hmmm," I said watching her. "Now the trick isn't getting you down there, it's getting you to
dance while you're there."
Max's smile faltered a bit.
"Not into that, but thanks anyways."
I leaned forward.
"Don't knock it till you tried it, baby sister," I purred. I leaned back. "It's a lot more money than Jam Pony, and I'm willing to bet a
lot safer than trying to rip off rich white boys with more pretty things than
security systems." We all got a laugh
out of that. Max had told me earlier
how she and Logan met.
I had been there a little over a week when I decided it was
time to set up a few things, and to get my next large seed planted. It was a delicate balance. Too early, and it might be forgotten. Too late, and it would be so obvious that
we'd had the conversation, and then it happens. Max would need a few days to let the idea germinate, and then
when it was right in front of her, she would believe without hesitation. Getting her to do what I wanted from there
was going to be the trickiest part, but I could do it.
First I had to make a phone call to the club. I waited until after hours when I knew it
would just by Onyx and Vic there. Onyx
picked up the phone. "Treasure Chest,"
she said abruptly, trying to sound like a recording. "We're closed right now, please leave a message."
"Baby I thought you were always open for business," I
teased. There was a pause.
"Topaz?" she cried.
"Damn, sweetness, it's good to hear your voice again. Tell me you on your way home."
"I am planning on being there next weekend," I replied. I could feel her relief through the
phone. "How's everything going?"
"Baby, I have no idea how you do it night after night," she
said with a sigh. "Them bitches think
they can just run wild without you. I
had this big fight with Jezebel three days ago when that slut thought she
should get as much stage time than the Jewels.
She won't be working for a few weeks anywhere though."
"And what did you do to her?" I asked, smiling. Nobody fucked with my jewels. They were the best dancers in the city, the
ones that made the club famous, and until your name was changed, you weren't
worth shit to me or mine.
"Slapped her around for a while in front of the girls, and
then dropped her off as the only female entertainment at an all night frat
party over at LSU," she replied. I
almost dropped the phone I started laughing so hard. My sweet, beautiful devil.
My girl had learned well from me.
"She actually lived?" I asked. "I suppose she would. A
little frat party couldn't hurt a slut like that too much." Actually, it could. Jezebel was about seventeen or so, but I
couldn't feel sorry for her when she brought it on herself.
"She not walking too well right now, so I had someone come
in to take her shifts," Onyx said. I
caught the slight nervousness in her tone.
She had never made a decision like that while I was gone before.
"Let me guess," I said, "that pretty little thing you been
running off to every morning? MTV
right? She a good dancer?"
"She's been doing real good Topaz, and she getting along
with the Jewels," Onyx added quickly.
"I trust your judgment honey, you know that," I said
consolingly. I did as far as dancing
went. If Onyx said the girl had moves,
then I believed her. If Onyx had my
special enhancements, she would probably be a far better dancer than I was, but
she didn't so why even think about it.
"Anyways," I said, getting to the reason why I called. "I need you or Vic to do a favor for me."
"Anything baby, you know that."
"I want you to call Lazlos up here. Tell him you need to place an order for a
special girl. A smart girl. One who will do exactly what she's told to
do, and will keep her fucking mouth shut forever about it. I don't give a fuck about the costs, but she
has to fit the bill. If he doesn't have
one, tell him to find one from one of his friends and he'll get a
commission. Tell him that you got
someone going to pick her up, but don't tell him it's me. Just say it's an associate."
"When you going to need this girl?" Onyx asked. I could hear the curiosity in her
voice. My flight was scheduled for five
AM on Saturday.
"Friday night," I replied.
We hung up after our good-byes.
One more seed left to go.
I did the planting on my last and biggest seed Tuesday
night. It wasn't easy to hold off and
not do it earlier, but I had to be careful.
This was my one and only chance to do it, and I was going to do it right
the first time. Max was over at my
hotel room after I had taken her out for dinner that night. There wasn't anything scheduled for Eye's
Only that night, so we were pretty much on our own. I had steered the conversation to our love lives and who had been
in and out of them.
She told me about her past few boyfriends, and how the heat
cycles seemed to determine relationships.
Interesting. I always viewed
them as a time to get laid and not think about it. Then Zack started coming around, and that was all I needed. I told her about Rojer, my first lover, who
I should add, I really did care for, and I told her about Frankie, and some of
the other relationships in my life. I
did not breathe a word that Zack was anything more than brotherly with me. It would not have helped the plan if she
knew about that.
I was honest with her in a lot of other respects
though. I told her that I had been with
women before, but that didn't surprise her at all. She told me Original Cindy was still interested in checking the
old barcode, if you know what I mean.
Max admitted that she had been curious, but had never crossed the
line. Hmmm…no girl, this is work, not
recreation, and I had never mixed business with pleasure.
"So what is the deal with you and Logan?" I finally asked
her. "I know you been pulling that
'we're just friends' deal with everyone, but honey, it's not friendship keeping
you almost breaking your legs to get to a phone every time he pages you."
Max laughed, and looked away. "We just kick it, you know?"
She glared at me playfully, seeing my doubtful expression. "Logan and me are just friends," she
reiterated, and then shrugged.
"Besides, since he's been in the chair, he hasn't acted like he was
interested. He's kind of touchy about
that."
I almost thanked her.
I couldn't have set it up better myself. "I seen that a lot at the club," I said. "Men with disabilities, and that sort. It really plays hell on their egos and
that's why…" I let myself trail off.
"Why, what?" Max asked.
I shook my head.
"Nothing, honey," I answered.
"It's nothing, really."
If Max had a little more feline DNA in her, her ears would
have perked forward in curiosity. "Now
you got to tell me," she said with a little grin.
"Max…" I said, as if I really didn't want to say it. "If I tell you what I was about to say,
you're going to associate it with Logan, and be thinking all the wrong things
about him." Especially after I added a
few things. Max had told me a few
things, and I had extrapolated other things about Logan, and with a few gentle
pushes, the seed would be well planted.
"No I won't," Max insisted.
"Tell me!"
"Okay, but only because you insisted," I relented. I took a deep breath. "A lot of time men with problems come to the
club, because they have a woman that they want to have a relationship with, but
they're embarrassed about their handicap, and afraid she might reject
them. They know the girls at the club
aren't going to say no once they flash the cash, so they have the girl at home
for their mental and emotional needs, and they use one of my girls for
a…pressure release."
Max's eyes were wide.
I was willing to bet she was thinking about Logan's love life. "See, now you're thinking about Logan," I
said, sounded exasperated. "Men can go
without, you know," I lectured, fighting to keep a sly smile off of my
face. Time for the knock out blow. "He's been so busy with his side work, he
certainly couldn't have been the player type, right? I know those rich boys usually got one after another, but he's
not that type."
Max didn't say anything.
Of course Logan used to be that type, and she knew that. I was taking a good guess. She and him had talked quite a bit more than
I had with him. He might have mentioned
it even. Talked about different
girlfriends. Now Max was thinking that
Logan hadn't had sex in almost a year.
If they were such good friends, why hadn't she seen him upset about
it? I could see the maybe in her
eyes. It was enough for now.
The conversation turned, and we got started on food and
clothes, and more mundane matters.
Eventually Max left an hour or so before dawn. I opened a drawer and took out the small vial filled with a clear
liquid. I had done a bit of shopping
the previous afternoon. There was maybe
ten drops of the stuff in there, but it was enough Di-Ni to keep Logan out for
hours. Di-Ni was a newer street drug
that the date rapists were enjoying. It
was colorless, odorless, tasteless, and left no residue. The victim didn't have that groggy, drugged
feeling the next morning. They felt
rather refreshed as a matter of fact.
Like they had the best night's sleep imaginable.
I walked over to the window, playing with the vial as I
stared into the slowly brightening sky.
"It'll be the least memorable night's sleep you'll ever get, Logan
Cale," I whispered. "But I fucking
guarantee Max will remember it for a long, long time."
