Auto Erotica Ch. 09

Patrick Wolfe, aka Crilly, was a cop.

I didn't freak out, I wanted to, but my sense of self-preservation was too strong. Instead I dialed Marcus. "Go," he said by way of greeting.

"I'm in the townhouse of Patrick Wolfe, nee Crilly. I need a pick up in ten, it's on LSD, can you find it?"

"Got it," he said.

"Marcus if I'm not out in front come in and get me. I don't think he'll let me leave."

Marcus said nothing, just hung up and I knew he'd come. I got my underthings on as well as the coveralls, unzipped, and was pulling on my boots when Patrick came back, pink robe in hand.

"Hey I-"

I looked at him levelly and stood up to zip up the coveralls. "I'm leaving. Don't try to stop me."

He started to ask why so I pointed at his phone on the plush bench at the foot of the bed. He tossed the robe down and stuck the phone back in his pocket. "Nice girls don't sneak into other people's things. I'm going to have to punish you."

Through even the sense of betrayal those words made me cream. I folded my arms and raised my chin defiantly. "You're a fucking cop."

"No; I'm a fucking detective," he said calmly and moved to block the door.

"I'm leaving, don't try to stop me. A friend is coming, one who will break your damn door down if I'm not out front in five minutes."

"Cal? I can take Cal."

"I have other friends, now move."

"Aileen, I-"

"Oh save it. What makes you think I want anything to do with you? You're everything I despise; a rich lying cop."

"It's not like that."

I narrowed my eyes. "What is it like? Did you fuck me so I'd tell you all the juicy details of my work? Is it Cal you're after?"

"No, Aileen, stop." This he said coldly as I tried to pass. When he grabbed me I went still.

"Don't confuse what I like in bed with who I am, Wolfe. I. Will. Fuck. You. Up."

He smiled as if it were a challenge. "You are going to stay and you are going to listen to me." He dragged me by the arm to the bed and shock held me pliant. When he tossed me down I rolled and tucked my legs up knowing he'd lean down to grab my hands. When he did I slammed the bottom of my feet into his chest.

Patrick flew into his dresser and I scrambled to the floor and sprinted, but he recovered quickly and snatched my ankle from under me. I slammed into the plush carpeting and then he was there.

We were both panting as he lay across my back, pressing me into the carpet, and I could feel this had all excited the sick bastard.

"Aileen, I have the money and the connections to give you a new life."

"It's not worth it if you're in it."

He stilled. "Fair enough. What if I promised to give you that and you'd never have to see me again?"

"You'd only do that if I gave you something." It was true. For all that he must be after some big fish, bigger than my small time operation. "Shit, you're after the LC aren't you?"

Before he could answer the door slammed open. We looked up to see Marcus there. The German was only six feet tall and one-seventy soaking wet, but he had Glock with a silencer and a deadly look in his green eyes. "Let her go, or you die Mr. Wolfe."

Patrick waited for a breathless moment, then he rolled off of me. I scrambled to my feet and Marcus let me pass, the gun never wavering.

"If you tell me you're fucking her, I'll kill you," Patrick said behind me in a low and deadly tone.

Marcus laughed, the only time I'd ever heard the mercenary do so. "She pays me quite well."

"Whatever she's paying you to help her leave I'll double it if you make her stay."

I opened my mouth to yell but Marcus held his free hand up to me. "You could outbid her on any score, of that I have no doubt, but she has the added benefit of being my friend and on more than one occasion, my savior. Good night, Mr. Wolfe."

We left quickly and Marcus peeled away from the curb in a Maserati. I'd never seen Marcus' personal car but this one felt like him. He was good at killing people, and he could find anyone anywhere. I knew almost nothing about him except the one time I'd had to float him half a million.

Apparently that was his price.

"I'm not going to ask you why you were there, but I am going to ask if you want him dead."

I looked down at my lap feeling somehow ashamed. "It doesn't matter. And he's a cop, we don't kill cops."

His jaw clicked audibly. "I always wondered where you went, what you did the rest of your life. You always get mixed up with cops?"

"Hey lay off. I thought he ran a fucking garage, for chrissakes. I just found out about the money and I just found out about the penchant for law enforcement. I already feel like an idiot, I don't need your criticism."

After that tirade we lapsed into silence and Marcus drove me to the garage. He probably knew where I lived but he was too polite to let me know. I watched him go and unlocked the door, shut off the alarm, and flopped on the couch in the lounge.

I'd almost fucked Gunnar there, presumably Patrick's partner. I'd been flirting with disaster. I had six days until my birthday, six days until I was free. Six days to keep from getting arrested and dragged back into a life I had tried so hard to escape.

I had no one I could trust, and there I was feeling shattered. I'd started to feel hope and something...deeper with Patrick, and it had all blown up into something horrific.

Suddenly feeling so alone I leaned my head back and began to cry. And Patrick Wolfe was still the last damn thought on my mind before sleep claimed me at dawn.

#

I was scared Cal would know, that Marcus would tell him, or I'd wear my guilt like a hat, but he said nothing. In fact he was quiet just as much as we loaded the parts onto the Viper.

It was Monday evening and the serious racers would be out and about, the kids would be at home. Cal asked if I wanted to hit the streets and I agreed, even though I knew Crilly, no, Wolfe was out there.

I dressed extra slutty in a leather vest and mini, topped with my boots and trench I looked like a slut-bunny assassin. Cal raised an eyebrow, and I just shrugged.

"Jesus, rough weekend?"

I looked at the rope burns on his wrist and neck. He'd had his shirt off earlier and I'd seen the welts on his back. "You too?"

He actually blushed. He never blushed.

I looked between 'Stang and the Yenko Camaro. "Fuck it. I'm taking the Viper."

"Aileen, that's waving a red flag in front of a bull."

I stopped and stared at Cal quietly, for a moment my mind on Patrick. Then I remembered just who I'd beaten to get the car. "I want the LC to find me, Cal. I'm sick of this waiting around shit. I want a fight." It was stupid, but it was true.

"You're going to get yourself killed."

I sat down at that and thought about the plan that had been mulling in my mind all day. Six days to freedom, and with his help we could both be free.

So I simply said "I am," and for once I treated my business partner like a friend.

#

The night was calm, cool, the only racers out were full-timers. Many of the guys we used to work with were there, and Cal and I chatted with them as the races progressed. We ran blockers for Li'l J, I started two races, and Cal came in second to Oren. I didn't take the Viper out, instead I spent most of my time scanning the crowd.

By midnight no LC, no Gunnar, no Wolfe. I was disappointed but also relieved, and it must have shown.

"Aileen," Cal said quietly as we helped block Western Avenue. "It doesn't make sense him using you to get to the LC. I mean, if he wanted them all he'd have to do is use his garage and his cred to race them. Crilly, Jesus, Wolfe must actually be interested in you, let's face it, you're a lot of trouble for a guy like him. Maybe you should hear him out."

I stared at him, that having been the longest speech I'd ever heard leave his lips. "What's gotten into you?" I asked as Oren pulled up, triumphant in another win.

"He proposed to Suki," she answered for him, and revved her engine with a glare for her future brother-in-law.

"Holy shit," was the first thing on my mind. "Holy fucking shit," was the second.

He blushed scarlet and Oren shook her head. "You hurt her and my brothers kill you." With that she sped off, and she was right. They were ex Yakuza, and they would kill him if he harmed a hair on Suki's head. Since she wielded the whip I wondered if I should give her the same threat.

Before I could say anything Li'L J came over and invited us back to his garage for a party. There was a party at a club downtown where J's other scene roamed, and this was to be their after-party. They were relaxed, and fun, so we both agreed to come.

I followed the line of rice burners, muscle cars, and sporty European racers to the garage by the K-Mart.

The garage had a back room stacked with old bench seats that J pulled out for his after-parties. Beer in bottles littered the room in ice-filled tubs and the music was low but energetic, great for talking.

Cal neatly avoided follow up questions by settling into a group with two of our old coworkers and I was dragged in. I was into my second Corona when Wolfe walked in the door.

He didn't play coy, he looked pissed, and he scanned the room until he found me. He took one menacing step towards me when a large hand appeared on his shoulder and stopped him. Gunnar stepped inside the garage right after him and directed the man towards Li'l J.

I watched them walk until Cal cleared his throat. I turned back to Kenny, a good mechanic, and thanked him again for the advice on the Viper's rear suspension.

Cal's eyes warily watched me, and I couldn't read them. I thought he might be telling me to go over there but I refused. Instead I downed the beer and slipped outside.

I nodded to Oren and two of her brothers and slipped the keys out for the Viper. A hand made of iron stopped me.

"Drinking and driving?"

I turned to see Patrick right there. Inside Cal was watching, so I gave him my fuck-you face. "Sober as a churchman, fuck off Cr- Wolfe."

His face schooled up instantly. "It's Crilly, Elle," he said pointedly. I jerked my arm from his grip and shook my hand.

"Call yourself Captain Kangaroo for all I care. Move it or eat Viper, Crilly."

He let me get in but my victory was short-lived. When I pulled onto the street there was a Sky behind me, navy blue with ghost flames. "Shit," I swore and gunned it.

He stayed behind me so I swerved and barely made a turn, but he stayed with me. I weaved through traffic and he was there. Concentrating on him made me lose direction and I wandered aimlessly, turning back north.

Suddenly he pulled up alongside me and the look in his eyes was hot, far from the cold cop face he usually wore. He was angry, he was excited, he was aroused. Shit, now I was too.

I slammed the gas and popped the clutch, shifting on the fly into top gear and he caught up. We were going south now on Foster, heading for the split with Ashland. I wanted to go left but I was on the right side of him, and he paced me as I sped up and slowed down.

He was good, hell, he'd never been this good before. The man had held back. I saw an opening and went for it to cut him off, but he lunged forward And I jerked right to avoid him. I overcorrected and cut across two lanes, hopped the curb at the split, tore up grass, and popped down to cut off another three lanes.

I pulled into the parking lot of a church, my heart hammering. The car skidded to a halt and the engine was still purring, but there were branches from a bush trapped beneath the hood.

"Fuck. Fuck! FUCK!" I screamed and hit the steering wheel.

Just as my anger burned itself out in a flash and embarrassment spread two low-slung headlights pulled in behind me.

Feeling testy I pulled my Glock from beneath the seat and shoved it inside my trench. Behind me he alighted, and I watched his tall frame move in my rearview until it disappeared, then he was knocking on my window.

I rolled it down an inch. "Fuck off Crilly. You won, now leave me alone."

"Aileen, you shouldn't have tried to race me in anything but the 'Stang. You're a different woman in the 'Stang."

That surprised me, and I didn't like surprises. Pissed off I swung the door out making him scoot back. Without pausing I pulled my Glock and clicked the safety, pointing it right at the center of his chest. "What part of fuck off needs to be translated?"

His eyes glanced at the gun and came back to mine, warm. The fucking pervert was getting aroused and that was pissing me off big-time. "Such a big gun for a little woman. I'll have to punish you later for that, the racing, the cursing, and the outfit."

I lowered the gun and shot at his feet. The explosion was a loud pop, deafening, and ricocheted off the concrete and stone walls around us.

He jumped, it was human nature, and swore viciously.

"I said, what part of fuck-off needs to be translated?"

He looked at me and I knew what he was going to do before he did it. He went for the gun so I guarded the trigger but held on tight. Unlike the movies, in real life the barrel was hot. He yelped but didn't let go and we struggled.

I was grim and silent, assessing, but in the end he was stronger and could take more punishment. Quickly he had the gun, my wrists were pinned in one of his fists, and we were both panting.

The gun he slipped into his jacket and then he fumbled in mine, feeling for weapons.

"What the-"

"Shut it," he cut me off. He'd removed my cell and dialed a number on his own as I watched, grinding my teeth.

"It's Wolfe. I'm at Ashland just off Foster, Trinity parking lot. Shots fired was a bad call. Car backfiring. I'm on scene. Yeah. Yeah. Bye."

He looked at me with a murderous glare and then started searching my phone's information for something. He pressed a speed dial and put it to his ear.

"You're the one Aileen called last time to get the Viper, right? It's in Trinity parking lot, Ashland and Foster, keys next to it. Be here in ten."

With that he hung up and jerked me along as he reached in and shut the Viper off. He shut the door, activated the alarm, and dumped the keys behind the driver's side front tire.

"If you say one word I'll really punish you."

"So I assume it's to be kidnapping and rape?" I said, snarky, truly terrified that that was the case.

He stopped and the look in his eyes was true rage, but then what I said sunk in. "I won't touch you if you don't want me to, but it will take a lot for me to believe you don't want me."

I was strapped into the Sky before he popped open the glove box and cuffed my hands around the seatbelt. I struggled but it was useless. My hands were tied, and I was tied to the belt. I was in the car unless I had the key to the cuffs of a knife for the belt.

And so I just glared at him as he swaggered in front of the car and got in. The car hummed to life, obviously perfectly tuned by a master hand, and as we pulled out another car pulled in. In the side mirror I saw Carlos get out and watch the Sky disappear.

Tied up in a car with Crilly, and no one knew where I was. In a little while I'd know if it was heaven or hell, or at least I hoped.