to his first stint in prison for dealing. He specialized in tricking out people’s cars with all kinds of shit, so anything remotely out of the ordinary was always “custom.” It was mostly his code word for anything he thought was worthy of his admiration.
“I need some deets, brotha!”
I rolled my eyes.
“You that interested in what my cock does?” I asked.
“I just don’t understand how you manage to get pussy to fall into your lap no matter where you go. ”
“It’s a gift,” I replied.
Jonathan shoved the truck back into gear and started backing out.
“So who was she?” he asked.
“Just some chick lost in the desert,” I told him. “Her boyfriend, or whatever, was an asshole and dropped her off on the road when they were fighting. She didn’t have anywhere to go and it was getting late, so she spent the night riding my cock. That’s it.”
“Custom.”
“Worked for me.” I leaned back and let the smoke from his cigarette waft around me. I didn’t indulge anymore myself, but I liked getting some second-hand every once in a while. As much as Jon lit up, I probably smoked a couple cigarettes worth any given hour I was with him.
“How was she?”
“Fucking fine!” I responded.
We both had a good laugh until Def Leppard started playing, and Jonathan quickly turned up the volume and started air jammin’ at red lights. I stared out the window at the line of people waiting for Garrett’s Popcorn and tried not to let thoughts of Lia invade my head too much. If I did, I’d start regretting shit, and I tried not to do that.
Jon followed me up to my apartment , and we immediately started researching Brad Ashton. There was so much shit on him, it was hard to separate the real stuff from the gossipy crap, but we started with the basics.
He was twenty- nine years old, born in Australia, six feet tall, blond hair, and grey eyes. Though he made himself famous with action films, he had his start in the porn industry, and I had to admit some of the footage made me feel a little uncomfortable.
Maybe it was because Jon was watching it with me.
“Do you really have to play more of that?” I asked as he flipped from a scene with one pair of writhing bodies on a bed to a video with two pairs.
“It’s pretty good,” Jonathan said. “Might have to download a full copy of this one.”
I shook my head a little, but my mind was wondering about the possibility of Bridgett spending the night again. I must not have hated the porn too much. I was going to have to take a little trip later.
I’m going to kill a guy I’ve w atched fuck two sorority chicks and a frat boy.
Shaking my head again didn’t seem to completely rid my mind of the thought, so I headed to the kitchen and popped open a couple of beers.
“Here’s his schedule of appearances,” Jon said as he yanked a piece of paper from my printer. “He’ll be here in the city three times between now and February.”
“Not gonna kill him here,” I said. I silently berated myself for saying gonna . The nuns would have smacked my mouth for such abuse of the English language. I blamed Jonathan’s influence. The “Midwest meets southern twang” of his was addictive. “I think away from here will be better. There are ties to Rinaldo with anything done in Chicago, and I want nothing to look suspicious. Where else is he going to be?”
We went over all the various options and finally decided Atlanta w as the place. He’d be there the first week of January, and that was when he was going to die.
Jonathan headed out, and I fed Odin and tossed his rubber bone around for a while. He actually got tired of the game before I did, which reminded me that he wasn’t a young pup anymore. He’d be nine in the spring, which was getting up there for a good-sized dog like him.
I rubbed my eyes ; it was getting late, and I was tired. After I tossed the beer bottles in the recycling bin and drank