Vicious Boys by Nora Cobb
Chapter Twelve
Vicki
The day of Luna’s big interview is a brilliant blue with the sun beaming bright and high above our heads. It holds a lot more promise than Dom and I feel while driving there.
“LA isn’t that far away, but I’ve been in town maybe twenty times since school started.” Luna stretches out across the back seat of Dom’s Mercedes. She is determined to win them over in a new lemon-color silk shirt and a cute white miniskirt.
I didn’t move fast enough and end up sitting in the front with him. Luna was in the back seat with her makeup suitcase before I could lift the door handle.
Luna pulls out a makeup wipe and reapplies her lip liner again. She totally has a rolling canvas suitcase filled with enough product to stock a store display. “I was going to pin my hair up to look older,” Luna piles her long hair on top of her head with one hand, “but I have my driver’s license.” She lets it go, and it cascades over her shoulders like a bolt of silk.
Dom glances at the rear-view mirror with a set jaw but says nothing.
“What are you thinking?” I whisper as my stomach churns. My intuition is half assed. I don’t pick up on premonitions unless it’s written in CAPS. But I have a feeling we’re headed straight for trouble.
“Nothing,” he snaps. Dom stares into the mirror. “Luna, are you sure of the address?”
She beams from the back seat. “Yes, I’m sure it’s on Sepulveda in Torrance, near the mall.”
“The mall?” My gaze meets hers in the mirror.
“Del Amo?” she replies tentatively, sliding lip gloss on her lips and pouting in her hand mirror.
I watch Dom’s expression stiffens. “What’s the matter?” I whisper.
He shrugs. “Not where I would expect it to be.”
I see what he meant when we drive up to the building. It’s a weird strip mall stucco thing in an area that might be commercial. I’m thinking of a minute clinic next to a cosmetic dentist, but there are no signs for any businesses though the parking lot is full. Dom parks near the building, and we sit in the front seat, staring at the main door.
Luna rattles on while tossing tubes and lipsticks back into her suitcase. She leans forward, sticking her head in the space between our seats. “This is it, guys. My big, almost-famous break.” She giggles and bolts out of the car like a toddler on sugar.
I sigh.
Dom locks the car after we get out. “If anything looks shady, we’re gone.”
“Agreed, but we might have to drag her away, kicking and screaming.”
Luna practically runs to the double-glass door. She stops and stands straighter than straight while smoothing down her pleated miniskirt. Fumbling with her book, she waits by the door, and Dom opens it. She struts in like the queen of the Redwood, stops at a directory, and looks for the name of the place.
“DBS Major Productions.” She points to the white plastic letters stuck on a board behind glass.
I smile for Luna’s sake. “Let’s go,” I chirp.
We ride the elevator up to the second floor and check left, then right down a deathly quiet hallway. Dom mutters as we walk in the right direction, and Luna giggles as she stops in front of a nondescript door.
“Never heard of them,” replies Dom. “We should have checked this place out.”
“Dom, it’s okay,” she says, “I got the lead off a legit website.”
“The model thread on Reddit?” he asks.
“May I help you?” The receptionist looks normal, with no makeup and a ponytail, wearing a loose top that shows no boob. The room looks like a waiting room in a building built in the nineties. A television on low volume is mounted in the corner. The walls are painted a beige that would easily offend a person with taste.
“Hello, I have an appointment to see Davey Barton.” Luna smiles widely. “My name is Luna Flores.”
The girl smiles at Luna and then looks at me. “And you are?”
I freeze in confusion. I’m sort of tall, but it’s evident that Luna is the model in our trio. “No, I’m her friend.”
Then the girl eyes Dom, and he frowns at her like she’s shady. The receptionist gets up and walks over to a door beside her desk. Luna follows her into another room. The couches in the waiting room look decent, in a tweed that never gets cleaned. Dom sits on one, and I sit on another. Despite talking in the car, we’re still on shit terms.
The girl walks back into the room and sits behind her desk with some paperwork. I see a flash of Luna’s license and wonder why the girl has it on the clipboard. Dom doesn’t seem to notice or care, so I shrug my shoulders. Maybe it’s okay, and I’m paranoid from doing drugs. I pull out my phone and take a quiz to see what animal I most look like based on the films I watch. I take it over and over again until I get the raven. My ass has fallen asleep as I squirm to sit up straight.
“How long has she been in there?” I whisper to Dom. “It’s been longer than an hour. How long does a modeling interview take?”
Dom shifts in his seat and looks over at the receptionist. He narrows his gaze on her, and she refuses to look over, acting as if she’s by herself. The receptionist has spent more time ignoring us than actually working. Why hasn’t she given Luna her license back?
“Excuse me.” I get up and approach her desk. She turns her screen away from my view, but I think nothing of it. “But how long does this take?”
The receptionist glances at the door and her lower lip trembles. We’re making her nervous, but why? “Oh, it shouldn’t take much longer.” Her insipid reply in no way reassures me.
“How long?” I press for an absolute answer.
“Not long.”
I eye the doorknob while I rock on my heels. “I’m just going to knock because we have other places to go to.”
Finally, movement in her lazy limbs, the receptionist jumps up from her seat. “No, don’t knock. Your friend will be out.”
I glance behind my shoulder at Dom, who’s staring nastily at the girl. I take a step toward the closed door. “I’m just going to check. She won’t mind.” I try to sound frivolous to put the receptionist at ease, and I do that giggle thing, but it sounds like I’m clearing my throat.
“No, Mr. Barton warned me not to disturb him.” She hurries from behind the desk as I grab the doorknob. “Miss. No, you can’t go in there.” She tries to push the door shut again as Dom rises to his feet.
I may not be able to do the girlie thing well, but I can do bitch on automatic. With one hand, I shove her into her chair and pull the door open with my other hand. I step into a brightly lit room, and the stink hits me first. Shit, someone’s been smoking a barrel of weed. The few people in the room don’t hear me walk in over the loud, pulsing house music. There’s a guy who’s tall with dark hair, a slim build, and glasses. He’s holding a clipboard and looks like he might be in charge. A shorter guy with shiny dark hair and a gut squints into a camera on a tripod. I squint and stare past the bright lights pointed at a small platform in the front of the room. I take two steps forward to see what they’re filming and freeze.
Luna is lying on the platform, topless and strung out, with her miniskirt hiked up over her panties. Moaning, her eyes are rolling back into her head. Her mouth is open as some naked guy stands beside her head, holding his junk. He better not…
Cursing like fury, I rush forward past the two men and push the naked guy hard enough that he tumbles backward onto the floor. I spin around, searching for anything to cover Luna up with while the two guys filming start to shout at me.
“Who is this chick?” asks the tall guy. “What the fuck!”
“Is she part of it?” asks the shorter one. “Hey, you. What are you doing in here?”
The receptionist stands by the door, shouting. “She broke in, Davey! I swear. She pushed me down.” Lying bitch.
The tall guy grabs my wrist and twists it, pulling me away from Luna. I scream in rapid succession. “No! Fuck off! Let go of me, you piece of shit. Get away from my friend.”
I reach for Luna’s hand as I’m being yanked away from her. Suddenly, his hands fall off me, and I stumble forward, landing on the platform. I snatch a towel off the floor and cover her body as all hell rips open behind us. Dom has the short guy by the back of his neck while Davey shouts at him.
“You don’t belong in here.” He turns on the receptionist. “I told you, no one is allowed to wait including friends and family.” Davey screams at Dom again. “Get the fuck out, or else!”
“Call the cops, you dumb fuck,” Dom’s face turns red as he grits his teeth. “I want them here.”
The short guy twists his body, trying to break free of Dom’s vise-like grasp. Dom pulls back his fist, and then a loud pop follows. The short guy is doubled over, kneeling on the ground, and a wide-eyed Davey backs away.
I start dressing Luna, but she’s deadweight. “Jesus, what did they do to you?”
I sob as her head rolls around her neck, and her torso collapses back onto the platform. Her silk shirt is torn and on the floor—the buttons dangling on threads. It’s too much to handle, and I can taste tears in my mouth as my nose fills with snot. It’s like a weird out-of-body experience seeing her like this. I’m watching how I must have looked at my lowest point when I would go anywhere and do anybody to get high.
A high-pitched scream rings out as I work to shove Luna’s arms into what’s left of her shirt. A sickening crunch follows as tripods clatter to the ground.
“You broke my nose!” yells the shorter man. “I’ll get you, you dumbass. Your friend came in here willingly. Maybe she wouldn’t have if you could get it up.”
“Give me that, you asshole.” Dom rips the camera out of the man’s hands. The man tries to grab it back, but he doesn’t have Dom’s muscle. Dom punches the guy in the stomach, and he crumples to the floor onto pieces of black plastic and twisted metal. Dom picks up a tripod and swings it at the other guy’s head while the receptionist screams and howls for help.
Seeing a way clear to the door, I turn my attention back to Luna. “Come on, sweetie. Try to stand on your feet.”
At first, Luna staggers, and then her hazy gaze locks on mine. I hold onto it as if it’s a lifeline as I guide her slowly up onto her shaky legs. The door seems miles away, and I can’t carry her. As if Dom has read my mind, he’s beside me and lifts Luna easily into his arms. I toss her bra on top of her and grab her book.
Dom is hurrying with Luna for the door, but I pause. I notice an older woman with bleached hair crouched down, staring at a laptop in the farthest corner of the room. Obviously, not all the equipment is broken. I’m on her before she notices, and I see Luna’s half-naked image on the screen. I grab for the laptop, but she’s half a second faster.
“Give it to me,” I growl as we play tug-of-war. “Give it to me now, or I’ll call the police.”
“She signed a contract.” The woman twists the laptop out of my grasp. She closes it and tries to shove it in a bag by her feet.
I reach for her arm and tug at her sleeve. “She’s high,” I point out the obvious.
The woman grabs the handle of the bag, but I won’t let her loop it around her shoulder. “She was high when she walked in,” she replies nastily.
And I lose it. “You filthy liar, you did this to her.” Then I smarten up. “We’re in high school. She’s a junior. She’s not legal.”
The woman’s face freezes into a grimace. “She had an ID.”
“It was fake,” I lie again.
“I have to erase it then.” The woman places the bag on the table and yanks out the laptop. I grab it by the corner and throw it down on the floor. Dom steps back into the room, looking for me. I’m taking too long.
That means nothing. I walk over to the wall and start yanking out cables. I grab a server, hoping it’s the right one, and it makes a sickening crash when I stomp on it. Something moves to the side of me and catches my eye. I spin around fast with my nails out. Behind a curtain is a lanky guy. His shaggy blond hair hangs in his eyes, and his ribs are visible through his pale skin. He holds his dick in his hand, trying to get it hard. He looks at me and grins.
The guy is fully naked and walks out from behind the curtain while I stare, wide-eyed, unable to even make a sound. My knees start to shake as my eyes become glued to the track marks on his legs. He holds a used needle in his hand and tries to give it to me.
“Vicki,” he laughs in a gurgle. “You’re in LA now? The pay here is crap, but they always have shit to share. Are we up next? After that girl? Just like old times.”
Dom shouts my name from the doorway. Davey’s bottom lip is split in two, and there’s blood on his white shirt. He’s cursing at Dom while struggling to unlock a desk drawer. My mouth is bone dry as self-preservation flips a switch on in my head. We have to get out of here fast. Holding onto Luna’s book, I run for the doorway and stop at the reception desk to grab the clipboard.
“Hey!” the receptionist lunges toward me. I’m done with this shit, and I crack her across the face with my open hand. Dom’s struggling to open the hallway door. I jump over the desk, knocking shit onto the floor, and reach past him, turning the knob. Screams fill the hallway as we run past the elevator for the fire door and down the stairs to the first floor.
***
Luna and I sit in the back seat as she softly moans, coming down from a wicked trip. I check her arms for marks but can’t find any. Dom pulls onto the highway, but my heart won’t stop pounding until we’re home. He drives carefully, using his indicator and going close to the speed limit. We’ve had enough to deal with today.
“Where should we go?” he asks. “Redwood or your dad’s?”
“Let’s go to my dad’s. I’m going to text him and tell him we have a huge problem.”
Dom shakes his head. “I knew something wasn’t right, but I didn’t think this was going to happen. Especially with us waiting right in the next room. I should’ve gone in with her.”
I shake my head. “She told us not to. But we did the right thing, and we’ll keep doing it until this mess is fixed.”
I stroke Luna’s soft hair while she leans against my shoulder. Her breathing is steady as she clutches her torn shirt closed. The balls on those bastards! And they acted as if we were doing something wrong—if I ever see that asshole again! “If I had a gun…” I mutter.
“We’d be in jail,” replies Dom. “I didn’t want to say anything, but I’m certain they had one.” He pauses and looks straight ahead. “Did you know that guy that spoke to you?”
My gaze is on his in the rear-view. I can’t even look away. My blood turns cold, and I can’t speak.
Dom continues, “The guy in the corner—he seemed to know you.”
The sick rises in my throat as my past plows back into my life. My memories haul me back to the time I’d pay millions to forget. A time that wasn’t too long ago, when I would do anything to get high. Concealed in a dark corner at a party, I’d do wild things and not care with whom, or even care if I saw the person again. Christ. I rub my eyes with my hand and exhale as nausea grips me—the things I did. And if the boys had known in September, I wouldn’t be enrolled at Redwood right now.
“I’m not talking about it,” I snap, “Not with you. Not ever. Right now, I’ll focus on Luna, and you focus on the road.”
Dom stares at me in the mirror for a moment, and then we don’t talk again for the rest of the ride. I hold onto Luna as she dozes off securely in my arms. I comfort her the way I wish someone had comforted me.
