The Last Deep Breath Read Online Free PDF Page B

well-dressed in double-breasted suits.
    Once Grey had passed muster he was charged a “membership fee” and they let him into the bar.  This was the meeting area where you checked out the ladies who promenaded around in evening ware or lingerie.  They slinked up beside you to ask your name and touch your arm and laugh at your lame jokes to make you feel comfortable.
    If you wanted to take them out to a club or a social function, the date was one price.  You wanted to stay in and maybe go visit one of the rooms in back, you paid something else.  All major credit cards accepted.  They chatted him up while he asked everyone in sight if Johnny was around.
    He kept asking for Johnny and they kept saying, “Johnny who?”  The ladies had no idea and he got the feeling they were telling the truth.  He wasn’t sure what else to do but tell it straight.  He said he was Ellie’s brother and that she’d been hurt and he’d found the card and knew what she did and he wanted to get some information from her employers and fellow employees.  They said they had no idea who Ellie was.
    It got the bouncers up in his face.  They said he was bothering the girls.  They ushered him into a different back room than the ones where you had sex.  They worked his gut and kidneys for about five minutes.  It was nothing compared to what the MP’s used to do to him when he was fucking around off base.  He kept asking about Ellie and Johnny and the bruisers just looked at him like he was crazy.  They tried to drag him out the back door into the alley but they hadn’t hurt him nearly as bad as they’d thought.  He walked out on his own power past the madam, asked her the question too, and saw no flicker of deceit in her eyes when she said she didn’t know.  He described Ellie to her.  She said there were lots of girls who fit that description and he figured she was right.  The bouncers started getting itchy to kick the shit out of him again and got in close, breathed threats in his ear.
    Total bust.  Grey grabbed a cab home.
    Ellie was still out cold but he didn’t like the idea of leaving her on the couch alone until morning, so he changed her dressings and carefully hefted her into the bedroom.  He crawled in beside her and made sure he laid far enough away from her that he didn’t accidentally roll over and re-open her wound.
    At three in the morning he got up and pissed a little blood.  He checked Ellie’s bandages again and got her to wake up long enough to give her the antibiotics.  In a stupor she said, “We’re both naked.”
    “Yeah.”
    “Did we have sex?”
    “No.”
    “Do you want to?”
    It was a tough question to answer, even if he did consider her to be his sister.  It wasn’t kink.  It wasn’t fetish.  He loved her.  He hadn’t loved anyone else in a very long time and a need to hold on to and be held by someone you loved was almost overpowering.  While he stood there thinking about it she passed out again and solved the problem.
    In the morning when he woke she was gone.
    So were the pills, some of his clothes, and the rest of the stash from the bottom of his closet.
    She left a note saying:
    Thank you.  I love you.  Forgive me.   I’ll see you again one day .
    He called T.S. and asked, “My sister.  What name did she perform under?”
    “Give me a second.”
    Grey could hear T.S. rummaging through his porn collection.  Grey knew it was extensive but it sounded like T.S. was climbing over boxes, digging through two or three closets, unlocking trunks.
    “No, not this one...no...no... Assbusters 7 , this it?...no...no... Cum Home for Christmas ...this the one?...wait...no... Sidesaddle Sally ... Knee-deep Throat ... Teen Cum Dumpsters ...no...”
    “T.S., you don’t have to read all the—”
    “Here it is.  Teen Ball Busters 2 .  Yeah.  Her name is...Eva Rains.  That’s right, now I remember.  She did a lot of movies with Harvey Wallbanger, him and his twelve-inch wonder of