Page 67 of Arm Candy Warrior

I peck each one on the cheek and step beyond the curtain. I look left and find no one, then look right, realizing that’s the way we came up. I move a couple of steps until a woman stumbles out of one of the sectioned off areas. She falls on her ass and laughs. She’s older, but she’s got everything you need, which is painfully obvious with her breasts hanging out and the G-string she’s sporting. “Come back,” a male singsongs from behind the black curtain. “I got the good stuff.”

I peer down at her then, noting the glazed look in her dark eyes. She has dark hair and wrinkles around her temples. I imagine she would’ve been very pretty at one point in her life, but it’s obvious she’s on something and has been for a while. She has that rode hard, put away wet look. She blinks up at me. “Do I know you?”

I reach my hand out to help her up. “I don’t think so.”

She leans on me as she struggles to get to her feet. It’s the crazy high heels she’s wearing. She’s not very steady on them at all, which I guess is realistic if you were doped up out of your mind and trying to walk on what are essentially short stilts.

“You okay?” I ask her. I peer toward the curtain, hoping whoever’s in there isn’t taking advantage of her. I don’t know if this woman would even be able to help herself if he was. She’s too far gone.

“I know,” she says, her eyes shimmering. “I don’t know you, but I had a mask just like that.”

Warm hands surround me from behind. They still for a moment and then grip my hip. Brawler curses under his breath, but I don’t understand anything is wrong until Oscar’s choked voice hits me. “What the fuck?”

The woman peers from me to Brawler to Oscar and then back to me.

“Come on, babe. I’m ready, and I got just what you ordered. A little blow for a little blow. Come back here and let me feel those pretty little lips.”

The woman’s face tilts. “That’s my mask.” She lunges for my face, scratching her nails down my forehead until she clumsily steals the mask right off my head, the elastic snapping in the back. “Bitch.”

“Don’t fucking touch her,” Oscar hisses as Brawler pulls me back. He’s trying to push past us, but Brawler shoves his hand out.

“She stole my mask. She stole from us, baby.”

Us?

Oh shit. I gasp as the revelation hits. Oscar finally gets around Brawler, and his mom clings to him, nakedness and all. The vein in his neck looks like it’s about to thrum right out of his skin.

He pushes her away. “You’re fucking high.”

“Bitch,” a male voice growls. The curtain to the side of us opens. Brawler steps in front of me, but I get a good enough look to peer over his shoulder. She’s not the only girl the guy has in there. There’s two already passed out on the floor. White powder lines grace the top of a table under a soft lamp. The guy, who must be in his late thirties to early forties, grips Oscar’s mom’s arm and yanks her back into the room. “Mine first,” he says, slicing a deadly look to Oscar and Brawler.

My stomach heaves. He thinks Oscar wants a shot with his mom.

“Give me half an hour.”

Oscar roars. I want to go to him, but Magnum appears at the top of the steps, pulling Oscar back. He says something into his ear, and Oscar yanks out of his hold, then turns and flies down the stairs behind them. It takes Magnum all of a few seconds to glimpse the scene and know what’s going on. Oscar’s mom is exchanging sex for drugs.

The guy closes the curtain behind him and the women as if nothing happened. He probably can’t think straight either. I come out from behind Brawler and Magnum curses.

“We can’t leave her there,” I hiss, pointing toward the closed curtain. My heart aches for Oscar to have seen that. Plus, that guy didn’t seem nice. What if he hurts her?

“We don’t have a choice.” He frowns at my now maskless face.

“Fuck that. That fucker—”

“Shh,” Magnum demands. “Put your hair in front of your face.” He guides my head to Brawler’s chest. “Pretend you’re sick. Don’t let go of her,” he orders Brawler.

We walk past more rooms. Some of them don’t even have the decency to pull the curtains completely closed. Oscar’s mom’s room isn’t the only one that is laced with drugs. Two women at the end of the hall come stumbling out of a room. Their eyes tell me everything I need to know. They’re high, too. They probably don’t even know where they are.

Brawler hides me until we’re all the way out to the car, and I’m safely inside. I wait until Magnum gets in. “We need to find Oscar.”

“We need to get you home,” Magnum says.

“Fuck that. You saw what Oscar just saw. He’s going to be fucked in the head. Please,” I beg, desperate now. I can’t imagine what he’s feeling.

Brawler sighs. He kisses me on the temple. “I’ll go find Oscar. Promise.” He pushes the door open and gets one foot outside.

“No, wait,” I say, trying to get out with him.

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