Page 7 of Disturbed Lucidity

“You got cash for a cab?”

I shook my head. “No. I’ll walk.”

“The hell you will,” Mikie said, reaching for his wallet, handing me a twenty-dollar bill. “Destiny, California, may not be as big as L.A., but we have our troubles here. Take a fucking cab.”

Slipping the twenty into my back pocket, I looked around the place and asked, “You sure you need to leave? Thought we could watch a movie and order something in.”

“Yeah. Got a meet later, and before I forget, you gotta start calling me Slash, babe. No more of that Mikie shit.”

“Why?”

“Cause that’s what the club calls me. No one answers to their legal name.”

Smirking, I peeked up at him, sliding close, wrapping my arms around his waist. “How about Big Mike?”

The big goof chuckled, hugging me back. “Fuck, babe, that’s worse. Look, it’s a club thing, so will you try to remember, please?”

Huffing, I pushed him away, plopping down on the comfortable sofa. “Fine, but all bets are off if you piss me off.”

“Deal.” He grinned, bending over and giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before heading for the door. “Don’t forget, five p.m. tomorrow.”

“I won’t.”

“Slash?”

“Yeah?”

“Does anyone know about me? My past, I mean?”

“You mean the other stuff?”

I silently nodded.

“No, babe. No one knows,” he confirmed before walking out the door.

“Do you have the money?” A man with a scar running down the side of his face demanded as he leered at me.

I did not like him.

He was like the other men.

The men who laughed at my pain.

“Got it right here,” Father said, handing another man a large bag.

“That her?” the man with the scar asked.

“Yeah,” Father said as he watched the other man open the bag to see for himself. Satisfied, the man nodded to the one with the scar.

“It’s all here. Fifty G’s.”

“Do what you want with her, but make sure she’s taken care of by tonight. When it’s done, I will send the rest.”

“I’ll take care of the cunt myself.” The man with the scar smirked.

“Good,” Father said, shaking the hand of the man with the scar.

“You know, if he finds out, he will come for you,” the man with the scar sneered.

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