Page 59 of Jazz
She smiled. “Not like you to have got yourself in trouble again.” The laugh was clear in her voice. “Pull that through. It can go in the utility for now. Through there, up the stairs,” she instructed Jazz as she turned.
Jazz’s eyes narrowed, helplessly defiant. Then she glanced at me, and I shook my head, hoping she didn’t piss Gina off. She was our best bet for somewhere safe right now.
“It’s been so long, Charlie,” Gina’s voice carried up the stairs as we followed her into a first floor sitting room. “We’ve changed here a bit. Different girls now, of course. They tend to move on.” Gina indicated to the sofa that sat across from where she lowered herself into a red velvet armchair. “I see you’vebrought your own, though. Cigarette?” She pushed the silver holder towards Jazz, who shook her head and did her best to smile. “Still don’t smoke, Charlie?”
I shook my head. “Not cigarettes anyway.”
The smoke billowed up into the room from the end of the tab.
“So,” she turned her head towards Jazz. “How come you’re Charlie’s girl?”
“I…I’m not,” Jazz stammered, almost speechless for the first time since I’d met her.
Gina sank back into the chair, crossing a long, tanned bare leg over the other one. Above us, there were faint sounds of noise. Rhythmical. Low voices. Just a hint. But Jazz hadn’t noticed, her eyes fixed on the older woman opposite her.
“Sure. Sure. He rocks up here at my place with a girl. A stunning one at that, and asks me to hide him for a few days. You’re Charlie’s girl.” Gina pointed at her, the cigarette squeezed between two slim, delicate fingers, rich ruby red polish on the ends.
“I rescued her.”
Gina looked at me, puffed out her cheeks and then let out a hearty laugh, smoke pouring from her mouth.
“You rescued her?”
“From the Rats.”
“From your Rats?”
Jazz’s head tick tocked between us, her brow furrowed as she tried to follow the conversation.
“Yeah.”
“The Rats running hookers now?”
Jazz was on her feet before I’d had time to pre-empt it.
“Call me a hooker one more time, bitch, and see what happens.” Jazz growled, fists balled at her sides.
Gina laughed, the sound filling the room.
“Jazz, sit down.”
She threw me a look. A warning as I tugged at her wrist.
“The Rats kidnapped Jazz from the Northern Kings….”
“And you, Chase. You were the one who hung me on that fucking hook.”
I sighed, dropping my head to my feet, avoiding Gina’s gaze. But now she said nothing, just watched us.
“I was involved with it, yes,” I admitted. This was feeling like some sordid chat show.Confessions in a Brothel.Sure, that would be a hit. “For a while….”
“And then you fell for her, Charlie?”
I didn’t need to nod or agree, and I didn’t deny it. Gina could see right through me. She always had.
“So now what? You’re in hiding for the rest of your life?”
“Just a day or two. I need to get her home to her family. But the Rats will expect me to go straight there. They’ll intercept us. I need to wait for the dust to settle. Was hoping we could wait it out here?”