Chapter 5

Adam arrived at the clinic a little after 11. It was only a few blocks from campus but his parking meter had expired anyway, so he drove. He waited outside for the arrival of a short, red-haired girl with green eyes. The picture of Ashley Malibu on the industry database was not a good one. It actually looked like a screen shot taken from one of her videos.

She was much cuter than he expected when she stepped off the bus. She spotted him instantly, smiled, and became even prettier. He could understand why Shelly thought Ashley was adorable.

He finally got an indication of how small she was when she stopped in front of him. She walked up until she stood almost chest to chest – well, chest to navel anyway – then tilted her head back and looked directly up him. She barely came to his midsection.

"Hello, Lurch," she said. "I think that will be my nickname for you."

"OK, Morticia," he replied.

"I think I am more of a Tuesday," she joked. "Well, shall we go inside and see if it is safe for us to fornicate tomorrow?"

"I believe we shall," Adam replied. "I am all about safe fornication with munchkins."

"If you're not careful, I'll bite you on your knee," Allie said with a giggle. "OK, enough with the tall and short jokes. Let's get this over with and go have lunch. I woke up late and barely had time to shower before the bus came. I didn't even have my morning caffeine hit yet."

They gave their sample to the nurse who promised them she would have results by 3 p.m. and then stood outside to pick a place to eat.

"Anywhere is fine," Adam said. "I have my car. I mean, you can have a ride if you want."

"I'll get my ride tomorrow," Allie jibed as she elbowed him in the hip. "Actually, I do want to try that tomorrow. You standing up and me wrapped around your waist."

"Well, we still have to see if it will work out," Adam said.

"I e-mailed Sarah yesterday after we talked," Allie said. "She told me that if you were even a little bit as sweet as you were with her, I would be fine. So I'm not worried. But yes, since you took Sarah to the airport and didn't kidnap, rob and rape her, I think I am safe riding with you. I feel like a roast beef sub."

"You look like a roast beef sub," Adam said automatically, then the image of Amber Weaves droopy pussy lips hit his brain and he decided that is what they looked like – undercooked roast beef. He shuddered.

"Don't like roast beef?" Allie asked.

"Not anymore, I don't think," Adam said. "Until about 30 seconds ago, I can say it was one of my favorites. Now I don't think I'll ever look at it the same again."

"Because I look like a roast beef sub?" Allie asked as she got in his car.

"No, because something disgusting I saw last week reminded me of undercooked roast beef," Adam admitted.

They continued the conversation until they reached the Sub Hut where they placed their orders and sat. Then the conversation picked up again.

"So, where are you from?" Adam wondered. "I detect a slight Northeast accent."

"I've been trying to lose it," Allie said with a blush.

"You should keep it," Adam replied. "Make folks think they're dealing with a Harvard girl."

Allie shook her head sadly.

"More like a high school dropout from Wellington, New Hampshire," she said. "I probably couldn't find Harvard with a map."

"Me either," Adam said with smile. "But thanks to GPS technology, we don't need a map."

Allie returned his smile. She had worried that he would look down at her for her lack of education. Sarah said she didn't think so but then again Sarah had been valedictorian of her high school class. Allie had been nothing but an average student before she quit school in the middle of her senior year to head to L.A.

"I think you must live near me," Adam said. He noticed that Allie seemed to withdraw when he mention her past. He could see that the fact she didn't finish high school bothered her.

"Why?" she asked.

"I ride the same bus downtown when I can't afford gas money," he answered. "The coffee shop you were talking about near your place, is it Reece's?"

Allie's eyes widened.

"Yes," she said with a smile. "That is pretty cool."

"I live about two blocks up from there," Adam told her. "In the Falmouth Apartments."

"You do not!" Allie exclaimed.

"I don't?" Adam rejoined with a grin. "But that is where I go home to every night. If I don't live there, my roommates are going to be awfully pissed off when they find out. Hell, I'm going to be pissed off. That means I'll have to sleep in my car."

"Well, it looks like you might already sleep in your car," Allie joked. "What building do you live in?"

"Seven," he answered. "I live in 724. The last apartment on the left on the second floor."

"Well, I live in Four," Allie replied. "I live in 412. The last apartment on the right on the first floor. I could probably have looked in your window while I was talking to you."

"Now, let's not start the window looking talk," Adam joked. "I have three roommates and their girlfriends are there 80 percent of the time. It is hard to tell what you might see."

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Allie wondered.

"I can't see any woman allowing me to participate in this business if she were my girlfriend," Adam responded. "Can you?"

"A lot of the guys have girlfriends," she said. "Some of the girls don't know what they do but others do and they seem to be OK with it. Most all the girls have boyfriends – of one sort or another."

Adam shook his head.

"Well, I don't have a girlfriend," he said. "I split with my last one just after Christmas. How about you?"

"Girlfriend or boyfriend?" Allie asked with a raised eyebrow. "The answer is the same – no. I dated a guy before I started to do this but he was too much of a leech. So we split up about five months ago."

"I can't believe I've never seen you around the complex," Adam said with a shake of his head. "I would definitely have noticed you."

Allie tilted her head forward with a smirk.

"I mean, I would notice you because you're pretty and, well, OK, you're hot," Adam said with a blush. "I probably wouldn't have had the nerve to speak to you, but I would have noticed you. Who are your roommates? All those places are three-bedroom, aren't they?"

Allie sighed and studied her sandwich.

"When I was back home, I used to sneak across the border and strip in Massachusetts," she said. "I was still in high school but I had a fake ID and no one really looked too closely at anything other than my ass. So, right before Christmas last year, a couple of the girls from the club were talking about going to L.A. to try to get into music videos. One wanted to try out for the Laker girls. The next day, the very next day, the club was locked up tight when we got there. It had been raided by the FBI that morning, looking for drugs – which there were lots of – and guns – which there were more of. We said, 'Fuck it, ' each of us ran home to grab some stuff and hit the road.

"It took six days for the three of us to make it across the country. We got here, pooled our money and found a place to live. Well, one of us headed back to New Hampshire after about three weeks. Money was tight and, well, let's face it. We weren't going to land a role in a music video or on a dance team. I worked at a supermarket for about five months but we just couldn't cut it with the two of us. So we went back to stripping. The money was good and things were looking up.

"Then my roommate went bat-shit crazy on me. She accused me of stealing her boyfriend – which I didn't know she had – then stealing her money. Twenty minutes later she would be crying and begging me to forgive her. I was truly frightened about her behavior and I convinced her to see a doctor. She was bipolar – and had been for years and knew it but wouldn't take medication. I came home one day and she was gone. Her car was gone but clothes and stuff were there. No note, no nothing. I called her brother back in New Hampshire a few days later but he hadn't seen her or heard from her."

"Jesus," Adam said. "That's awful."

"It gets worse," Allie said with another sigh. "They finally found her in a Mexican prison. She had been caught trying to smuggle drugs across the border for her boyfriend. She was sentenced to 10 years just last month. So, I've been toting the bill by myself for a couple of months. I mean, I guess you can say we were friends and all, but that is just too freaking crazy even for me. And I know crazy."

It was Adam's turn to raise his eyebrows.

"My mom is locked away back home," she admitted.

"Oh, sorry," Adam said. "I didn't mean to pry."

Allie smiled.

"It's OK," she said. "It's weird but, well, I grew up with my aunt and uncle. They are hardasses, you know. I was 13 when Mom got put away. It was hard for me to adjust to a new set of rules, in a new town. We lived in Montpelier, Vermont, before Mom went batty. It isn't much but it is a city. Going from there to some hamlet in New Hampshire that didn't even have a Dairy Queen let alone a movie theater wasn't easy. I rebelled."

Chapter 6 »