The next morning at sunrise, Victor sent Jasper and Russell to search for Maya. Victor stayed at the slaughterhouse to watch over the rest of his girls to get them ready for clients who called to have a good time with them at the motel, and he even sent some of them out to do their work in town, and he also told them to keep an eye out for Maya. They didn't care about her that much, but they still agreed to it in hopes that Victor would at least reward them. To make their search easier for them, Victor gave Jasper the photo of Maya so they can show the townsfolk and ask if they recognized her and knew where she'd be.
Jasper and Russell spent the last few hours walking around town, asking multiple farmers, ranchers and townsfolk if they knew about Maya's whereabouts. So far, all they got were different answers, from 'Haven't seen her since the day before,' to 'No idea where she went off to,'.
After hours of searching, they stopped at the local general store to grab a couple bottles of ice-cold beer and took a break. Russell wiped the sweat from the heat of Wrath from his forehead before taking a swig of his beer. He had slim build with enough muscle to make himself capable of intimidating people, and Jasper was slightly more muscular in the arms with broad shoulders. Some could say they look as if they're brothers, except while Jasper's horns were pointed with the tips missing from when he got into a fist fight with someone in Lust, Russell's horns were curved like a ram's horns.
"For a small town, it sure is hard for us to find just one hooker." Russell said, breaking the silence between him and his buddy.
Jasper shrugged, "Ah, she's gotta be here somewhere. "Unless some redneck freak dragged her off in the middle of the night outta town to kill her. I heard Wrath is full of psychos like that who take their victims and hide their bodies somewhere."
"Even if we only find her dead body, Victor will still have our hides if he finds her dead. She is his niece, after all."
"Step-niece." Jasper corrected Russell. "Even if they aren't blood-related, it's still disgusting how he has a thing for her. I mean, the guy's old enough to be her actual father.
Russell scoffed, taking a sip from his bottle and drinking the last of his beer, "Well, better her than Tulip."
Hearing his sister's name made Jasper grab Russell by the collar of his shirt, making the curved-horned imp drop his now empty bottle. Jasper pulled him close to his face and growled, "Don't you even think about bringing up my little sister! If Maya did get killed down here, Victor will make Tulip his next whore! After the way he tried to persuade her to work for him, I can't let that happen!"
Something suddenly caught Jasper's eye when he looked over Russell's shoulder. He saw three imps walking down the street, and he recognized them as the very same imps he saw last night during his rounds. Remembering they were near the same alley he found Maya's broken phone. Tossing his empty bottle in a barrel that was being used as a trash can, he went over to the three imps.
"Hey, you three!" he called to them.
The three imps looked over their shoulders and saw Jasper approaching them. He saw that two of them were bandaged up since the last time he saw them. The goateed imp had where his nose was supposed to be all bandaged on the bridge and he held a piece of raw meat over a black eye, and his hand was also bandaged as he was rubbing it. The bald imp had a cast on his arm. And the tattooed imp had bruising on his neck.
"What do you want, buddy?" the bald imp, Otto, sneered as he held his casted arm.
"Have you guys, by chance, seen this woman?" Jasper showed them the photo of Maya. "She's one of the prostitutes who works for my boss, and she went missing last night.
The three imps looked at the photo, and their faces lit up when they recognized the imp in the female imp.
Buckwheat, the goateed imp nodded, "Yeah, we ran into her last night around here. We wanted to have a second shot with her."
The tattooed imp, Nails, added, "She bit me on the dick yesterday mornin' when she was tryin' to please me and Buckwheat here, so last night, we found her and asked for a retry, this time with our buddy Otto here." He gestured Otto, massaging his broken arm. Jasper could tell that they weren't being fully honest about their story. He would see fresh wounds and blood on the prostitutes during his rounds in Pride and Lust from being raped or even assaulted when they least expected it, and he knew these three might have done the same to Maya. It wouldn't be the first time she was raped.
"We were just about to have a good time with her," Nails continued. "Then outta nowhere, this cowboy came over to us and beat our asses. Last thing I remember before I blacked out was that he grabbed her and took her someplace."
"Any idea where he might have taken her?" Jasper asked him. "And do you remember what he looked like so we can know who he is?"
Buckwheat shrugged, "We don't know where he's staying, but we first ran into him yesterday at around noon. He messed with us at first, and his horse sat on Nails." Jasper had to fight back a chuckle when he mentioned that, noticing the embarrassed look on Nails' face. "After that, he said he was looking for one of the most popular joints here, the Watering Hole, and he offered us a drink to make up for the trouble. We don't know where he's actually staying, but either he's at the motel or at the Watering Hole, since that also acts as a lodging."
Jasper knew he now had the information he needed. He told Russell about the information he got, much to his friend's relief that they finally got somewhere. After that, Jasper thanked the trio for their cooperation, then he asked them, "Before we go to find our girl, how can we make up for the disappointment you got?"
"Got any more of those babes?" Nails asked. "My dick's still hard from last night and I need a girl to fuck soon, 'cause I don't believe in jerking off by myself."
Russell nodded, "As a matter of fact, we have a few girls around town. Some of them are with our boss at where we're staying. If you want, we can get you guys set up with some of them. Just meet up with our boss first."
Nails shook Jasper's hands before he and his friends gave the two imps the directions to the Watering Hole, and Jasper gave the trio the directions to the abandoned slaughterhouse they were staying at. While Jasper and Russell made their way to the Watering Hole, the trio couldn't wait to have a little fun with more women. They even hoped the boss was okay with them getting some action with one girl at the same time.
When Maya woke up, she found her hair a tangled mess, along with some locks of it still in her mouth. She hadn't slept that good in years, and it was the best sleep she's ever had. Looking at the old-fashioned alarm clock on the side table, she saw it was 9 in the morning. Usually, Victor had her wake up at 6 in the morning to get ready for the day shift on the street, but whenever she had the night shift, he did let her sleep until early afternoon to get her rejuvenated for the next day, but only for her to be forced to service men who come into the club that a friend of Victor's owns in Lust.
Still, she felt all refreshed and rejuvenated. She couldn't remember the last time she slept that good, and in a nice comfortable bed, on top of that.
She wanted to look for Maybelle and see if she had any clothes for her to borrow so she could get out of the baggy shirt and put some pants or even a skirt on or something else to cover her lower half, but she remembered she had to do her performances at the moment, and she could hear the piano playing from downstairs along with Maybelle singing. She would have had no other choice but to stay in the room and wait for her to be finished, but then she heard a knock on the door. The door opened and she saw Striker coming in with a small paper bag.
"Thought you'd be awake by now. You slept like a rock the whole night through." he said coming into the room, shutting the door behind him. "Did you know you eat your hair in your sleep?" He snickered after remembering waking up to see her with locks of her hair in her mouth as she slept.
"Very funny." Maya said, rolling her eyes. She looked at the bag in his hands. "What's that?"
"Nothin' much. Just a little somethin' for you to wear to help you fit right in with the rest of us here in Wrath." Striker handed her the bag. "Maybelle had to start work early, so she asked me to go to the second-hand store to get some stuff for you. Since you and Maybelle seem to be the same clothing size, I got some just your size."
After that, he turned back to the door and was about to leave the room. He looked at her, his hand on the doorknob, and said to her, "Be right back with your breakfast. In the meantime, you better be dressed by the time I get back, unless you wanna walk around naked."
Maya shot him a dirty look as he left the room and closed the door behind him. After he left, Maya looked at the bag in her hands and dumped the contents onto the bed to see what kind of clothes Striker gave her. Her new clothes consisted of a white blouse with an off-the-shoulder neckline and short sleeves, a dark blue skirt with a side slit that reached slightly above her knees, long light blue knee socks, a black strapless bra, and a pair of brown boots. She took off the baggy shirt and put on her new clothes.
Once she was done, she looked at the full-length mirror to look at herself. She admired the clothes Striker gave her. Although the skirt was just a bit over her knees like her old sundress, it still looked more stylish compared to that crappy dress. The blouse even showed her midriff, but she didn't care. She was used to wearing shirts like that while on the streets in Lust.
She saw the door open from behind her in the mirror's reflection, and Striker came into the room with a plate of scrambled eggs and sausages, along with a glass of milk. He grinned in satisfaction when he saw Maya checking herself out in the mirror with her new clothes. He said to her, "Lookin' good. Now you'll fit right in."
He handed her the plate of food and glass of milk, and she sat on the edge of the bed and started digging into her breakfast. Other than the hell hog roast from last night, this breakfast was the best thing she tasted in a long time, and she almost forgot how much she enjoyed scrambled eggs. Striker smirked at her appetite as she ate, "Never thought women had appetites like that."
Maya scoffed, wiping the milk from her lips, "You try waking up every morning having nothing but a slice of toast with nothing on it and a glass of water."
"Fair enough."
Once Maya was finished eating, she put the now empty plate and glass on the side table. She looked at Striker. "So, what do you want me to do now? I'm not gonna spend the rest of my time trapped in here, am I? Because I've spent hours locked in a room with different men lining up to fuck me for money."
Striker said to her, "Of course not. I was actually planning on introducing you to the owners of this place, Maybelle's parents. They still don't know you're here yet, but I know it's only a matter of time before they catch on."
"But you can guess how they'll react to seeing me after yesterday." Maya said, crossing her arms.
"I'll tell them to listen to your side of the story if they ask." Striker assured her.
Maya got up from the bed and took a deep breath. This wasn't going to be easy for her, but if she was going to be here, she might as well get it over with and get an earful of harsh words from the owners when they meet her. She then followed Striker to the door, and they were about to leave the room, but just as Striker was about to grab the knob, the door swung open, and Maybelle stood there with a worried look on her face.
"Striker, we've got a problem downstairs."
Helluva Boss belongs to Vivienne Medrano aka Vivziepop, and Maya and Maybelle, along with a few characters here (minus Striker) belong to me. Kind reviews are all I ask