The home isn't bad by Los Angeles's standards. It's two bedrooms, which makes it very sizable for the area, and it has a working dishwasher, which Annie would once have found extravagant. As she finishes doing the dishes and washing her hands (and washing, and washing, and washing until they're red) she tiptoes to the living room.
Two blond men are sleeping there, one fully naked, the other wearing swim trunks. They're as leanly muscled as she is and she checks the fridge after being sure they're sleeping deeply. It's stocked full of raw meat, mostly fish. Enough for a relatively small army.
Then she creeps to the side of the house and unlocks a thick padlock on a door. It opens into what was once a garage, but the windows have all been boarded up from the outside, bars have been installed just in case. It reeks of the urine that has been allowed to dry over and over, like layers of fetid paint.
"Come on," she tells a haggard man who is huddled behind a line of boxes. He helps himself up with the use of one arm--his only arm. He peers at her through greasy hair with his only eye.
"Where? Muscle Beach again?" His voice is low, rasping, his lips cracked. "I heard some leads are out there-"
"No, no. Not today. Palo and Jake are going out." She hesitates. "A cop's been asking around about you."
A livewire seems to go through him. "I haven't- I didn't- I didn't talk to anyone-"
"Shhh..." she holds a hand up to calm him. "I know. Come on. We're going to the Y, get you a shower, some clothes. IHOP after. Yeah?"
He bursts into ugly, grateful tears but as he walks past her he is very careful not to touch her.
Annie stares into the stinking darkness and closes her eyes a moment, shoulders trembling. Then she closes the door, calm again, and turns to go after him.
Annie wakes in a room that is carved right into a palace. The bedsheets are rumpled around a man whose face is hidden under his arm, she is naked and bruised, her hands raw and blistered. She slides out of bed, looking at him all the while, her breath held.
She sniffs, moves to the right drawer, and pulls out a gun.
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timeasmymeasure
You Remind Me Every Day
Date: 2021-06-20 11:40 pm (UTC)Two blond men are sleeping there, one fully naked, the other wearing swim trunks. They're as leanly muscled as she is and she checks the fridge after being sure they're sleeping deeply. It's stocked full of raw meat, mostly fish. Enough for a relatively small army.
Then she creeps to the side of the house and unlocks a thick padlock on a door. It opens into what was once a garage, but the windows have all been boarded up from the outside, bars have been installed just in case. It reeks of the urine that has been allowed to dry over and over, like layers of fetid paint.
"Come on," she tells a haggard man who is huddled behind a line of boxes. He helps himself up with the use of one arm--his only arm. He peers at her through greasy hair with his only eye.
"Where? Muscle Beach again?" His voice is low, rasping, his lips cracked. "I heard some leads are out there-"
"No, no. Not today. Palo and Jake are going out." She hesitates. "A cop's been asking around about you."
A livewire seems to go through him. "I haven't- I didn't- I didn't talk to anyone-"
"Shhh..." she holds a hand up to calm him. "I know. Come on. We're going to the Y, get you a shower, some clothes. IHOP after. Yeah?"
He bursts into ugly, grateful tears but as he walks past her he is very careful not to touch her.
Annie stares into the stinking darkness and closes her eyes a moment, shoulders trembling. Then she closes the door, calm again, and turns to go after him.
Some Serious Judgment
Date: 2021-06-20 11:42 pm (UTC)She sniffs, moves to the right drawer, and pulls out a gun.