Page 5 of Sexpot
“Cassie! They took her, they took Andi!” Cold chills run down my body at the fear in Maria’s voice.
“Who took her? What are you talking about?” I don’t owe anyone money; I keep to myself. Who would want to take Andi? She’s just a little girl for Christ’s sake.
“I don’t know. God, Cassie what if they hurt her.” Maria is sobbing through the phone.
“Maria, calm down. Call the cops; I’m on my way home.” Hanging up the phone, I notice my hands are shaking, all the worst-case scenarios are running through my head. Andi is out there with strangers, alone, I have to find her.
By the time, I pull into our apartment complex there are three police cars sitting outside. Grabbing my bag, I rush to my apartment, hoping that this is all a nightmare, but knowing it’s not. A police officer at the door holds his hand up to stop me.
“Sorry Miss, you’ll have to wait out here.” He says.
“This is my apartment; it was my niece that was taken. Please let me in, I need to speak with my babysitter.” His eyes fill with sympathy as he lets me pass.
Entering the apartment, I see Maria sitting on my ancient couch across from another police officer, crying into her hands. Taking a seat on the arm of the couch, I reach over and hug her. Maria’s a sweet woman who lives in the building that watches Andi for me while I work nights. Maria works days as a seamstress so after she puts Andi to bed at night she usually crashes in my bed ‘til I get home.
“Are you the little girl's aunt?” The police officer across from Maria asks.
“Yes, technically I’m her guardian. Her mother, my sister, dropped her off with me. I haven’t seen her since. I’m all she has; please tell me you can find her.” I can hear the desperation in my voice. The tears are threatening to fall, but I need to hold it together a little longer.
“We’re going to try our best Ms. Martin.” He sounds confident, but I’m not. I know how many children go missing every year and are never found.
“I’d like to ask you a few questions; they might help us narrow down who took her.” He doesn’t think this was random, he thinks this is my fault. Maybe it is, maybe if I could afford a better neighborhood this wouldn’t have happened. I failed Andi, I’m not any better than my sister.
“I’m so sorry Cassie, there were too many of them. They had guns, they threatened to shoot me if I tried to stop them. Oh God, Andi.” Maria wails against me, her body shaking with her sobs.
“It’s not your fault Maria.” It’s mine, and now Andi is paying the price for my failures. Hushing Maria, I turn to the police officer and start answering his questions. They’re mostly about my sister, if I have any enemies, and then he asks me where I work. I can immediately tell he thinks this abduction is linked somehow to my less than savory job. Honestly, I don’t give two shits what he thinks about me or my job as long as he finds Andi.
Chapter Six
Xander
I’m a fucking idiot, a complete and utter fucking idiot. The beautiful stripper that I thought I shared something with, stole my fucking wallet. Where the hell did, she hide it? She had on scraps of fabric that barely covered anything. I wonder how many men she’s done this to. How many unsuspecting men walk into that club and walk out broke?
She must think she’s pretty fucking clever, using her body to distract men while she steals from them. When I got home and emptied my pockets anger coursed through my body like a fire. I was ready to walk right back out the door and hunt her down. Instead, I decided to use every resource I have at my disposal to find her.
The first thing I did was contact Mack and ask him about her. He refused to give up any of her information, even when I threatened to fire him. At least the man was loyal when it came to the girls at the club that is, not his boss who pays him well.
My next step was Marvin, that little weasley sonofabitch was a different story. All I had to do was threaten him with a full investigation of his club if he didn’t give me the information I wanted. He was the fountain of all knowledge after that, giving me her real name, her social security number, and her address. Unfortunately, the address she gave Marvin, which was probably because the guy creeped her out, was some empty lot outside of town.
Deciding it might be better to confront her at work, I’ve been staking out the strip club for the last two nights. She’s been a no show, and instead of being angry I’m getting worried about her. Mack tells me she’s always working, only taking one day off a week. My gut is telling me something happened to her.
“Have you heard from her?” After my second night of staking out the club with no luck I called Mack into my office.
“No, nothing. I tried calling her, but she’s not answering. We’re not best buddies, but she usually answers when I call. I’m getting worried about her and…” He stops talking, his lips thinning like he was about to tell me something he shouldn’t.
“Her and who Mack? Does she have a boyfriend? Girlfriend? A dog? What the fuck man, you gotta give me something.” I’m about to lose my shit over a girl that stole from me. What the hell is wrong with me. This is not me; I’m the calm, cool, collected guy. I have my shit under control; this girl has me going off the reservation.
“I promised not to tell anyone. Don’t ask me to break that promise.” I want to demand he tell me everything he fucking knows about her, but I don’t want to lose him as an employee. The guy is too good to lose, it’s that simple.
“It’s fine Mack, I’ve got Cale doing a full search on her. Whatever she’s hiding I’ll find out soon anyway. Do you know where she lives?” When he purses his lips together, I know he knows, but it’s another thing he’s not going to tell me.
“Look boss I know she stole from you, but there are things you don’t know about. Extenuating circumstances that might have been a factor in what she did.” He’s trying to tell me something without actually telling me. I’m ready to pull my hair out. This started out as me wanting to confront her for stealing from me, but now I’m genuinely worried something might have happened to her.
“Fine, you don’t want to tell me, I get it. At least go by her place and make sure she’s alright. You say this isn’t like her, then something has to be wrong. In the meantime, Cale will find me all her juicy details.” I’m totally going to tail him, but he doesn’t need to know that. I could wait for Cale to get me all her information, but this way is faster.
“That’s a good idea.” Mack is up and out the door without a backwards glance. Smiling at my own genius, I grab my keys off my desk and head out the door behind him. I gave him enough of a head start to make it easier to hide in plain sight.
Getting in my car, I access the tracking app I had installed on Mack’s phone. As soon as the tiny little red dot shows up on my display screen, I’m moving. The app wasn’t originally installed for this; it was originally installed in case an agent got themselves kidnapped or worse. Maybe I wasn’t using it for its intended purpose, but for some reason I can’t find any fucks to give over it.
