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that, and of the pain I see on the Captain’s face when he walks in. So I do what I always do to protect those I love and ensure my own survival. I shut that shit down.
     
     

 

     
    S tanding in the back corner, hidden but aware, I watch her cock her head to study the door, knowing the Captain is on the other side. I look over at the Captain, seeing the agony on his face knowing she’s on the other side, too; he misses her, and this is killing him. I’ve memorized her file; one of the items highlighted was her short stint at the Captain’s house after she got out of the hospital. She was tight with his son, raised together, too, but he got into bad shit and the Captain never speaks of him, ever. The day she became legal she left, and never came back.
    Looking at the timeline, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why. She left the Captain’s family, refused professional treatment, then – according to the owner of Lush – started working for him about three years later, but was a regular prior to that, even though she was a minor. She was just a kid getting over losing her family and almost her own life; she went from the girl next door, to the club scene.
    Lush isn’t your average club, its hard core. She’s tight with the owner, Gallo, and several other unsavories, and the two men who ‘allegedly’ brutalized her wound up dead in the alley behind the club she works at. Staring at the file under my arm, then looking at her perfect face, it just doesn’t make sense. But the truth of it is, it does make sense. I just refuse to believe it.
    I’m so fixated on her, it catches me by surprise when I see it. What I saw was more than just the woman sitting patiently in room 2b, waiting for the Captain to release her. I can actually ‘see her’, and when I stilled myself and really fucking paid attention, I realized I can see it clear as day. Looking past her beauty, which is unquestionable, there’s a coldness about her that she’s trying really hard to hide. But it’s there, this woman Venessa, or Kharma – well, fuck, both are straight up everything I’d hoped she wouldn’t be, but she is. It’s there, you just have to look for it. It’s not hard to see it when you know what to look for. I should know, I see it myself every time I look in the mirror.
    She’s as ruthless as I am.
    The Captain throwing the door open cuts me off from the path I was on, so I focus on what comes next instead, and that would be turning on the speaker.
    “Venessa, I want to apologize for what happened tonight. You aren’t being charged. Due to lack of evidence, we can’t hold you. Your hair was found at the scene of a crime, but until the warrant was issued, we had not realized that the crime scene and your place of employment were one and the same. So your hair being on the scene makes sense. We’re still going to look into the case, but not with you as a suspect,” states the Captain.
    This makes no fucking sense to me. I just heard the guy not twenty minutes ago telling her how the guys go there to check on her and watch her perform. He knows where she works. Where is he going with this? If I had hair I’d be pulling that shit out right now.
    “Also, Mr. Gallo’s attorney is here, waiting for your release, but before you go, I was hoping you and me could catch up over a cup, friend to friend? I know you don’t like being here, but seeing you again made me realize how I’ve failed you. I’m worried about you, and the people you run with Venessa. These people are dangerous. You know what? No more shop talk. Let’s talk, just you, me, and a cup? Whaddya say?” The Captain smiles, and I have to say the old man impressed me tonight. Venessa impressed me even more. She knows something’s up and isn’t showing her hand. But she’s curious, I can tell. I’m fucking curious, too.
     
     

 

     
    I ’m exhausted. My ability to be polite and stay seated should win an award. I just want to go home, and forget