Throwaway (6 page)

“Wow, Spence… what happened to your face?”
Maybe it was a little over the top, but Jessie couldn’t help it.
When she saw the large black mark marring his pretty skin,
satisfaction quickly took top billing over fear.

“Who did this to me?” his voice was low and
silky.

“How should I know?” she tossed her bags on
the nearby couch, refusing to look at the obviously terrified
Harmony, who sat curled up in their oversized chair.

“Because my cheek now bears an uncanny
resemblance to yours.”

“Wow, you’re right. But I didn’t have
anything to do with this, Spence. How could I?”

“What’s going on here?”

“I told you—I don’t know. Everyone knows I’m
your girl. Maybe someone decided to get chivalrous… but I’m telling
you, I don’t know who did this or why.”

Before she knew what was happening, he
crossed the distance between them—striking her on the other cheek
with a force that caused her to stumble backward.

“Jessie,” Harmony shrieked, leaping to her
assistance.

“Stay out of this!” Spence shouted.

“Don’t hurt her,” Harmony pleaded.

“Hey, no worries,” Jessie clasped Harmony’s
hands in her own, trying to calm the frantic teenager.

“Let’s see if your boyfriend has a response
to that one.”

“I’m telling you, there is no guy, Spence.
It’s just a coincidence.”

“I guess we’ll see now, won’t we?” With that
pronouncement, he strode out of the little apartment.

“Sorry about this,” Jessie whispered
miserably, blinking back tears that threatened to spill.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Harmony’s
hands shook as she applied an ice pack to Jessie’s newest bruise.
“I really hate that man.”

“Don’t waste the energy.”

“Someone should just shoot him. Then you’d be
free.”

“I’m not going to shoot him… and you aren’t
either,” she added when Harmony got a determined gleam in her
eye.

“What if he gets himself shot with some of
the crap he’s into now?”

“One can always hope, huh?” Jessie
smiled.

“What are you going to do about Gabe?”

“Avoid him like the plague,” Jessie answered
without a moment’s hesitation.

“But you’re crazy about him. I can tell you
are.”

“I’ve survived this long without a man; it
won’t hurt me to walk away from this one now.”

“Don’t you ever wish for another life? Have
you ever even thought about going back to school or getting a new
job or running away to suburbia and raising a couple of kids?”
Harmony’s speech was an impassioned one, full of all the zeal and
innocence of youth.

“I took some classes at the community college
once—botany. I wanted to try my hand at landscape design. It’s
actually why I picked the flat across the street from the Garden
Center. But Spence made me quit after a semester. I think he
worried I’d get it in my head to leave or something.”

“He sucks.”

“Yes, he does. But I don’t think I’d even
know what to do with a family and all that crap. I wouldn’t know
how to act.”

“I bet you’d figure it out. You’re a good
person.”

Jessie didn’t bother answering that one. She
just patted Harmony’s hand and went to get a bubble bath. Her face
was throbbing and Jessie wondered if maybe Spence had broken her
cheekbone this time. She wouldn’t be working for a few nights now.
As much as she wanted to go listen to Danny play—his lively Irish
folk music would inevitably lift her mood—she should probably hide
from the world for a couple of days.

A glance in the mirror confirmed her
suspicion; one whole side of her face was swelling. She frowned and
sank back into the bubbles. After her bath she’d ask Harmony to fix
her up with some takeout so she could pile up on the couch, stuff
her face, and watch sappy movies on Lifetime. Spence could just
live with less income this week. Served him right.

True to her resolve, she didn’t step out of
her apartment before Saturday night. Spence had shown up to scream
at her, but backed off when he saw her puffy face. Since the blow
hadn’t been reciprocated, his suspicions seemed to be ebbing. Now
he would feel slightly remorseful for his actions and would be
looking for a way to make it up to her.

She did change her mind about watching
Lifetime when she fell asleep on the couch the first evening and
spent a restless night dreaming about Gabe. The second night she
relegated herself to mindless reality shows, only to be haunted by
Gabe again in her sleep. It was frustrating her to no end that she
couldn’t seem to get him out of her head. The growing need to see
him only strengthened her resolve to not.

She was tired and unsettled by the time she
finally returned to work on Saturday night. So it really shouldn’t
have surprised her when the very first car she got in turned out to
belong to a cop.

She cursed herself mentally for being stupid
the entire ride to the police station. It wasn’t the first time
she’d been picked up, but it was the first time in the past decade.
She held her head high amid the disdainful looks that so easily
dismissed her humanity.

The cop who brought her in dumped her in an
interrogation room and left. She was grateful to be alone. Even if
there was someone behind the mirror, she could pretend they weren’t
there. She wanted to hide her face in her hands, to close her eyes
and will this rotten world away. Instead, she sat ramrod straight
and waited for the show to begin.

Given the fact that Gabe was a cop, she
really shouldn’t have been surprised when he burst through the
door. Maybe it wasn’t surprise so much as a shock to the system.
Either way, it left her looking like a deer in headlights for the
briefest of moments before she recovered her calm demeanor.

It took him a little longer to control the
waves of emotions crashing over him. It was hard to say who the
rage on his face was aimed at. Maybe it would help Jessie get over
her ridiculous crush if it was geared towards her. All the same,
she wasn’t sure she could survive that.

“Are you okay?” he strode towards her.

“Fine, thank you,” she gave a barely
perceptible head nod.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know me, Jessie.
I’ve been worried out of my mind about you.”

“I can’t imagine anyone here would be happy
to hear that I do know you,” she reminded him.

“To hell with them.”

“You don’t really mean that. Not really.”

“How do you know what I mean?”

“Jessie Jones,” a voice full of authority
broke into their conversation. “We’ve wanted to talk to you for
some time now.”

“So talk,” she motioned for him to sit down
as if she were inviting him to share a spot of tea at her
table.

He began to sit—then realized he’d just
handed control over to her and jumped back up with a scowl. Gabe
looked away too late to hide his smirk.

“What are you laughing at? You had a week and
couldn’t bring her in—it took Thompson one night. I wonder… is
there a reason for that?”

“Absolutely,” Jessie jumped in before Gabe
could. “I’m not feeling all that well tonight. It has my brain a
little fuzzy.”

“Very funny,” the man snarled. Jessie knew
who this man was without introduction; his reputation on the
streets preceded him. Detective Brunner was a cliché—from the
waistline that had seen one donut too many to the cocky attitude
that probably masked all kinds of inadequacies. “Gabe, you don’t
want this one. Lord only knows what crawls on her.”

Gabe took a step towards Brunner, only to
still at the calm in Jessie’s voice when she spoke.

“I’m a lot cleaner than your wife.”

“What do you know about my wife?” Brunner
laughed at the thought.

“Her name is Riley. She’s a petite little
redhead, although, from what I hear, that’s not natural. Trust
me—I’ve heard all about her… and that girl has stuff Ajax won’t
take off.”

Jessie was fairly certain it was words coming
out of Brunner’s mouth, but all she could make out was angry
sputtering. Gabe stopped laughing long enough to grab Brunner when
he lunged for Jessie.

Outwardly, she didn’t flinch. Inside, she was
really glad for Gabe’s quick reflexes. He was growling something in
Brunner’s ear as he dragged him out the door. Jessie could guess
what it was. Of course, his chivalry was probably getting her in
trouble again as it was prone to doing.

“Jessie, as much as I enjoyed that, you
aren’t helping yourself here.”

“I didn’t take Thompson’s money.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s sitting on his dashboard. I’m never the
first one to break the law. Go check it out. Then you can either
charge me with a crime or let me go.”

“Jessie, I wish you’d listen to reason.”

“I’m not sure what you think you can
accomplish by keeping me here,” she sat back and folded her arms
across her chest.

“He hurt you again,” Gabe lowered his voice
to a strained whisper, resting his face in his hands as if to
shield himself from the truth.

“I told you to leave him alone; you’d just
make it worse.”

“What are you talking about?” he looked up at
her, his eyes speaking of great pain.

“He did this to draw out whoever vindicated
me.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,”
he shook his head.

“You didn’t punch Spence?”

“I’d like to draw and quarter him, but no—I
didn’t lay a hand on him. I figured he’d just take it out on
you.”

“Oh,” Jessie wasn’t sure if she was
disappointed about that or not.

“Hey, if you want me to beat the bastard to a
bloody pulp, I’ll gladly do it.”

“No, no. That’s okay. I wonder who hit
him.”

“If you find out, tell him thanks for
me.”

“Or her. It could have been a girl.”

“Have any ideas?

“No. Harmony hates him, but I can’t see her
doing that.”

“Hey Detective Adams,” a young uniform poked
his head in the door. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Be right back,” he told Jessie.

She had a pretty good idea what the kid was
telling Gabe. Sure enough, he came back with a bit of a grin on his
face.

“Looks like you’re right. No money changed
hands. You’re free to go.”

“Great. Good seeing you,” she jumped to her
feet, ready to bolt.

“Not so fast,” he snagged her hand before she
could dart away. “I was kind of hoping you would stick around long
enough for us to work something out. If you help us, then we can
help you start a new life.”

“Sure. Sounds peachy. And what happens when
Spence catches me? My face can’t take much more of him being pissed
at me.”

“I’ll protect you.”

“Sure you will, sugar,” she ached to believe
him.

“Trust me… please.”

She didn’t have confidence in her ability to
answer so she tore her gaze away from his and pulled free. She
managed to hold herself together until she was on the Metro bus and
the police station was shrinking in the distance.

Then she did something she hadn’t done since
she was small child—she cried.

Spence took some convincing that she’d
managed to get in and out of the police station without giving
anything away or learning anything in turn. Jessie couldn’t bring
herself to settle back into her routine just yet, so she bought
herself a couple of nights off so she could go watch a movie by
herself.

The second night she stood in line for a free
seat at the outdoor theater in Forest Park. Going to the Muny
seemed like something a normal person would do with a night off.
Normalcy was something she craved more and more with each passing
day.

It was the first time Jessie had ever seen
Jesus Christ Superstar, and she was instantly and completely drawn
in. Maybe it was the music, maybe it was Mary Magdalene, but she
barely blinked the entire show.

The music was still wrapped around her like a
warm blanket as she rode the bus home that night. The next day
after her workout, she scoured Cherokee Street until she found a
vinyl of the soundtrack.

Maybe she was no Mary Magdalene and Gabe
wasn’t, well, Christ, but he was good and Jessie could identify
with the yearning and the confusion in Mary’s voice.

It was Jessie’s night off for real, so she
grabbed herself a bottle of wine at the Cherokee Market and spent
her evening submerged in a bubble bath, drinking cheap wine
straight from the bottle and listening to Andrew Lloyd Weber over
and over again. All in all, it was a pretty good night.

The next evening she told herself she
couldn’t avoid work forever, so she donned the outfit she’d
intended for her date with Gabe and hit the streets with Harmony.
Spence had stopped giving them rides, but had made it clear they
were to stay on this side of the river.

They usually didn’t have to look further than
the casinos for a gig. This night, Jessie had a customer the second
her feet hit the pavement.

“Excuse me, ma’am…” a nervous kid cleared his
throat.

“Ma’am?” Jessie arched an eyebrow. “That’s a
first.”

“Would… would you possibly be available for
the evening?”

“The whole evening? You sure you don’t want
to start off with twenty minutes?” she shouldn’t be talking herself
out of money, but something in her took pity on the kid. He seemed
terribly nervous.

“Yeah, sure, whatever.”

Jessie felt bad; maybe she’d hurt his
feelings. She tried to amend things. “I’m game for the evening,
too, sugar. I just didn’t want to take all your money.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“So, do you have somewhere in particular you
want to go or do you need directions?” Jessie asked as she slid
into the passenger side of his Ford Taurus.

“The parking lot on the corner of MLK and
First will be fine, kid,” a voice came from the back seat.