The Call Page 8

  I ride the elevator to the 25th floor and walk up to a reception desk where a pretty middle-aged woman looks up and gives me a winning warm smile.

  “Welcome to Derek’s Kids. May I help you?” She greets me with such kindness.

  “I have an appointment with Derek. Can you tell him Jack’s here? Jack Winton.” I hand her an old business card and she picks up her phone as she nods. I hear her say, “Yes, I have a Jack here to see you,” and hangs up.

  “Derek will be right out. Please feel free to take a seat.” She gestures to the waiting area with several comfortable cushy chairs.

  I don’t have a chance to sit down as I see Derek come right out to get me. “Jack, it’s great to see you again,” he says as he offers me his hand. We shake hands, and he adds warmly, “Follow me.”

  We go back to his office, where I find another man waiting to meet me. He is an African American gentleman with a short afro and kind, warm eyes. So far, I’m blown away by the kindness of everyone here.

  Derek says, “Jack, this is Terrance. He runs Derek’s Kids for me. Terrance, Jack’s here to discuss joining us. He wants to work with kids, maybe coach some baseball.” The grin Derek gives me says it all. He’s on board with this idea. I’m incredulous. Could this really be happening to me?

  “Hey, Jack, that’s great to hear. Do you want to step into my office and we can discuss it?” Terrance says as he shakes hands with me. I give Derek a nod and Terrance and I take our leave.

  Terrance leads me to his office and sits behind his desk. He gestures to the chair in front and says, “Please have a seat, make yourself comfortable. Do you want some coffee? I’m going to call for some.”

  I nod and say, “Sure, that would be great.” And then we get down to brass tacks.

  “So, you’re interested in working with troubled kids?” he asks with a raised brow.

  “Yes, yes sir. I had, ahem, a rough year growing up when I went out on my own at 16. I think I can bring that experience here to these kids. I have a great passion for kids, Terrance. I’d love to help guide them or even just set up a team and play baseball with them. I think the game can be a positive influence on a young man.”

  Terrance and I talk for a long time. We talk about the problems inner city kids face. He needs a coach for their baseball team, and, of course, I volunteer. I’m excited to coach for sure. This part is a volunteer position, but I think it’s a great place to start to get me an in, so to speak. I hope he has something else available. I still need to pay the bills.

  Working with kids really speaks to me. I can’t contain all the thoughts whizzing around in my mind. Coaching a baseball team is perfect. It’s exactly what I want. I can bring all my skills to the field and keep an eye out for these troubled teens.

  By the time I leave, we come to an agreement. I’m going to do community outreach and counseling teens. These urban street kids need compassion and understanding. Someone to connect with, who can understand where they are coming from.

  “I’ll send over a contract with all the details.” Terrance smiles a warm, generous smile and holds out his hand to me.

  “Thank you, Terrance, I really appreciate this.” I am beyond happy! This is exactly what I had hoped for. I just can’t believe it’s all happening so fast.

  “Welcome to the team.” Terrance shakes my hand.

  I can’t be more excited to get this show on the road.

  There’s so much I dream of, so much I hope to accomplish, so much I want to do.

  I look forward to getting started for sure. I have a few days left at the bank and then I’ll be free to begin this new life where I can live with a free conscience. Where I can do something good for a change.

  I can hardly wait for my new life to begin.

  It’s just right here, waiting for me.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Alex

  I want to quit this fucking job. That asshole Norris looks at me with a sideways glance, and I know shit is about to hit the fan. It's all going to get fucked up if I don’t get with it. He’s pulled me aside before and threatened me with horrible things like raping me or selling me off to the Bloodlusts. It’s just that I’m so tired, but I try to snap out of it.

  “Do a better job, Alex, or...you don’t want to know,” he threatens, ogling my body and grabbing my ass. “I can promise you one thing: I’ll enjoy punishing you,” he says with a nasty growl. “I bet the Bloodlusts would love this sexy ass.”

  He scares the ever-loving crap out of me. I’m so pissed at myself for getting into this frightening situation. I was only fifteen years old when he caught me stealing. He grabbed me off the street that day and growled in my ear, “I know where you live, bitch. We wouldn’t want something to happen to Mommy and Daddy now, would we?” My heart turned to stone, and my lungs froze. My mind got muddled and I couldn't speak. This was the beginning of the end of my carefree life. I believed he would hurt my parents. I knew I was in a shit ton of crap.

  I loved my parents always. They were amazing people who guided me through my life. When I was just 18 years old they died in a car crash. It took me years to embrace that they were gone. It shreds me to think of them even now. I miss them so much but am thankful for the years we had together.

  This whole thing with the money I took makes me feel so damn guilty. At such a young age, I really didn’t think it through. I didn’t know I was stealing exactly. I just thought no one was looking, goddamnit. Ever since then, Norris the freak has had me work these nights at TABOO.

  Fuck me, I can’t take it. I tremble every time I walk through the door after leaving Rocco’s and take my post—dealing poker, selling chips or bartending. I bristle every time I enter the premises. My frustration seeps through every pore. It’s beginning to build to a boiling point because there’s no way out. I’m trapped in a nightmare of my own making.

  Norris stands guard in a threatening fucking way over my every move, every single minute I’m here. He’s the guy who caught me and dragged me kicking and screaming to TABOO. He’s a sleazy, vile dude, with perfect black clothes. He wears his hoody pulled up over his shaved head and it makes him look even more dangerous. I shiver with disgust in ways I’ve never known existed. For some crazy reason he thinks he’s a lady killer, or maybe just a killer. I try my best to stay far away from him, but sometimes it’s just plain impossible.

  “Alex, come here.” He motions me over with a flick of his finger. “You’re late. I’m gonna dock your pay, cunt.” Of course, he can’t leave it at that, and I feel his hands grip my thigh. Oh, sweet Jesus, help me. “I could gut you like a fish,” he growls in my ear.

  Every day my distain for him grows as his sloppy hands grab at my body parts. He has no right, damn it, no right to treat me like this. I go home with new bruises every night. He’s an unscrupulous mofo, but there’s nothing I can do to fight him. He thinks it’s okay to harass me as I quiver with fear. He holds nothing sacred—nothing. I’m his toy to play with, like a cat batting around a mouse squirming to get away. I am the mouse, terrified every moment I’m here. I’m the mouse who’s captured under the thumb of a monster.

  He’s the reason I started working out. After my first night at TABOO I went down to the Y and asked about self-defense classes. I discovered a passion for kickboxing, and it makes me feel awesome to kick the shit out of the dummy I’ve named Norris the Second. Take that, asshole! I side kick him in the balls—the dummy balls, that is. The stench of sweat at the Y only confirms for me I’m in the right place; we all work hard to become our own protector.

  Jack’s a great distraction. He’s so hot, with his smoky dark blue eyes and long, dirty blonde hair. I love pushing my hands through those blonde locks. He’s tall, over a foot taller than me, and I love those hands of his. They splay out large across my waist, swallowing it whole. He has runners' legs, with long strong thighs and ropey muscles that bunch up tight. His voice is a deep baritone. “Hot as hell,” I mumble to myself. Hot as hell!

  And the d
ude can fuck. He throws me down and fucks my brains out exactly the way I love to be taken. That dirty talk really gets me going. My heart begins to thrum as soon as our eyes meet and our tongues start to twirl around each other. The kissing goes on and on; we just can’t stop making out, swirling our mouths and groping each other’s bodies. Jack’s a man who knows how to swivel his hips and push against my clit just right with his pelvic bone. He’s a man who knows what to do with his cock, and that’s a rare find. A man who’s so focused. He knows all the right goddamn moves.

  All day I dream of kissing his beautiful full lips. When he pushes his tongue inside my mouth it’s like he’s conquering me, making me his for the night. Just the thought of his kisses makes me swoon. My pussy juices get all stirred up, and, like an addict, I want him again and again.

  His chest is broad and hairless and gets me oh so turned on when I slide my tongue over his nipples. His grunts send me into overdrive and turn me on more than I’ve ever been turned on before. I can hardly wait to fuck him as I move down to his thick veined cock. “Hmm, I love your happy trail,” I groan into his skin.

  I don’t know a lot about him, though I’d like to. I try like hell to ask him about himself each time I see him, but every time he walks in my place, he’s pushing me up against a flat surface and tearing my clothes off. There’s just no time to get to know him any better. I know he’s a good man, though. He’s a good man who knows how to fuck my brains out, and really, that’s all I need to know.

  I play with his perfect image in my mind all day long. I audibly sigh when I think of him groaning on top of me, his big, glorious dick nudging to get in.

  “Alex, pay attention!” Norris barks to bring me out of my daydreams. I wish he’d just shut the fuck up. Someday it’s going to go down. I'm going to do something I may regret.

  I’m stuck in this freaking place until 4 am three nights a week, every damn week.

  Whatever the day, it’s the same old crap. There's just no way out of here, no way to escape. I dream of the day I figure it out and get the hell out for real.

  The gang is an unforgiving organism, and I’m their bitch.

  Fuck me to hell, every time I see that bastard Norris I shake down into my boots.

  He might just be the death of me. His smirk disgusts me to my core.

  “I want you, you know that, right Alex?” Norris takes in my body, looking me up and down. “And someday I’m going to take what I want, bitch.” He snorts like an animal as I tremble. I pray I survive this, that I survive him.

  I heard him on the phone when I first started. “Yes, the boat is loaded with women and kids. I think those kids will be a huge payday for us!” He was playfully laughing, and I thought at first I’d misunderstood him. “I’ll meet you down there. Bring the cash.” Norris is in the sex trafficking business.

  He makes me sick to my stomach. Every time he looks my way, I get nauseous.

  I wish there was something I could do to make him vanish, make this vile disgusting creature disappear from my life.

  He’s worthless and downright fucking mean to the core.

  Terrified, I whisper, “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Jack

  The weekend’s here, and I only have one more week to go at the bank. They chose a complete dolt to replace me, and I’ve been training him. Now why would they have me train him? I loathe this company; I despise banking and I hate my replacement, Todd. Ugh, this guy’s a stupid asshole. Thank goodness it won’t matter much longer.

  I met Todd when I first started working here. He was a few years older than me and seemed bitter towards everyone who got promoted before him. Time after time, he was passed over. I mean, he hasn’t had a promotion in forever.

  Now he’s going to run this place and all the other banks in this district? It’s a big job, but someone has to do it; as long as it’s not me I shouldn’t give a shit. I really don’t know what they were thinking. But hell, I’ll be gone and couldn’t care less, not even one little bit.

  He’s a greasy dude with balding thin hair combed over to the side. Who does he think he’s fooling? I laugh to myself every time I look at him. Is he trying to hide his bald head with these few strands of hair? Is he trying to fool himself with that bad combover? Honestly, he just isn’t the kind of man I’d want to hang out with.

  I don’t like his work ethic. He never seemed very committed to being an honorable man. I’ve caught him in a few lies, lies he didn’t have to tell. It makes me think of him as a sneaky person. I remember back in the day, he was trying to cover up a mistake he made. He blamed his mistake on someone else. He pointed the finger at Hal—I know Hal does a great job. Admitting to a mistake isn’t the worst thing in the world. I think it shows how honorable you are.

  And another thing, Todd’s the biggest fucking braggart I’ve ever met. He brags about his money, his cars, and his women. I don’t believe any of it is real. Women? Come on now, I don’t think women are flocking to be with him; with his beady black eyes and his fleshy hands, I’ve seen women literally run the other way away from him. So yeah, I hate liars.

  I’m so happy I’m getting out of here. Five more days ticking down to freedom.

  I think I’ll call Alex tonight. I love being with her. She’s honestly the best fuck I’ve ever had, and my mind wanders down that lust-filled alley.

  Her body fits perfectly into mine. I love her sexy as sin giggle, and the way she sucks me off is near perfection. I don’t know what she does between midnight and 4 am several nights a week. She says she has another job, but I can’t get the name of the club out of her.

  She says, “Oh Jack, get off my back,” and giggles as she starts kissing me and whispers seductively, “Get on my front.” Then she pulls me over her slim form and I slide my body up and down. I’m in heaven, lost in her ocean of creamy silky-smooth skin. She kisses like a dream. And what was I saying?

  This woman can kiss. I love kissing her. So, when I say she starts to kiss me, well I’m hard as a rock instantly and all my thoughts flood to her beautiful breasts. Her tits get me going. We fuck like maniacs. No joke, we fuck like we were made for each other.

  And on top of that, she’s so fucking easy to be with. Chill doesn’t even do justice to her friendly-ass approach to life. This woman doesn’t take things too seriously. She fucking rocks my world. Frankly, I haven’t thought of Lizzy since I met Alex, and it’s a relief. I have way better things to think about now.

  Jeremy and I have been meeting at the park these last few days. We’ve been out playing catch so I can practice my pitches. It wouldn’t look too good if I show up to play ball with my kids and can't even run the bases. We stretch and run, and then I work on my fastball.

  Derek even met us one afternoon to throw the ball around. I’ve been having a blast. I wish I had never given it up; baseball is everything. Baseball is changing my life in all the ways I need.

  I’m so excited to get started on my new job and am eager to meet the kids.

  As soon I get home, I grab a beer and plop down on my leather couch. It’s my spot, and thankfully I’ve returned to my bed. Alex barely gets through my door before we go straight to my bed and fuck like crazy people. I want to devour her. I can't keep my hands off her; her smell drives me wild, and being with her is absolutely divine. I get lost in the crook of her neck. And like a sweet dance, our kissing sweeps me away. Her skin is soft as silk, her kisses long and wet. I can’t get enough and throw her down on top of the blankets and pound her right there. It’s all a heady combination of feels as I hear Alex moan, “Oh Jack, you turn me on so much.” She sighs as I ravage her body. Life is good.

  Today, I’m chillin like a villain with the World Series on the TV. Of course, as a seasoned fan, I’m rooting for the Giants. There’s a knock at the door and Jeremy comes in carrying two six packs and a bag of chips under his arm. I grab them out of his hands and get the beers in the fridge. “Hey dude, come in, the game’s about to start.”


  As Jeremy walks through my kitchen, he says, “Hey, how’s it going? Did you meet that dude, Terrance?” He looks over at me. He’s looking relaxed today in his jeans and T-shirt. We can’t wait for the game to start. His broad smile on his bronzed skin looks bright and cheery. We’ve been looking forward to this day for years.

  I smile back with my own happy smile. “Hey, come grab a seat. I’ll get the snacks. I can’t believe the Giants got into the world serious!” I say laughing loudly. That’s our joke—world serious—we’ve always said that same shit since we were kids.

  “Yeah, me neither,” Jeremy says, laughing his ass off.

  Jeremy goes in and drops down on my couch, pops the top of his beer and takes a long swig of the cold brew.

  I grab a large glass bowl and dump the chips inside. Then I grab the dip I bought and a beer in one hand and meet him at the couch. The chips and dip go on my coffee table and the beer stays in my hand. I take a large gulp from the bottle.

  “So, I met that dude. You’re right, his name is Terrance. He’s totally cool. We really seemed to connect over baseball. He hired me to counsel some of the kids in the program. I’m totally changing careers. Woohoo!” I yell out the last part. I want to share my happy news in person this time.

  I’m so excited and see Jeremy is too. “That’s awesome! Congrats bro! I’m so glad Derek could help. Let’s celebrate after the game?” He looks over at me and we raise our beers in the air.

  “Sure, let’s go to Rocco’s!” Then I add, “Couldn’t have done it without you, lil bro.”

  My life’s changing. I can’t wait to get started, and I know he’ll support me every step of the way. Jeremy has my back. That brother of mine’s incredible.

  He makes me believe I can do anything. I’m certain he’ll stay strong by my side.

  This whole new life thing’s looking brighter with each passing day.