Plausibility

Chapter 12

“Monica just called. She’s running late. You’re going to head out with your mom and sister. Monica and I should be there by five,” Seri explained.

“No, I’m not. I will go with you and Monica.”

“Quill, please go with your mother. It’s only about an hour drive.”

Aquilla got off the bed and walked past her, down the stairs and to her mother. Seri could only shake her head. She knew where she was going and she knew what she was up to. Seri was sure she had never met a more obstinate person in her life. She rose to follow.

Seri stood behind Quill, trying to give Liz an apologetic smile.

“Is it okay if I wait and ride with Seri and Monica?” she asked her mother.

Liz wanted to demand that she ride with her and her sister. She didn’t. She couldn’t. She knew it would only push her away more.

“I really wish you would ride with us. There is this little trailer that sits beside Benson road with the best eggrolls ever.” Yeah, like she was going to bribe her with an eggroll.

“I’m not really that hungry. I’ll just ride with Seri.”

Seri was thankful that Aquilla was still there once Liz headed out. She hadn’t thought about being left alone with Manny. That could have been bad, or really good. She needed away from her dad. She wanted to do dirty things with her dad. God, she needed to get laid. How much longer was she expected to stay there?

Manny wasn’t too happy about the situation either. He had let himself get a little excited about being left alone with her. He too needed away from Seri.

The three of them sat out on the front porch, waiting for Monica’s arrival. Emmanuel brought them out a cherry Popsicle, and within a couple of minutes, they all looked to be wearing red lipstick.

“What is that noise?” Aquilla asked, turning to her dad.

“Oh, that’s Powder Valley. It’s an old dirt track. That’s how this road got its name. When they race there on Saturday nights, there’s a blanket of dust for miles. Your mother hates that race track.”

“Where is it?” she wanted to know, turning her attention back to the noise in the distance.

Manny pointed down the street. “It’s the next road to your right.”

“Have you ever been there? Why are they racing during the day?”

“That’s not a race. It’s probably just some thug running circles around the track. It’s a lot louder than that when they’re racing, and no, I’ve never been there. You like racing?”

Aquilla shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve never seen one.”

“Well, maybe some weekend before the snow starts flying, I’ll come and go with you,” he smiled.

Snow? She forgot about that, she had never seen snow in her life. Well, not that she could remember anyway. Snow meant cold. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that either. She liked the tropical atmosphere that she was raised in.

Manny loaded their things into the back of Monica’s SUV before heading out himself. He kissed Aquilla on the head and told her to call him anytime she wanted, and he would see her in a couple of weeks.

She thanked him and climbed into the back seat with Julius’s laptop. She could read for an hour while pretending to play a game or something.

“You’re very pretty,” Monica said through the rearview mirror as they drove down her new neighborhood. “Powder Valley.”

“Thanks,” Aquilla replied as she adjusted her body to a leaned position against the door.

“We could spend this time talking if you want,” Monica offered.

“Or not,” Aquilla replied, logging onto her computer.

The look between the two women sitting next to each other in the front seat didn’t go unnoticed.

I’m not going to go into the details about the accident, Quill. I can’t. It was horrific. I knew something bad was going to happen. We were going so fast. I knew my mother had removed her seatbelt and slid over to hold scared, crying Quill on her lap. She shouldn’t have done that. She should have kept them both secured.

I crawled out the window of the overturned car first. I was dazed, but wasn’t hurt. I looked up the bank and saw the police cars sliding to stops up the hill. I turned and saw my mother’s legs hanging from beneath the car. I didn’t see Quill until my father grabbed my arm and pulled me away. Her feet were beneath my mother’s body, one shoe on, one shoe thirty feet from the car.

He just left them there, Quill. He never even tried to remove the car. I knew, even at the age of ten, that she had no identification on her. My father refused to let any of us take anything with us that day. Humph, I guess I learned to do the same thing as I got older. I never carried identification if I was working a deal. To this day, my mother and little sister are known by Jane and daughter Doe.

That is so fucked up, Quill. They are in a cemetery somewhere in New York with a marker that reads Jane and Daughter Doe. Do you want to know what her name was? Sure you do. Her name was Sarina, and she was so pretty, Quill.

We didn’t walk very far before we were back to civilization. I remember him pulling me into an alley once when we saw a police car creeping along the street, searching for us, I was sure. I’m sure he had gone crazy at that moment. He wasn’t talking. He never said one word to me.

Once we made it back to that warehouse to retrieve our bags, he made me go to the bathroom and we both changed clothes. He told the guy that we had gotten the car from to burn my mother and Quill’s things. I started crying. He was just throwing them away. I’ll never forget that look in his eyes when he grabbed both my shoulders and shook me. He was no doubt crazy.

He yelled and told me that I wasn’t allowed to cry. He told me that it was business and sometimes things happen that we can’t control. My mother and sister being crushed by a car was just business.

The man from the warehouse drove us to the busy streets and dropped us off. I didn’t understand what we were doing. Were we really going to the parade? His wife and daughter were dead, and we were going to a fucking parade.

I really don’t know if we went there for that reason or not. Maybe we were there because he promised. You know how we Chavez’s are when it comes to keeping our word. When we stood beside you and your mother, I watched you climb out of your stroller and then watched your mother place back in. I didn’t care about the parade anymore. I wanted to leave. I wanted my mother and my little sister. I wanted to cry and I sure as fuck didn’t want to watch the stupid parade.

The next time you climbed out of the stroller, your mother’s back was turned. She was waving down the elbow to elbow sidewalk for someone to see her. You knelt right in front of us to pick up an unnoticed piece of candy.

My father picked you up, took my hand and walked us through the crowd. Nobody stopped him, nobody paid attention. I heard your mother’s frantic screaming by the time we were at the end of the block. I wonder now how all of those people let you slip through the crack like that. I guess nobody was paying attention to a girl being kidnapped. They were all busy with their own agendas.

You should have cried and screamed, Quill. You didn’t. You were always too, over zealous when it came to talking to strangers. You just wanted my balloon. My father gave it to you and you were as happy as could be.

Even at ten, I couldn’t believe what was happening. Forty minutes later, we were on a plane. Nobody asked questions. I remember my father giving you some kind of liquid in a plastic spoon. Something to make you sleep, I’m sure. You did sleep, and he covered your head with a blanket and handed over your passport. He walked you right through customs without one problem. You were Aquilla from that day forward.

I wanted to hate you, Quill. My father brought you into our home as an imposter. You were not my little Quill. I avoided you for the first two days we were home. I was sad. I wanted my mother, my sister, and my father had lost his mind. Even as a boy, I knew this wasn’t right. He treated you as if you weren’t a fraudulent of the real Quill. I tried to treat you like you didn’t exist.

That changed on the third night. For three whole days, you danced around and played without a care in the world. On the third night, you realized something was amiss. You were playing with the real Quill’s toys while I ignored you. You looked up to me with those water blue eyes and said. “Where my mommy go?” It broke my heart even as young as I was.

I realized then that you never asked for any of this. You were a victim as much as my mother and my sister. I held you in my arms that night while you cried yourself to sleep. I knew you were too young to understand, but I told you that I wanted my mommy too. I cried with you. I cried because I wanted you to go home to your mommy, and I wanted mine to come home to me.

After that night, you never let me ignore you. You followed me around like an instinctual orphaned lamb. I guess it was my instinctual habitat to adopt you, nurture you, and take care of you. I did. I became your protector. You became my responsibility. I wasn’t allowed to say the M word around you. My father wanted you to forget the “mommy” word. You did. It took a little while, but you finally forgot all about having a mommy that you were taken from.

Thinking about it infuriates me. I blame so many people. I blame your mother for not strapping you into that stroller. I blame the thousands of people that stood around while my father walked you right out of the country. I blame your real father for not being there to protect you. I blame my mother for taking off her seatbelt to hold Quill. But, the only people to really blame here is my father, and maybe even me.

Although I couldn’t have done anything at the age of ten, I could have later on. I could have reported your whereabouts once I was older. I didn’t for my own selfish reasons. I loved you too much to ever let you go. You were the shine in my sun, and I didn’t want to live without you. I know it was self-centered, and I wish now that I would have. I know that if you are reading this, you are alone and scared. I’m with you, baby. My heart will always be with you. You are secure in my arms, always baby.

Aquilla slammed the laptop shut on that note. She had an aching in her chest that she had never felt before. And, of course, the tears had to surface. Fuck. She didn’t want to answer to Seri or this Monica bitch.

“Quill?” Seri said in a question, seeing her wipe her eyes and stare out the window, avoiding eye contact.

“Leave me alone,” she demanded.

Seri looked to Monica. She was the one with the PhD. She didn’t know what the hell to say to her. Monica shook her head, telling her to leave her alone.

Seri did leave her alone until they saw the little trailer that Liz had mentioned up ahead.

“Quill, do you want an eggroll?”

“No!”

“Come on, Monica and I are going to have one. Let’s get out and get lemonade and something to tie us over until supper.”

Monica pulled off the side of the road.

“You coming?” she asked, turning around to look at her, sitting slumped with crossed arms.

“No. Seri, stay here for a second,” Aquilla answered, wanting to be alone with Seri.

“Order us both a couple eggrolls and lemonade,” Seri requested.

“What’s going on, Quill?” Seri asked, turning to her.

“Seri, you’ve got to help me get out of here. I don’t belong here. I don’t want to be here. I have to find Julius. Please, Seri,” She pleaded.

Seri took a deep breath. She couldn’t imagine what she was going through, but what the hell was she supposed to do? Where did this even come from? She was fine when they left.

“Quill, please give this a chance. You’ve only been here for three days. Monica is going to help you work through these feelings.”

“I don’t want Monica. I want Julius. Can’t you understand that?”

“Quill, you can’t have Julius. You don’t even know where he is. Do you really think that he is somewhere sitting around waiting for you to find him? He’s probably already training someone else.”

“Fuck you, Seri. He’ll find me, you just wait. He’ll fine me.”

“Julius is not coming for you, Quill,” Seri assured her with the cold hearted truth.

Whatever, she would see. She didn’t need Seri or anyone else. She would find him, one way or another. She would.

“Everything okay?” Monica asked, as she entered with the greasy smelling food and tray full of drinks.

“Yup, just fucking great,” Aquilla replied, turning her attention back toward the window and away from bitch face Seri.

Monica looked over to Seri, wondering what the hell just happened. Seri shrugged her shoulders and took the drinks.

Aquilla, of course, didn’t want food or drinks and thought the eggrolls looked disgusting. Seri and Monica ate theirs and loved them. Liz was right. They were delicious.

The GPS coming from the dash informed them that they would turn right in 19 more miles. Seri looked back to Quill, still contemplating whatever was on her mind.

“Monica, Quill needs to get stoned before we get there,” Seri blurted out.

Aquilla perked up. Hell yeah. That was exactly what she needed. It relaxed her and the last time she did it, she had figured out how to break Julius’s code. Maybe something would come to her that would help her locate him. Talin sure wasn’t any help, her so-called friend never even texted her back. She knew why though. She knew that her father had picked up and moved them away as soon as he got word of the raid at her house. She didn’t have that cellphone anymore. Her father would have made sure of that.

Monica almost swerved off the road. Surely her best friend hadn’t just suggested what she thought she had. She looked into the rearview mirror at Quill, miraculously in a better mood all of a sudden and then over to Seri with disbelieving eyes. Fuck. She was going to get them both fired.

“Sarah, what the hell are you talking about?” she asked with a look that told her to stop, like right that second.

“She’s smoked it before, Monica. It’s fine, and I really don’t want to deal with this attitude for the next five days.”

“Fuck you, Seri,” Quill called from the backseat.

“See,” Seri said, gesturing to the back seat with an open palm.

“Sarah, what the hell is wrong with you? You don’t give someone with issues a mind altering drug.”

“She is sitting right behind you, and she doesn’t have issues, just a fucked up life. I’m not going to tell anyone. I am a good secret keeper, just ask Seri, here,” Aquilla guaranteed.

“What is she talking about, Seri -- I mean Sarah? Oh fuck. This is bad. This is so bad. How is it that you seem to always land us in these messes?”

“Nothing,” Seri, replied, giving Aquilla a death glare.

“No. It’s not ‘nothing.’ I’m here to help her. You guys can’t keep secrets from me. What is she talking about, Sarah.”

“Let’s burn this before we get there,” Seri said, derailing the question that she was now going to have to answer, thanks to A-fucking-Quilla.

“This is crazy. This is crazy. This is crazy,” Monica chanted, over and over, watching Seri light the joint and hand it back to Quill.

Aquilla hit the joint next and held it between the seats. “You hitting this, Mo?” she asked, holding the smoke in her lungs. Seri smiled at her calling her Mo. Seri had called her Mo since the day she had met her.

“Of course I am. If I’m going to lose my job, I may as well do it in style,” she decided, taking the skinny joint from Quill.

Quill and Seri both felt better, Monica, not so much. She was freaking out. She couldn’t believe that they had just smoked weed with a 17 year old. She was going to kill her friend, first chance she got. She was dead.

“Okay, you’re both stoned off your ass. Quill’s mother is going to know that we are all high, and we’re both going to be looking for new jobs. Tell me what the big secret is,” Monica demanded.

Aquilla scooted up and hunched between the two seats. “Well, you see, Mo,” Aquilla started and then laughed when Seri cut her off.

“You sit back and shut your mouth. I curse the day I met you,” Seri said in a loud tone.

“The day you met me or the day you tasted me?” she asked, and then burst out laughing. Shit, this weed made everything funny.

“I’m warning you. I will leave with Monica and leave your skinny ass to fend for yourself.”

“Fuck that. If you leave me, I’ll be gone in a heartbeat,” Quill promised.

“Just freaking tell me,” Monica commanded again.

“It’s nothing really, just Seri here licked my twat when I was only 16,” Aquilla blurted out, still laughing. She couldn’t help it. The look on Seri’s face was epic.

“I fucking hate you. You’re such a little bitch,” Seri scolded with a scowl, which of course sent Aquilla into another laughing frenzy. “You’re never smoking weed again,” she threatened.

“Seri?” Monica said, looking over to her, wanting some answers.

“I didn’t know she was 16. I thought she was 18,” Seri explained. She had to. Big mouth Quill already spilled the beans.

“What did you do!?!” Monica demanded to know, looking back to Quill still laughing. Seri was right. That girl wasn’t getting anymore weed.

“I do hate you,” Seri reminded Quill again.

“Sarah!” Monica yelled.

“I did what she said I did when I was there working undercover, but she did it too,” she whined like she was tattling on Quill.

Aquilla doubled over. This needed to stop. Her gut ached. “But I didn’t get you off,” she said with laughing words.

“You would have, had Julius not stopped you.”

More laughing. This was too much.

“Sarah! You did not,” Monica hoped.

“Yes, Mo, I did, and this little snitch bitch promised to keep her mouth shut.”

“I’m sorry,” Aquilla apologized trying to keep a straight face.

“Fuck you,” Seri retorted.

More laughing, Aquilla couldn’t breathe anymore.

“I can’t work with either of you. You’re both crazy. Sarah, you actually___?” she asked with raised eyebrows. She couldn’t say it, let alone believe it.

Seri couldn’t say it either, but Aquilla didn’t seem to be having a problem with it.

“Yup, she licked my pussy until I had one hell of a mind blowing orgasm. Did I ever thank you for that Seri?” she asked as if they were talking about a tea party.

“You can open your door and jump now,” Seri offered.

“Give her one of those eggrolls to kill her buzz. We can’t take her to her mother laughing like some crazy person.”

“No. I’m done. I promise,” Quill assured her, wiping tears with her shirt.

Seri looked back and shook her head, letting her know that she couldn’t believe that she just did that. She would get over it. Aquilla was sure of it. She had just met Monica and could already tell that she wasn’t your typical psychologist. For whatever reason, she liked her. She wasn’t sure about talking to her and telling her about all of the skeletons in her closest, but she nonetheless did like her.

Aquilla’s alertness piqued as they followed the robotic voice down the long lane of trees. She could see the lake and was a little excited about the water. She missed the ocean and hoped that it helped with the nostalgia. It wouldn’t. Nothing was ever going to be the same again, not until she found Julius anyway.

The house was pretty secluded and was a lot bigger than what she had pictured. She was picturing some old cabin or shack or something. It wasn’t at all. It was a beautiful log cabin with a covered porch running the whole length of the house. It reminded her of an Auguste Renoir painting. She wasn’t in to art, per se, she was just aware of the painting that hung over her bed for four years. It was signed by Auguste Renoir.

“I’m going to check out the lake,” Aquilla announced as soon as the car stopped.

“You should probably go meet your grandparents first,” Seri countered.

“I will in a minute. I just want to see the lake first.”

Monica watched her walk toward the lake and instantly turned to Seri. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“I have no freaking idea, Mo.”

“You went down on her? A girl?”

Seri shook her head with a puff of her own disbelieving breath. “I did what I had to do. I didn’t know at the time who she was, let alone that she was only 16. Had I protested, my cover would have been blown, they would have run, and I would be on this case for another year.”

“Oh my God, Sarah. Did she do it to you too?”

“Yes,” Seri answered honestly. She told Monica everything. She always had, but she was sure she would have never volunteered that information had it not been for big mouth Quill.

“And you turned her on to weed? Are you looking for another job?”

“I can’t even explain it to you, Mo. It’s something that I can’t explain. I just feel compelled to, I don’t even know. I told you I can’t explain it. You’re the quack. You tell me.”

“Codependent, you idiot. You’re making her too dependent on you. I haven’t been around her for two hours, and I can already tell that she has placed a shield between her mother and herself. I think you need to leave so that she can bond with her family.”

“Yeah, well tell Houston that. He still thinks she is going to lead us to Julius.”

“And you don’t?”

“No. She doesn’t know where he is. If she did, she would have already run.”

“No more smoking pot with her. I can’t believe you did that.”

“She needed something to calm down. That’s what you and I do when we are stressed.”

“She’s 17, Sarah,” Monica sternly reminded her.

“Okay. Okay. I get it. No more pot.”

“I still can’t get past the image of you going down on a girl. What were you thinking?”

“I told you. I had to do what I had to do.”

“But, like, how was it? I mean, I don’t know what I mean. I just can’t fathom you doing that.”

“You’re a sick bitch. Is your lesbian side a little curious there, Mo?” Seri teased, opening the car door.

“Shut the hell up. Was it gross? Did it taste nasty?”

“You are a sick bitch,” Seri assured her as she opened the back of the SUV to retrieve their things. “Actually, it wasn’t gross at all. If I didn’t keep thinking about her being under age at the time, I would say it was almost sensual. She got off, it wasdifferent,” she explained. “Now let it go.”

Aquilla stared down at the water from the long dock. Nope, no sense of reprieve there. The water was a mucky, brown green, not the crystal blue she was used to. She wouldn’t be getting in there. She looked around at the houses, placed acre’s apart. She wondered who they belonged to. Was this a private lake and only available to the homeowners?

She turned back to the house that she would be staying at for the next week. She saw the older couple standing on the porch beside her mother. The older lady had her hands over her mouth as they stared down at her.

“Fucking great,” she said out loud. That was just what she wanted to deal with. She took a deep breath and walked toward the house, wanting to get the hugging and crying over with.

That was exactly what it was. Grandma Joyce held her tight, sobbing in her hair. Gross. She was shorter than her and her mother, but had the same slim facial features as her. Grandpa Lee was tall and slender, and thank God he quickly hugged her and let her go.

Grandpa Lee took the suitcase from Seri and showed her to her room. She saw the clothes from Reese and her friend already strung about in the first room that they passed. The living room and kitchen were open and the room that she was taken to was on the opposite side of the massive living area from Reese’s room. Good. She didn’t want to hear girly giggles all night.

“Do you have a bag to bring in?” Liz asked Monica.

“Oh, no thank you. I will just get a room. I saw a motel a few miles back,” she said pointing with her thumb. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

“I can’t let you do that. We have 4 bedrooms here. You can sleep in here with Seri. There’s only one bed, but there is a rollaway bed over at my parent’s house. We can bring that over for you,” Liz explained.

“Seri is staying in my room,” Aquilla demanded.

Seri looked to Monica giving her that co-dependent look, whatever the hell that meant.

“Quill, I will be right beside you,” she tried.

“I’m not sure your room is big enough for the rollaway,” Liz also tried.

Aquilla peered in to the queen size bed. “We don’t need it. That bed is plenty big for two people,” she assured them, taking Seri’s bag from her so called grandfather.

All three women stared directly at Seri, like it was her fault. What the hell was she supposed to do? She didn’t tell her to do that.

“What do you want me to do?” Seri whispered to Monica.

Monica only nodded, telling her to accommodate. “Are you sure you don’t mind, Ms. Rimmer?” Monica asked.

“No. Not at all,” Liz politely lied. She did mind. She wanted her and Seri both to leave. She was never going to bond with Aquilla with Seri there. She was like a security blanket to her. She wanted to be her security blanket.

“Your grandmother has made up a basket of the most delicious vegetables for you,” Liz said, walking into the room with Quill. “We’re going to grill out later with some of your family. I explained to her how you wouldn’t want the hamburgers and hotdogs,” she added with a smile as she moved her long blonde hair to the back of her shoulder.

Why did she keep doing that? Aquilla didn’t want her to touch her. She smiled a fake smile and took a step back and thanked her.

“Do I have time to go for a walk?” she asked.

“You sure do,” Monica chimed in, “And I am going with you. We’re going to talk.”

“Great,” Aquilla smirked.

Seri stayed behind and Monica and Aquilla walked around the lake. Monica observed her, watching her pick up stones and toss them to the lake. Aquilla finally turned to look at her.

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“You insisted on tagging along because you wanted to talk. Remember?” she asked, with raised eyebrows.

Monica smiled and blew out a small puff of air. “Tell me what you think of all of this. How are you feeling?”

Aquilla laughed. She couldn’t help it. Was this chick for real? “How do you think I feel about all of this? Is that the best you could come up with? How many years did you have to go to school for that?”

“I can answer that. I think you are feeling more pissed off than anything. I think you should be pissed off. I would be. I also think you are using Sarah for a crutch to keep from dealing with any of it.”

“Maybe I’m in love with her,” Aquilla offered.

“Are you?” Monica asked, alarmed. She wasn’t expecting that. How the hell did she handle that?

Aquilla laughed. “You sure you have a degree in psychology? You’re not very good at it. I just threw some off the wall shit out and you believed it. Relax. I’m not in love with Seri.”

Monica breathed a sigh a relief. Thank heaven above. “But you are in love with this Julius character?”

“I’ve known Julius my whole life. Of course I love him.”

“There’s a difference in loving someone and being in love with him. When did you fall in love with him?”

Aquilla hummed and shrugged her shoulders. “A long time ago, I just didn’t know it until I was around 14.”

“So about three years ago?”

“No, four, I’m 18,” she insisted. She knew where Monica was going with this.

“You’re not 18, Quill. And you’re not Quill. You are Shelby Rimmer.”

“I am Aquilla Chavez. That is all I have ever known, and I refuse to be called something that I had no control over just because everyone else thinks that way.”

“What do you mean that you had no control over?”

“I didn’t choose to be kidnapped. I didn’t choose for Seri to come and fuck everything up, and I sure as hell didn’t choose to come here and live with the Brady bunch.”

“Do you even know who that is?”

“No, I just heard Seri say it,” Aquilla smiled over at her.

“Quill, what do you want?”

“You mean in a perfect world, a parallel universe?”

“Yeah, I guess so. What would make you happy?”

“Julius,” she answered with one word.

Monica knew that would be the answer before she ever asked. “Why? What is it about Julius that makes you so sure you would be happy with him?”

“Like I said, I’ve known him my whole life. I was always happy with him, well, maybe not always.”

“What do you mean? Let’s sit,” Monica offered with an open palm to the freshly mowed green grass.

“There was about a year that we couldn’t be around each other for five minutes without screaming at each other.”

“Why?”

Aquilla shrugged her shoulders again. She couldn’t believe that she was talking to her like she was. She had been telling herself for almost a week that she would be closed lipped and refuse, and here she was blabbering her whole life. What the fuck?

“I guess we were both fighting feelings that we were unsure of, trying to keep them in their place, afraid of what would happen if were around each other too much.”

“When did it change? How did it change?”

“I don’t know. I guess at my graduation and birthday party. I got drunk and Julius did some things while he thought I was passed out. I knew after that night that he did want me as much as I wanted him.”

“He did sexual things to you when he thought you were passed out?”

“No not really, but he was fighting hard with it. He helped me undress and slid my panties to the side. He didn’t touch me, well, not really. I did purposely move, trying to get him to, but he freaked out and left.”

“He never touched you until you were 18?”

“Nope, it was after my birthday before we ever did anything.”

“Is it love, Quill, or is it more like lust?”

Aquilla was biting her tongue as she pulled a hand full of grass from the ground. “That’s a really dumb question. Didn’t you see those guys looking at me when we walked over here? I’m pretty sure if I just wanted sex I could get it. What the hell are we talking about Julius for anyway? I thought you were supposed to help me accept my fucked up destiny.”

“I just want you to realize that there are lots of men out there that would treat you better than Julius did, and go to work at normal jobs, not training sex slaves or dealing drugs.”

“They weren’t sex slaves. They chose to be there. Nobody was ever forced to be there. And furthermore, I don’t want any other guys. I’m sure none of them could fuck like Julius.”

“That’s not true. How do you know if you insist on selling yourself short?”

“I don’t think I am selling myself short at all. Just ask Seri. She fucked him. She fucked him right in front of me.”

Aquilla smiled at the sudden stiff posture. She was sure that Seri hadn’t offered that information either. Seri was going to kill her.

“And you’re okay with that?” Monica asked.

“It was his job. He thought she was a chattel.”

Monica shook her head in disbelief. This girl was so Stockholm syndrome it was pathetic. She was going to be with this girl for months. She could feel it in her bones.

“Aquilla, they kidnapped you. They took you from a family that loves you very much. Are you not the least bit pissed about that?”

“Not really. And Julius was ten. Julius did not kidnap me. You don’t know my father. He may have done some bad things, and yes, he took me away from my family. I get that. However, he was always good to me. I loved him, and no matter what you or anyone else thinks, I will always be grateful for having him in my life.”

Monica got absolutely nowhere with her that day. She was tight and sticking to her guns. She wanted Julius and insisted that she was getting the hell out of there, first chance she got.