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My muse just won't leave me alone now!
Chapter 17
The garage was underground, and it was wall-to-wall black shiny cars! Bear led me to black hummer and beeped it open. I climbed in shotgun position and flicked open the file. Bear looked over at me, tacitly requesting our destination.
'I don't know yet Bear, hang on a minute.' He nodded slightly and I skimmed the file.
Sharona Liz Heart, 29, African American. 5ft 6" and the mug shot showed that her build closely resembled Lula's. Sharona was a big woman. Her eyes were glassy and her expression was bitter, disillusioned. Probably she wouldn't be able to run away from me, but that didn't mean she couldn't 'bust a cap up my ass', to use Lula phrasing. Occupation was left blank but her clothes and her expression said 'ho.
She was arrested for soliciting and possession, and her bond was so high because of the amount of crack found in her flat. We're talking kilo's.
'To Vinnie's office, please Bear.'
He didn't acknowledge the order he just started the car and pulled out. 20 minutes later we were there. I checked my surroundings before I eased out of the car and Bear came in with me.
'Is he in?'
'Yeah,' Connie replied, 'but so is Joyce.'
'Eww.' My lip curled back involuntarily. Suddenly I was very glad that I was going to be working for Ranger. I'd decided, on the drive over, that Ric should be Ranger when we're working and Ric, or Rico, when we're not. More professional.
The front door opened and I was greeted with 'Yo white girl, haven't seen your skinny ass round here much lately.'
'Lula! You ok?' She certainly looked it. Today she was squeezed into red sequined spandex with matching red hair. Never let it be said that Lula isn't adventurous.
'Yeah, things been pretty good. I'm getting better you know? But damn girl, those old people sure are crafty!'
'Tell me about it! The trick is to not believe anything they tell you. No matter how sweet they seem.'
'Yeah. This lil old lady said she was going to feed her cat and then she sneaks out the back. Can't trust them old people, they don't think right.'
'Hey, do you know of a Sharona Liz Heart?'
'What's that stupid 'ho gone done now?'
'Soliciting, and having a whole lotta crack.'
'Damn, she said she was clean.' Lula sighed, a very unusual thing for Lula to do. 'Nothing has worked with her. So I guess we'd better haul her sorry ass to the cop shop, maybe that'll dry her out.'
There only address listed for her was '11 suck dick avenue'. Somehow I thought it might be fake.
'Sure. You know where she lives?'
'One house down from me.'
'Oh. Connie, tell Vinnie when he's done that I'm going to work for Rangeman for the next month at least. Which means he has to pay me 15, if he has a problem with this then Ranger'll be in to talk it out with him.' I laid no particular emphasis on 'talk' – I didn't have to.
'Steph?' Connie said, as I turned to leave.
'Yeah.'
'You look happy.'
'I am.' Whilst thinking about my man, something occurred to me, 'hey Con, could you do me a favor?'
'Sure. Shoot.'
'Can you find out anything you can about a guy called Pedral?'
'Sure. I'll let you know.'
'Thanks. If you can't reach me then call Ranger.'
All three of us hopped in the hummer and zoomed off to see Sharona. Twenty minutes later and Sharona was sitting in the back of the hummer, sulking. I would be sulking too if I'd just received the bollocking Lula had given her. Sharona had promised Lula that she'd stay clean, and Lula was pissed as hell.
After we'd dropped off Sharona and had her processed by the police – eww, sounds kinda food blender-ish… – we left Lula at the office and headed to my apartment. I let myself in by picking the lock, I silently thanked my bro for that particular skill, might as well keep in practice. Besides, I've temporarily misplaced the key. It'll be in my pocketbook somewhere, but everyone knows a woman can't find anything in her handbag in less than 15 minutes; it's a cosmic law or something.
We locked the door behind us and I looked Bear in the eye, 'don't tell anyone this, ok?' and then I did my happy dance. Bear's head was thrown back and he was silently laughing, his hand clutching his stomach.
'What? I have a right to happy dance, Ranger gave me three days and I've done the job in less than two hours!'
A huge smile cracked across Bear's face, making him look much younger than he normally did. Bear was probably in his late thirties, but normally he looked much older. He was as muscle bound as all the merry men, and his dark skin rippled when he moved. Like Ranger, he had an air of menace that few people would be comfortable with; luckily I was one of the few.
'Hey wanna do some training with me?' Bear shrugged slightly and nodded. 'Cool,' I replied.
We pushed the furniture to the side and removed our weapons, putting them on the tableside.
Bear stood in the middle of the space and started to do an aerobic warm up, I followed suit, no point straining my muscles. After that we sparred lightly, then Bear picked up my huge couch cushion and held it up in front of him, raising one eyebrow in question.
I nodded once and he tightened his grip on the cushion. I gave the cushion a high kick with my right foot and then a hard jab with my left hand. I relaxed and let myself go.
An hour later and my muscles were aching, but I felt better. We warmed down with a gentler aerobic exercise and then we stretched out our muscles.
I had sweat patches under my arms so I retreated to the bathroom for a quick shower. After seeing Ric's shower mine seemed kinda…pathetic. And small. And ugly. Ric had a much nicer place than me. Still, my apartment is mine.
I let the hot water of the shower wash over me and ease the whisper of aches that remained from my workout. I couldn't resist temptation. I used Ric's shower gel. The scent of Ric washed up and around me and I closed my eyes and imagined that it was his hands that were touching me, not my own.
I really, genuinely, didn't mean to let my fingers slip between my legs – it was an accident. Honest. But hell, seeing as how my fingers were there…I stroked my self firmly and bit back a moan. Bear was in the living room and I doubt he would have heard me, but still.
Imagining Ric's fingers, and Ric whispering sexily in Spanish, I teased my clit in slow circles. Two fingers on my left hand slipped inside me and I clenched my jaw to stop my gasp. I tilted my head back and let the water rush down my body as I brought myself to the delicious brink. I moaned Ric's name softly as I came.
When I finally came back down again I realised the water had turned tepid. Muttering about the water tank, I climbed out of the shower. I dried myself and pulled on some fresh clothes. Then I set about trying to work out what to take for tonight. Sigh. Impossible. I headed to my closet.
I ended up packing my duffel bag to the brim, putting in a wide range of clothes because I wasn't sure what we'd be doing for dinner. And of course, I packed my shampoo and half a dozen hair products and some make up.
Rolling my eyes at my inability to pack lightly, I went into the kitchen to check on Rex. He was fast asleep. 'Hey, wake up!' he didn't, so I reached in a tapped the soup can. After a few seconds he reluctantly crept out, twitched his whiskers at me and went back in. Glad I was missed.
I felt bad for neglecting Rex so I peeled Rex a grape, gave him fresh water and one of his favourite hamster treats. I nodded to myself, feeling like a much better hamster mummy.
Then I noticed that something wasn't quite right in here. It smelled quite bad, like gone off meat. I hunched down and checked in my fridge, nope. Hmm.
I sniffed the air – something really didn't smell so great. I checked Rex's cage, but it had been cleaned out recently, and it really didn't smell that bad. So what was it?
It was definitely in the kitchen. I looked through all the cupboards and then, in exasperation, I pulled open the oven door. The bad smell wafted out in a wave of putrid vileness. I hunched down to look in the oven and I screamed. Then I fainted.
