The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Angel had quickly fit in at High Lights and became one of the better earners. She started dancing the ancillary stages first but quickly moved to doing sets on the main stage because the crowds loved the energetic girl who danced with an animal frenzy and had that so very young face and mature body.

She did the private rooms and VIP floor as often as Robert required and was fucked by men and she loathed every second of it. She would use her old runaway’s imagination to go to other places when she had to be with the men who paid to use her. They never knew; that’s how adept she was at crawling into her internal escape hatch. For Angel wasn’t about daydreams or imagination at all, it was survival.

She smoothly integrated with other girls with her scrappy, engaging personality and clever, caustic wit. The only thing she didn’t join in was the Cocaine Strippers Club which was dominated by Kendra and Candi. And when she went to the restroom during the times Kendra and Candi were lit up and flying high, in their bathroom stall, laughing, giggling, sniffing and moaning as they had their nightly sex, she just blocked it out.

Angel missed nothing that went on in the club even as she acted disinterested in everything. She made it her mission to get to know everyone including the body guards, the bartenders and especially Franko Little who seemed to know everything that happened in the club and was involved with most of it.

One night after she was done with sets she plopped down on the bar stool next to Little as he was nursing a beer.

Little looked at her fatigued face, waved the bartender over and said, “Whatever she wants. On me.”

Angle smiled wistfully. “Thanks. I’ll take a screwdriver.”

“No problem. You look tired.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Been up on that stage all night. “If I hear ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ or ‘Cherry Pie’ one more time….”

Franko laughed. “Have them play Bad Girlfriend for you.”

“Naw. Kendra has them play it for her. Don’t want to poach it. Beside it suits her,” she said her voice tinged with sarcasm and bitterness.

Franko nodded at this. He was well aware of the Kendra-Angel dynamic and how Kendra had ditched her for Robert. To him Angel was gorgeous and had a quality that the other dancers didn’t. She didn’t have that rough cynical bend of mind or that hard look underneath the fake, happy, plastic exterior that all the others had.

She seemed so young, so gentle and somehow a bit lost. He felt sorry for her, stuck in the meat grinding machine, alone, her lover now happily at Roberts’ beck and call. He honestly couldn’t see why Kendra would give up someone like Angel for someone like Robert but there was no accounting for taste or what the heart wanted.

Another dancer appeared on the main stage and Cherry Pie started to crank up. Angel put her hands to her ears and pouted. “Noooooooooooo!”

Franko laughed. Angel looked like the sweetest most innocent girl on the planet at that moment.

Angel pushed the drink away, untouched. She gave him a shy, endearing smile and arched her eyebrows. “Hey, I don’t want this drink. I’m really hungry. Want to grab something to eat?”

Franko and Angel repaired to a small place several miles away that had the reputation of serving some of the best burgers in LA. They sat and talked and exchanged stories, laughing and commiserating deep into the dark night.

When the restaurant closed they repaired to Little’s car to continue the conversation, neither wanted to go home.

Angel started rummaging around in her small purse. Little looked at it, the decals of puppies sewn in romping about all happy and having puppy fun. He smiled at this: The perfect purse for Angel who looked so young and fresh. Not a strippers purse at all.

Angel pulled out a blunt and gave him a mischievous grin. “Hey, wanna get high with me?”

God damn is she adorable. Who wouldn’t want to get high with her?

“Yeah. Fire it up.” She did and took a deep hit then passed it to Franko.

“Got it from one of the customers. They always pass the dancers stuff; weed, coke, Oxy, Percocet…whatever,” Angel said, feeling the first wave of the high starting to encroach on her mind.

“You do all that?”

“Naw, fuck that shit. I give it to the other girls. I kept the blunt tonight cuz I was stressed and wanted to chill.”

He passed the joint back to her and watched as she took another really deep hit. He observed how her pretty neck leaned forward, stretching out fully, exposing the pale skin as she put her pink lips to the blunt and how her eyes closed in pleasure as she sucked the smoke into her lungs, the tip of the blunt blazing and lighting her skin in a white incandescent glow.

She looked so cute, so sexy. He could feel his penis begin to stir. He wished he could have taken a picture of her at that exact moment to beat off to later. He knew he would anyway, having to settle for the image of her hitting the joint in just that particular way in his imagination. It wouldn’t be as good but it would have to do.

The weed was relaxing Little and he thought this would be a good time to learn about Angel and who she was. He really wanted to know this girl better.

“So how about this, I’ll tell you what I believe in and you tell me what you do? Kind of a game.”

She gave him a knowing little smirk. “Oh, that’s a getting high game if I ever heard one. You feeling it huh?”

He nodded. “Yeah, a bit.” She giggled, he laughed.

She was feeling it too, really hard. The weed was so strong; more powerful than any she had ever had. She felt out of her body, a hallucinatory edge to her perceptions and thoughts. She suspected it had been laced with something. But that didn’t matter now; she was going with the flow of it, just taking the trip to where it led. It felt good to be lost in outer space, for this brief moment all her cares and worries buzzed away.

“OK, so what do you believe in?” she asked.

He took a long time to answer. She knew his mind had gone off track, going down various paths of thought and reflection as strong pot often did to the user.

Finally his mind returned to the question. “I believe in owning yourself.”

“Watcha’ mean, jelly bean?” she said and giggled. The words sounded so funny when she said them. It was like she was talking pure nonsense and it was so silly.

“I think to be happy in life, you have to own yourself. Know what I mean?” Angel thought she did but she sat silent, waiting for him to continue.

“Time is really all we got. And if you work for The Man then he got your time so he got you. You ain’t got nothin’. You don’t really have your life unless you can do what you want when you want.”

He looked at her, his eyes clouded, as though seeking some kind of approval. Her eyes were half lidded slants.

She nodded. “Yeah sounds right. You are one philosophical Aristotle guy aren’t you?”

They gazed at each other, each trying to remember then digest what Angel had just said. What was it? Was it serious or a joke? Both broke out laughing again.

“Thanks,” he finally replied. “Been called a lot of names in my life but never Aristotle. And not just Aristotle, but mother fucking Aristotle!” Angel slapped his thigh and doubled over with giggles. What had he just said that was so funny ? She remembered! It was funny!

“OK,” he said when she composed herself. “Shoot, tell me what you believe in.”

She took another hit of the blunt then slowly turned to him. “What do you want to hear? That I believe in love and happy endings? Isn’t that what all young girls supposed to believe? Like in fairy tales.”

“I…don’t know. I mean if you believe in love you believe it, right?”

“I used to believe in all kinds of things, but not anymore. Fairy tales aren’t real, Franko, don’t you know that? I only believe in one thing now.”

“What’s that,” he asked tentatively.

“I believe in punishment.”

Her face was cold and haunted without any of the lovely young girl amusement or emotion she had shown him all night. She did not look fifteen or eighteen. Not even close. Her gorgeous, expressive eyes now empty, as hard and lifeless as marbles. It was like the temperature in the car had dropped twenty degrees. Franko felt a chill run up his spine.

Her stoned out eyes made her look all the more spooky.

There was total silence in the car. Franko didn’t know what to say. He was so fucked up he wasn’t even sure he heard her right.

They just sat there. She just kept looking at him with that haunted look.

He blinked his eyes and looked again. In just that moment Angel was back, young and sweet looking, smiling at him.

She giggled and nudged him in the ribs. He laughed. Just a joke, he wanted to believe. She’s fucked up just like I am. Just spouting nonsense.

“I guess I believe in love. Why the fuck not, right? It has to be out there somewhere.” She looked at the blunt as she talked, rolling it around in her fingers. “Here’s to fairy tales.” She took a deep hit.

He thought about Angel’s double answer. It didn’t seem like a joke. Punishment and love? Such as strange combination. He sat there dwelling on it, losing track of time as you do when highly stoned. Soon he was off on his own with a million private thoughts forgetting for the moment that Angel was even there.

Angel was in her own zone too. She looked at her fingernails as they seemed to shine in the parking lot lamp light. Then they started to turn different colors, red, pink, green, purple, all at once then splitting off into individual colors.

Angel smiled at the effect. Ohhh that’s soooo awesome!

Angel looked at Franko but he was staring out the driver’s window, obviously deeply preoccupied by some immense issue.

Movement in front of the car caught Angel’s eye and she turned to look ahead.

What she saw struck her silly. A cat sauntered slowly right in front of the car, under the parking lot lamp. It was unusually large. Kind of scary large; like one of those garbage can fed raccoons, hefty muscular.

Its fur was dark brown with ink black strips running along its flanks and every bristly hair was tipped with an inch or two of black. Its hair was not short, laid back on its body like regular cats but stood up adding to the animal’s size and mass.

It was not the kind of cat that you ran out to greet saying, “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!” It was the kind of cat you walked away from, fast.

The animal plopped down on its hind legs right in front of the car and then leisurely started licking first one paw then the other. Its tongue was very long and bloody deep red. It’s claws were just as long.

After it licked its paws it took a relaxed posture, looked straight at Angel and cocked its head. Its eyes glowed orange like a mutated sun.

“Hello, Angel,” it said. Not really said, but Angel could hear the greeting in her mind as clear as a church bell. The cat’s mouth hadn’t moved.

Angel cocked her head like the cat and kept looking at it. She couldn’t help but smile. Oh man, this is so totally fucked up.

“Hello Angel,” it said again, watching her with what looked like a combination of wry amusement and….hunger.

Angel glanced at Franko. He was still far off in his own dream world. Ok, let’s see where this goes… “Hi there cat!”

“You can call me Future Cat.”

Angel laughed. What a crazy name. “Is that like the name of your band? Bad ass name for a band. You in a band of cats?”

Future Cat shook his head. “No. I’m not in a band but I like the same music you do. And it is a good name for one. I’m Future Cat because I know the future.”

“Oh I see. I got some bad news to lay on you Future Cat, since you’re a figment of my imagination you don’t know any more than I do about the future.”

“That’s not true my dear. I am very real. I can prove it.”

Debating my own imagination. This is trippy.

“OK, I’ll play. How?”

“Come out of that car, come a little bit closer to me, closer and I will show you. I like getting…..close to new friends.” Future Cat actually grinned, revealing two long, yellow canines. They looked thick and strong enough to tear a person’s throat out. Somehow his grin didn’t seem that friendly to Angel.

Angel decided to go out. She would just march right out there and end this. Future Cat would just disintegrate like the illusion it was. She reached for the door handle to get out .....but paused.

She knew this could not be real, it had to the drugs fucking with her.…but it looked so very real and big. And it seemed so…confident. Its fangs seemed to drop down just a bit more than they had a moment before as it watched her. Its heavy looking feline face twitched. Were the pupils of his eyes now larger as it gazed at her with...longing? She could hear it purring like a buzz saw and it’s stub tail was vibrating wildly.

She laughed, nervously, trying to buck up her courage. The hell with this, I’m not scared of myself.

She pulled the handle and heard the car door unlock. The sound seemed so unnaturally loud and final. She looked at her arm and noticed goose bumps on it. Suddenly she could feel her heart racing like an engine in red line and she could feel adrenaline pouring into her blood.

She looked at Future Cat again. It had an unmistakable look to it. It looked…hopeful…wishful…happy. The expression was clear: That’s it, just a little bit more. You’re almost there now. Come on..come on..take that last step.

Angel took her hand off the door and locked it quickly. Maybe not, it’s nice in here. Nothing out there but an empty lot.

“No. I’m pretty comfy right here. I think I’ll stay put.”

Future Cat’s face seemed so very wistful. Its thick dark whiskers shivered and whipped around like a cluster of sea anemone that had just barely missed its prey almost in what Angel sensed was fury.

“More is the pity but no matter. I can tell you what I need from here.”

“And what is that?”

“I like you Angel. You are very…young…and...soft and sweet.” Future Cat licked its lips. “You are making a fatal mistake. I would hate to see something happen to you.”

Angel knew this whole thing had to be in her head, right? That drug was doing a hell of number on her but she suddenly felt herself becoming very interested in what Future Cat was saying.

“What mistake?”

“It’s Brianna. You’ve lost her for good. She is no more. Only Kendra now and forever. If you try to save her it means only misery for you…and worse. You might as well try to save the woolly mammoth. It is something of a bygone era.”

“That’s not true. Brianna is still there, she’s not dead. I’m not letting her go. Never. I will never let her go.”

“But you see it has nothing to do with you. It’s all out of your hands now. She is lost forever. There is nothing you can do. You must accept it and move on before you get swallowed up with her. It’s dark where she is but nothing at all compared to where you are heading.”

“No. Fuck no. She would never leave me and I will never leave her. I don’t know what will happen but I’m with her to the end.”

Future Cat nodded in understanding. “Yes, trust me, I know the depths of the love you both had but that is no more. You’re love is unrequited dear Angel. She loves another now. You know that. Look into yourself, the truth is there.”

Angel shook her head. “You don’t know anything. See I’m a person, I know what love is, what Brianna is, what we have. You’re just a fucking cat… You don’t know shit about what people are or what they feel.” Angel was going to say, “just a fucking cat and a figment of my imagination,” but she remembered how she didn’t get out of the car.

Future Cat barred his fangs. “I know thisssssssssssss,” he hissed, “If you stay on this road you will die sweet Angel. All that you could have been, all the potential you have thrown away on a dead dream.”

Angel nodded. “Then I’ll die. Better to die once trying to save Brianna than to die every day knowing I didn’t.”

Future Cat blinked and Angel could swear a sad mien graced his face. “Foolish, sweet girl. Then so it will be. Remember at the end I warned you. We will not meet again.”

The words were chilling but Angel laughed defiantly. She looked at the blunt. “You’re right about that. Not unless I ever smoke this again.”

When she looked up Future Cat was gone.

Angel sat, rolling that weird vision over in her head. She wasn’t sure for how long.

Franko tapped her shoulder. He had at last rejoined her in the car from wherever he had gone to. She was glad to have him back, so relieved to talk to him than a trippy cat from the future who predicted her demise.

“How come you started at High Lights? Is it because of Brianna?”

“Eh,” Angel shrugged. “At first yeah. I was chasing her. But she’s made her choice. It’s all good. Now it’s just a job for me.”

“It’s not a pretty place. It only looks good to the customers”

Angel nodded and looked at him levelly. “I know. But Franko, here’s the deal, I don’t even have a high school diploma. And I don’t see myself as a ‘Welcome to Wal-Mart’ type. I make good money now. I mean what’s a girl to do, right?”

Yeah in ten years shaking your ass and screwing people you will be a burned out fucked up zombie,t hought Little.

“Hey check it,” she said, showing him her cell phone. It was a picture of Sparky. “That’s my bad boy Sparky. He’s my bestie in the whole world.”

“That’s one good looking dog.”

“Fuck yeah he is. Smart too.”

“Do you have family around here?”

She looked away. “No. I don’t have family anywhere.”

Oh.

She turned back to him. “Sparky is all I need. He takes care of me and I take care of him. We’re takin’ on the world together.”

“Good to have someone watching your back,” he replied.

Angel nodded. Yeah, it was great. It was the best.

“How old are you, Franko?”

“Ah, thirty two. Old man, huh?”

“Naw, in your prime. You’re lookin’ good Franko. Lookin’ good.”

Her comment made him feel great. The truth was he had felt very old sitting with this particular girl. “How old are you Angel?”

“Eighteen.”

“Ahh, you look younger.”

Angel looked at him, crossed her eyes and responded with exaggerated slowness with a syrupy voice, “Doooooo I?”

He busted out laughing. “What the fuck was that?” She giggled in response.

“That’s my southern belle is getting high voice.” She crossed her eyes again, looking goofy as hell. “I dooo decleah the mint juleps are particularly potent this time of yeaah and we really love our juleps around heah,” her hand waving in the air with a flourish as though making an important point.

He laughed. He was feeling as high as she was. “You fucking nut.”

“This is good stuff. I feel really nice.” she said.

He laughed. “Angel..I have a…feeling that this is more than just weed.”

She arched a pretty eyebrow as she gazed at him, the goofiest grin plastered on her face. “Have a conversation with a cat? Big, kinda dark and evil?” she responded.

Franko laughed. “Um, no, haven’t had that pleasure. But I’m having some….things going on. For one thing, when you talk I hear your words echo in my head.”

Angel batted her blue eyes at him. “Ohhhhh…really, really, really, really, really?” she said making echo sounds.

Franko snorted out a laugh. “Stop Angel, just stop!”

She gave him a coquettish look and ran a finger along his chest. “I’ll have you know Mr. Franko that echo is a common effect I have on men. It makes me irresistible.” As she said it her voice was so completely girlish, so sure, so alluring.

Franko was hard as a rock now. He wanted to kiss her so much.

Getting high with Angel was fucking great.

He cleared his throat. “You know I watch you and....you just don’t seem like most of the other girls.”

“Because I look so young?”

“That..yeah and other things.”

She turned to him slowly, her countenance suddenly grown dark. “Who the fuck are you to say that? You don’t know a damn thing about me.”

“What?”

“Do you think you’re my mother? That I need a fucking mother because I look young?”

He held up his hands. “No..I don’t…wait…”

“I don’t need this shit from you. Get out of this car right now! Fucking Uber your way home you asshole.”

Franko was totally mortified by this sudden turn of events. What happened to the nice girl he had been with and the connection he felt they had made? He was bewildered trying to think. The powerful drug wasn’t helping. This whole thing had suddenly turned really bad.

“Hey, look now, I’m sorry….I...did…I ..do…”

She was off her rocker. He should have known she was as fucked up as the rest of the strippers. Deep paranoia was kicking in.

Getting high with Angel wasn’t great at all.

Angel sneered at him, showing her teeth, gesturing with her thumb outside. “Out! Now! Bye! Fuckhead!”

He shook his head. Something was wrong about her request. She was watching him intently. He couldn’t think. He was nervous and that weed was so damn strong. He turned and put his hand on the door handle to get out and then it came to him. “Hey, wait a minute….this is my car!”

Angel fell against him lazily, like a close friend would, shoulder to shoulder suddenly all delighted smiles. “Franko, you are way too easy!”

“What?”

“Haaaaa…I got you! You should have seen the look on your face! Ohh shit! I can’t take it.” Angel was doubled over, laughing. Angel wondered how long it had been since she laughed like this. She had forgotten what it felt like, what it sounded like, how god damn good, how human it felt.

At first he was confused then started laughing too. “Man, Fuck you Angel. I thought you were some psycho bitch from hell.”

She giggled taking another hit. She handed it to him. There was a warm soft fire in her blue eyes. “Maybe I am. Guess you would have to try find that out to know for sure, huh?”

Was she flirting? There had been invitation in those eyes and words if he was reading the signals correctly. Or did he imagine it because he was so high?

Angel broke out with another case of the giggles. “Oh my god that was so funny! Can we do it again? Rewind!”

Both were laughing again. Everything was so fucking funny now.

“Were you gonna let me kick you out of your own car? I saw you reach for the door!”

He blushed. “I don’t…know what I was….”

“Did you even know it was your car? Come on, be honest! Fess up! Oh fuck, you are so stoned! You are so out of it.” She had an ear to ear grin playing her face.

“I know I am. You and your fucking super weed.” he replied, grinning back.

She looked at him pie eyed, her eyes dulled with the drug. Her lazy smile was so irresistible.

“Franko, are you my friend?”

He pondered this. “I hope so. I’d like to be.”

“Good. I’d like to be too. Hey friend Franko, I got something to tell ya.”

“What?

“I am completely baked too. I’m was talking to a cat! I’m totally serious,” she said in a happy flippant voice.

Franko laughed, putting his hands over his face. “Oh man, and I was thinking, how is Angel holding her shit together when I’m totally gone?”

“Now here’s the best part. You want to know what the cat said to me?”

“Hell yeah.”

Angel shook her head. “Dude, you won’t believe it. I’m telling you. You ready for this?”

“Angel, damn it, tell me! What did the cat say?” He had to know.

She peered at him. “Meow, meow, meow, meow!”

Both started snickering then laugher rocked the car.

Getting high with Angel really was great.

Soon hooking up after work became a common occurrence for the bouncer and dancer. One night before they left the restaurant Franko took Angel’s hand. She reciprocated by squeezing it and smiling into his eyes. Instead of separating and going to their respective homes they went to Franko’s house and spent the early morning hours making love.

Soon Franko considered Angel his girl friend but both kept it quiet from Robert, Kendra and anyone else who worked there. Both knew the very paranoid Robert would frown on the relationship and who knew what the volatile Kendra would make of it? Sometimes she treated Angel like nobody, other times she was ultra possessive of her. Her mood swings were unfathomable and scary.

As time went on Angel told him of her childhood, her life with her mother, then the debauchery at her step father’s hands after Mom had died. Franko felt so sorry for her and what she had endured.

And as their bond grew, Franko whispered many things to her as they lay in bed after another bout of love making; stories and secrets she found most interesting. He told her how Robert cheated the girls on pay, how he bought his booze from thieves at low prices. He told her how Robert kept a third of the money he made each night off the books so he could keep more and the tax man less.

He told her how Sarkosian and Sullas were always at Robert’s money tit, sucking and sucking, always demanding more and how Robert loathed them.

One night he told her how much she cared for her. He couldn’t get the word love out but she knew what he meant. He was just built that that way and she didn’t mind. She told him she loved him and they kissed over and over. She then gave him the best blowjob of his life.

Basking in the warm glow of his freshly sucked cock and powerful orgasm, his arm around her in bed he told her how he bought high grade coke from Sarkosian that Robert then in turn sold to his strippers and high end clients. He told her that Robert never knew where Franko was getting the coke from because the thought of giving his mortal enemies all that money would make him want to kill Franko.

He told her things as a man in love does with the woman he adores, to let her know he trusts her and that he was man on the move making more moves. He didn’t want the girl he loved to think of him as some impotent stooge of greater men.

And Angel made sure with every word of admiration she uttered and in every adoring gaze into his eyes that Little understood how impressed she was with him.

He told Angel the secrets of how the machinery worked.

How every month Robert would give him a suitcase with one hundred grand in it. Franko would keep it in a false compartment in his closet then take it the next night to meet Sarkosian to make the big exchange that kept that very lucrative wheel of the money machine turning.

One night she asked Little to take her to his meeting with Sarkosian. She wanted to see her strong, smart man doing his thing. And he wanted his girl to see him do it. He knew it would impress her even more.

He told her it would be dangerous for her to be seen but he would place her in a wooded area thirty feet away from the warehouse parking lot he and Sarkosian met at every month.

Before they left for the rendezvous she followed Franko into his expansive closet. He pried open a board in the floor and pulled out the briefcase and smiled.

“Can you believe there is a hundred thousand dollars in here? Robert shells it out for coke like it’s nothing.”

“Hells bells,” said Angel. “Dude is running some game.”

“Fuckin A,” replied Franko. “He more than doubles his money on it.”

“And what do you get for hooking him up?”

Franko shook his head. “He pays me two grand every time, fucking cheap prick. But I have a plan, Angel. I won’t be at his beck and call forever.”

Brianna and I had plans too, once, thought Angel as a powerful melancholia invaded her. She closed her eyes and sighed, trying to move past it.

Franko dropped Angel off early at the edge of woods by the road in the darkness of night. He told her to walk straight to the light she could see through the trees, hide herself and watch. He then drove off.

She followed the light of the one ancient sodium lamp still working, feeling like the three Wise Men following the star of Bethlehem until she came to an old warehouse. Both the Wise Men and she were looking for something. They knew what they were after; she wasn’t sure just yet what she was searching for. But she felt like she was getting closer.

She nestled down in the weeks, watching. Angel saw Fanko’s car arrive first, no headlights on. He parked and got out with the brief case; soon after Sarkosian’s ride showed up also with no headlights on.

Franko and Sarkosian hugged each other then she watched as Franko give Sarkosian a brief case loaded with one hundred grand and in return receive a briefcase with the best coke in LA.

Then she saw something else that caught her attention. Franko reached into his pocket and handed something to Sarkosian. Sarkosian then reached into his waistband, pulled out an envelope and gave it to Franko. The men hugged again and then Sarkosian entered his pitch black BMW and rode off.

Franko picked Angel up on the road where he had dropped her off and they returned to his place. Once again she followed him into the closet where he took the floor board out and put the suit case full of coke down into the hole.

“Tomorrow I bring it to Robert. It’s that simple.”

“Franko, what did you give Sarkosian? I saw you hand him something. Then he gave you an envelope.”

Little chuckled. “Robert’s cash registers are computer based. They tally up every sale. What isn’t computer based are what the girls earn on the floor, in the private rooms and the VIP floor. But I have a pretty close idea about that money. At the end of the month I give Sarkosian a flash drive with the register tallies along with my estimate of what the girls brought in.”

“Oh shit! So he knows what to charge Robert for the month.”

Franko smiled and gave her a kiss. “You’re not only pretty but smart. It’s so funny. Robert just can’t get a handle on how Sarkosian is so accurate in the count. He’s beating his brains out over it. He thinks the little guy is some kind of genius. It really cracks me up.”

“And what are you getting back in that envelope? Money?”

“I’m getting my freedom.”

“How you mean?”

“See now, Robert gives me two grand to get the coke. Sarkosian gives me two more for the take numbers from the club. That’s four grand a month.”

“Forty grand a year between the two. Not bad.”

“But that aint it. It’s what I’m gonna do with it that’s the thing. I got me some old friends down San Diego way. They are big in the coke biz, like Marius is up here. Just like with Marius its top grade shit. Once I save up enough I’m gonna get out of this shit hole go down there and start buying it way cheaper than I get from Marius. Then I’ll start selling to elite clubs and clientele. Bust a big move up the food chain. Then I get that big house and six digit cars like Robert and Marius and Sarkosian.”

“How much you have now?”

Franko reached down in the hole and pulled out another brief case. He pointed at it. “Three hundred and sixy grand.”

“Why not just leave now with that?”

Little shook his head. “No. Not enough bank yet. I got one shot at this and want to do it right. You can’t nickel and dime it. When I jump in it’s gonna be with both feet. I’m gonna make that gold splash right off. I’m not gonna front shit from anyone and I’m not gonna cut the product. That’s for losers to spin their wheels and end up in jail. I already have my market staked out. I’m from that town and I know it. It’s gonna be high volume and top of the line merchandise.”

“What’s the magic number?”

Little grinned. “Five hundred K.”

“Still a ways to go.”

“But I’m getting there.”

“And when you leave what about me? What am I gonna do?”

He put the case back down in the hole. “Angel, look it. It’s hard for me to say some things direct. I guess I’m fucked up that way. And there are words I should say to you that are hard for me. It’s just how I am. But do you think I’m showing you all this for nothing? My whole future? My fucking dream? When I leave, you leave. You and me Angel, whole new lives. Lives we deserve. Do you understand what I’m trying to say to you? This is how I feel about you.”

Angel gasped “I thought my life was over. I thought there was nothing but pain and misery for me. You’re like some angel come to save me,” she squeaked, deep emotion wracking her voice.

He grabbed her face gently in his hands. “I’m not the angel. You are. Just like your name.”

“Do you promise to take me with you? I’ve been lied to and hurt so many times. It’s all I can remember since I was a kid. I can’t take another. I just can’t.”

“No more lies, no more hurt. You can book it.”

Angel flew into his arms as he wrapped them around her. “Oh god, please get me out of here. I’m gonna go crazy if I stay.”

Angel’s head was nestled in his shoulder out of his sight and while her voice was pure anguish and emotion her face was as composed and stolid as a Japanese Noh Mask.

“I will get you out. I’ll take you from all this. I’ll get both of us out.”