Dating Rules And Pretty Fools - 13. The Straight and Narrow

Chapter Thirteen – The Straight and Narrow

So far, things had worked out just as Jackie had described them to him. Maybe there wasn’t as much frisking involved as his unwitting partner in Jasper’s escape had liked, but Hudson could do very well without it. The memory of his earlier pursuits involving Otis still lingered, and despite freshening up for his job, he could swear the sweet taste of his neighbor was still there on his tongue.

“This is so boring,” Jackie said, working a kink in his neck and rolling his eyes. “Seriously, I thought being a bouncer was a lot more than this. Now, I’m starting to suspect the boss of trying to get us to quit only because of all this boredom.” To give more weight to his words, Jackie looked around at the well-behaved patrons who were busy dancing and drinking without causing any problems that would warrant that much-desired bit of frisking.

“Would you quit because of something like this?” Hudson asked, while he scanned the place with different eyes than Jackie. At least the security personnel knew very well what took place inside that half of the club hidden from plain view. As always, he was fishing for clues. He couldn’t and wouldn’t exclude anyone.

“Are you kidding me? No way,” Jackie said. “Now, my man Vegas, you might look at me and think that I’m this slick city boy, who’s got it all figured out.” Hudson was quite certain he didn’t see Jackie like that but nodded in agreement only to hear what the guy had to say. “But when I came here, I was nothing but a country bumpkin, I’m telling ya.”

Seeing how Jackie was waiting for a reaction, Hudson rose to his expectations. “You don’t say. I’d never have suspected it.”

Jackie smiled, pleased with that answer. “Yeah, like I said. I had nothing but the shirt on my back and a bag full of dreams, as they say. Well, not exactly nothing. My momma gave me this number to call, right before she passed.” A short silence followed. That bit about Jackie’s history had to be true. As impressionable as the young man seemed to be, there was real emotion there whenever he mentioned his mother. “So, I called this number, and that was the boss. At first, he showed no sign that he knew who my momma was, but I insisted, you know. I was like a dog with a bone, ‘cause I was down to my last dime and didn’t want to start washing dishes or doing some schmuck job.”

“How did you convince him to hire you?” Hudson asked. “Did he recall your mom’s name, after all?”

“Yeah, after a while. Maybe he was just testing me? I don’t know. Probably he gets calls like that every day, and he didn’t want to be taken for a dope.”

“What was your mom to him?” Hudson asked, pretending to make conversation for conversation’s sake and nothing else, while he continued to watch the room for signs of any wrongdoers.

“Momma didn’t say, and he didn’t either,” Jackie replied. “But I bet that they knew each other well enough for him to pick me up from the street like that and give me a roof over my head.”

“You mentioned that you worked the stage, too.” Hudson didn’t want to believe that Watkins would put his own kid – if that was the relationship he had with Jackie – up to that kind of work, but he had seen too many monsters in his life to be too surprised by anything.

“It was for a short while. I liked it, but then, you know, those boys got to serve the more generous patrons, and that was something the boss didn’t think I was up for.”

“Why not? I’d say you’re pretty enough,” Hudson said and offered Jackie a crooked smile. Yeah, the little asshole wasn’t bad to look at. Hopefully, Otis didn’t think the same. Damn, he really needed to get his head screwed on right or he risked losing it. Thinking of his cute neighbor out of the blue led him down a dangerous path.

“Not ‘boy pretty’ enough, though,” Jackie explained. “I mean, I have these guns.” He flexed his biceps although he had his usual suit on. “Men who pay don’t like guys like me. They want the weaker type, you know, all innocent and stuff. Like my Otis.”

Hudson turned his head away from Jackie so fast that he heard the bones crack.

“What? Some drunk scumbag causing trouble?” Jackie asked and moved closer to stare in the same direction.

“Nah, I just thought I saw some guy I know,” Hudson offered as an explanation and moved a smidge away as a measure to control himself.

Jackie snickered. “A guy like you, I bet you’ve seen plenty of action. Be on the lookout for jealous exes, right?” He elbowed Hudson in a friendly gesture. The poor schmuck had no idea how close he was to getting a fat lip.

“So, you weren’t fit for playing the innocent boy for the big buyers?” Hudson chose to steer the conversation back to what he considered safe ground.

“Yeah. Although I liked the attention, to give it to you straight. I mean, I even had a regular. The guy was a bit of a weirdo, but he paid.” Jackie rubbed his fingers together in a suggestive manner.

“And why did the boss give up on this lucrative relationship that you had with the guy? I suppose he gets the lion’s share of what you boys make.”

Jackie seemed pensive for a bit. Hudson briefly examined the frown etched between those dark eyebrows. “Yeah, he does. That was why he surprised me a little when he pulled me off of doing that kind of work. I was good at it. Anyway, as I said, that guy was sort of giving me the creeps sometimes. Better off, I guess.”

Hudson felt his nostrils flaring. “Why was he giving you the creeps?”

“Are you asking me to dig around for some old history now, man?” Jackie complained.

“You brought it up,” Hudson pointed out.

“Right.” Jackie seemed to consider for a moment. “You know, the boss told me to keep my mouth shut about it, but what the hell? – it’s been a while, and that guy didn’t come back after I wasn’t on the shelf anymore. But, between you and me, Vegas,” he added and leaned closer, “the boss can’t know I told you anything.”

“My lips are sealed. And it’s like we’re only doing this to kill time, right?”

Jackie’s laugh was a bit forced. “Yeah, kill time. So, this guy,” he began, a bit more lively, “he was a super freak. He would put me into this cold bath, in a tub filled with ice, until my lips turned blue. I was supposed to keep my mouth shut and close my eyes and just lie there until he said so. And then, he got me out – he was really strong, you know? – and carried me to the bed. And I was supposed to be completely limp, and then he began fucking me. It hurt, too, ‘cause he used nothing, the fucking asshole.” The more Jackie remembered about that john, the more he seemed to see his past as a sex worker in less rosy colors. His lips had set in a grim line, and his eyes were blank. Hudson was all ears now. “So, one day, when the boss asked me how it was going, I spilled the beans. The guy, the john, I mean, he paid me extra not to say anything, but I felt like I had to.”

“What happened next?”

Jackie shrugged. “The boss seemed annoyed. He told me that could get me sick in the lungs or something. And two days later, he moved me to other stuff. And he said, I kid you not, he said ‘from now on, you’ll walk the straight and narrow, Jackie, you hear me?’ Like hell, man. Straight and narrow. Yeah, I ain’t lying.”

Straight and narrow. What a strange choice of words indeed. Hudson’s eyes followed a couple of security guys disappearing through the door leading to the secret part of Twinlight. “Some hot shindig tonight?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” Jackie asked. “It’s like a really slow night.”

“I’m talking about people going in and out all the time.” Hudson pointed at the door through which the two guards had just disappeared.

“Ah, that, you mean.” Jackie pursed his lips. “Frankly, the boss told me nothing. He’s really mad at me. Damn, I mean, I think the boss is a great man, taking in a stray like me and all, but, sometimes…”

Hudson waited for whatever Jackie wanted to add to that and only then realized that his partner was focused on something happening at the front door.

“Shit.”

Hudson frowned. It took him a moment to understand what Jackie meant by that expletive.

Twinlight was getting raided by law enforcement, and the timing was truly peculiar.

He grabbed Jackie by the shoulder and steered him toward the door to the secret area of the club. If there was anything that the police would find suspicious, it would be there, and tonight, Hudson found himself on the wrong side of the law. In body only, of course, but his mission wasn’t common knowledge; getting entangled in a police raid at this moment seemed not that great an idea.

Also, if his instincts weren’t failing him, this was a good way to prove himself. Ignoring the police asking everyone to be calm as the music stopped, he made himself scarce through the door, dragging Jackie along.

“Do you know how to get out of here in under two minutes?” he asked Jackie.

“Yeah,” the other replied. “The fuck is going on? The boss keeps the pigs fed, as far as I know.”

Hudson set his jaw hard at the insult, but now wasn’t the time for delicate sensibilities.

“How many of your top winning models are around?”

“Angel is. And a couple more. Nothing that special about tonight, I guess.”

Go figure. “We need to grab the boys and get out. Let the others fend for themselves. I bet the boss won’t like it if any of his pretty models end up spending the night in the slammer. Are you with me?”

“Yeah,” Jackie said quickly.

“Tell me the way to the back. I’ll pull the car up to the door.”

He was short, his orders efficient. There was no time for explanations and the like, and it seemed like Jackie, although not the brightest tool in the shed, could follow clear and precise commands when needed.

***

It took them a little over two minutes to be inside the car. Angel climbed in by Hudson’s side without giving him a look. The only sign that the youth was troubled by the police raid was how he began tapping his fingers on his right thigh as he looked out the window. Jackie was in the back with the other two guys, and Hudson only examined them briefly in the rearview mirror. They were, more or less, versions of Jasper and Angel combined. It was as if he had just saved one so that two could appear in his place. The captain’s words rang true in his ears.

You can’t save everyone, West.

He flexed his hands on the wheel. That was the last thing he needed to hear or know. “All set? Let’s hit the road.”

“Yeah, boss, let’s go,” Jackie confirmed and slammed his hand on the back of Hudson’s seat.

Another look in the mirror let him know that the guy was nervous. So, the chances were he hadn’t been let in on the scheme if that was what that raid was. What could have been on Watkins’s mind? Jackie had been clear that the big boss was careful to line some pockets on the force, so that raid was either known to him or he was getting a warning on a late payment.

Somehow, the latter didn’t seem right. Watkins wouldn’t jeopardize his business like that. He appeared to be a cold, calculating man who left not one detail to chance.

That only left one option to consider. There had been an order for the raid, but for what purpose? Hudson had a hunch that he would learn about it soon enough.

***

Jackie had given him pointers along the way to a place where they could leave the boys to get their beauty sleep. All of them, Angel included, had been silent as Hudson had put the pedal to the metal, the lights of the city rushing past. The light traffic had been a blessing; he had been checking the mirror for signs of police cars chasing them until they were close to their destination.

For a while, Jackie had tried to ease the silence by making jokes, only to leave them to die on their own feet. The night was strange, and Hudson’s instincts were on high alert.

Angel got out of the car first and rushed into the house – a nice three-bedroom with a manicured lawn located in an affluent neighborhood just outside the bustling city – followed closely by the other two. They disappeared behind the door, and Hudson watched as not one light was turned on to give away that there was someone inside. He couldn’t help thinking that he was being watched back. That Angel was ticking him off the wrong way.

“Do you think they’ll be fine here, on their own?” he eventually asked Jackie. “You can get in front now.”

Jackie obeyed without one comment. All night so far he had been on his best behavior. Hudson almost wanted to commend him for it. He wouldn’t do that; Jackie seemed to have the hots for Otis, and that made them rivals.

The hell was he thinking now? Jackie was instrumental to the case, the way he saw it. And he needed to stop at that. Any personal feelings had no business getting in the way.

Jackie plopped himself in the dead man’s seat and groaned. “Man, what a fucking night. What do you think we should do now?”

“Now,” Hudson said calmly while kicking the engine into gear, “you’re going to call the boss and tell him about the raid.”

“Yeah. And tell him how we got Angel and the others to safety. I reckon that’ll earn us some points, right?”

Hudson couldn’t agree more. Although, it made him wonder how his quick thinking would be seen by the big kahuna. Would it open room for more suspicions? He was on probation, because of the Jasper thing, and any more attention drawn to him could leave him with little wiggle room, something he wasn’t looking forward to.

“You care about what the boss thinks of you, right, Jackie?” he asked as he turned the car around a corner to get them back to the city.

“Of course, I do. Seriously, if he weren’t so cold like he is with everyone, I’d say he’s like a father to me.”

Hudson searched his brain and could see no physical similarities between Jackie and Watkins. For that cold lizard to have fathered the guy sitting next to him, it would have taken a miracle of no DNA getting transferred from parent to the child. Still, he couldn’t rule out that possibility completely.

“So, use tonight to get back into his good graces,” Hudson suggested.

“Like how? We barely escaped. And it was all thanks to you,” Jackie said.

“Well, turn it to your advantage. Tell him how quick you were to act. And how you took the guys to safety.”

“But it was you—ah, I see what you did there,” Jackie said and grinned. “Ah, man, don’t feel guilty for me. I was onboard with getting Jasper to that bus like instantly. You didn’t drag me into it or anything.”

“Yeah, but you’ve been with the boss far longer than me. I don’t want him to think that I have too much initiative,” Hudson explained.

“It was very good initiative, though,” Jackie praised him. “All right, we’ll do it as you say. But, you know, he might not think me capable of thinking on my feet like that.”

“How so? It seems to me like he’s counting on you.”

Jackie pursed his lips and looked out the window. “For the small stuff, yeah.”

“Jasper wasn’t small stuff,” Hudson reminded him.

“I blew that one, though. Anyway, the boss thinks I’m pretty stupid. He must be keeping me around just because he has that duty to my momma, although she’s been dead for some time now.”

“Hey, why are you beating yourself up all of a sudden? Cheer up. You did well tonight.”

The last thing he had expected was to have Jackie turn toward him with stars in his eyes. “For real, Vegas? You mean it, man?”

“Yeah. Hey, don’t tell me that demotion to being a bouncer at the club really got to you.”

“A little,” Jackie admitted. “You know what, man? You’re really cool. I mean, here I am, telling you all these embarrassing things about me, and you don’t bat an eye. Anyone else working for the boss would either laugh at me or, you know, look down on me.”

Jackie looked like someone who could use a friend. But he was barking up the wrong tree. Hudson had no room in his life – especially under the circumstances – for a friendship.

He didn’t have room for playing with his neighbor, either, but there he was, anyway. However, Jackie was a different matter. For all he knew, all this kicked puppy act could be just that, an act, and the guy could be up to his eyeballs in the nefarious business his boss was running.

More than ever, he needed to keep his eyes wide open.

***

Hudson pretended to have all his attention trained on the road while Jackie made the call.

“Yeah, boss,” Jackie confirmed a few more times. “Yeah, they’re okay now. Nothing happened. I mean, I don’t know what went down at the club, and frankly, I don’t think my man Hudson and I should go back there just now. The pigs might still be there. No, we don’t have anything to hide, but those assholes, they might want to haul our asses off just to have a laugh. Yeah, thanks, boss.”

“So, how did it go?” Hudson asked once Jackie finished his conversation.

“He didn’t say it, but he’s pretty damn happy that we took the boys to safety.”

“Was he worried? You said everything is above board, right? And it’s not like any of them look underage to me.”

“They’re not,” Jackie confirmed. “The boss keeps saying the boys, but it’s Angel he must have been worried about.”

Hudson had a hard time picturing Watkins truly worried about anyone. He seemed like the kind of man who’d believe everyone to be expendable. Nonetheless, the big boss’s preference for the attractive asshole who played the top dog among the models at Twinlight was worth noting.

“Does he want to see us?”

Jackie nodded. “Yeah. I think he’ll take us off the bottom job. We proved ourselves tonight. Give me five, Vegas. Come on, don’t leave a man hanging.”

Hudson grinned at his partner and high-fived him. “You really know how to get under the boss’s skin, don’t you?”

Jackie puffed out his chest. “Yeah. There’s no one like me when it comes to that. I bet it’s because of that he wasn’t harder on us for losing Jasper. But how could I stop the guy from leaving, with his momma and all?”

“Yeah, you’re a good egg, Jackie,” Hudson praised him. Maybe compared to the clique Watkins was running at Twinlight. Still, as much as he wanted to keep Jackie in his sights as one of the baddies, the more time he spent with the guy, the more his gut instinct was telling him something different.

He usually went with his gut, but not when it involved the positive. So, Jackie was still in the doghouse, figuratively speaking, until he had solid proof that there was nothing that warranted keeping the young man there.

And now, he was very curious about what Watkins wanted to talk to them about. It could be what Jackie was saying, that the boss only wanted to reinstate them after proving themselves during the police raid, but Hudson didn’t think so.

Tonight felt pretty much like a test. The test in question must have been for him, and that left Hudson feeling a bit odd. That funny feeling in the pit of his stomach was usually related to bad stuff, so not something to ignore. Was Watkins getting suspicious of him? His background check must have been clean as a whistle, but what if being too clean caused problems on that front?

He had just the right idea how to endear the man to a more criminal version of himself. After all, showing himself as a flawed man with his fair share of skeletons would make him more of a candidate for Watkins’s inner circle than any other thing he could do at the moment.

***

Without letting Jackie see his surprise when he got the directions to Watkins’s personal address, Hudson considered this new piece of information. He couldn’t allow himself any feeling of victory, as this was only the beginning. Soon, he would be able to step into the big boss’s inner sanctum, and that showed trust. And trust, in such circles, was hard-earned, which meant that he had serious reservations about what Watkins really thought about him and his involvement in the night’s events.

The place was a modern mansion, perched on the top of a hill, as if to show the mere mortals that no one could afford living higher in the area. It was an impersonal monster of concrete and steel, with floor to ceiling windows that created the illusion of an all-seeing eye glaring down at them as they climbed the hill.

The lights were on downstairs, which meant that they were expected. Jackie gushed enthusiastically about the place, although Hudson couldn’t see the guy getting too cozy in a cold-looking home like this. Home wasn’t even a good word for it, something confirmed to him as soon as they walked in.

Watkins was sitting on a creamy white sofa made of good quality leather, balancing a tumbler of scotch on his knee. He gestured for them to come in and sit in the armchairs matching the sofa, to his left and right. Hudson didn’t miss how the big boss was splitting them apart. Inviting them to sit could be, of course, seen as a sign of good will, but his high alert didn’t ease at all.

“I heard you got a bit of action tonight.” Watkins stared at him. “Jackie, fix Mr. Vegas a drink, and grab one for yourself.”

Jackie jumped to his feet and sauntered to the bar, a spring in his step. That was a guy who knew his way around the place.

“I’m sorry, boss, but I have to refuse you. I’m driving.”

Watkins smiled, his eyes as cold as always. “I didn’t peg you as a stickler for following the rules.”

“I just don’t need to get in any trouble with our boys in blue,” Hudson said and waved vaguely. He made a point of shifting nervously in his place, sure that Watkins would pick up on it.

“And why is that? Besides the obvious, of course.”

Jackie came back with the drinks, and Hudson accepted his but let it rest on the arm of his chair without touching it. “Well, let’s say that I wasn’t that much of a choir boy in my younger years.”

“Really?” Watkins quirked an eyebrow. “Nothing showed up on your record. I hope you don’t mind that we ran a background check on you.”

Hudson made a short hand gesture to assure his current boss that he didn’t mind it at all. “I was lucky nothing showed up on my record,” he said. “But I was very close, and let’s just say that it took a really kind-hearted man to overlook what could have brought me some serious jail time. Serious for someone as young as me at the time. However, the same guy let me know that if I ever stepped wrong, that it would come back to bite me in the ass. I haven’t tested it to see if that’s true so far. And, to be honest, I’m not keen on doing so, either.”

Watkins laughed, to show his understanding. “What was it? Weed?”

“That was the least of it.” Hudson held his chin high, hoping his peacock impersonation was enough to fool the criminal he was sitting across from. “I dealt a little of everything. I wasn’t the kind of guy to put all my eggs in one basket, if you catch my drift.”

“I see. That’s good to know.” Watkins didn’t question him further. Hudson was pretty sure he could see the man’s brain gears turning if he looked close enough. The big boss was already strategizing on how to find ways to turn his newest employee into blackmail material. That always worked wonders for loyalty in the underworld. Wash my back, and I’ll wash yours.

“We didn’t have time to think, boss. We just took off, I mean, after we grabbed the boys,” Jackie explained.

“You two did well,” Watkins commended them. “And I suppose that warrants a bit of gratitude. Starting tomorrow, back to where you were. Good enough?”

“Thank you, boss,” Jackie chirped away happily. “You have no idea how grateful we are. I mean, it’s not like we don’t want to work, no matter what kind of job you give us, but--”

Watkins interrupted his underling’s speech with a short wave of the hand. “I wasn’t planning on keeping the two of you at that kind of job forever. I was only a little upset with you for letting Jasper go like that, without letting me give him some money for the road.”

“Ah, damn,” Jackie moaned. “It didn’t even cross my mind.”

“What about you, Mr. Vegas?” Watkins asked. “Did it cross yours?”

“I gave him some cash for the bus ticket,” Hudson replied smoothly. “I would have given him more but, like Jackie, it didn’t really cross my mind.”

Watkins appeared satisfied with that explanation and got to his feet, a sign that their little meeting was over. Hudson was certain now. It had been a test, indeed, and while he liked to think that he had passed it with flying colors, it was never a good idea to let his guard down until he was definitely sure that he was off the hook.

He had just given Watkins a little bit of rope, and there was no doubt in his mind that, soon enough, he’d feel the pull of his master’s hand. It didn’t trouble him in the least. Watkins was no spring chicken and seemed seasoned in all manner of criminal activity. Still, Hudson had no intention to play fast and loose, not now when he was so close to getting a pass to the underworld over which this strange cold man reigned supreme.

***

Otis had many questions, and the thing with having many questions was that you needed to figure out a way to ask them in the right order. He rubbed the glass and stared at it in the light. Things in the physical world were so straightforward. A glass was either clean, dirty, or a little smudged. Sure enough, there were various stages of uncleanliness, but you knew what was what, as far as a glass was concerned.

“That’s clean enough,” Missy assured him as she stacked the clean plates and turned to watch him. “Something on your mind, Otis?”

“How do you ask someone to sleep with you?”

Missy wiggled her eyebrows and grinned. “Are you going to ask your sexy neighbor to do the horizontal cha-cha with you?”

“Dancing while lying down is hardly practical.” Otis frowned and munched on his lower lip. “I don’t think it would work. Also, that is not what I have in mind.”

Missy laughed. “Okay, let’s ditch all the talking about dancing so I can be honest with you. Do you want to get your neighbor in your bed?”

Otis’s face lit up. That was exactly what he wanted, and Missy understood. “Yes. You see, he only has a sofa, and there is hardly any room on it for him, and he is tall, so it is quite a large sofa. But my bed,” he began gesticulating, “is this wide, so I think that two people could lie in it without getting into each other’s hair too much. Which is only an expression, because getting in someone’s hair means being really close and annoying.”

Missy examined him and then clapped her hands. “Well, that’s easy, Otis. You first send him a message that says ‘Wanna stop by?’ and then, when he’s knocking, you open the door and lean against it, wearing nothing but a pair of skimpy shorts – I bet you look great in that kind of thing – and you look at him suggestively.”

“Suggestively? What should I suggest?” Otis didn’t want to point out that opening the door in his underwear seemed impractical as it was pretty cold outside, even in the hallways of his building, for that to be a good idea.

“Exactly what I’m going to tell you.” Missy flicked her red mane to and fro. “You will say this – ‘there’s an empty spot in my bed with your name on it’.”

Otis pulled out his phone. “I have to note down all of this, or else I won’t remember it.”

“You do that, sweetheart,” Missy said and smiled at him. Then, she pinched his cheek. “Just one look at you is enough to know.”

“Know what?” Otis asked.

“That your neighbor is going to say ‘yes’.”

What was the question, though? Otis hesitated and it cost him. Someone called for Missy, and she placed a quick peck on his cheek before scurrying away. Still, this plan was better than nothing.

He’d put it into practice tonight.

TBC