"It started out good. She wasn't the greatest dancer; it didn't come naturally for her like it does me, but she could hold her own. I taught her a lot, we'd practiced. She was doing all right. But then, I don't know, I think Mr. Ronn got to her. Started talking to her about other ways of earning bigger bucks, and it turned her head.
"She was always looking for the easy way out, of pretty much everything. It got her messed up some in high school; she dropped out when she was fifteen. She had gotten into drugs and was drinking too much, ya know? But I finally got her cleared of that mess. Or, I thought so. Maybe not.
"Anyway, the Hardcore scene-hell, maybe I fucked up really badly, bringing her into that. Maybe it made her think less of using her body for money. I never really thought of it like that. I feel like I control what happens with me there, you know what I mean? But maybe, Tania … maybe she felt like, what difference does it make what I do, if it makes more money?"
My mind drifted in that direction, and I got lost in my thoughts for a few minutes.
Dom brought me back to the moment. "So let me guess. Joey Ronn talked her into doing one of his movies." He totally got it.
"Yeah. Only, something must have happened. Bad. Because Tania never came back, that first day she went to the set. She just never came home. And Mr. Ronn … Mr. Ronn, he just-he laughed-" And my tears got me again.
Dom waited me out, not letting me go. He was like a rock, warm and solid, letting me find my breath again.
"When was this, baby?" he asked softly.
"Just about two months ago. Maybe a little more. End of February. That weekend we had that big snow, you remember?"
He grunted but didn't say anything more. It was like his mind had drifted off, too. We sat there in silence for a bit, thinking our own thoughts, lost in hazes of memories and mazes of questions.
Dom brought us back to point. "So what else do you know about it? Who else was there? Did Ronn ever say anythin' to you about it?"
My breath shot out a single ha. "I know it was a porno that she was filming. I don't know what it was about, but I do know that there was some big secret about it, that Tania wasn't telling me. She said she was gonna make extra big bank for doing it, not like a typical porno. That he wanted her, special, for it.
"I was the one who dropped her off at the warehouse where they were gonna film it. It was out of town, almost an hour away, by all these industrial parks and warehouses. She was going to get a ride back to Hardcore when she was done, so I didn't expect to see her till that night. But then she never showed up.
"When I didn't see her at Hardcore that night, I asked him where she was, and his eyes went all squinty, and then he laughed like some little evil gremlin, and he said, ‘Yeah, Sienna, your little sister, she's something. I don't think you're gonna see her tonight. She's kind of gone out. Took off. Yeah, she's took off. The, uh, MC guy took care of that. Found her a nice little hole to lay low in. She won't be rising up anytime soon. You put her outta your mind, now. No more questions, you hear? Let her go, be all the better for you.'
"It was the way he laughed, and the way he worded it, like not that she took off, but that she had been taken off, and then put in a hole. You hear the difference, Dominic? You see what I mean? It's like she's in a grave."
"I hear it, baby. I'm not gonna argue it with you. It doesn't sound good. Did you go to the cops? If you think … Just, what did you do?"
"No. No. No cops. I-we-we can't go to the cops, Dom. That's not-that's-we never-no cops, Dom. No cops." I was hyperventilating and clutching at his chest. I was nearly panicked at the thought that he might now insist on dragging the police into this, which was the very last thing I needed. The police were not an option in my life, in Tania's life. That was a complete no-go zone, and Dom needed to get that. ASAP.
"Whoa. Okay, baby, relax. Calm down. Breathe, all right? No cops. I hear you. I promise."
I held his eyes, looking for truth, and finding it. My breathing started to deepen again, though it was still jagged and rough. I just kept trying to calm myself, to get control again.
"Okay. You're doin' good, Sienna. Just keep breathin'. You feel like you can keep talkin' right now, baby? Tell me how you're feelin'."
"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm okay." I took a sip of water, which turned into several gulps.
He gave me a few minutes more to settle, then asked again, "Who did you see when you dropped her off at the warehouse? Do you know which MC guy he was talkin' about?" It was a little weird, because his voice was tight, guarded. I looked into his face, reading his tension, but not knowing where it came from.
"I'm not sure. There were a couple of guys by the door, at the lot when I dropped her off that morning. One was a Latino guy, I think. I don't know his name. Tall, good-looking, maybe your age? Late twenties? Um, he had black hair, coffee-creamy skin. Athletic. I remember he smiled at us. He had a really nice smile, big, you know? I haven't seen him around either, since that day, so maybe … I don't know. Maybe he had something to do with it? But I never met him, don't know his name, and I can't be sure.
"The other guy was older, with the salt-and-pepper hair tied back, goes by Clad or Clab? Something like that. He always seems real important around here. I think he's, like, important in your MC? And he scowls a lot. You gotta know who I mean. He's not approachable, and every time I catch his eye he looks like he wants to kill me. So I never asked him. I stay away from him. I don't know, maybe he's the one Ronn was talking about."
Dom's eyes hardened. Again, he was processing all this, and he didn't respond or do anything more for a few minutes.
Finally, he said, "Shit," under his breath. I looked at him more sharply, wondering if maybe he knew something, like what I had just told him answered some questions he had knocking around in his head.
But he shook it a little, left and right, tightened his lips around a sigh through his nose, and hooked my eyes with his own. "Babe, you gotta promise me somethin'. You gotta promise me you won't do anythin' about this, and you won't say anythin' about this to anybody else, at least for a few more days. There is more goin' on, and I gotta figure this shit out, and it is not safe. Promise you'll keep your cool, and you'll tell me if you hear anythin' more. And you don't plan anythin' without me. You gotta let me take this on for you. Okay?"
"No way, Dom. I can't do that. This is my sister we're talking about. I can't just let it go, and I can't just let you deal with it. I have to do something. I have to make Joey Ronn pay, because I know in my heart that he did something really bad, really evil to her. So he has to pay for it. I can't not do anything."
"I hear you, Sienna, but I need you to hear me. This is not just about your sister. There is somethin' more goin' on here, and I need to handle it. I need you to let me do that. I need you to trust me on this. I need you to give me that. Step down, Sienna. And I'm not askin'. I'm tellin'."
"No fucking way, Dom." I shook my head.
He shook his head. "You and your fucking mouth, Sienna." His eyes softened, though, and he said it as though my swearing had brightened the moment, lifted him out of the darkness into which we had been plummeting.
And he kissed me. Not very gently, but not roughly, either. Just smoothly, like it was the natural formation of us and he was just laying the parts back together. Our tongues intertwined and our breaths melded, and my body, of its own accord, turned into his for most contact.
His hands roamed my back until they found their happy place on my ass cheeks, which he gripped firmly, squeezing and molding, until I was dripping with want. I shifted to straddle him on the couch, and soon enough I was perched on top of his hard cock, hidden and blunted through his jeans. I could feel his desire, and his mouth grew possessive of mine, the kiss rougher and more forceful.
He sucked hard on my lower lip, scraping it as he backed away from my face to strip my top over my head, and he found me braless beneath it. He suddenly surged forward, tumbling me on my back while his body covered mine. My head ended up near the armrest, cocooned into the padding. His large hands cupped my breasts, and he lowered his mouth to one nipple, licking its firm bud and then sucking it into his mouth, nipping and teething it variably. I struggled for breath. The sensations jetted directly down to my core center, and I could feel my juices flowing freely. I threw my head back and lifted my hips in a physical demand for attention southward. He was not in a mood to comply. He let out a deep short chuckle and said, "Babe." Like that even meant anything.
But he just kept on going with his ministrations to my breasts and nipples, switching his attention between them, his hands molding their shape, pushing them together, scratching the sensitive skin with the new growth of his facial hair, rubbing and tonguing and sucking and squeezing and nipping. I was starting to lose my mind from the pleasure, but it wasn't enough. I needed more.
I gripped his tousled, silky dark hair in my hands and he groaned. I forced myself to let go. My hands rolled down his back, and I dug my fingers into his muscles and dragged them upward again to his shoulder blades, letting him feel how mad he was driving me. "Dom, more." I was having difficulty pulling words.