Broken Pieces

[zydrate]

The car hummed low, the lights inside dim and illuminating the radio and gauges with a soft aqua green glow. Jason's hands grip the wheel tensely, flexing as the song on the radio plays--but he cannot hear it. His mind racing, remembering the scene they just left, remembering Sarah... he glances out of the corner of his eyes at her, sitting next to him in the passenger seat, jaw clenching angrily to see that expression on her face in his mind's eye. Letting out a harsh breath, he reaches forward and silences that stupid radio with a quick flick of his wrist on the volume, leaving the inside of the car in silence, nothing but the quiet hum of the engine to give a backdrop to his thoughts.

Smiling a little, humorlessly, he turns to her, keeping an eye on the road. "Did you enjoy yourself tonight?" ignoring her apology, his tone is icy cold, threatening. He grips the wheel harder, the plastic making a small squeak under his hands, his body tensing and filling with heat, as if the broken silence opened the gates and let it all come crashing in. "I can't believe the way you acted in there..." he says through a sneer, his mind numbed with jealous rage, re-visualizing the scene of her hanging on those men--strangers, friends of friends, briefly met at the beginning of the evening--her drunken laughter floating through his mind, and remembering the look he got from Mark and the other people he was speaking to after they glanced her way.

"What the fuck was going through your head? Hm? Flirting with those men...And Mark! Tell me, did the concept of self-control not enter your mind at all?" Jason smacks the steering wheel as a new burst of anger fills him and feels the need to be released, his breath coming out heavily. "Just...tell me, what was going through your head while you flaunted and flirted with those men tonight. Just, please, give me a reason, not to explode right now," there is a threat in his voice, and a chill, his voice soft as he tries to control another flash of rage shooting through him.

The song playing happened to one of Sarah's favorite. She knew something was bothering Jason, or Jase as she called him, but she didn't question it. Usually if it was a work problem, then he wouldn't want to talk about it. That's what had it to be...right?

Sarah didn't look at him, didn't ask him, instead she just stared out the passenger window, watching the water from the rain make little water trails across the window. The night was dark, as was the drive back to their home. It was more than 30 miles from the city, a little farmhouse on a 25 acre spread, something Sarah had wanted for a long time and was finally surprised with by Jason just over two years ago.

Not a neighbor for miles around....

Just then, Jason reached over and angrily punched at the radio, turning it off completely.

'Here we go...' thought Sarah as she sighed loudly, bracing herself.

"Did you enjoy yourself tonight?"

Sarah didn't bother to look at him as she tried to apologize, "Look, Jase... I said I was sorry, you're making a big dea--"

"I can't believe the way you acted in there..."

"Just calm down Jase, damnit, I said I was sorry!" Sarah said, rarely did she ever counter any of Jason's comments...but right now, he didn't know what he was talking about!

"What the fuck was going through your head? Hm? Flirting with those men...And Mark! Tell me, did the concept of self-control not enter your mind at all? Just...tell me, what was going through your head while you flaunted and flirted with those men tonight. Just, please, give me a reason, not to explode right now!!"

That was it. Sarah turned to face Jason, her tears threatening to fall. "I told you Jason, there is nothing going on!!! How many fucking times do I have to tell you that?!"

*-* 2 years later *-*

3 A.M.

Sarah woke up from a cold sweat, the covers kicked off the bed...the sounds of the city still reverberating in the small, one bedroom apartment she rented, located in the middle of L.A.

A far different place than what she had before...

Before that night.

"Damnit.." she muttered and grabbed the blankets from the floor and covered herself again, almost as if hiding from the world. She needed to sleep. If she could have just one night of decent sleep, then perhaps her crummy job as a waitress wouldn't seem so crummy...

 

[CarnivalBarker]

Derek rose early, as he normally did, his mind only a bit cloudy from drinks the night before. He smiled as the air filled his lungs and at the prospect of things to come with the new girl he wanted to see more. He had encountered her a few weeks before when he offered to buy her coffee, standing in line behind her at a local independent shop, as she struggled to come up with just enough cash in her clutch purse to buy a tiny latte. He felt bad for her, as she clearly seemed to struggle a bit, as a cute little girl might have in an adult world, and at the same time her look was equally sexy, belying any such innocence. She seemed to have a perfect mixture of youth, inexperience, knowing, and sex appeal, in a combination he liked, and when he told the clerk to put her drink on his card, her thank you had been his opening.

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"I'm Derek," he said, simply, and led her down a path of conversation in which he learned where she worked, a local restaurant not far from the office where he worked as a commodities trader. "I'll stop by," he had told her, with a wink, hoping she knew he was sincere as their conversation ended. Two weeks later, after a single stop for lunch and a deliberate seat in her section, he had gotten her number and had a nice, pressure free date with good conversation, during which he had held her hand in the dark movie theater, their joined grip resting on her smooth thigh, allowing him to feel her athletic, lithe body in the most minimal of ways.

Today, following a nice, though not licentious kiss the night before, he found himself sitting in a booth, waiting for her to turn around from the wait station, where she would see him. He would offer her a place to sit with him, hoping she would burn a break to have coffee with him once more. He waited for her to see him and approach. He had already practiced his opening line on this sunny day-after.

"Hey pretty girl," he smiled and moved his coffee cup toward the edge of the table. "Sit with me?" he asked.

*****

The phone rang for the third time and Jason rolled over to pick it up. The land line was used for only emergencies and people who did not know how angry it made him. The day was early for him, even though it was nearly 10:30. He was annoyed and god help the person on the other end of the line.

"What do you want?" He asked, without regard to who was calling.

"I am looking for Sarah Randle or Jason DeAngelo. This is SCC Bank." Jason's ears perked up. He had not heard tell of Sarah for nearly two years. He had damn near put her in a hospital then, and regardless of reason, he was not sorry. She had embarrassed him and shown herself to be a whore, no doubt expressing her interest in any number of guys, even some he knew and had been friends with. His mind had gone to dark places, thoughts and ideas of her on her back, legs and mouth open for the men who were not him, despite everything he perceived he had done for her. She was his and she would know it. He had made her know it, made her feel it. To this day, he held his anger and, to this day, he wanted to know where she was. His acreage outside of Seattle had been large, big enough to hide his transgressions and anything he could do to her. And it was from there she had fled, under the guise of some story that had been a lie, he later learned. He couldn't recall if her mother or father had been sick, or whether she had some event to attend. But weeks after he had given her the punishment she deserved, after the bruises and marks had healed, he chose to believe her story and since then he had been furious at both her and himself. She had embarrassed him again, leaving him as she did, and given the chance, she would pay. At the same time, he simply hadn't been finished with her. A beautiful body and face, tight and perky in all the right ways and places, she had satisfied him more than any woman he had before or since. She took what he would give and she gave as much as he wanted. He missed that, though he convinced himself those feelings were secondary to any punishment she deserved.

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"This is Jason," he said, determined to get information if he could.

"We are showing a credit trace for Ms. Randle in Los Angeles and our fraud department wanted to verify whether she had recently applied for any loans." The bank account he had forced her to open with him years before was still open, though there was little money in it. She had raided it when she left, to the tune of only about $2,500. But thank god for the fraud department. Perhaps she had run a credit card she never used, or applied for a new one. Maybe she had rented an apartment or bought a car, and now the fraud department had pegged her location to the largest city on the West Coast which, though it sounded like the haystack where the needle was hidden, it significantly reduced her location from the entire United States.

"I don't know. You need to ask her," he said, then hung up the phone. He rolled over in bed and began pulling up rates for flights to Los Angeles on his cell phone, beginning to daydream another person's nightmare.

 

[zydrate]

There was no way Sarah was going back to sleep. She was just too tense and well...those dreams were almost too real for her taste.

That night. She shuddered and got out of bed before heading for the shower. She needed a happy thought that was for sure.

So she thought about something good.

She thought about her date earlier that night with Derek.

As she stepped into the hot shower, she relived their date. He had arrived and picked her up, taking her to Tony's Pizza. She could tell he was used to finer dining but also that he wanted to show her that he could, not in a mean way, come down to her level. And that flattered Jessica. It was very nice of him.

And the movie, well...to be honest, Sarah couldn't say what exactly the plot was because she was nervous of the dark but didn't want him to know it. She hated the dark but she had put up with it and it was a good thing it was dark in the theatre because when they touched, even as innocent as it was, startled her.

No one had touched her since that night...

Shaking her head, Sarah had given Derek a fake name. And that left a sour taste in her mouth. She had long ago gave up on the name Sarah. Now, for work, she was going by Lisa.

It was all because she needed to be safe.

****

Later that morning, the breakfast rush was in full swing and 'Lisa' hadn't had a break since arriving 3 hours earlier. She was at the wait station, getting some drinks for table 4. After loading up her tray, she turned and that's when she immediately saw Derek...sitting there, staring at her.

The two made eye contact and Lisa smiled, giving him a knowing nod. She stopped briefly at his table, giving him a geniune smile, "Hi, let me get this delivered and I'll be right back, OK?"

 

[CarnivalBarker]

Derek watched Lisa as she handled a few customers and chores before she was able to break. He liked her body, sure, it was perhaps the best thing about her. But he also really enjoyed the vulnerable, sweet girl she seemed to be. He found it notable that during their date he had really come to enjoy her, but at the same time she was able to not tell him very much about her life. He didn't know about her parents or any siblings, he didn't know if she had children though he suspected not since none were present when he picked her up and dropped her off. He didn't really know how she had come to be in L.A. He kept things light, content to talk about things they mutually enjoyed, the beautiful parts of the city they had both found to be their favorites, and the strange celebrity Hollywood culture that filled certain pockets of the city. He didn't mention how much he liked how she looked in black waitress pants and matching top as she traipsed about doing her job. He very much liked her. He very much wanted her. He waited until she sat down to see if she had plans for Saturday, eager to see if she cared to join him on his boat for a day along the coast, just them.

*******

Two hours later, Jason tossed a small backpack over his shoulder as the call bell rang throughout the airport.

"11:15 am Flight 772 to LAX will be boarding in a moment. Passengers ready to pre-board, please make your way to......" The attendant's drone filled the Gate. Jason looked around, ever intrigued by people in airports. Cute girls flying, seemingly alone. Families with four kids who he prayed were not on his flight. Raging alcoholics who were probably fine without the uncertainty of the flying experience stumbling to board from the closest airport bar. He pulled his phone and hacked away at it.

I need some help in Los Angeles, he hit send. A moment later the phone warbled.

When?

Tomorrow he replied.

You coming out here? The recipient responded.

I'll be in at 3pm today The phone sat silent as he walked closer to the gate, boarding pass now in hand. He handed it to the attendant and walked down the breezeway jet bridge and settled into his seat. BING! The phone went off.

What kind of help? He put on his headphones and heard the first guitar licks of Enter Sandman driving in his head.

Ten thousand if you can find someone for me he sent his last text on the matter before turning his phone to airplane mode. In four hours he would be on the ground in sunny California. In twenty four, he would meet with an investigator that had once bailed him out of prison to discuss his latest project.

 

[zydrate]

One would never knew that Sarah was one of those that attended an Ivy league college and even graduated with a degree in business. And if one did know, they would want to know how the hell she had ended up with someone like Jason in the first place.

Well, hindsight is 20/20 after all.

The bar her girlfriends took her to one night after work was a night Sarah tried hard to forget. It was a bar on the other side of town and it was a rough little bar, but the music, blues, was too good. Yet the crowd was rough. In no time, a bar fight broke out and Sarah lost sight of the 3 girls she was with after everyone seemed to scatter once the fight started.

A brawl was moving toward to where Sarah was standing and that's when someone pulled her out of the way. And that someone was Jason.

Perhaps it was just the alcohol or something else, maybe it was because even though it was a small something, she was attracted to Jason almost immediately. No one knew why. Some tried to talk her out of moving in with him a couple of months later...

Advice she should have taken because it seemed, a few weeks after they had moved in together, Jason's attitude had changed. It seemed like a snake shedding it's skin for that's what she saw in him. A snake.

Sarah shook those thoughts out of her head as she grabbed a small pot of fresh coffee and a couple of bagels before heading to Derek's table. She flashed him a smile as she sat down after placing the items down, "I didn't expect to see you here this morning..." she said as she poured some coffee, "not that I'm not glad to see you, that is."

 

[CarnivalBarker]

"Well," Derek said, looking down at his cup of coffee briefly before returning his gaze to the pretty girl before him. "I thought I'd surprise you. What time do you get off?" He asked. Before giving her much time to answer, he continued with his thought. "There's a great patio overlooking the bay and usually a blues band at happy hour if you want to go." He didn't care if she accepted the offer and even mildly worried that it was too soon on the heels of their first date. He felt certain that if she would sit with him at work, in front of people she knew and worked with, she would eventually spend another evening with him, whether it be tonight or later. He would not have ever suspected the past that he would, unknowingly, soon have revealed to him. "And there may be sushi for dinner after if you were up for that as well." He smiled at her again, taking an unassuming sip of the black coffee in his hand. "I mean, you don't have to," he continued. "But I thought it would be nice." He looked around the diner and it didn't seem too busy, but he also didn't want to impose on Lisa's work schedule or get her in any sort of trouble. He leaned back in his seat, as if to project to the crowd or her supervisors the very opposite of the interest he was showing toward her. Even in her work gear, she looked great, and he certainly wanted to know what might be underneath, if he played his cards right. She seemed like a sweet girl, ready to erupt just beneath the surface. He hoped his judgment was correct. He had a good feeling.

*****

Jason settled in for the flight, as his plan became simple in his mind, though the execution would have to be worked out. Sarah had to be working somewhere in the city. She had to pay bills and make a living. If so, there must be some trace of her. Any P.I. worth a paycheck could track a person from one zip code to another, skip trace them to a job, an apartment, or simply identify where they paid their bills. Once that was done, he simply needed to write an address down and put it in Jason's hands. A week or two of surveillance to get down the girl's basic routine and Jason would have her at his command, making her realize exactly the error she had made when she fled. Simple enough. As he reclined in his seat at cruising altitude, he closed his eyes to sleep, a grin breaking onto his face. The girl he knew and remembered was favorable to his liking. Her body had always been tight, her look cute, and her demeanor just enough an equal mix of fear and vinegar to entice him. He enjoyed knocking her enthusiasm down, clearly establishing himself as her master and, once done, he enjoyed seeing her fight back tears and hearing her whimper as he made her his own, then did it again and again, despite her pleas for him to stop. It would be a fun vacation, he thought as he drifted to sleep.

 

[zydrate]

All Sarah could do was smile as Derek spoke. He didn’t have an ounce of nervousness about the way he carried himself and also, with the way he spoke. He seemed confident and that sort of spooked Sarah. Shaking off the feeling she shrugged carelessly, even though she did care, about what he said, “Well, my shift here ends around 2 but I have some errands I have to get done after that. But, I should be done by 5pm this evening.” She said, taking a sip from her coffee cup.

She hoped she hadn’t seemed too eager to accept his invitation tonight. It did seem like fun and with the weekend coming up, they would have more time to spend together but that was both and good on Sarah’s end because it meant more talking. Talking about the past and that was something she didn’t want to reveal too much about right now. The last thing she needed to was to scare off Derek with her dark past. Hell, she had already lied about her name, well, even though it was to everyone. She hated to lie but it seemed like a necessary evil lately in order for her to live to the next day.

“I know I don’t have to go but what if I wanted to?” She said, smiling at him and then reaching over to this hand that rested on the table top. “I really enjoyed last night and I’m glad you want to go out with me again.”

“Hey Lisa!”

Her boss called her. But with the new name, Sarah didn’t answer right away. It wasn’t until the second time she was called that she paid attention, “Oh crap.. well, like I said I’m done after 5 today… “ she stood and grabbed her cup, leaning over the table toward Derek, “I know just the perfect outfit also, so hopefully that will answer your question about whether I want to go or not..” she said with a wink before standing up straight, “I have to get back to work unfortunately but call me later OK?”

**************
Later that night, Sarah stood in front of the bathroom mirror and looked at herself, clad in just a skimpy purple lace bra. She had been staring at herself for the past 15 minutes…she wasn’t being conceiting, no, she was looking at the long scar on the side of her stomach that ran from just under her breast and down to her naval. It was a reminder of her previous life. Her life with Jason and she hated to be reminded of it every time she saw herself in the mirror or just when she was getting dressed. It was also something she’d have to figure out how to explain to Derek when the time came.

Another lie. Another tale to weave.

The scar was something permanent, something she longed to get rid of some day when she had enough money but for now, she would have to live with it. At least the bruises and the bloody lips disappeared over time.

Especially those when she left Jason for the last time.

God, she hoped he had given up on her so for once, she could live a normal life.

Sighing, Sarah turned away from the mirror and grabbed her new dress. A dress she had saw on sale one day and even though she couldn’t really afford it, she got it. She had used a credit card she kept with her for emergencies that was still under her name, a card she knew Jason didn’t know about…

 

[CarnivalBarker]

"So all you know is that she used a credit card in the city to buy something," the bounty hunter said.

"What else do you need?" Jason asked.

"A lot more than that!"

"Come on," Jason cajoled the large, imposing man. "You're trained. You've got a name a social security number. You've got the store she was in. It can't be that hard." The man thought a few moments.

"If she bought a house or rented, someone would have run a credit check for her, unless she paid full cash for the time of the lease."

"She wouldn't have that sort of money on hand," Jason said.

"Then if she had a credit check done, the location of the checking entity would be on the report." The private investigator thought some more.

"How do we get that report," Jason asked.

"Your name was on that card and they called you, is there a credit report monthly on the card?" Jason nodded.

"I think so." An hour later, they had called SCC Bank and obtained a faxed copy of the credit report the bank did as a service to its customers.

"Avalon Properties," the investigator said. "There was a credit check by Avalon Properties a few weeks back. She applied with their apartments and may have rented there, but just because they did a credit check doesn't mean they accepted her or that she entered a contract." Jason listened to what the man said. "But there are no others, so let's see......" his voice trailed off and he hacked a few searches into a database online. He leaned back in his chair. "Avalon has 21 apartment complexes and ten single family dwellings - houses." Jason smiled.

"How many total units?" He asked. The investigator did a few more searches.

"It looks like maybe a thousand apartments and the ten houses." Jason smiled more broadly.

"So in an hour we've narrowed it down to somewhere in about a thousand spaces in a city of how many million?" The investigator nodded at his question. "How many in the vicinity of the mall where that card was used?" Jason asked. The investigator tapped away at his keyboard and waited.

"Maybe," he paused, looking over a map with pinpointed locations for Avalon properties, as he drew a radius around the area identified as the mall. "Three hundred or so places. Only four of the houses." Jason stood up and dropped a thousand dollars on the man's desk.

"Find her," he said.

**********​

Derek had admired her dress when he first saw Lisa, and told her as much when he saw her walk in to the restaurant for happy hour.

"You look amazing," he said, kissing her cheek as he pulled her near. She smelled of lavender and flowers, and everything he wanted a woman to smell like. Offering her a seat and ordering a carafe of wine, he managed small talk for a few moments before diving in to a longer conversation. An hour later, well into drinks and in advance of leaving for the sushi restaurant he recommended, also overlooking the coast, Derek took a sip of his drink and inquired a bit deeper, more than the two had gone in now their second date. "What brought you here?" He asked.

 

[zydrate]

For a moment, when Sarah heard Derek ask her what brought her here, she wanted to joke and say that he did. But she knew that wouldn’t do. But Derek seemed to be sincerely interested in her and she hated to have lied to him about herself so far since meeting.

Finishing her drink, Sarah placed her glass down and shrugged, not looking at Derek. She had a story ready for such a day but didn’t think she’d actually have to use it. But she couldn’t be sure about all this. They had met recently and this relationship, if one dared to call it that yet, was still new and fresh. “Well, what brings every girl to the big city? Bigger opportunities, a lot of things to do…never a dull moment, right?”

With a sigh, Sarah rested head on her hands, leaning her elbows on the table, “Seriously,” she started with her ‘story’. Hoping that Derek believed it…seeing as how she wished it was true.

Managing to stretch her story out to more than half an hour, she told him most of the truth about her childhood, how she grew up like most kids, with a mom and dad. School, high school…but when it came to mentioning college, she stopped and didn’t bother saying anything about that at all because she didn’t want him to question why she was working as a waitress when she had a college degree.

Sarah filled in her 20s with a few stories she had made up on the fly when spending time alone and when she was questioned by her co-workers about her life.

She couldn’t mention her life with Jason. She couldn’t mention how she had met him…how she had run from him when times had gotten too much bear with him…

“See, not much too really tell…” Standing, Sarah hoped that she hadn’t messed things up but yet, she hoped she did. Derek was nice. He deserved something…someone…more special than herself.

 

[zydrate]

.....................................

 

[CarnivalBarker]

Derek found himself completely intrigued with the girl across from him, but the entire time he felt like she was holding something back. He enjoyed the mystery, wondering if she had done something exciting or notorious, perhaps she was related to someone famous - in this town, that was certainly a possibility. He smiled when she told him the excitement of the city was her reason to be here, but it seemed like a classic deflection. Nevertheless, she was beautiful, and he was happy she was with him. He didn't, however, let her easily get away with her wrap-up when she unveiled it.

"See, not much to really tell," she said. He smiled and gave a look as if to see into her soul.

"I'll bet there's a lot more," he said, giving the slightest wink, before telling her his own story. He'd been a commodities trader in Chicago before washing out with the tech boom, taking enough money with him to begin a consulting company, which he chose to place on the West coast because of the beauty, both geographic and feminine, as well as proximity to the ocean. He had dated a few people in the time since he had arrived, but rarely got serious, not finding anyone he liked more than a marginal amount. But this girl seemed, different, though he didn't quite get just why. He wanted to solve the riddle....to know the answers to what else there was. He touched her arm, slowly running his finger along her forearm, then back toward her wrist. "Sun's going down," he said. "Ever seen the Hollywood sign up close?" His eyes gleamed, knowing what she did not. The sign was every girl's aphrodisiac, and it happened to be a few blocks from his cliffside home. He paused only a moment to hear her answer before following with his next question. "Do you want to?"

**********​

Jason's plane landed and he took his small bag from the overhead bin. He had packed light, anticipating either simple needs for his stay and/or the need to head South into Mexico on a moment's notice, if things did not go well. He knew for one of them, they would not go well. After boosting a taxi, he asked the driver to take him to the nearest property management company, urging the driver to get him there before closing time. A few CB calls on the radio, and the driver had him on his way.

"How long will you need it?" The girl asked at the management company.

"A week. Option for two," he said, simply.

"You here on business or pleasure?" She asked, grinning, noticing there was no ring on his finger and noticing he was attractive as any man she had seen in the area in some time. He thought for a moment, before answering truthfully, without detail.

"Both," he said, locking in on his mission and thinking about what it would entail.

"How many rooms will you need?" The girl asked, punching away at the keyboard to search their database.

"Two," he said. "At least one upstairs, if possible." He had not thought of the logistics, but keeping someone away from exits on the ground floor would be a plus.

"We have a couple that are just off the beach - it's walking distance," she said. He thought for a moment.

"Perfect," Jason said. "Is it secluded?" He asked.

"Nearest condo is a hundred yards away," the girl said. "They're all pretty spread out." Jason thought for another moment.

Nobody will hear any screams, he thought. "I'll take any one that is available."