Being Served

Two days after paying her a visit at the precinct, Adrian stood across the street and watched as Amira knocked on Gilt’s door. Rocco was as slow to answer for her as he had been for Adrian, but when she showed him the warrant, he didn’t get the opportunity to play any games. Amira pulled him out of the doorway by the arm to make room as three other cops shouldered their way into the building.

Adrian was tense but focused. He couldn’t say what they would find in there. Maybe 14th Street used the club as a stash house, and they’d stumble onto a huge stash of ****. Maybe he and Christine had been wrong from the jump, and the place wasn’t involved in any illicit activity at all. He’d made a big move without any solid evidence, and a lot was on the line. The next hour was going to be critical.

While her fellow officers conducted the search, Amira escorted Rocco to the parking lot to stand next to her cruiser. Adrian crossed the street to join them.

“This is bullshit!” Rocco was saying. “You don’t have shit.”

“That’s what the warrant is for,” Amira said, one corner of her mouth ticked up in amusement. "We'll find something."

Adrian’s footsteps crunched on the gravel-coated parking lot, and Rocco turned to look, his eyes narrowing to slits. “You.”

“How’re you doing, Rocco?” Adrian asked. “Been better?”

“You’re a fucking cop?” Rocco spat.

Adrian shook his head. “No, not a cop. Just an interested party.”

“Yeah. Right,” Rocco growled. “I know how this works. You pigs are allowed to lie to me as much as you want.”

“Is he under arrest yet?” Adrian asked Amira.

“You really shouldn’t be here,” she said, conflicted.

Adrian shrugged. “I can go if you need me to, but right now I’m just a concerned citizen.”

Amira glanced at the entrance to the club. All of the other officers were inside at the moment. “No,” she said with a sigh, answering his question. “He’s just detained. If we find something in there…we can put him under arrest then.”

Amira licked her lips, a nervous energy playing over her body at the idea of arresting Rocco. It had been a big command for Adrian to give her, and even this early on in her conditioning, the prospect of fulfilling it was tantalizing.

“Go scope out the perimeter,” Adrian told her. “Give me and Rocco a moment alone.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she said, trying to be firm.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Adrian promised. “We’re just going to talk.”

Amira locked eyes with him, but Adrian only smiled.

“You get five minutes,” she growled. “Not a second more. And if anything funky happens, you’re getting arrested too.”

She spun around on her heel and stalked off to investigate the outside of the building like Adrian had ordered.

“What the fuck is this?” Rocco asked, looking at Amira’s back in confusion. “Who are you?”

“Nobody,” Adrian answered lightly.

“Yeah, cause the cops always listen to nobodies.”

“Officer Vare and I are friends,” Adrian explained.

“You have her on the take or something?” Rocco asked.

Adrian stayed silent, letting Rocco think what he would.

“Let’s just get to the point then,” Rocco said, kicking a rock at the wall of his club. “You want something.”

“Same thing I wanted last time we spoke,” Adrian spoke. “I want to buy the club.”

Rocco barked out a laugh. “Well tough shit. Looks like I’ve got bigger things on my plate now.”

“I’m not so sure you do,” Adrian said meaningfully. “Believe it or not, I’m your best bet to get out of this. I don’t want to see you go down.”

“You’re a good Samaritan like I’m a pillar of the community,” Rocco scowled.

“I want to help,” Adrian offered, “but first I need to know. Are they going to find anything in there?”

“Eat shit, asshole.”

Adrian rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Listen, if they do find something, you’re leaving here in cuffs. If they don’t, you have some time to maneuver. Those are two very different scenarios. So tell me. Are they going to find something?”

Rocco pushed his tongue into his cheek and looked away. “No,” he finally said. “We keep the club clean.”

“Good,” Adrian told him. “But that doesn’t get you into the clear. They’re going to go to your home next, and I’m guessing that if your dirty books aren’t here, they’re there.”

Rocco winced, confirming Adrian’s suspicions. “So what? I’m just fucked here?”

Adrian shook his head. “There’s a way out. The warrant is predicated on some testimony they received that a prospective buyer had seen the club’s books. That testimony goes away, though, and they have nothing. No more searches, no arrests.”

“You motherfucker,” Rocco said, bawling his fists. He took a step closer to Adrian. “You set me up.”

Adrian stared the smaller man down. “What’s done is done. If you want to throw a punch at the one guy who’s trying to help you, be my guest.”

Rocco looked close to doing just that, but calmer minds prevailed, and he let his fists drop. Rocco brushed a lock of his dirty red hair out of his eyes. “I already asked you once. What do you want?”

Adrian produced a thick stack of papers from his jacket and let them thud onto the hood of the police cruiser. “I had a lawyer draft it up this morning,” he said. “You sign over the club, my testimony goes away.”

Rocco eyed the contract warily. “And how much are you offering?”

“Because I’m a nice guy,” Adrian told him, “it’s the same deal as before.”

Rocco grew pensive. “No. I sign that, my leverage is gone. Where’s the guarantee that you don’t stab me in the back?”

“I won’t,” Adrian said, “but you don’t have to trust me on that. If you get arrested for laundering, or whatever else you’re up to, the building gets seized, and I don’t get what I came for. So you see, our incentives are aligned. Sign, and I’m on your side.”

“Fourteenth Street is going to come after me over this,” Rocco said darkly.

“So leave,” Adrian told him. “You’ll have enough money to go anywhere, and they’re local. They won’t be able to reach you outside of the city.”

“You’re a real fucking asshole,” Rocco grumbled. “You have a pen?”

Adrian offered him one from his pocket.

“Course you do,” Rocco complained, snatching it out of Adrian’s hand. He leaned over the cop car and started signing. “You know, contracts that come with a threat don’t count. They call it ‘under duress. ’”

“There’s no **** here,” Adrian said lightly. “You’ve just found yourself in need of liquid funds for a legal defense, and here I am to offer you some. That’s consideration, and it makes the contract all above board.”

Adrian wasn’t a lawyer, and he had no idea what would happen if one got their hand on this mess, but he was willing to bet Rocco didn’t want that either.

Rocco stabbed the pen down onto the papers as he finished signing. “Your turn.”

Adrian countersigned, then pocketed the contract. He turned just in time to find Amira finishing her walk around the building. “Officer Vare!” he called out. “A word?”

She came over, looking relieved to find that Rocco was still there. “Alright, you got your little chit-chat,” she said. “Now get out of here.”

“There’s something I need to talk to you about first,” Adrian led in. “Unfortunately, I’m going to have to amend that testimony I gave you.”

“What?” Amira hissed.

“Rocco’s explained how he does his accounting, and now that I’ve heard his side of the story, it all makes sense. This is all just a big misunderstanding.”

“You said that…” Amira spluttered angrily. “No. No way. You retract that testimony and I’ll have you charged with perjury.”

Rocco looked between them nervously.

“But I didn’t lie,” Adrian said. “I thought one thing then, and something else now.”

“That’s not how this works,” she scowled. “You go through with this, you’re going to jail.”

Amira tapped her foot, antsy, as she side-eyed Rocco. Ah, Adrian thought, shit. She probably wouldn’t have been happy with this anyway, but she was still jonesing for her dopamine hit after arresting Rocco. Adrian had been sloppy; his orders were now pushing Amira to do the exact opposite of what he wanted her to. His inexperience had landed him in hot water, and now he needed to think fast.

“Let this go,” he commanded, hoping that a conflicting order would give her an out.

“Not a chance,” Amira shot back, her eyes set. “I don’t know what he offered you, but I am not letting him walk.”

This was not good. Adrian realized now that getting her to arrest a criminal hadn’t been hard because it was something she was already predisposed to doing. Getting her to let one go, though…he didn’t have that kind of control over her. He was close, so close, to getting what he wanted, but it was all starting to slip through his fingers.

“I thought you had her on a leash,” Rocco said.

“Keep your mouth shut,” Amira snapped, “or I’ll arrest you here and now.”

If Adrian didn’t act soon, this was going to blow up. Either Amira or Rocco would say or do the wrong thing, and his arrangement would fall apart. Then Adrian had a thought.

“Do it,” he said. Both of the others looked at him in surprise. “Arrest him,” Adrian repeated.

“You piece of shit,” Rocco sneered. “We had a deal.”

Amira hesitated for a second, temptation in her eyes, as she looked back and forth between Adrian and Rocco. “Turn around,” she told Rocco, getting the handcuffs off her belt.

“You can’t do this,” Rocco shouted. “You don’t have any proof!”

“You’re under arrest for money laundering,” Amira recited. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.”

Rocco offered only light resistance as Amira continued to read him his rights. He glared at Adrian as the cuffs clicked onto his wrists, his eyes promising ****. Adrian needed him to see that that wasn’t necessary.

He stepped in close and hissed into Rocco’s ear. “She’s making a mistake. They have forty-eight hours to prove a crime, or they have to let you go. Ride it out.”

Understanding dawned on Rocco as his expression went blank, then curved into a smile. He laughed, seeing Adrian’s plan.

“Something funny?” Amira asked.

“No, mam,” Rocco taunted. “Arrest me. Chop chop.”

She tugged at his cuffs forcefully, but Rocco was all smiles as she pushed him into the back of the car. She slammed the door on his shit-eating grin. As soon as it was done, her whole body shivered.

Amira turned around to face Adrian and unconsciously licked her lips. She smiled softly, and her eyes had a dreamy look in them, completely at odds with her demeanor only a moment earlier. “There,” she said. “All done.”

“I’m still going to need to amend my statement,” Adrian told her.

“Whatever,” she breathed, leaning against her car. “We’ve already got him.”

They didn’t, of course. Adrian believed Rocco when he had said the club was clean. They’d need a new warrant if they wanted to search his home, and without any evidence from the club or Adrian’s testimony, they weren’t going to get it. In two days, Rocco would go free, and nothing would come of this, leaving Adrian as the new owner of Gilt as soon as his funds cleared escrow.

“Anything else?” Amira asked him. Her tone was dismissive, but Adrian could tell she meant it. She wanted another order, even if she didn't realize it.

Awash in adrenaline from the close call, a dark thought seeped into his mind. Amira was still riding the high from arresting Rocco. This was his chance to dig his hooks into her even further.

“Turn around and touch your toes,” he commanded.

“What?” Amira asked, surprised.

“Humor me,” Adrian smirked.

Amira glanced around nervously, but no one was around. “Why?”

“I’m just curious,” Adrian lied. “Now hurry up.”

Amira looked uncertain with herself even as she did as he asked. He wondered how she would rationalize it, but ultimately, it didn't matter. She turned her butt to him and bent over, reaching as far down as she could. Her fingers didn’t quite make it all the way, but the attempt was good enough for Adrian's purposes.

“Is this good enough?” she asked, clearly confused, but chasing her reward nonetheless.

Rocco’s mouth hung open in the back of the police car at the absurd display, but Adrian paid him no mind. His eyes were on Amira’s ass, thrust out in front of him. Not even her ill-fitting police uniform could hide it. Hours of work in the gym had given her an athletic figure, and her juicy butt had no doubt benefited as well.

The spirits whispered appreciatively in Adrian’s mind, proud of him for orchestrating the bizarre moment. He remembered their words to him the week before, that he’d choose to sleep with his squires. Until right then, he hadn’t been tempted, but with Amira like putty in the palm of his hand…

“Amira!” shouted an officer, leaning out of the club’s door.

She shot bolt upright in an instant, wincing at a pain in her leg. Adrian and she both turned to look, but thankfully, the other cop hadn’t seen anything.

“Be right over!” she shouted back, eyes on Adrian.

“I was just leaving,” he said.

“Good,” she said brusquely.

“When I call you,” he told her, “answer.”

Amira nodded, her expression difficult to read. Embarrassment? Fear? Hope? Adrian couldn’t be sure. As Amira hustled over to the club, Adrian turned to leave, Rocco’s quizzical gaze boring into his back. It didn’t matter. Adrian doubted they’d ever talk to each other again.

Adrian got into his car and started the engine, ready to drive home.

“Excellent work,” one of the spirits commended him.

“I did what I had to,” he replied. Their praise left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Araqiel will be pleased at your progress.”

“On more fronts than one,” added another whisper.

Now that he wasn’t caught up in the moment, Adrian’s stomach was beginning to rebel at what he had just done. He’d let himself get carried away.

“Go talk to her about it then,” he said dismissively.

“We have one request for you.”

“A quick stop on your way home.”

“I don’t have time,” Adrian told them. “I have to be at work in an hour.”

“It will be fast.”

“We promise.”

“You will thank us for it, eventually.”

Adrian blew air out of his nose, certain he was going to regret this. “Spit it out.”

“Are you familiar with the establishment ‘Lust and Found’?”