Page 48 of Sugar and Skulls

“Why don’t we just have Raffe go over there and fuck her. It would save us a lot of time. Thirty minutes with him and she’ll spill everything Bill wants to know.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Raffe says on a long drawn out sigh.

“He doesn’t do that shit anymore.”

The room goes silent. I turn to find them all staring at me, Raffe included.

“It’s fine, Dirk. I got this. No big deal,” he says, narrowing his eyes in question.

“I. Said. No.”

“Like, never? Or, just with this job?” Jared, asks.

My head slowly turns to him. “Jared. Your dick is up next. Go find out what Bill wants to know.”

Jared nods quickly and rises from his chair. Before he leaves I answer his question. “Raffe keeps it in his pants from now on. No more jobs. Ever.”

Everyone nods, getting out of the room as swiftly as they can. I guess they can sense my foul mood.

Raffe stays in his chair. When everyone is gone he turns on me. “What the fuck, man?”

“Is it really that hard to understand. You will no longer be doing jobs that involve your penis. Do you need me to spell it out for you?” I blow smoke towards him.

“Why?”

“How long are you going to let people use your dick?”

“Club business is different,” he runs his fingers through his hair, leaning back in his chair.

“Is it?”

He doesn’t answer. “You want a chance with, her? You gotta be clean man. No other way.”

“I thought…you said you wanted her and now you’re trying to help me? How does that work?”

“Are we in competition?”

He stares at me.

“You know what I’m going to do to her. She is going to need both of us. In the end she is probably going to hate me. That leaves you.”

“I still wanted you after what you did to me,” he says, his eyes flitting over my face. He still wants me.

“We’ll see,” I say leaving him to his thoughts. I decide to head down to the lake.

Jesse blinks up at me as I tower over her. “Got a minute?” I ask.

She looks nervously down the dock towards Bill and Katie. “Um, I’m sure they are about ready to go in. Can’t it wait?”

I point to the forest and then walk into the trees. My confidence doesn’t allow me to look back to see if she is following.

When I stop, I listen to her footsteps. Leaves crunch before she stills, and the only sound that remains is her nervous breath. I turn to face her. She backs up against a tree. “What do you want?” she says, struggling to control her breathing. She puts on a hell of a good show, I’ll admit. But, I can see through her air of nonchalance. She is terrified right now.

I take two wide steps, stopping toe to toe with her. She hugs the tree behind her as if she can meld herself into the bark.

“You’re going to tell me everything I want to know.”

She laughs nervously. “I’m not telling you anything.” She shakes her head, as if she is trying to convince herself of her statement.

---