- Text Size +

CHAPTER 8

This time around Chloe opted to leave the wigs aside and sport her natural hair tied back in a messy trendy bun with a few stranded curls. Since she didn’t have much daytime clothes to pick from she decided on a pair of black knee-high boots, a tan skirt, an extremely low-cut black shirt and an imitation crocodile skin jacket. She grabbed her black bag, stuffing her id, a red lipgloss, a package of tissues  and the penknife….one had to be prepared for anything. She added a small mirror and a notepad filled with phone numbers that may interest Aaron. Once she was ready she left the boarding house and headed towards the park.

*************************************************************

 

Meanwhile…

 

"Where the heck is he going?”

“Maybe he’s going to that woman’s house.”

“How the hell do you know?”

“I was there earlier.”

“Congrats, you’ve won a medal in espionage.”

“Thanks Angel, now help me out. I have no idea where he turned. He was supposed to turn left.”

“He turned right.”

“But that woman’s house is to the left.’’

“Maybe he’s not meeting her at her place. Maybe a motel?”

 

They continued to follow Aaron’s car until it stopped at a park, he opened the window and started smoking a cigarette. 

“We follow him to see him smoking?”

I’ve told him thousands of times he needs to quit that crap.”

“Why are you so overprotective with us?  We have enough with mom and dad.”

“Then you too go ahead start smoking and die of lung cancer.”

“I don’t like you at times.”

“Same here Angel, Same here.”

 

*****************************************************************

 

Chloe looked at her watch for the thousandth time. She was running late. She crossed the street and was able to spot Aaron’s car in the parking lot and him inside it. She went up to the car and knocked on the passenger side window. Aaron opened the door and let her in.

 

“Sorry I made you wait. I’m usually on time….”

“Chloe relax it’s only 3:10”

“Exactly I’m ten minutes late. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Okay”

****************************************************************

"Oh my God Nick look!!"

“There she is. Did you see her face?”

“No but she doesn’t have red hair.”

“Where did you get the idea that it’s a redhead?”

 

Angel told her brother about Jane’s CSI agent complex, the discovery of the red strand of  hair and how she would have had it tested for DNA, had it not been nylon

 

”Well she does have black hair. Do you think it’s the same woman?

“I don’t know.”

“I think it is. In the picture you can see part of the woman.” – He took out the cellphone and handed it to Angel.- “Look at her.”

 

Angel looked at her brother’s cellphone and compared it to the woman’s profile. – “It’s her! She’s got the same profile as the woman in the picture. Good job Crocodile Hunter.”

“Crocodile?”

“Ugggh!! Because the tramp is wearing a croc skin jacket. You can tell she has no class whatsoever. I can’t believe that Aaron is with her.”

“Now that we got him, it’s time to go.”

“What!?!?! We’re not going to do anything?”

“Don’t worry about that Ellie” - smiled mischievously at her- “I will take care of everything.”

“Uggghh I hate it when you smile like that. It gives me goosebumps. And stop it with that damn nickname,you know I can’t stand it when you call me that.”

“Okay Ellie”

Nick gave her the same mischievous smile which she ignored, started the car and they left.

*****************************************************************

 

“I’ve got smething that may be of help.”

“Great. What is it?”

 

Chloe pulled the notepad out of her purse and handed it to Aaron.

 

“It’s a list of phone numbers of different whore housesand bars that provide female company as well as male.”

“There’s men too?”

"Of course, women have needs too you know?  In the boarding house where I live there’s a guy named Jorgie. Every night he works in a bar where he dances and at about midnight they auction off the dancers."

“Wow, that’s real good information.”

“You can keep the notepad. It’s of no use to me. There’s also numbers for a couple of modeling agencies that use it as a cover up for the escort business. I was part of one at one point.”

 

“There’s names of very important people in here”- as he flipped through the notepad.

“They call me up to go to their homes, sometimes they take me on their “business” trips. Those gigs are good but rare.”

“I can imagine. Why don’t you keep the notepad just give me a few minutes to jot down a couple of numbers that interest me from there. In the meantime so you don’t get bored flip through this.” – He handed Angel’s scrapbook.- “It’s my sister’s scrapbook.”

"How old is she?”

“15. My older brother is 28.”

“Oh so you’re the spoiled middle child.”

 “Hahahaha. More or less.”

 

Chloe smiled and opened the scrapbook. The first thing she saw was pictures of a beautiful teenage girl. The pctures were decorated with stars, hearts and at thte bottom of the page the name Angel Carter was written in perfect penmanship. She continued to flip throught the book as Aaron jotted down the  numbers. There pages had several things written on them  like song lyrics and  jokes. Chloe finally came across a page with a big banner that read “My Mom and Dad” followed by a picture of an older man and a beautiful woman. The couple looked very much in love, no doubt about it.

 

“You look like your mom.”

“Yeah, everyone says that. Nick looks like her too.  My sister on the other hand is my dad’s spitting image.”

“I noticed.”

 

She continued to look throught the scrapbook laughing at some of the comments written on the pages. The girl was quite witty. One of the pages read “My Brothers”. There was no picture on that page so she flipped over to find a picture of a smiling Aaron, all his information written down on the adjunct page. Flipping the page over once more she  frowned. There was no picture instead the page read: Nick doesnt like to take pictures and listed some details about him. Chloe couldn’t resist the curiosity and started reading.

-Nickolas Gene Carter -28 years old -Favorite Color: Green -Loves blondes -Has never brought a girlfriend home - grumpy -swears he’s almighty -a business genius. Dad says there’s none like him. -I doubt Nick’ll ever get married.-sweet  and kind to me -can be intimidating at times but nothing too serious.

 

“Aaron why doesn’t your brother like to take pictures?”

"Because he’s an arrogant jerk hahahahahaha. Just kidding. I don’t know, he’s just never liked them.

 

Chloe nodded. She was at a loss for words. All she could do was stare at the information about that man. A strange feeling bubbled inside of her. The man was well defined.  Aaron’s sister had described a good man and given his age he was fairly young. It intrigued her to no end. Maybe he had wore glasses  or maybe he was so good looking that it made you want to kiss him.  She imagined what it’d be like to kiss a man like him…what it’d be like to bite and suck on his lips the way they did in movies.

Kissing? Chloe had to restrain her wondering mind at the thought. What the hell was she thinking? As hard as it was to believe she had never kissed a man.  She had set ground rules and among them were NO KISSING ON THE LIPS.

She closed her eyes trying to get rid of those thoughts but as soon as she did the images formed in her head. She abruptly opened them up again and took a deep breath with a strange tightening in her chest. A feeling of desire overcame her. Desire that one day a man like Nick would want her, but want her for who she was and not just for her body….if it were only possible. Life had taught her that dreaming was useless beacuse despite any effort she never got what she wanted. Besides, what would a man like Aaron and of course his brother, see in a girl like her? She had nothing to offer.  She shut the scrapbook pushing the thoughts out of her mind.  She didn’t want to remember the reason why she couldn’t have a man’s love.

 

“Penny for your thoughts.”

“Would you marry a prostitute?” 

“Chloe….you ate a beautiful woman but truth is that I don’t see you that way and…”

“Hold on, i think you got me wrong.  I think  might have worded the question the wrong way. I’m not asking you to marry me.”

“Well for a second I thought you’d misinterpreted my kindness and maybe thought..;”

“God No! You men have a small deficiency with that thinking quickly thing.  What I meant to ask was if a man with your class and level of education could come to fall in love with a prostitute.”

“I uh…I don’t know Chloe.”

“What do you think?”

“I don’t wan to be cruel but….no.”

 

Chloe gave him a sincere smile assuring him that she fully understood thesituation. She said nothing more, lowered her eyes and continued looking through the scrapbook.Aaron watched her. For a second she seemed afflicted but what had left him disarmed was her smile.  He had never seen a woman smile in such a way. Her face lit up with indefinable grace. Chloe had a courage that even he couldn’t reach.