Renting Ginny

Antonio and I stood as still as terrified mice once we heard the loud crash from upstairs. When no other sounds followed a few minutes later, we cautiously looked at each other and then back upward to the floor above us. Antonio cast a quick, questioning glance at me, and I nodded for him to go ahead. “Probably just something that fell,” I whispered loudly. He gave a curt nod in return and headed up the stairs. Please, please, don’t let it be Anina, I silently prayed with crossed fingers. It seemed to take Antonio forever to return with my clothes when, in fact, he was only gone for two or three minutes. “All’s clear. Looks like it was just a vase or something that toppled over by the window we came in through,” he said, tossing me the purple duffel bag. “Thanks, now turn away.” “Yes, ma’am,” he said while I dressed. I was thankful to have packed my knee-length red cotton dress since I couldn’t have slipped pants on anyway with the way my ankle was chained. “Okay, all set.” Antonio turned back around. “Man, you got bruises on you big time.” “Yeah, I know. But right now, I just want to get the hell out of here and see this bitch behind bars where she belongs before I tend to any bruises. How long do you think it’ll take for your friend to return?” Antonio shrugged. “Should be back any minute. He only lives a few blocks away.” Let’s hope he can find the metal cutters while he’s at it, I thought, afraid to voice my fears aloud. Another chunk of eternity would pass before we heard movement above that nearly scared the shit out of us until Christian came into view. I nearly fainted with relief when I saw the metal cutters in his hand. “Oh, thank God!” “My Dad stopped me along the way,” Christian breathed, obviously out of breath from hurrying. “Yeah?” asked Antonio. “Yeah, but what could I tell him? Oh, don’t worry, Dad. Me and my bud just broke into some house that happened to have some kidnapped chick in it who’s chained up in the cellar.” Under different circumstances, I just might have laughed at that one. Antonio took the cutters from his friend and said, “Okay, let’s see what we can do here.” “Just hurry!” I urged. “Hang on, hang on. You don’t want these things to bite through you, do you?” “I definitely don’t,” I said, sitting on the cot so I could lift my foot up. “Hold her leg,” Antonio told Christian. With Christian holding my leg steady, Antonio carefully snipped the lock. I was free! The lock clanked to the cement floor below. “Thank you guys so much!” “No problem,” Antonio said with a smile. Rising from the cot, I said, “Now come on, we’ve got to get out of here.” “Where are we going?” Christian said. “Let’s get out of here first and figure that out later!” I barked. We ran up the stairs, Antonio ahead of me, Christian behind me. “Let’s grab what we can on the way out,” Christian said. “Are you crazy, man?” said Antonio. “Let’s just get the hell out of here. You know the kind of person that lives here.” “All the more reason to rip her off.” “She’s got an expensive Mac computer in her office,” I said. “Just grab that and let’s go, but forget about stereos and TVs. They’re too bulky, and the last thing we need is to get caught. Just grab the computer. I’m sure she’ll miss it.” We hurried down the hallway. “It’s the door to the left. Hurry, guys!” I ran in search of my broken laptop and anything else of mine I could find in the place but couldn’t find anything. Not even my cell phone, as I made one last check of the dresser in the bedroom. Noticing the bottles of expensive perfume, I decided it couldn’t hurt to take one for myself and so I did. I slipped it into my bag and stepped into the hallway just as the guys were stepping into it with the computer. “This is gonna be great, man!” said Christian. “Uh-uh, we’re pawning it,” said Antonio. “Come on, guys. Figure out what to do with your hot goodies later!” “Okay, okay, come on,” said Antonio, running into the large master bathroom. “This is the window you guys busted in from?” I asked. I hadn’t noticed it was broken because the curtain was dangling in front of it, and I hadn’t been in the bathroom since I didn’t keep anything in it. “Yeah,” said Antonio, who climbed out first and then helped me out the window next. Once Christian joined us on the ground, we sprinted over to the gate. “Hurry,” said Christian. “Open the gate. This thing is heavier than it looks.” We began running down an alley. “Where’s your car?” I asked. “Next block,” said Antonio. “Not so fast, guys. We’re gonna really look suspicious if we go running down the street with a computer in hand.” “She’s got a point, man,” said Antonio. “Slow down.” “Thank you guys so much for saving me.” “Yeah, no problem,” Antonio said as if they’d done little more than help me replace a flat. “I hope this sick bitch gets what’s coming to her and misses her computer while she’s at it!” I added. Antonio laughed as we approached a silver sports car. “Where we goin’?” asked Christian as he put the computer in the back seat. “To the police,” I said. Christian’s eyes bulged. “No fucking way, man.” “Not to report you. To report her.” He looked at me with worried suspicion in his eyes. “How will you say you escaped?” “Well, I don’t have to say you broke in. I could say that you heard me screaming from outside and found an open window to go through.” “Won’t work,” Antonio said, shaking his head. “Not when she turns around and reports a busted window.” “Oh, damn, I guess you may have a point there,” I said thoughtfully. “But maybe she’ll run instead, knowing that I could do a lot more harm to her for kidnapping me than any broken window could do to you.” Christian still looked doubtful as we climbed into the car with him behind the wheel and me in the back seat by Anina’s computer. “We did break in and steal things, so we should probably just leave it at that and not take any more chances. The big thing is that you’re still alive.” “Perhaps you’re right. I stole too, even if it’s only perfume.” They glanced at each other and laughed. “Also, the police were useless to me the last time she had me busted for breaking in when it was obvious as hell that I was breaking out and she was the one who was the perpetrator. So yeah, let’s skip the cops for now.” “Where do you live?” Christian asked. “Byers Street.” “Wow, you’re a long way from home,” said Antonio. “Home. Now that’s one place I gotta call,” I said. “Oh, shit.” “What?” “The sicko knows where I live,” I told them about smashing my laptop while trying to take out one of the basement windows. “She probably has my cell phone hidden somewhere too, because I couldn’t find it.” Christian then pulled his own cell phone out of his pocket. “My phone’s vibing.” A moment later, I got the impression he was talking to his father. “Yes, I’ll bring them right back… Aunt Barbara?... Okay, okay, we’ll be right there. I got a couple buddies with me, but they won’t be in the way.” “What’s up?” Antonio asked as Christian re-pocketed the phone. “Dad wants me to go fix Aunt Barb’s clogged drain.” Antonio rolled his eyes. “Sorry – uh – what’s your name again?” asked Christian. “Ginny.” “Sorry, Ginny, you’re going to have to come along for the ride.” “No problem. I can’t go home or back to the escort service, but I’d like to be able to at least call my folks and warn them about this bitch. I’ll tell them I’m hanging with friends until I feel it’s safe to go home.” “But won’t they want you to call the police?” Antonio asked. “I’ll tell them I already did.” “But what do you say when they ask who you’re staying with?” asked Christian. “I tell them not to worry who and that I’m almost thirty and can take care of myself, even if that last part seems to be a lie lately.” Antonio chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it’s time to look for another job, huh?” “It’s definitely time.” “So are women the only ones you rent your services out to?” Uh-oh, here we go,I thought. “Yes. I thought I’d be safer that way. Guess we learn the hard way sometimes.” “His aunt’s a lesbian,” Antonio said. “I don’t know that for sure,” said Christian, “but I think she might be.” “I don’t care as long as the person’s not crazy,” I said. “I hear you on that one,” Antonio said, nodding his head for emphasis. A few minutes later, the burglars turned saviors, and I was pulling up in front of a simple yet modern and elegant house. “Nice house,” I said. “Yeah, it’s not bad.” “What do I say if she asks how we met? I don’t want to lie and say I’m seeing either of you.” “Good,” said Christian, “because she knows we both have girlfriends and since we were just over there with them yesterday, she’d be a bit confused as to who the hell you were.” “You were looking to work with us at the guitar shop, then found you couldn’t start your car on the way back,” Antonio coached. “We gave you a ride, but his Dad called on the way home.” “Sounds good enough to me,” I said. A few minutes later, we were greeted in English by a tall, dark-haired woman with a pronounced German accent much like Anina’s had been. Crazy Anina. Crazy Anina, who was still out there. Crazy Anina, who didn’t give up so easily.