Page 34 of All I Wank for Christmas

“Yes, sir.”

My heart pounds in my chest. I can get Jasper! We’ll go to the Tanner house and get his suit back. We’ll get the presents delivered. Maybe I’ll get to see him again on a normal night. Hell, maybe I’ll get to spend a day with him during daylight hours outside of the parlor. Could I get to know him outside of Santa business and hand jobs?

“Hold on. That’s it?” Deacon asks, throwing a pack of sticky notes he was holding onto his desk in irritation. “We’re just going to release a guy because our favorite local hand hooker punches our punch cards? She’s just a sex worker. Why are we turning him over to her? Hell, we should at least take her in the back and have her suck our dicks if we’re going to take bribes.”

Don’t throw up. Don’t throw up.

It’s not the suggestion of sucking his dick. It’s the idea that I’m not a human to him. I’m a sex worker. The words rattle in my head like an echo. I have a degree. I have a family. I have a sister I take care of and a mother I’m the primary caregiver for. I pay the mortgage, the light bill, and the taxes. I shop at local restaurants and stores to support small businesses around me.

But I’m just a sex worker to him. OK, I’m a sex worker, but that’s not all that I am. I’m a human that contributes to this man’s society. Hell, this man kisses his wife on the cheek and comes to see me. Who, exactly, is the bad person in this situation? Who should receive the harsher judgment? It’s not the woman that’s trying to survive and never spoke wedding vows to anyone.

In our world, it’ll always be people like me that are the bad guys, though. Even I know that, and I accepted it a long time ago.

Tears burn my eyes with the realization that the only person that’s treated me like a human being and shown me any respect outside of my family is the man in the back cell that I came to get. And I’m going to get him, God dammit! No matter what I have to do and how unsavory it is.

I fold my hands in my lap and look at the toes of my Converse, waiting for Sheriff DeWitt to appease Deacon and tell him to take me in the back. I’ll do it. So help me, I’ll suck all of them off if it gets me Jasper.

“No, Deacon,” Sheriff DeWitt says, and I lift my head so fast I almost get whiplash. “Just because we visit her business doesn’t mean we coerce her to do something she doesn’t want to do.” He wags a crooked finger at Deacon. “You get your shit together and be a little more respectful. We all visit that parlor, but there are rules there. There are rules here, and you’re going to follow them. Roy’s going to follow them. I won’t allow it.” Sheriff DeWitt swings his eyes to me. “Get Holly a blanket. Her legs look cold. Roy, go get our Santa.”

“We’re just going to let a guy that thinks he’s Santa out of the clink?” Deacon asks.

Sheriff DeWitt nails Deacon with a glare. “Did I misspeak?”

Deacon looks at the floor. “No, sir.”

“That man was found in a tree. He wasn’t upstairs in their teenage daughter’s bedroom. He didn’t break in. Hell, he could have been Christmas caroling while drunk. That isn’t a death penalty offense. He went willingly and never showed violent tendencies. He’s either drunk or needs mental care, and we’ve let people sleep it off here and release them before. He could think he’s Pope Benedict and we wouldn’t have a leg to stand on until he threatens someone. Go get him.”

Deacon’s chair squeaks when he stands. He pulls keys out of his pocket and walks away without a look or a word to anyone. Roy pats me on the back and walks back to the coffee station to watch more snow outside the window like a small child. I’m left with a visibly exhausted Sheriff DeWitt.

I should thank him. I should tell him I owe him more than a punch card. “Um, thanks. You didn’t have to do that.”

“What? Stick up for you when Deacon mouths off? That little shit stain – I’d throw him through a wall if I could. I’ve known you a long time, Holly. This whole town has. Sure, half the county visits you for hand jobs, but what you don’t know is that a lot of them go to you or request you because they know you keep the lights on in that house.” He turns to walk back to his office. He gets halfway and spins back around. “For what it’s worth, I kind of hope to see the back of you someday.”

“You want me to leave town? You think I’m that bad?”

He snorts. “No, honey. You’re that good. I know it. We all know it. Even Deacon knows it deep in his balls. You deserve better than this piece of shit town. Listen to me. You get your momma and get the fuck out of here. Take her with you if you insist on caring for her.”

He walks away before I can answer. I stand up to follow him and walk into his office to ask what ideas he has for how I could possibly manage to leave this town, but Deacon walks back into the room, Jasper tagging along behind him.

There’s no protocol on how to act when your hookup springs you from jail on Christmas, but Jasper runs to me immediately, lifts me so that my legs dangle a few inches off the ground, and spins me around in a circle. Deacon makes a face like he can’t believe I’m allowing Jasper to touch me.

Fuck that guy. Jasper can touch me any time he wants.

I laugh when Jasper stops spinning, and I slide down his body until I wrap my arms around him in a hug. I’d kiss him, but I just told the police that he wasn’t my boyfriend.

I kick my legs, and he sets me down. “What are you doing here?” he asks, running his hand through my hair.

“What do you mean? I had to get you. You, uh…” My voice trails away as I look at Deacon over my shoulder. “You have to surprise Sabrina. You know, my cousin you were playing Santa for?”

“Of course…Sabrina.” Jasper nods. He’s probably running my action tape in his head and catching up on the lie.

Whether he’s doing that or not, I don’t know, but he follows along with the ruse. He sets his face in a bored, neutral expression, not giving Deacon any reason to question my lie.

He shrugs and grabs my hand, a smile forming on his face. “Come on, Holly. Let’s go surprise your cousin and then get on with the night, shall we?”

Chapter 13

Jasper

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