chloe at dominics

Sitting in the back of the bar, drinking, snorting, playing poker, it was easy to lose track of time.  Despite still being dressed in paintball clothes, our afternoon adventure felt days away.  Izaak was a distant memory as I was ruled by dopamine and no longer concerned with rules or even laws.  I'd broken half a dozen that night, and just wanted to keep breaking more.

Violet lost again, slamming her hand on the table which caused me to jump.  "You'll get 'em next time!" I said in a chirpy, annoying voice.  

"I need a cigarette," she grumbled as she scooted out of the chair.  "Play my spot til I'm back.  I'm gonna beat these motherfuckers in a min."  

My eyes stayed hyper-focused on her as she staggered to the front door, then followed her as she descended the stairs, only remembering the game when she had completely disappeared.  Everyone was looking at me, waiting for me to add my chips to the pot, so I did, cracking my knuckles and confident that I'd win.

And I did.  Then I won another, much to everyone's disapproval.  And then another, which was when I realized maybe I should go since they were glaring like they wanted to gang up against me.  Maybe also I was a little paranoid.

I gave my pile of chips to the cashier, who exchanged it for cash that I tucked away in my bag with the money I'd stolen from the guy earlier (who, by the way, had been kicked out after noticing his wallet was gone and trying to beat up a guy who definitely hadn't stolen it, hehe).  Then I headed outside, checking to make sure Violet was still there.

She was standing at the bottom of the stairs with an ashy cigarette between her fingers as she argued with the skinny guy she owed money to, Andy.  Behind him stood two bigger guys, obviously his muscle.  It felt like a scene out of a mafia movie.  My heart raced at the idea of Violet being tortured within inches of her life, and of course they'd have to kidnap me, too, since I was already a witness to this.  Suddenly I was ready for Izaak to come save us, or wished I'd gone home when I read his message from earlier.  Fuck me!

"Goddammit!"  Violet said, stomping her foot.  "It's been a long fucking day, would you get out of my fuckin' face already!  I told you I'd pay you back when I can."

"I warned you, Esperanza."  Andy took a step forward, trying to look intimidating but barely an inch taller than her and much thinner.  

Her eyes flashed up to me in a split second, then she looked back at him.  "Fine, you know what..." then she reached into her pocket, but instead of actually getting out any money, she wound up and decked him in the face, trying to run, only to be stopped by one of the bigger guys.

Horrified by the possibility that this would end like one of those movies, I sprinted down the stairs, not sure where I was going to end up.  Something was off about the scene... Violet stopped a little too peacefully for her rebellious spirit.  That's when I realized that he was holding a gun pointed at her ribcage.  She winced, frozen in place.

"Hey, wait!" I shouted when I'd made it halfway down.  Everyone turned to look at me, none of them aware that I'd been there besides Violet.  "I was looking for you.  Here's the money you told me to get for you."  I dug into my purse and came out with a wad of cash, basically everything that I'd stolen from the guy.  It was dirty money anyway.

Violet looked at the money, then up at the guy with the gun.  "You heard her.  Take it, Andres."

Glaring at her, Andy walked towards me, snatching the wad from my hand, then nodding at the bigger guy to put the gun away.  He tucked it away in the waistband of his jeans, never breaking eye contact with Violet.

"Surprised you didn't need me to break out the whips and chains," Andy sneered with a laugh, smacking her on the ass.

Her teeth curled around her lower lip, ready to form the words "fuck off" but before Violet had the chance to speak, we were interrupted.

"HEY!" came the familiar angry voice behind us, startling everyone.  I turned in time to see Izaak walking hastily towards us, black suburban parked across the street.  He flashed his FBI badge at Andy.  "Did the lady give you permission to touch her?"  

Andy shook his head in disbelief, letting out a chuckle as Izaak finally arrived beside me, hands on his hips.  He towered over us all, radiating authority.  I only wondered how much he had seen.

"Your girl here owes me a lot of money, and I happen to know she doesn't object to an ass beating every now and then."  He winked at her.

"Shut the fuck up, culero. I'll..."

I cut her off holding her back from punching Andy again.  "We should just go."  The only thing in my mind was that at least two of the men in my presence had a gun, and I had enough adventure for the day without adding a real shoot out.  Ignoring Violet's gibberish, I pushed her towards the Suburban, motioning for Izaak to follow.  He stared the men down once more, but then came after me.

"You couldn't answer your phone?  I thought something bad had happened to you, which looked like it was about to if I hadn't come to get you."

"Awww look at Izaak being all over-protective," Violet said drunkenly, reaching for his arm to give him a friendly squeeze.  "You take care of my girl Clo here.  She's good people."

He did not seem amused even though I smiled, feeling like I'd made a new friend.  But before either of us could say anything, Violet tripped over her own feet and nearly landed face-first in the pavement.  

As we steadied her and finally got her inside the vehicle, Izaak turned to me and said, "You have a lot of explaining to do, Young Lady.”

“Tomorrow,” I promised.  “Let’s just get her home.”

A few minutes later the suburban pulled up to her apartment building.  Violet couldn’t walk straight and didn’t even seem to know where she was going.  It took both of us to escort her to the elevator, and eventually to her apartment.  We couldn’t find her keys, but luckily Molly was still up, and Toby was there.  The two of them had been hanging out smoking weed and wondering about Violet.  

Toby went with me to help Violet to her room and muttered, “I can tell we need to have an intervention.”

She stopped in the middle of the hallway to turn towards him and sneer, “Fuck you and your interventions.”

“I know who we’re gonna have to call…” Molly chanted from the other room.

“Ghostbusters!” Violet shouted and then nearly fell down into a fit of giggles.  Fortunately, we were able to drag her the rest of the way to her room and she flopped on the bed.  “Thanks, guys, you da best!”  Then blew us both a kiss.

We left her to rest, closing the door behind us.  Toby said nothing until we all ended up back in Molly’s room.  Then it was interrogation time.

What happened?  What did she use?  How much?  Did she gamble?  And lose?  Is she in too deep?  What are we going to do with her?

From the looks of it, Violet wasn’t doing too well.  

“It’s time to tell Gabe,” Toby said.  

I shivered.  My new boss radiated no-nonsense disciplinarian, and the thought of him as Violet’s spanker gave me mixed feelings.  He really didn’t like excuses or unreasonable behavior and had a fuse about the same size as Violet’s.  I’d really love to be a fly on the wall for their confrontation.

“Thanks for being with her, Chloe… I know she can be a bit much sometimes.”  Molly took my hand in hers and smiled.

“It’s fine, we had fun.  I’m a little drunk, though.  And tired.”

With that, Izaak put an arm around my shoulder and we said goodbyes, then left.