Enticed:A Dangerous Connection (Secrets) (18 page)

The next morning, our door is unlocked and it feels much earlier than usual.

“Everybody up and at ’em,” Jimmy says cheerfully, smiling as if he hadn’t just been a mean brute yesterday. But then he wrinkles his nose. “Man, it reeks in here.” He moves back into the hallway.

“What’d you expect?” Tatiana growls at him as she stands. “I wish someone would lock you in here for a couple of days.”

“Ooh, sounds like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

I sense Tatiana tensing up and wonder if she’s about to attack him. I’d be happy to back her, except I’m worried he’ll pull out his stun gun again. So I toss her a look. “Go ahead and use the bathroom first if you want. I don’t mind waiting.”

She rolls her eyes but doesn’t argue.

“And you can go use the upstairs bathroom,” he tells me. “Take a good long shower. I’ll send Desiree in there with some things you’ll need to make yourself more presentable.” He gives me a disgusted look. “This is going to be an all-day project.”

Ignoring his insult, I head upstairs and go into the bathroom. This one is bigger and nicer than the one downstairs. Once again, I help myself to the bath products. As I scrub off what feels like a lot of grime, I can tell that I’ve lost weight — weight I didn’t really need to lose. But considering the small rations of food I’ve been given, it’s not surprising. Still, it reminds me of the captives downstairs. How long could they possibly last on what I gave them two days ago? Trying not to fret over them, I say a quick prayer as I shampoo my hair. And because it’s been pretty tangled, I apply a generous amount of conditioner and take time to work it in thoroughly. Not for my date tonight, but because I plan to be free before the day ends.

“Here’s a razor,” Desiree yells as she sticks her hand into the shower with a purple razor. “Put it to good use and then give it back to me when you’re done. Don’t think you can hold on to it to use as a weapon later.
Understand?
”

“Yeah … thanks.”

“Mr. T likes his girls clean and sleek and pretty,” she says.

“Hopefully he likes them skinny, too.”

She pulls open the curtain and peers at me, then shrugs. “You’ll be fine.”

“Maybe,” I say as I shave my leg. “But the shortage of food sure saps my energy. You think Mr. T is going to like that?”

I can see through the translucent shower curtain that she’s sitting on the toilet seat. “I’ll tell Jimmy to call out for pizza,” she says absently.

Desiree remains at her post until I’m done. As I reach for a towel, I obediently hand the razor back to her. “Thanks.”

“Dry off and then come to my room.” She studies me. “I’m supposed to work magic on you today.” She reaches over to finger my hair. “Jimmy said not to mess with your hair … yet.”

“Yet?”

“Well, if we decide to keep you — I mean, after your date — we’ll have to change your hair. Jimmy says blonde, but I’m thinking you’d be good as a redhead.” She pats her own blonde hair and I suspect she wouldn’t want to have two blondes in the house.

“Why can’t I just keep my hair like this?”

She laughs. “I’ll let you figure out the answer to that one yourself,
Serena
.”

As she leaves, I get it. In the same way they change your name, they change your hair. It’s to make girls less recognizable … just in case someone is looking for them. As I towel-dry my hair, I wonder if anyone is actually looking for any of these girls. Does anyone even care? Or do they assume they are dead?

However, I feel certain my mom is looking for me. I know it. I just wish I hadn’t kept my plans for meeting with Marcia and Bryce a secret. If only I’d told her what I was doing, maybe I wouldn’t have wound up here at all.

I find a terry-cloth robe in the bathroom, and since my little black dress, which looks more like a little black rag, is filthy, I borrow it. But instead of going directly to Desiree’s room, I wander down the hallway, peering at everything, wondering if there is some way to escape that’s been overlooked.

“What’re you doing out here?” Kandy snaps at me as she emerges from her room with a suspicious look.

“Looking for Desiree,” I say innocently.

“Her room is right down there.” Kandy glares at me. “And you know it.”

“I forgot,” I say as I head back to Desiree’s room.

Kandy stops me, putting a firm hand on my shoulder. “Jimmy said to keep a close eye on you today. He said not to trust you any further than we can throw you. So I’m warnin’ you,
girlfriend
, any monkey business and I’ll be the first one to turn you in.” She puts her face in my face.
“You get me?”

I nod. “Sure.”

Now she puts on her saccharine smile and gives me a friendly pat on the back. “Well, just as long as you understand, we’ll all be fine and dandy.”

“Hey,” Desiree calls from her room. “You coming or not, Serena?”

“I’m coming.” I hurry past Kandy and go into Desiree’s room.

“Kandy playing policeman with you?” Desiree asks as she closes the door.

I shrug. “Yeah, I guess.”

“She’s Jimmy’s puppet, you know.” Desiree sits down in front of her TV and starts playing a video game.

“Yeah, I kinda figured that out.” I sit on the other side of her bed. “They seem to have a connection.”

Desiree laughs. “Yeah, the coke connection.”

I just watch as she plays the game. I know she’s supposed to be giving me some special beauty treatment, but she doesn’t seem to be in any more of a hurry than I am. So I study her room, wondering if there’s not some way to break out through here. Since we’re on the second floor, I’m wondering about the attic. Is there some way to get up there? And if so, would there be a way to get out? Maybe onto the roof and climb down?

“If Tom decides to keep you, they’ll try to get you hooked too,” she says in a slightly absent way, still focusing on her game.

“Oh?”

“Yeah. They try to get everyone hooked on something. It makes it easier for them. Kinda like babysitters, I guess.” She leans to one side as she presses the remote over and over. “Jimmy usually tries to get you on meth … you know, ’cause it’s cheaper. But man, I hated that stuff. Weed is better.” She pauses again, shooting the monster like she means it. “Just sayin’.”

Hearing someone at the door, she tosses the remote and pops over to where I’m sitting. She grabs a brush and pretends to be fussing with my hair as the door opens.

“How’s it going?” Jimmy asks with narrowed eyes.

“Fine,” Desiree answers.

Jimmy comes over and picks up one of my hands. He studies it and shakes his head. “Mr. T likes French manicures, but I don’t know if these nails can be saved.”

“Don’t worry,” Desiree assures him. “I’m on it.”

“And she’s so pale,” he says. “You gonna put some bronzer on her?”

“I said
I’m on it
, Jimmy.” She gives him an exasperated look. “You think you can do better, just go ahead and have at it.” She holds out the hairbrush to him.

“No, that’s okay. I just want to be sure you’re really on it. A lot is riding on this deal. I want to make sure that Tom appreciates our work.”

“Tom.” She rolls her eyes. “Has he gotten rid of all those people in the basement yet?”

Jimmy swears.

“Yeah, I figured.”

“I told him to bring some food by,” Jimmy says a bit helplessly.

“Speaking of food, Serena is hungry. Sounds like she hasn’t eaten in days. Besides the fact you can see her ribs. How’s she going to have any energy?”

Jimmy looks concerned now.

“Why don’t you send out for pizza?”

He nods, looking slightly nervous. “Yeah. I’ll do that.”

“Good. And if you don’t trust me to fix her up, why don’t you get someone else to do it. Like Kandy.”

He holds up his hands. “I trust you, Desiree.”

“Then get out of here!”

He just laughs as he leaves, but I can tell he’s not as secure as he pretends to be. “It must be hard being in charge of this house,” I say to Desiree as she returns to her game.

“He gets his payoffs.”

“Yeah.” I stand and walk around her room, trying to figure out who this girl really is. And while some things I see are disgusting and disturbing, other things seem perfectly normal. “So I realize I might not see you again.” I pick up a stuffed blue bear with a pink heart pasted to its chest. It looks like a carnival prize. “And I just want you to know that I appreciate your friendship. I wish I could’ve gotten to know you better.”

She pauses from playing, glancing my way with curiosity, then she returns to her game.

“I was thinking about your situation,” I continue. “How your parents had problems … and your grandma died … and the bad foster care homes … and it’s all so sad.”

“Tell me about it.”

“But as sad as it sounds, it doesn’t seem nearly as sad as this place.”

She stops playing, sets down the remote, and glares at me. “You think this place is bad?”

I shrug. “Yeah. It’s bad compared to being free.”

“Well, it’s nothing compared to
some
places. And after your date with Mr. T … well, depending on how that goes, you might be seeing some of those really nasty places. Real soon.” She stands and comes over to look at me. “So don’t act like we’ve got it so bad here.”

I lock gazes with her. “But wouldn’t you rather be free?”

She turns away, going over to her bureau where she’s gathering up some things. “We better get to work on you. Jimmy’s right. You look pretty bad.”

“Thanks.” I feign a little laugh. “But considering my living conditions of late, I’m not going to take that too personally.”

She instructs me to sit in a chair and proceeds to start working on me. She makes me soak my feet in a tub, then uses exfoliation creams and lotions on the rest of me. But as she does her work, I continue to talk. I tell her the whole story of how I fell for Marcia and Bryce’s lies and got kidnapped. “I know it was partly my own fault for being so gullible. But I still hope they get busted.”

“Yeah, well, that’s probably not going to happen.” She’s sitting on the floor now, working intently on my feet. “The bad guys always get their way and then they get away.”

“Really? Do you honestly believe that?” I’m balancing a bowl of warm sudsy water in my lap, keeping my hands in it to soften them up for my manicure.

“That’s how it looks from my end.” Desiree’s painting my toenails a pale shade of pink. “Problem is, you can never tell they’re bad guys. Not in the beginning. They put on their game faces … win you over with their smooth-talking charm.”

“Is that what happened to you?”

“Yeah.” Focused on my toes, she opens up. “I was at the mall with a couple of girlfriends when this guy started hitting on me. I was pretty flattered that he picked me over them. And even though I could tell he was older, I was cool with it. But my friends didn’t like him. They said I was stupid to go out with him, but I thought they were just jealous.”

She switches to the other foot. “Garrett and I went out a few times. And he was so good to me. For the first time in my life, I felt like someone really cared about me. He took me out and he bought me cool clothes and expensive shoes. Even some diamond earrings. At least he said they were diamonds. I didn’t know for sure. But he treated me like a real lady. I felt just like Cinderella.”

“Wow, that does sound pretty cool.”

“Uh-huh.” She returns to the other foot now, applying another coat. “But then one night, Garrett showed up and he was all bummed. He told me he lost his job and that he was broke. I felt so bad for him. Especially after he’d spent so much money on me. I mean, one pair of shoes he bought had cost more than three hundred dollars. I asked him if he could return any of my gifts, but he didn’t think the stores would take them back.” She shakes her head. “And then he got this idea.”

“What kind of idea?”

“He told me he’d been looking in the classified ads for a job and he’d seen an ad for dancers. He told me he was so desperate that he’d actually gone in, but they told him they only wanted girls. Pretty girls. Then he told me how much they got paid, and I couldn’t believe it. When he asked me if I was willing to do it — for him — well, how could I say no?”

I nod. “Yeah, I guess that would make sense.”

“So pretty soon I was sneaking out of the foster home and dancing at a club to earn money. Garrett talked me into leaving the foster home. And before long, Garrett convinced me I could make even more money … you know …” She sighs as she switches to the other foot. “And then Garrett told me he was going into the military to earn some money for us. He said it was the Air Force, but I found out later that he was lying. He told me I could stay with friends until he got out and then we’d get back together again. But he really sold me to Tom.”

“Garrett sold you to Tom?”

“That’s what I heard. Apparently Garrett does it all the time.”

“Sells girls?” I try not to show how shocking this sounds.

“Yeah. He meets teen girls at malls. I guess he’s got some kind of special radar for picking out the girls who will fall for his tricks. And then he does the same thing — buys them stuff, then tells them he’s broke, talks them into working to earn back the money he spent on them …” Desiree sighs as she stands and puts the lid back on the polish.