"Now, If I recall, your mother fired me over a month ago." Brooke looked down on me, her arm still wrapped around the young teenager in front of her."I"m not here on her behalf." I started, but after a flash in Brooke"s eye, I changed what I was going to say. "She"s in the hospital. I"m here personally because I need your help."
"In the hospital? What happened? I figured that woman"s hide is too tough that nothing would be able to…"
"She"s pregnant." I cut off Brooke"s tirade.
"I… see…" Brooke gave me a knowing look.
"Look, Brooke, I need you back. Personally. This is for me." I took a step forward, but Brooke showed no sign of stepping aside to let me in.
However, her j.a.panese friend suddenly broke into a smile and looked up at Brooke. "Oh, he love Brooke? You naughty girl have man"s heart? Aiii!"
The j.a.panese girl let out a cry when Brooke smacked her bottom. She said something else that sounded like a j.a.panese curse while glaring at Brooke and rubbing herself. Brooke wore a straight face, she had the hint of a smirk on it. However, when her eyes landed back on me, the smirk dissipated and she shook her head.
"Kid… I"m sorry…"
"I have money!" I insisted.
"Money"s easy enough to come by…" Brooke laughed and held out her hands in a shrug. "And as you can see, I don"t need much to be happy."
I frowned, but my mind still thought furiously. "Then… I have something else I can give you. Something only I can give you!"
"Eh? What is this nonsense?" Brooke shook her head while raising her whiskey bottle to her mouth.
"A baby!" I declared, squaring my shoulders.
Brooke spit out the whiskey in my face, some of it falling on the teenage girl and some of it even leaking out her nose. "G.o.d d.a.m.n… that burns!"
While she sputtered and coughed, covering her mouth, the door opened up and the j.a.panese girl turned around, her eyes wide and excited.
"A baby? I always wanted to have baby!"
"d.a.m.n it… Clyburn, do you think a body this s.e.xy should have a baby? What makes you think I"d want one of those things giving me stretch marks and bruising my p.u.s.s.y?" Brooke cursed as she finally recovered, her face flushed red from the alcohol, although it made her look like a blushing maiden and was quite a cute expression, even if she"d punch my throat out if I voiced it.
"Oh, hush now, Babe… Just let me carry baby. We have together." The j.a.panese girl put on a serious expression, frowning with a cute wrinkled eyebrow as she glared at Brooke.
Brooke gave a shocked expression, her mouth falling open slightly. "Aiko, you… want to have a baby with me?"
The j.a.panese girl blushed and looked away. "Well, isn"t every girl dream? Plus… I can be citizen before you citizen even though I just arrive, hahahaha!"
"You…" Brooke attempted to smack the girls behind again but she dodged it while laughing.
"You talk… get me baby, I go make tea!" Aiko immediately escaped to the kitchen.
"d.a.m.n it, Aiko, I"m going to smack that a.s.s! And I told you, I don"t want any d.a.m.n tea. If you want to be useful, bring me a beer!" Brooke sighed as Aiko didn"t respond to her shouts before turning back to me and gesturing me inside with a frown. "What the h.e.l.l do you want, kid?"
"A j.a.panese schoolgirl? Seriously?" even though there were more important things to discuss, that naturally was the question that came out first.
"What the h.e.l.l is a j.a.panese? Whatever, she ain"t no schoolgirl though. Came here on a work visa. Some kind of cultural work exchange program with the country of Nippon." Brooke fell back onto a recliner and then shot me a glare. "d.a.m.n it, we were having a good thing going, why did you have to put having a baby in her head!"
"She"s like sixteen!" I growled.
Brooke shrugged. "I didn"t ask. Sixteens old enough to be a mommy, so why can"t I show her a good time? She"s got a great tongue… well… when she isn"t talking. d.a.m.n it, don"t distract me, why the h.e.l.l are you here? Seriously!"
"Hannah is missing," I said simply.
Brooke"s eyes lowered and she remained silent for a bit before speaking. "I"m… sorry. I had considered before that Hannah seemed like a flight risk. She was quiet, always kept to herself. Snuck out a lot… She…"
"She didn"t run away, she was taken," I said leaning forward and pulling out the holotape. "Kidnapped… to get to me."
With those words, I put the tape down on the table. Brooke eyed it for a moment while remaining quiet.
I continued on. "She"s my sister, and right now she"s in the hand of some drug cartel just so they can blackmail me! You think the government gives two s.h.i.ts about her compared to me? They won"t help. I have to… I have to do what I can, do you understand?"
Just as I finished, Aiko returned to the room carrying a pitcher of tea and a tray of snacks. Getting on her knees at the coffee table. She immediately poured out two cups of hot tea, and then pushed them towards us before waiting there with an expectant smile. However, Brooke"s eyes didn"t turn away from me for a second.
"Why me?" Brooke demanded.
That was a very good question. Why was I trying to depend on Brooke? Yeah, she knew how to fight, but so did my new head of security outside. Madison may have given me Brooke"s number thinking Brooke could help, but that didn"t mean I needed to depend on Brooke. I could have turned around and left the second Brooke had said no, however, I had insisted on staying and I had even offered to share my seed. Still, I found the answer coming to me quite easily.
"I"m… all alone in this world." I said slowly, "The women who love me… my mom, my sisters, they lose objectivity. They"re too close to me to see what needs seeing. Everyone else? They just want to use me. If there is anything I"ve taken from my mother, it"s a hatred for being used. I came to you Brooke because I need you to watch my back. Any other woman would either be blinded by my presence or trying to find a wake to stick a knife in my back. You"re the only person I can trust to always have my back."
"Hmph…" Brooke snorted but hid her expression behind her hands, so I couldn"t tell how she felt about this. "And you say you"re going to give my Aiko a baby?"
Aiko grew excited at the words, a grin on her face like a kid in a candy store.
"Of course, I wouldn"t promise otherwise."
"What happened to wanting to build that… what do you call it, harem?"
I squared my shoulders and chuckled. "I still plan to. Naturally, the baby will be mine as well as yours."
"What the h.e.l.l?" Brooke leaned forward angrily.
"Well, I mean, you"re going to be my personal security, so you"ll live with me, and of course Aiko would come as well. So, her baby will be raised together with my other babies. All of us, together. You"ll both naturally be my women."
"Owned by man?" Aiko murmurs smiling partially to herself. "I like sound of that."
"Eh? Aiko, don"t let this man poison your thoughts. Kid, you got a lot of guts calling me your woman!"
"What does it matter?" I shrug, ignoring Brooke"s glare. "It"s not like you"d care who else I"m sticking it in. You have no reason to be jealous of my other girls. Of course, I wouldn"t stick it in you unless you asked… so if you never ask, it"s not like I have a shortage of other ladies. Plus, you"ll get to enjoy the sight of all the young beautiful women I bring home. I might even share a couple, yeah? I don"t mind if Brooke wants to vet some of my girls… I mean, as long as I can watch."
"Brooke, I thought I was special…" Aiko said as Brooke looked genuinely contemplative over my offer.
Brooke gave a quick cough. "Of course, Aiko, since we met two weeks ago, I knew you were the one for me."
"It"s only been two weeks… ow!" As I blurted out in wonder over this short relationship, Brooke kicked me under the table.
Of course, they"re talking about having a baby together, yet Aiko is only sixteen and they"ve only been together for two weeks. Rather, it"s good they"ve only been together two weeks because if this relationship had started a little earlier, it might have turned into a crime! Well, I"m not one to talk. I"ve had s.e.x with the sixteen-year-old Madison, and by all accounts, I"m older than Brooke. However, weren"t they moving a little fast? It took me months to have a steady relationship with mom and my sisters were still a rocky thing.
I shook my head, ignoring my thoughts while Brooke tried to placate Aiko. This wasn"t the time for thinking about that kind of thing. I liked Brooke as a friend, and she even had a cute appearance that was desirable if she wasn"t a lesbian. Getting a j.a.panese schoolgirl like Aiko was just a bonus. However, even if neither of them would talk to me again, I"d still make this promise, because Hannah was that important to me.
"Will you do it?" I finally asked.
The silence after I finished speaking seemed to stretch. Brooke leaned back, seeming to ignore everything while Aiko still sat there on her knees watching the two of us. I leaned forward and took the cup of tea, giving her a smile as I did. The snacks she had brought out where just crackers with cheese whiz on them. As someone who lived in a mansion, most of my food was prepared by a chef I"d never met. Suffice it to say, I hadn"t consumed junk food in over a year. I found myself jamming crackers down my throat at an alarming rate. This seemed to please Aiko, whose smile grew, even as Brooke stared in silence, not giving anything away.
Finally, Brooke lifted her hand and put it on the holotape across the table, dragging it over to herself. She silently handed it to Aiko, who immediately turned around and slid it into the side of the visual screen. A few moments later, a familiar scene started to play out on the screen in front of us.
"h.e.l.lo, Clyburn." The voice came on the screen.
Brooke seemed to have invested in a better screen than the one I owned. The audio was a bit crisper, and while the voice was still m.u.f.fled, it sounded undoubtedly female to me this time. Of course, it would have had to be a woman. Was there any doubt? Why would a man kidnap a woman in this world? Aiko stood back, her hand covering her mouth, her eyes growing tears as she watched the struggling Hannah, my Hannah, under the light being flashed in her face.
"Faeri wants to see you. You"ll get a new package tonight with the rendezvous point. Come alone. Don"t call the cops, I"ll know if you do. If you comply, you"ll get to see your precious sister again. If you don"t, well… I"ll personally turn your little sister into my b.i.t.c.h. She"ll come to like the taste of p.u.s.s.y, I think. Hahahaha…"
The screen went to static, but the silence drifted on for only a few moments before Brooke spoke. "Faeri…"
"You know her?" I turned excitedly, only to frown when Brooke started shaking her head.
"Just the name…" Brooke finally spoke up. "Part of a local gang of youngsters. Runs a smuggling ring. Racketeering. That kind of stuff. Takes in a lot of poor people and foreigners in. That"s how I met Aiko here."
Aiko gave a smile. "Scary girl try to convince me go with them. Then Brooke came, sent them running."
"And she"s the boss?" I tried to put the story together.
"Locally… perhaps. I don"t know much else. "Brooke leaned back and took a last swallow of her whiskey before slamming the empty bottle on the table. "But I do know someone who does."
"Ah? Really?" I leaned forward in my chair. "Can you take me to them?"
"You really are going to be the death of me, boy…" Brooke let out a sigh, stretching her arms as she spoke. "Fine, I"ll do it."
"Really, you"ll take me?"
"All of it…" Brooke sighed. "I"ll take care of you, kid… as long as you take care of me."
"I will!" When Brooke gave me a harsh look I held up my hands. "I mean, thank you. With your help, I"m sure we can save my sister."
"Yes!" Aiko also made a guts pose. "And after I can finally enjoy p.e.n.i.s for first time."
"Eh?" I let out a noise at Aiko"s sudden announcement.
"Aiko!" Brooke cried out. "That"s not… he"s not… I mean, if we got you pregnant… uh… I"d do it!"
"How"d you do it?" I blurted out incredulously.
"You…" Brooke glared at me. "Naturally, there are tools for women to impregnate other women. You"re not sticking it in my Aiko, of course, I"d need a donation of your seed, but that"s it!"
"Ah… Brooke jealous… he give us both p.e.n.i.s?" Aiko offered.
Brooke made a gagging noise like she was just about to throw up. "Aiko! What are you saying? We"re lesbians? Don"t you like my p.u.s.s.y?"
Aiko sniffed. "I do, but I never had other. How I know if like sausage when all I have is taco!"
"Guh!" Brooke looked like she had been punched, Aiko"s words cutting into her. "But… baby, we can get toys that shape and I can…"
"Toys not same." Aiko dismissed. "Okaasan say, real thing better."
Brooke gave another sigh, but it ended when she shot me a glare. The glare said something along the lines of "fix this"! Had it been another time, I might have fled the room or even egged Aiko on just to give Brooke a hard time. However, right now, my sister was still on the line and this was not the issue any of us needed to worry about.
"Aiko," I spoke up while standing. "I"m sorry, but it is Brooke who is earning my seed. Thus, it is Brooke who decides when, who, and how it gets delivered!"
I gave a small bow at the end of it. Aiko looked a little fl.u.s.tered, and then disappointed, while Brooke broke into a relieved smile. I didn"t know what was going through Brooke"s mind, but suddenly her eyes shot to my crotch, looked away, and for a second I swore her cheeks blushed. It must have just been the alcohol.
"On that note," Brooke also stood up, patting off her pants as if she didn"t just make a cute expression, "We should get going. We"re burning daylight and if you want to save your sister before anyone touches her, we need to get moving now."
Brooke quickly strapped on a sword and a gun, giving the impression of some kind of gunslinging knight. She didn"t change her clothing, but she splashed some water on her face to "wake up a bit" and then immediately pushed me out the door. Aiko was left with a pouty expression on her lips sitting in the corner, clearly disappointed that her chance to enjoy a p.e.n.i.s was slipping through her fingers. Well, I"d let Brooke and Aiko work that out. If Brooke didn"t want to stay with Aiko, it was no big deal to me. However, once I handed out my seed, whoever Brooke gave it to would be mine. Brooke would just have to learn to share. It was the biggest concession I was willing to offer to keep a friend around.
Charlene and Brooke knew each other, but neither woman looked at the other when they got in the car. Brooke was a beautiful 30-year-old woman with an athletic build and a mischievous smile. Charlene was a 50-year-old who looked like leather and lacked any kind of spirit at all. The differences between the two were palpable.
Brooke didn"t explain to me where she planned to take me. She simply slid an address to the driver, and then we began driving in that direction. As we went, my eyes began to narrow. What I had deemed was the bad area of town seemed to be wrong. As the property value plummeted and things like graffiti became more rampant, I realized Brooke likely lived in a normal suburban home. I had a.s.sumed my 35 years of experience, even though I had lived as a middle-cla.s.s man, allowed me to understand the world, but it looked like a year living in a mansion had skewed the way I saw the world more than I thought. I felt bad for looking down on Brooke"s living conditions.
"We"re here," Brooke said, pointing up ahead as the car drifted to a stop.
Without the friction of the road, a small part of me wondered how cars stopped. I stopped those thoughts immediately. When I went to the Academy, I could ask these kinds of stupid questions all day. Maybe, I should request mom fill up our library with more science and how-to books. This world didn"t seem to have as much do-it-yourself stuff, but my experience is limited so I didn"t know. Our library was filled with fantasy books. There were romances, magic, mystery, a little bit of science fiction, a large number of psychological self-help books.
I stepped out of the car and walked up beside Brooke with more confidence in my step. Once again, I left Charlene watching the car. I hated to admit it, but I felt much safer with Brooke by my side. Her steps were strong and her feet were sure. This part of town had taller buildings and almost no lighting. The art deco was gone, and it was the kind of place I probably would have felt nervous entering on my own. We ended up walking up a stairway to the third level. By the time we reached the top of the stairs, I was breathing hard.
"You sure you want to do this, kid?" Brooke asked. "Maybe we should leave this to the cops-"
"No!" I straightened up, forcing my breath to smooth out. "I have to protect Hannah. I"m the reason she was out of the house in the first place. I"m the reason she was kid- it was my fault."
Brooke nodded, and then pointed at the door nearby, "If I remember correctly, she lives here…"
I nodded and immediately went to the door knocking. I wanted to show Brooke that I could keep going. After this is all over, I promised myself I"d start a workout routine. Maybe I could ask Brooke to teach me to use that sword. I don"t want to be weak anymore. Being weaker than a woman is just embarra.s.sing! I"ve spent too much of this new life hiding in my own little box.
"h.e.l.lo- ah… m-m-master!" As soon as the door opened, a familiar face peeked out before immediately looking down, unable to meet my eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"Veris… so it"s you." As soon as I saw Veris, my old housekeeper, I understood why Brooke had brought me here. "Veris, I"m looking for Nada…"
Veris finally looked up, her fist clenching slightly. "What did that girl do now?"
"Two days ago, she broke into the mansion and raped me," I stated simply.
"Oh…" Veris very nearly bowed on the ground, the noise coming more like a pained grunt. "I"m sorry… master… I"m so… so… sorry… I should have never… I thought…"
I raised my hand. "Veris, you abused your position. You used me. If you feel at all indebted to the help my family and I have given you, then now is the time to act."
Veris wilted under my stare, but when I said she could help, she immediately raised her head and gave a decisive nod.
"Your daughter… she mentioned a woman… Faeri."
Veris"s expression turned vicious. "Faeri… that b.i.t.c.h! She"s the one who got my daughter addicted to drugs. Well, her gang did. Her dealer is part of Faeri"s crew. Faeri was the one she owed money to."
As Veris rambled on about Faeri, Brooke and I gave each other a look and I nodded. "Veris, pay attention closely here."
"Yes, master, anything." Veris was practically bowing now.
It turned out her guilt over betraying me had waved very heavily on her mind. She had spent the last nine months soaking in guilt. Well, she also threw away a career that she had for over a decade all for her daughter"s sake. In the end, she was just trying to be a good mother.
"We need to find Nada, I want to know where this gang resides." I said, my words finally triggering Veris to look up at me. "We have some questions for them."