Chapter 10
Olivia looked at the message indicator on her answering machine. There was one new message. She hit the playback button. “Olivia, I have some news for you.” Mr. Murray's deep voice echoed through her apartment.
“Good news, I hope,” she said out loud.
“I found the hotel you said Bryant stayed at in Chicago. I managed to get a copy of his phone records and he called a Ms. Daneesha Oaks several times. I also have a North Carolina number, but I haven't tracked down to whom that number belongs yet. I'm going to try to get an address for Ms. Oaks and pay her a visit. I'll try to find out what her relationship with Bryant is. I'll keep you posted with any updates. Talk to you later.”
Olivia lay on the couch hoping to soothe her aching head. For the past two weeks she had been nursing a headache that wouldn't go away. The stress from worrying about Bryce had put Olivia in a state of depression. She hadn't slept in days. She had lost her appetite and had isolated herself inside her bedroom.
Aside from her worry about the baby she had also been suspended from her job, pending the criminal charges pressed against her.
“Oh God! What have I done to deserve this pain?” she cried. Elise's words of wisdom filled her mind.
. . . by not maintaining an intimate relationship with God through daily prayer and reading of the Word, distance will grow between you and the Lord, resulting in trials and tribulations.
“Lord, I'm sorry,” Olivia prayed. “I was always too busy with the baby to pray. God, have mercy on me and my baby. You promised that whatever we ask for in prayer, we shall receive. So I ask for the safe return of my son. Bring him safely home to his mother. Amen.”
A knock at her front door told her she had a visitor, but Olivia wasn't in the mood to see anyone, so she ignored it. The knocking continued and she soon realized that her unwanted guest was not going away, so she lifted herself up from the couch and answered the door.
A beautiful, tall woman with long, black, silky hair pulled back into a ponytail stared back at her. The pecan color of her skin blended well with the earth tones of her make-up.
She shivered from the cold chill of the air. “Hello,” the woman said. “I'm looking for Bryant Winters.”
Olivia was surprised by the woman's inquiry. This was the first time anyone had ever come to the house looking for Bryant.
“Bryant?”
“Yes, Bryant Winters.”
“You're a friend of his?” Olivia asked.
“No, I'm his wife.”
Olivia's heart dropped. She couldn't believe Bryant had a wife and she was standing at her door. She didn't know he had ever been married. She was speechless. It took her a few seconds to regain her composure.
“Would you like to come in?” Olivia said, offering the stranger a seat. “My name is Olivia.”
“Hello, I'm Taima.”
Olivia sat across from her. “Bryant never told me that he had a wife.”
“We've been married for four years,” Taima said. She hesitated before she continued. “I've been away for a couple years and I'm trying to get back in touch with him.” She looked over her shoulder to make sure no one else was in the room. “If you don't mind me asking, what is your relationship with Bryant?”
Olivia wondered whether she should answer Taima's question truthfully.
“If you're intimately involved with him, it's okay,” Taima told her. “We haven't actually been husband and wife for a long time.”
“I recently had a son by Bryant,” Olivia chose her words carefully. She wasn't sure if she could trust Taima or not. How did she know she was really Bryant's wife? She may be working with Bryant to keep her son away from her.
By the look on Olivia's face, Taima knew there was something wrong. “Did Bryant steal your son away from you?” Taima asked.
“Yes, How did you know?”
“Two years ago he did the same thing to me. Bryant had me committed into a drug rehabilitation clinic in Wisconsin. He drugged me for months by putting Ecstasy in my food. He made sure I was so high that I couldn't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. He filed a petition with the court for full custody of our daughter and had me declared an unfit mother. That's when he had me institutionalized. It took me two years to get clean and get out of there. By the time I returned home, he had taken our daughter, Niya, and left town. I've been searching for them ever since.”
Olivia couldn't believe the story she had just heard. Finally, here was someone who actually shared her pain. Olivia could see how visibly upset she was. She handed Taima a tissue to wipe her tears. “How did you get my address?”
“It's a funny thing. I've been searching for him for over a year. I filed a missing persons report, put up flyers, and I even did a little investigation of my own, but nothing I did turned up any leads. A few weeks ago I was searching through the closet for something I had lost and I came across a bunch of old sports magazines Bryant used to subscribe to. I remembered him telling me once that he had been a regular subscriber to that magazine since he was thirteen-years-old. Well, I got an idea and asked a male cousin of mine to call the magazine's customer service number and act like he was Bryant. He told them that he had a new credit card number and needed to change the one they had on file. They immediately took the new number and before he hung up, he asked them to verify his current address.” She then held up a copy of the sports magazine that lay on the coffee table. “It's a blessing that Bryant changed his subscription address to here.”
“Taima, unfortunately, I don't know where Bryant is. I hired a private investigator and he called today with some leads, but he hasn't found them yet. Did Bryant ever introduce you to any of his friends? Maybe a distant relative? Anyone who could help us find out where he has disappeared to?” Olivia asked.
“No.” She slowly shook her head. “When Bryant and I were married, we didn't know each other too well. We had only been dating for five months before he proposed. Everyone who attended our wedding was either a friend or relative of mine. I did ask him about his mother and siblings. He said his mother passed away when he was young and that he didn't have any brothers and sisters. He was a loner in life.”
Olivia shook her head, “He pretty much told me the same story. Why don't you leave your name and number with me and the next time the investigator calls to give me an update I can ask him to give you a call. You may be able to give him some information about Bryant that I couldn't.”
“No problem.”
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Payce was tired of working seventy-five hours a week and bringing home less than three hundred dollars. He knew he had to start making some real money. That's why he called Reverend Kane and accepted her offer to work at The Dollhouse. Glad that he had accepted her offer, she immediately arranged for him to interview with the owner, Natasha Brown, the following day.
Payce walked into The Dollhouse. Sitting at the front desk was the same girl who was there when he and Darshon were there.
“Hello, I'm here to see Natasha,” Payce said to the young woman.
“I remember you,” she said, smiling. “Are you going to be working here?”
“If things go well, I will.”
She picked up the phone and dialed a three-digit extension. “What's your name?” she asked.
“Payce Boyd.”
“Natasha, Payce Boyd is here to see you.” A minute later she hung up the phone. “Follow me.”
Payce and the young woman walked through a maze of halls until they stopped in front of a door with “Natasha Brown” written on it. The receptionist knocked before opening the door slightly. She whispered to Payce, “Natasha is really cool and laid back.” She took a few steps back toward the receptionist area. “Good luck,” she called out.
Payce pushed the door open and walked into the cluttered office. Papers and files were piled high in all four corners of the office. Natasha was entering information into her computer from various papers scattered over her desk.
Payce glanced at Natasha and thought she resembled a black Cher. Her hair was long, silky, and straight. It reached past her butt. Her head was buried so far down into her computer that he couldn't see her face.
“Hello,” he said.
“Have a seat,” Natasha commanded. She never looked up, and continued to type on her computer. “So you're a friend of Kane's?”
“Yes ma'am.”
“Have you ever done this kind of work before?”
“No.”
“Another amateur.” She sighed. “But that's all right. You'll learn.” She immediately went into the details of the job. “The job pays fifteen hundred per session. You can work as long as you want, when you want. You can work once a week if you want, or three sessions a night. It's up to you. Three sessions equal a total of forty-five hundred dollars. Each session ends at the couple's discretion. One couple may just ask you to have sex with the wife once, and then you're done. Another couple may ask you to stay for eight to twelve hours. It's their prerogative. Sometimes couples enjoy role playing. You may have to dress up like a cop, handcuff the husband, and do the wife. Condoms are provided in all the rooms and I leave it up to the employees on whether or not they want to divulge their names. Since this is a business, I would recommend keeping your identity a secret. You can pick up your money at the end of every session or at the end of the night. The receptionist is responsible for distributing compensation. Any questions?”
Payce shook his head no.
“Good.” Natasha got up and walked over to a closet. She pulled out a huge trash bag. “What's your waist size?” she asked.
“Thirty-eight,” Payce responded.
When she stood up Payce got a good look at her enormous silicone breasts that toppled out of her baby doll T-shirt.
She grabbed a pair of small, leather shorts. “Here you go.” She threw them at him. “The men's locker room is down the hall. Change your clothes, and there is a couple waiting for you in Room 18.”
“I start now?” he asked. Payce was surprised that she wanted him to start so soon. He thought he'd have a day or two before he began work.
“In this business you quickly learn that time is money,” she replied.
Payce changed into his new work uniform, which was a bit too tight around the ass. He wasn't used to this. He felt really uncomfortable walking around with nothing on but a pair of small leather shorts and his Timberland boots.
He found Room 18 and knocked on the door softly. A woman's voice yelled from inside, “Come in.”
He opened the door to find a beautiful woman wearing a sheer, black negligee lying on the bed.
This job might not be so bad
, he thought. She was absolutely stunning. Her hazel eyes and lean body aroused him. Her long legs resembled an athlete's and her abs were perfectly defined. He walked into the room and up to the bed.
“What's up?” he said to her.
“What's going on?” A man's voice startled him from behind. He turned around to see a man sitting in a chair. Her husbandâor who Payce thought was her husbandâresembled a football player. He had broad shoulders, a huge body, and hands twice the size of Payce's.
“Hey!” Payce replied. He felt awkward knowing that he was supposed to have sex with the man's beautiful wife while he watched. Payce wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to address the man, so he walked over to him and reached out to shake his hand. The man stared back.
“Man, we both know why you're here. So go ahead and get started.”
Payce walked back over to the edge of the bed. Without hesitation, the wife pulled him down on the bed and began taking his shorts off. She touched Payce in places that made him feel so good he wanted to shout, but he was scared that if he did it would make her husband angry. Payce didn't want to have a confrontation with the enormous man, so he closed his eyes to hold back all emotion. The only sounds in the room could be heard from the wife moaning. Payce wondered what the husband was doing. He was awfully quiet. He opened his eyes and snuck a quick look over at the husband who was watching his wife. His expression was cold and hard.
The woman lay back on the bed and Payce went to her. He gave her his all. He looked into her face and pretended that she was his wife. He thought about how much he would enjoy making love to her every night.
“She likes it doggy style,” the man said from his chair. Payce looked over at the husband and stopped what he was doing. “Did you say something?” Payce asked.
“I said she likes it doggy style,” he bellowed.
Not wanting to upset her husband, he did as told. He turned the woman over on her knees.
Payce thought that this was some weird shit. It was already difficult trying to please another man's wife with the husband in the room watching, but for him to request a specific position was crazy.
“You like that, don't you?” she asked. Payce thought she was talking to him, but when he looked down at her she was talking to her husband.
Payce wasted no time in getting the job done. Afterwards, the three of them stared at one another in silence. The husband got up, laid on the bed, and the wife wrapped herself up in his arms. Payce felt strange watching them enjoy their time together when he was the one who did all the work. He slid into his leather shorts and exited the room. He was exhausted and had enough for the day. He put his clothes back on and stopped by the receptionist's desk to collect his pay. As he was reaching for the door, he turned around to see Reverend Kane dressed in a robe, escorting a red-headed woman into one of the rooms.