The Arrangement: Collection C (Vol 7-9) by Ward H.M

Author:Ward, H.M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-63035-191-5
Publisher: Laree Bailey Press
Published: 2019-03-04T16:00:00+00:00

19

My stomach is twisting in knots as Gabe drives me closer to the hotel. I fish my bracelet out of my bag and put it on. My hand is shaking so much that I have trouble getting the clasp to lock. When Gabe hits a pothole, I fumble and drop it.

“Sorry about that. The streets haven’t been the same since Sandy.” They really haven’t. That damn hurricane literally ate half the seashore, along with Ocean Parkway and a ton of houses. There are parts of Long Island that look abandoned with houses that look like skeleton’s covered in black mold. Tattered tarps have been shredded to ruins like the building beneath.

“It’s okay. I’m just nervous, I guess.”

Gabe is uncharacteristically silent. It drives me nuts so I blurt out, “Just say it. Yell at me for not wearing a coat and agreeing to sleep with half of New York. Go ahead and say it. It won’t make any difference now anyway.”

“Which is why I’m not saying nothing.” Gabe’s old eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. The car dips again as it moves over uneven pavement. A car cuts off someone in front of us and horns blare before the telltale sound of a collision.

“Awh, Jesus Christ—” Gabe lurches the car to the side while I try to get my bracelet around my wrist. It catches just as the old guy takes a less conventional route around the accident with two tires up on the sidewalk. He leans on his horn and the pedestrians jump out of the way.

I glance behind us to see a wake of angry people flipping us the bird with extra enthusiasm. I hold onto my ‘oh shit’ strap and try not to scream. Gabe goes down half a city block on the curb before getting around the accident. “Sorry, if we’re late, Black will skin me. She’s in a foul mood.”

“Why? She doesn’t have enough money to roll around in?” My arms are folded over my chest. I repress a shiver but it makes me spasm anyway.

Gabe reaches over and cranks up the heater. “Nah, supply and demand problems. She has more client requests than she can fill. Black knows she’s losing money and pissing away cash ticks her off.”

“What?” This is news to me. I thought I was expendable, as in totally replaceable. “Like she doesn’t have enough call girls?”

Gabe smirks at me in the mirror. “I didn’t say that. Did you hear me say that?”

Crazy old man. I shake my head and smile at him. “Just because you didn’t say it doesn’t mean anything. She’ll kill you if she figures out that you told me anything.”

“Yeah, but I’m the one she sends for shit like that and it’s not like I plan on roughing up my own face, so I think we’re okay.

“Besides, my point is that she needs you. Don’t let her push you into things you don’t want to do. You’re a tenderfoot with all this. You shouldn’t have more than one guy a weekend—she knows that—but she accepted these clients and has to deliver someone.

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