Page 12 of Dark Passion

Mason just smiled and shook his head. “Trying to be wanted where I wasn’t. I’ll tell you about it another time. I’m not here for that anymore,” Mason said, directing his statement to the dude behind the door. “Open up. I’ll make it worth your while... Show him the money,” he said to me.

Pulling out hundreds and waving it in front of the opening in the door, and directly in the guy’s eyes, it didn’t take but a second for him to respond. He opened the door immediately and stepped back, giving us the once over.

After I sauntered in behind Mason, the dude closed the door, and said, “Where’s the money and what do you want? I was told never to let you inside here again.” While Mason bargained with the large dude, I spotted an equally large bulldog sleeping in the corner—his, I guessed.

“That was a long time,” Mason said to the tall dude with the wide shoulders, and a ponytail past his shoulder which had been held with a large rubber band. He had sleeves of tattoos on his arms and covering his large biceps. He stood six two to my six feet, and Mason’s five nine height, and slim frame. We were no match for him, or the bulldog if things got rough.

I chose to run from this life and find another way that had nothing to do with violence of any kind. The closest I came to an argument was with Sam when I kicked him out of my bed and room, and it didn’t fare well for me. Before that night was over, I’d given in to his growls and howls, and I was glad to get some peace.

Like now. I wanted to get some peace from this, and get Charlie out of my life once and for all, and if he wanted to fuck up his life, okay, but he was fucking up Cole’s life. We were partners till death do us part, and I hoped it wouldn’t come to that anytime soon.

The dude looked like what his job entailed. He was a bouncer by trade, and he appeared to carry out his duties well, looking at the scars on his cheek and neck. “Now what the fuck is it you want?” he grumbled. “You know if you cause any trouble, my boss will hear about it, and my ass will be in a sling with his foot up my ass.” I was sure the dude was talking metaphorically, but in this place he could mean just what he’d said, and not in a good way I was sure.

When I handed the dude two hundred dollars his demeanor changed. “Who are you looking for, and how can I help?” His voice was soft now. I didn’t know a guy his stature and bulk had a voice that high.

We’re looking for a young man about Mason’s height, blue eyes, and a face you’d not likely forget. He has movie-star good looks.”

“Are you talking about Charlie St. John’s look-a-like? He goes by the name of Charlie also, and he’s into all manner of bondage. He even asked me to watch him in the room on the bottom floor. He wanted to have someone watch him jack off while he hung himself in the closet. I told him it was against the rules, but if he had a boyfriend and wanted to take him to one of the rooms, it was on him what they did in their privacy.”

As we listened to the story, I had enough, because I couldn’t waste another minute or an hour in this place. I couldn’t help but interrupt him. “Is he here? Is Charles St. John’s look-a-like in this place?”

“I think he left with a dude, a gambler who liked to bet on anything. You know the type.” No, I didn’t know. “One desperate guy I hadn’t seen before, but heard about him. He just comes in here to fuck someone behind a wall. I don’t know whether he gives or takes. I get paid to look the other way, you know that, Mason.”

When Mason didn’t reply because he stared at the entrance to the place where there were noises of men talking, laughing, and grunting after you heard the sound of whips on flesh. Perhaps Mason remembered a disturbing event, because I saw his face tighten, his eyes narrow, and brow furrow into three rows.

“You know what I mean, Mason?” the dude questioned. However, Mason didn’t answer because he was caught up with a moment in time that took his attention away from my problems, and brought him back to his own.

“I covered up for you until my job was on the line, then I told my boss what you were doing on a Saturday night. Remember? I knew you were in a bad way, but I kept the secret for as long as I could, and then it became a matter of me or you. Self-preservation is the law of the land. No hard feelings I hope.”

“None,” Mason said, still not quite in the moment. We turned and headed for the door out of necessity and the need to get out of the smell of cum and musk. And that reminded me I needed to call Cole. It had been twenty-four or more hours since I talked to him, and he must be going crazy by now.

Yet, I was afraid to go home and admit where I’d slept that night. I didn’t know if Cole would leave me once he found out about my night at Julian’s, and I didn’t want to take the chance, but sooner or later I had to.

“Can you tell me if you heard anything being said between Charlie and the gambler?”

“I think the gambler said that he’d take Charlie to Atlantic City, because he had a suite there at Caesars Palace, and they could finished what they’d started.”

“Did Charlie go with him?”

“All I know is they walked out hand in hand.”

“Do you know what the dude looked like?”

“I’d need more money for that.”

“All I have is another hundred. And a credit card. Do you have some place where I can get more cash?” I asked.

“Do we look like we have cash machines in here? This isn’t a bank. I’d tell you his name, but that’s not enough to risk my job over. Suppose I told you and you go there and something serious happens, then I’m out of a job, and Mason...” He glanced at Mason. “You’ve had the worst happen to you, and I don’t think you can handle anymore. I’m doing you a favor, Mason.”

Maybe he was doing us a favor, but if I had more money he’d forget about the job and Mason too. Money would do that to some people, and I’d bet Charlie paid him off not to tell anyone where he’d gone.

The bouncer reached and grabbed the last hundred from my fist, and said, “Atlantic City.” He pushed us to the exit, and we gladly left. When Mason and I climbed into the cab, and before he asked me where to, I said, “Take me to Atlantic City. I bet they have plenty of cash machines there.”

“What do you think about Charlie being with a gambler? We don’t want to drive there and find out he’s not there.”

“Look at all the time we’ve wasted trying to find him. At least I can tell Cole I had to go to Atlantic City looking for Charlie. I can call him from there with a legitimate excuse. And there’s a matter of being reimbursed for our time and expenses by Max.”

Mason glared at me in the mirror for a few minutes, then grinned and shook his head. He turned, started the motor, and said, “I have nothing better to do.” Then he pulled out of the alley and onto the streets of Manhattan, headed for Atlantic City.

---