Breaking Into the Business (22 page)

“I’ll
make sure you all have my business phone numbers,” I said. “If you have my
personal cell saved already, make sure to only use that for personal stuff. If
it’s in any way business related, use my other cell. I will also use that phone
to text you appointment times as soon as they are made.”

“Can
you remind us?” Mike asked. Then he added, “If it isn’t too much trouble.”

“Not
at all,” I said. “I’ll text every time I book an appointment, and then each
morning, I can send out a reminder if you have clients to meet that night.”

“That’ll
be good,” Derrick said. His eyes were beaming from excitement. “I think I can
get a fairly sizable amount of business during the day. I’ve never told anyone
this, but a lot of my pool clients try to sleep with me. I’ve taken a few of
them up on it.”

I
knew without looking that he was watching me while he spoke. I couldn’t turn
and face him.

“I
guess now, I can start taking all these women up on it, but for an extra
charge.”

“Great,”
Greg agreed. “And try to stop by here at least every other day or after any big
night to give Lana her cut and just check in. She may also get feedback from
clients if an experience was either really good or really bad.”

“That
won’t happen to me,” Mike smiled.

“So
let me ask a question,” Ben said. “What about the legalities of all of this?
I’m assuming that if a cop finds out what I’m doing, then I’m in deep shit.”

“Good
point,” Greg said. “I have never had legal troubles. The key to that is when
you are dealing with anyone that is not a client or hasn’t agreed to your
services, then you are just selling companionship. Really the only way to get
caught will be for a former client to come forward, but even then, that’s hard
to prove because we deal only in cash.”

“That
makes me feel a little better,” Ben said.

Greg
continued. “Just make sure not to talk to anyone about the business itself and
especially don’t tell anyone about Lana. There are two reasons we want to
protect her. The main reason is that she is our friend, and we don’t want
anything bad to happen to her. The other reason is that she is the common link
between us all. If I get into legal trouble, as long as I’m not traced back to
Lana, then the rest of you are safe.”

“But
what if one of us squeals,” Mike said.

“Nobody
better squeal,” Greg said. “And I don’t think anyone would. Take a look around
this circle, and remember that if you squeal, all of these people present will
be gunning for your ass.”

“Good
point,” Mike agreed.

“Now
some of you may have embarrassing questions that you don’t want to bring up
here,” Greg said. “If you need any individual guidance or have questions, I’ll
give you all my cell numbers and you can call me after this.”

“Unless
anyone else has other questions,” I said. “We can adjourn the meeting. Ray has
to be taking off soon to get to his appointment.”

“Hell
yeah,” he said excitedly.

Everyone
stayed around for a while after, just talking about different potential clients
they might run into. It was nice to watch them all get to know each other, I
thought as I sat back in my chair.

I
decided that they really were a group of really good guys. I would trust each
one of them with my life, and I knew that they would come through for me. That
meant that I would have to do my best to come through for them. This business
just had to make all of our lives better.

Ray
excused himself after a few minutes and I said that I’d walk him out. Greg and
the other guys started picking up the leftover food and dirty plates and took
them into the kitchen.

On
the way out, Ray was telling me about how much fun tonight was going to be, and
how he couldn’t wait to rub it into Pearl’s nose that he had achieved his dream
of being a male escort.

As
we were talking in the foyer, I just happened to glance out the little window
next to the front door. At the angle in which I was standing, I could see down
the street a few dozen feet. A large silver sedan with heavily tinted windows
was parked. The vehicle was too far away to be one of the guys, not to mention
that I knew what each of them drove. I had never seen that car before in the
neighborhood.

I
clutched my chest and my breathing grew a little heavy.

“Lana,
what’s wrong?” Ray asked. He followed my gaze out the window and saw the car as
well. “That don’t look right,” he said. “Do you know who that is?”

“I’ve
never seen that car before in my life,” I managed.

“Greg,
Mike, we got a problem,” Ray called back into the house.

“What
is it?” Greg asked as he came running into the foyer. Mike and the other two
guys were right behind him.

“That
car,” Ray said as he pointed out the window.

Greg
shot me a look of concern and disappeared back into the kitchen. He returned
quickly, removing his hands from the back of his pants. I knew he had put the
gun there.

“Someone,
stay here with Lana,” Greg said.

“What
are you doing?” Mike asked.

“Lana
has a stalker,” Greg said.

“I’m
going with you,” Mike said.

“The
rest of you stay with Lana,” Greg said as he opened the door. I noticed that he
had one hand behind him and he had his shirt pulled up a little.

I
watched with trepidation as Greg and Mike walked out onto the porch. As they
started down the steps, the headlights on the silver sedan lit up. With a
peeling of tires, it screamed down the street.

Greg
and Mike both bolted down the sidewalk towards the car, but it was moving too
fast, and they didn’t stand a chance to catch it.

After
a minute, they returned to the house.

“What
the hell was that?” Ray asked.

“Oh,
dear,” I breathed.

When
the men walked back into the house, Greg shut the door and locked it, as well
as bolting the top.

“What
is going on here?” Ben asked. “Do we already have the cops on us?”

“No,”
I said.

“Then
what was that?” Mike asked.

I
knew that I had to come clean. If I were going to go into business with these
guys, they had to know all of the risk that this new relationship might entail.
My woes might not be any of their business, but if someone was stalking me and
demanding money, I felt that I owed them an explanation. If one of them wanted
out of this, knowing all the facts, I couldn’t blame them.

So
I proceeded to tell them about the calls. I tried to keep my voice down for
fear that Jake or Mallory would be listening.

“That’s
some crazy shit,” Mike said. “You can’t give that man any money.”

“And
you have no idea who it could be?” Ben asked.

“Not
a clue,” I said.

“I
agree with Mike,” Ray said. “You can’t give him any money.”

“What
do I do?” I asked. “I would completely understand if you all wanted out now.”

“I’ve
already committed to this,” Mike said. “I won’t let some crazy person stand in
my way.”

“We’re
here for you,” Derrick added, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah,”
Mike nodded. “We may not know each other that well, but we’re bonded now. We
can’t let you stay here by yourself.”

“I’m
staying here with her for a while,” Greg said. “I overheard a phone call the
man made to her, so I’ve been here to protect her.”

“That
may not be enough,” Mike said. “Especially if you don’t know what you’re up
against.”

“What
do you suggest?” I asked. “Should I go to the police?”

Mike
shook his head. “In my opinion, they won’t do anything. They’ll file a report,
but reports don’t catch bad guys.”

“We
can try to go find that car,” Derrick said.

“Too
much area to cover,” Mike said. “I think we should all stay here. At least
until we know that Lana and the kids are safe.”

“I
can’t ask that of you all,” I said.

“You’re
not asking,” Greg said. “I agree with Mike. We don’t know if it’s one guy or
two or more. We could use all the help we can get.”

“I’ve
got a client to meet,” Ray said. “But I’ll come back after I’m done. Just let
me stop by my place and get my piece.”

“More
guns?” I asked.

They
always made me nervous. From the sound of it, I was a few minutes away from
having a small militia in my house. As crazy as it sounded, was that such a bad
thing? My kids were upstairs and I would do whatever it took to protect them.

“Okay,
Ray,” I said. “Go to your appointment and then come back. Grab a change of
clothes or something. I will try to make sleeping arrangements available for
everyone while you’re gone.”

“What
do you want us to do?” Derrick asked.

“We
should leave at least three of us here at all times,” Mike said. “Let’s go in shifts
to our places and get some clothes and a gun if you have one.”

“Will
the kids be worried when all of your new business associates suddenly sleep
over?” Ben asked.

“I’ll
come up with something,” I said. “I don’t want to worry them.”

Greg
looked at me gravely. “You may not have a choice.”

Chapter Twenty

Over the
next few hours, the house was a hubbub of activity. Each of the guys took
shifts going home to get their belongings.

My
first order of business was to tell the kids. I didn’t want to, but I knew
there was no choice. I resolved myself to the fact that I would have to come
clean.

I
was preparing to go upstairs when Greg stopped me.

“Do
you have anywhere the kids could go until this blows over?” he asked.

“You
think I should send them away?”

“Yes,”
he said. “We can protect you, but if we have to resort to extreme measures, do
you really want your kids here?”

Mike
shook his head. “If someone’s watching the house, then they would see her
taking the kids away and they’d know where they were. The kids could be used as
leverage to get the money.”

“True,”
Greg said. “Unless we came up with a way to sneak them out.”

“Wait
a minute,” I said. “We don’t even know if the house is being watched.”

“I
would assume that it is,” Mike said. “The guy wants a hundred thousand dollars.
That’s enough money at stake that it would be a small thing to put surveillance
on a house.”

“Where
would the kids go?” Greg asked.

“I
could call my sister,” I said. “She would give me a lecture on
irresponsibility, but I can handle that.”

“We
still have to figure out a way to sneak them out of here,” Greg said.

“I
have no idea how we would do that,” I admitted.

“I’ve
got an idea,” Mike said. “You talk to your sister and I’ll work on the
details.”

So
I walked upstairs and knocked on Jake’s door and waited a few minutes before opening
it. I poked my head in and asked him to come to Mallory’s room. Her door was
down the hall a little ways and was already slightly cracked.

I
opened it slowly while knocking. “Hey, sweetie,” I said as I walked in.

“What’s
up, Mom?” she said, looking up from her cell phone.

“I
need to talk to you both,” I said.

Jake
followed me into the room.

“What’s
wrong, Mom?” he asked.

I
sat on the edge of Mallory’s bed and patted the spot next to me for Jake to sit
as well.

“Okay,
now you’re freaking me out,” Mallory said.

“Well,
you should be freaked out,” I said. Taking a deep breath, I explained to them
about the first few phone calls. “The other day the calls got worse because the
person on the other end demanded an insane amount of money. It was more money
than I have.”

“So
what are you going to do?” Jake asked.

“Tonight
got worse, because there was a car staked out in front of the house,” I said.
“I don’t want you to get too scared, because a few of my employees are going to
stay here with us tonight to make sure that nothing happens.”

Mallory
set her cell phone on the bed beside her and pulled her knees up to her face
while wrapping her arms around her legs. I could see fear in her eyes. Jake
looked surprised, but he had a brave look of defiance on his face.

“I’ll
help keep watch,” Jake said.

“Not
going to happen,” I said. “There are five guys who will watch over this house
tonight. The last thing I want is for something bad to happen to one of you, so
you will be confined to your rooms until tomorrow.”

“Are
we going to school?” Mallory asked.