Page 4 of Link's Property
“Thought you had a job at the bar?” I ask.
Last I checked online, she was working downtown. I wasn’t too thrilled with her chosen place of employment, but it was better than her taking a job at the strip club. Which is where a lot of the strays end up. Girls without families, in need of money, wanting attention. Hoping some man will come in and sweep them off their feet, offer them a life from rags to riches. It ends up being a place where hopes go to die and all that’s left in the rubble is a girl turning to drugs and tricks, trying to numb her reality.
“I got fired tonight,” she admits, sounding exhausted. She looks it too. Not just physically but I can see it in her eyes. She’s emotionally drained. That fire that always used to burn bright is gone. The girl looks defeated.
“How’d you get fired?” I go to my drawer and take out a sweatshirt for her to put on. I doubt anything in that sodden suitcase of hers is dry.
“A guy stuck his hand up my skirt and grabbed my crotch, trying to cop a feel. He wouldn’t leave me alone, so I sprayed him with the soda gun. My boss didn’t like that I caused a scene, so he fired me. I was banking on the tips from tonight to cover my rent, which was due today, but he told me he used the money I’d made to pay for the jerk’s drinks.”
I’m going to kill the son of a bitch. He should’ve protected his employee from some groping asshole, not fire the girl. Tomorrow, I’ll be paying that man a visit. Make sure he pays for his mistake and get the money that’s owed to her, too. Motherfucker is going to be taught a lesson.
“When I got back to my apartment, my landlord told me I needed to go or he was going to evict me. I didn’t want thatshowing up on my rental record, so I had no choice. I’m sorry, Officer Price. I feel really bad showing up out of the blue and putting all this on you. I was planning to go to a motel, but as I drove by one and saw a bunch of men lingering around outside, it kind of freaked me out, so I kept driving. And driving. And eventually I just wound up here.”
“How’d you know where to look for me?” It’s not like that shit is advertised. Besides a few old colleagues, not many people know I patched in.
“Izzy told me she saw you with a leather jacket on that said “Savage Knights” on it. She assumed you were a bunch of old-fart biker dudes that ride motorcycles for sport on the weekend.”
Old fart. I’m not an old fart. I’m thirty-seven. But I guess to this twenty-two-year-old I am old. Not sure why that irritates my nerves, but I’m grumbling about it.
“I thought about going to the station and asking for you, but that place makes me nervous.” I bet it does. The girl was in handcuffs in that place one too many times. “And Izzy is almost two hours away. With the weather being so bad I didn’t want to chance it.”
I’m glad she didn’t. She shouldn’t have risked coming out this way either, but I’m glad she didn’t show up at a motel. It wouldn’t have been safe for a girl like her.
“Turned in my badge four years ago.”
“Oh.” She looks surprised. “I didn’t know that.”
“How is Izzy?” I ask, changing the subject. No need to get into the details of my reasons for leaving the force. Right now, I need to figure out what the hell I’m supposed to do with this girl.
“She’s good.” She smiles and there’s a flicker of something in her eyes. Not fire, more along the lines of a kindling of jealousy. “She got a scholarship to state so she’s going to school and working at a fancy steakhouse at night. She just started dating a doctor. So she’s all happy and in love.” And there’s that twingeof envy. I can hear it in her voice, underneath that smile she’s trying to hold.
Izzy was all brains, sweet and petite, obviously going places. Whereas Shayna struggled in school. In my opinion, Shay was equally intelligent, but colleges only care about grades, not street smarts. They want kids who don’t have mandated community service as their only volunteer hours on their applications.
“Glad to hear it,” I state. It’s a relief to know Izzy didn’t end up on the street after the shit she went through. Both of these girls turned out well in spite of their circumstances.
“Look, Officer Price…”
“Call me Link.”
“Oh, um, okay, Link. I just need a place to stay for a couple days while I look for a job. As soon as I have something, I’ll find a room to rent somewhere and get out of your hair. I won’t be in your way for long, I promise. I just need a place for a week maybe two at max, and then I’ll be gone.”
Damn. This girl is always fighting for her place in this world. It’s a miracle, given everything she’s been through, that she hasn’t given up. But for as long as I’ve known her, every time she gets knocked down, she gets right back up. It’s pretty damn admirable if you ask me.
“Let me go talk to King, our Prez. It’s not my place to decide whether you can stay or not, but I’ll see what I can do. Why don’t you get changed out of those wet clothes and I’ll be back.”
She tips her chin, thanking me on my way out. I know I’ve got people waiting on an explanation as to what the hell is going on, and who the hell this girl is.
“You want to enlighten us as to who that girl is and why she’s knocking on our door on a night like tonight?” King asks, and as if to echo his concern, thunder rumbles loud outside. The storm is not letting up.
“She’s one of the kids I dealt with back when I was a correctional officer.” I leave out the part that I almost adopted the girl. That’s not a conversation I need to be having right now. “I told her if she ever found herself in trouble to come find me.”
And here she is. Though, she looks nothing like the little girl I once knew. Underneath all that damp mess is a woman now. I can tell by the outline of her clothes that she’s grown some curves. Curves I was trying not to stare at as they poked through her wet shirt, stiff from the cold rain chilling her skin. I’m hoping that sweatshirt I gave her will cover them up.
“What kind of trouble she in?” He sounds hesitant. I get it. None of us need more shit to deal with at the moment. But I can assure him it’s not like the trouble we’re used to dealing with.
“Some fucker groped her tonight at the bar she was working at and she got fired for defending herself. Her boss wouldn’t give her the money she was owed so she couldn’t make her rent. Then her landlord told her to pay up or he’d be evicting her.” Another asshole that’s going to be paid a visit. The fucker put a young girl out on the street at night in the pouring fucking rain. What the hell kind of bastard would do that? He could’ve at least waited until the morning, so she didn’t have to navigate the riffraff out on the streets at night.
“She needs a place to stay for a couple weeks so she can find a job. Told her I’d see if we had the space.”
