Miss Nobody

Chapter 54

REARRANGE MY GUTS

Early Morning Day 27

Jonny caught me before I fell. "Do we need to take care of things here?"

I steadied myself and shook my head. "I should be okay, just feel like I need a little rearranging." I waved my hand over my stomach. I tucked the card in my bra and Jonny led me to his truck carefully. I leaned heavily against the door and tried to stay conscious until we reached his plant house.

Jonny parked inside his makeshift greenhouse and pulled me from his truck, carrying me over to his bed against the half-brick, half-glass wall. Plants all around. He laid me on his black sheets. Pulling off my bloody shoes and unbuttoning my bloody dress.

I focused on staying awake, my intestines feeling twisted the wrong way.

Jonny kissed me, distracting me from the sensation.

I moaned into his lips, my hands running down his body and unbuttoning his pants. I didn't bother removing his clothes and pulled his hard cock to my entrance. Ready for him to set me right.

He pulled me into his lap carefully and I slid myself onto him quickly.

My clit rubbed against him and created that delicious friction I craved. I held him to me tightly as I came and squeezed his cock inside me. I directed the energy to my insides and the pinching in my guts released. I sighed and laid back on the bed.

Jonny laid over me and I wrapped my legs around his waist. His hard cock entered me roughly, he pounded himself deep inside me and I moaned loudly. I enjoyed every thrust under him.

***

Afternoon Day 27

Jonny lifted the heavy plant pot to the island in Chef's old kitchen. The Licorice plant was huge and the black plastic cracked around the protruding roots.

I cut some of the leaves, with a copper tool the chef taught me the plant spirit wouldn't be severed that way and rinsed them in a bowl under the tap. "We don't have time to dry them out so we'll have to put them in the oven on a low heat."

Keiran rested comfortably in the basement hospital. He went through a lot to help me and I was grateful. Slicing himself open, just to get stitched up again was brutal and I knew it was his way of trying to make things up to me. It was easier for me to block our connection when he slept, not as tiring but I kept our link down to the tip of a pen to keep his weird dreams out.

Diego read one of Chef's journals on the leather couch.

Bishop was at the station dealing with the aftermath of the club and Hunie's death. Cleaning up my mess once again.

Jonny came up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. He bent to whisper in my ear, "I can take you away from all this. We can go anywhere."

Diego rolled his eyes. "Demons are everywhere."

Ben came through the door holding Destiny's hand and smiling, interrupting the...what? The escape plan? "Oh. Hey. I didn't think anyone would be here." Ben said.

We looked at him.

"I wanted to show Destiny the shelves I built." He rubbed his neck. "All the work I've done," he finished sheepishly.

Destiny walked over and hugged me. "You look good for having your intestines on the floor a couple of hours ago." She looked me up and down, concerned.

"The show must go on." I spun the pieces of plant in a salad spinner to dry them before putting them on a parchment-lined cooking sheet. "You're not here to help with the Portal Ritual by chance?" I eyed Ben excitedly. Did he volunteer to participate in the orgy?

She looked back at him. "Is this the orgy thing you were talking about?'

He blushed.

"I'm in." She turned back to me. "We can call the rest of the girls. They'll come. It's been dead at the ranch. Ever since you left that place." She laughed it off. "They'd love to get out of there. What do we have to do?"

I chuckled. It was like her to volunteer before knowing what she needed to do. "For now you can help me make some licorice pills to keep the Sex Demons from controlling us, and the horny goat weed tea for the orgy."

"So there really is an orgy." She walked back to Ben, unphased and pinched his ruddy cheek. "And I thought you were just saying that to get me back here with you." She winked at him.

"No. I don't lie when it comes to orgies." He smiled and Destiny laughed.

She kissed him on the lips and wiped her lipstick off his face.

Diego and Jonny stared at their nephew like he had grown a second head.

I put the cooking sheet in the oven and set it on the lowest setting. It would take several hours for the licorice root to dry out so I could crush it, weigh it, and put it in capsules.

"What can I do?" She tossed her purse and jacket on a nearby couch.

"How many couples were you able to get for tomorrow nights ritual?" I passed a large jar of horny goat weed to Jonny so he could open it for me. It was full of the dried herb. Chef apparently didn't have any use for it. It would be helpful in tonight's ritual.

"We have the twelve you wanted." He nodded to Diego and handed me back the open jar.

"More would be better. How many of the ladies can you get over here?" I poured the herbs into a copper bowl.

Destiny pulled out her phone. "Maybe four?"

Was I willing to put them at risk? "No. It's okay, we have enough people." I changed my mind.

"They won't mind. They do owe you, even if they don't want to admit it." She didn't expand and side-eyed Jonny. She didn't want to bring up whatever it was in front of him.

"Hm," I said cryptically and snipped off the head of a rose. Another plant from my list that I needed for tomorrow. I pulled off the large petals and shredded them into little pieces, by hand. Somewhat therapeutic. I added them to the horny goat weed in my copper bowl. Put them somewhere safe around the Lodge. Out of harm's way. I nodded to her.

She smiled, grabbed her jacket, and went out the door to make her phone call.

Jonny grinned at me and I blushed.

Diego stood and walked over to the counter. "Sounds like a full house. We'll have to update security."

"My friends should be put somewhere extra safe." I sprinkled some pink salt into my herb mixture.

"How will we be part of the orgy if we're separated?" Destiny walked back into the kitchen.

"We don't need to be in the same room for me to direct the energy." I stirred the herbs with my clean hands. "It's probably better we're spread out anyway. It'll make it harder for Jess to get to us all at once." I looked at Jonny. "All the energies, all over the place, might confuse her." The tea was our connecting force, once we drank it, it would put all of us on the same energy wavelength. Jess might not be able to tell which energy stream would be mine but it put the others more at risk. I had enough pills for the people participating in the ritual and a few others but not enough for Jonny's entire security team. Jess didn't seem strong enough to do much of anything, when I saw her at the club but she could be hiding it.

He nodded slightly to Diego. "One couple per room spread throughout the Lodge."

Diego sighed. "This would have been nice to know two days ago." He pulled out his phone and walked out the door, complaining.

"He's mad 'cause he doesn't get to participate." Jonny grinned and walked over to me. "Ben will keep an eye on you until I get back." He kissed me on the forehead. "I need to make sure he doesn't kill anyone." He laughed as he left.

Destiny looked at me. "What is going on here?"

I looked at her and blushed. "It's kind of a long story."

She went to her purse and dug through it, pulling out a sparkly gold makeup bag.

I grabbed the box of empty tea bags and prepared them for the herbal blend as Destiny unzipped her glittery bag.

She emptied a cigar wrapper of its tobacco and Ben handed her a bag of cannabis.

I grabbed the loose, shredded tobacco before she could scoop it into the trash. "We might need that." I smiled at her as I put the shredded pieces in a small jar and into the freezer. "You guys were coming out here to smoke, weren't you?" I teased.

Destiny smiled as she filled the tobacco leaf with ground weed. "Smoke and fuck."

Ben blushed again but grinned. "No one is ever out here. You guys are usually off on some adventure."

I snorted. "Adventure? I guess that could be a word for it. It looks exciting from the outside but having my guts spill out was not an adventure I'd like to repeat."

Destiny looked at him and then me. "Storytime." She handed me the rolled blunt.

I held it gingerly unsure what to do.

She held the lighter up. "Suck on it like a big girl. You know how to do it." She encouraged.

"I don't remember." I shook my head and brought the blunt to my nose. I inhaled the skunky scent of the pot, no memories surfaced.

She dropped her hands and the lighter extinguished. "What do you mean?"

"I was in an accident after I left the Kitty Kat Ranch and it gave me amnesia. I'm just now remembering some things."

"That's why you didn't recognize me in the store?"

I nodded and handed her back the blunt.

"Damn. So you don't remember working at the brothel?"

I shook my head. "Some of it. Seeing you triggered more but-" I shrugged. "Did I ever talk about why I was there?"

"Remember when we'd take your car out to the desert behind the ranch? Smoke Hunie's bong?" She shook her head. "You talked about wanting to hire a lawyer, a few of the other girls needed one too. You asked around for some referrals, I don't know if you ever found one." She lit the blunt and made it smoke. "Everyone's secretive around there." She passed the blunt to me.

I nodded and inhaled a small amount. The lawyers paper card floating up from my money bag as my car filled with water came to mind. Most of what happened at the brothel and what Keiran did to me after I left were clear memories now but, "I don't remember much before going to the ranch." I passed the blunt to Ben and started putting equal amounts of my herb mixture into tea bags.

Ben inhaled deeply and exhaled a huge cloud of smoke. He passed the blunt to Destiny and went to open the windows on the far side of the room.

Destiny took the blunt from Ben and took a hit before handing it back to me. "Did someone do something to you?" She asked quietly. "One of your clients?"

We both had our share of assholes cross our path. The Deputy was one of them. Pulling his ears off, the sound, the smell came swirling around me. Was now a good time to tell her that the person who was drugging her was most likely at the bottom of the lake?

I took the blunt from her and turned on the stove's exhaust fan as I took another small hit. It settled into my head, silencing the tumultuous background thoughts. Like someone had turned off a staticy TV in my brain that I didn't realize was on until it wasn't. "Not a client, but a male, Keiran Caswell." I could feel him wince through our connection.

"Caswell? From The Caswell family that practically own the town?"

My eyes widened. "Is that true? Will my evil bitch of a mother inherit...everything?" I asked Keiran in my head.

"It's all tied up in trusts. As the last Caswell, I'll have to meet with the family lawyer. Go over the estates."

I shut our connection down to a microscopic piece of lint. I didn't need to hear Keiran go on about how he needed to secure his family's wealth. I had just opened a bank account and didn't even know if I was going to receive another paycheck if I hadn't been doing my job as laundry wench.

"Can I help?" Destiny came over to the bowl and looked closer. Her question hung heavy in the air.

I nodded, handed the blunt to Ben, and showed her how much of the herb mixture to put in each linen tea bag. The red dye from the bags would color the tea and enhance the spellwork done during the ritual.

She took over and I moved on to the next task, gathering the organza bags I had dug out of the supply closet in the laundry room. There were several of Jonny's men manning the washing machines and making sure the hotel linens were being washed on a regular basis. Jonny had a whole team and system to keep the Lodge running and self-sufficient. It surprised me at first but the men had helped me retrieve the organza bags that were perfect for handing out to the couples before the ritual.

I had candles that needed inscribing and oiling, pills to make.

"Was he ever punished?" Destiny asked as she tied the tea bag.