“So your parents aren’t coming home at all tonight?” Shaun was nervous but didn’t want to back out. He had been dating Lisa for three months and she promised that tonight was the night she’d finally have sex with him. Shaun laughed. He was finally going to get lucky. He felt for the condoms in his back pocket as they walked to her bedroom.

Lisa kissed his cheek, “I’m going to the bathroom to get ready. You wait here for me.”

She laughed and walked down the hall. He rubbed his sweaty palms against his jeans and began undressing. He wasn’t sure if he should wait or not but teenage hormones won out and he quickly discarded all of his clothing except his boxers. He was about to remove those too when a sudden bang downstairs startled him.

He could hear people running up the stairs and Lisa screaming. He was about to grab his clothing when the door to Lisa’s room burst open. Three men dressed in black and carrying firearms shouted, “FBI! Freeze!”

At the Coffee Shop

“What did you just say?” Jacob thought he must’ve misheard Vincent McDaniels’ last statement.

Vincent took a drink from his coffee and repeated himself. “I met your mom when she was a prostitute. Back then she went by the name of Dulce.”

Jacob wanted to hit the man sitting across from him, “Don’t lie to me you asshole.”

“Who’s lying? Ask her.”

“Yeah right. My mom practically lives at the church. There’s no way in hell she would ever sell herself.”

Vincent threw his head back and laughed. Some of the other patrons actually turned to look at them. “If you think I’m lying…why are you getting so upset, Jacob?”

“I don’t like anyone talking bad about my mom. Even if it’s lies.”

“Your mother had to raise you and your sister on her own, didn’t she? She didn’t go to college…never finished high school. How do you think she paid for the food you ate, the clothes you wore, or even the roof over your heads?”

The smile Vincent showed him was ruthless. It was as if he was trying to purposely see how far he could push Jacob.

“I’m not gonna sit here and listen to this. Stop calling my mom and lose my number.” Jacob quickly got up from his seat and hurried out of the coffee shop. He needed to talk to his mother.

In her Closet

Joelynn was rifling through her clothes, looking for the sluttiest outfit she could find. After talking to Trixie, she found out a few key facts.

1)      Eva’s source was a hooker

2)    Eva was gathering information about a married state representative that was hiring hookers for his personal pleasure

3)      Trixie saw Roxy get into a car with some John before she met Eva and according to Trixie, she seemed frightened of him

“He was a white guy and I think she was scared of him,” Trixie had told Joelynn.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because Roxy was always friendly and joking around but when this guy came ‘round, she got real serious all of a sudden. Like she was in court or somethin’ you know?”

Joelynn wasn’t sure what to make of Trixie’s information. When she asked what the man looked like, Trixie couldn’t give an adequate description, “I don’t know. He looked like any other white guy. I think he had glasses…yeah he had glasses. Does that help?”

Joelynn was grateful for any information she could get but a white guy with glasses narrowed it down to no one.

She pulled out a black lycra dress that she wore once when she went bar hopping with Jacob at the Pink Flamingo.

“This screams skank. I think it’ll work.”

Joelynn walked to her kitchen and pulled out a Bomb Pop from her freezer. She wasn’t sure if she was thinking logically. She probably wasn’t…but she had to do everything she could to find her cousin. The cops hadn’t gotten very far and Joelynn wouldn’t be able to live with herself if Eva turned out to be dead. The guilt of having abandoned Eva weighed down on her like a ton of bricks. Even if the cops were looking for her, Joelynn couldn’t sit back and do nothing. If the shoe were on the other foot, Eva would move mountains to find her.  As stupid as it sounded, Joelynn felt like she had no choice. She was going to have to start looking for clues on her own.

At Jacob’s House

“Madre! ¿Dónde estás?” Jacob called out when he got home, “Where are you mom?”

Lupita Torres smiled when she saw her son. She looked tired and frail. In his mind, there was no conceivable way that his mother was ever a prostitute. “I’m here Jacob. I just came back from the church. I was lighting a candle for Nessa.”

Nessa was Jacob’s older sister and a victim of the Demon King. Both he and his mother still felt the loss of her presence.

“Mom…I met with someone today and he told me something weird.”

Lupita Torres was walking into the kitchen, “I’m going to make tortillas Jacob, you want to eat fajitas tonight?”

“Don’t you want to know who I met with?”

Lupita turned around, “It can’t be someone good. You look enojado.” She began kneading her dough.

“It was Vincent McDaniels.”

She had her back to him and stood still. “Hijo, ¿por qué te encontraste con él?”

“Why did I meet with him? Because you lied to me…and you never lie to me. At least I thought you never did.”

She turned around and stared at her son whom she loved so dearly. “What did he say?”

“What do you think he said?”

“I don’t know. He’s an evil man so I wouldn’t trust anything that would come out of his mouth.”

“He said you used to be a prostitute…a hooker…that you sold yourself for money.”

Lupita’s face turned ashen. That was answer enough for Jacob. He knew his mother well enough to know by her reaction that Vincent McDaniels wasn’t lying. Jacob cursed under his breath as a cavalcade of emotions ran through him. All these years he had thought his mother was a God-fearing woman and a devout Catholic. Because of this, he kept his homosexuality a secret. He and Joelynn had concocted this scheme that the two of them were a couple when he was really gay. He didn’t want to disappoint his mother or her beliefs. He began laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

“So you used to go by the name Dulce?”

Lupita felt humiliated. She never wanted her children to find out about her past. “It’s not what you think…”

“How do you know what I think?” Jacob yelled. “You know what? I’m glad this happened. I’m glad I know the truth about you. I have a secret too mom. I’ve wanted to tell you for so long…but I didn’t. Joelynn’s not my girlfriend.”

Lupita was surprised but stayed quiet.

“I’ve never had a girlfriend because I don’t like girls. Do you understand what I’m saying? I’m gay!” Jacob watched his mom’s face start to crumple and he felt a bit better. He wanted to hurt her with his secret like her secret had hurt him. “I can see you approve,” he said sarcastically. “I’m gonna go see Joelynn. I don’t think I can be in this house for another moment with you. I might say something I regret.”

As soon as her son left the house, Lupita slid down against the counter and sat onto the floor. She had to explain to her son what had happened but doing so would hurt him even more. She thought of Vincent McDaniels. “God forgive me, but I think I’m going to have to kill a man.”

At Joelynn’s

Jacob arrived at Joelynn’s apartment upset and angry. Once Joelynn saw him, she knew something was wrong. “Jacob…what happened?”

“Joelynn…I don’t really want to talk about it right now. I just had an argument with my mom and told her I’m gay.”

“What!” Joelynn was shocked. This was a discussion that she and her best friend and been discussing since before they were teenagers. “Oh wow Jacob. How did it go? What did your mom say? Was she upset? Was she accepting? Tell me everything.”

Jacob sat down and Joelynn sat next to him on her green sofa. “She looked like she was going to cry but she didn’t say anything.”

Joelynn frowned, “Man, I thought your mom would totally be accepting. It’s why I’ve been trying to convince you to tell her. I’m so sorry Jacob.” Joelynn put an arm around her best friend and hugged him. He hugged her back and said, “Joelynn, why are we both going through so much right now? You with Eva and me with my mom?”

Joelynn shrugged. “I don’t know Jacob but I do have some good news.”

Jacob smiled against her shoulder. He took a deep breath and dramatically shook himself, “Okay girl, I’m done with my crap. I need to hear something good. Bring on the happy news.”

“I met a woman earlier today that may have a lead to find Eva!”

Jacob was happy for Joelynn. He knew how guilty she had been these past few months. The Demon King had abducted Joelynn and threatened to kill her if she didn’t leave Eva’s life. So Joelynn moved out and stopped having contact with her only family member, Eva. Even after the Demon King was killed, Joelynn still didn’t reach out to her cousin. Jacob assumed it was because she was still scared something would happen to her. The Demon King had somehow become this infamous character that had tons of fans and followers online. “That’s great Joelynn!”

“That’s not all…” Joelynn continued. “Officer Demspey called me to tell me that they think Eva is still alive.”

“What? Shut the hell up! That’s incredible!” He hugged Joelynn who was laughing with joy.

“Do they know where she’s at?”

Joelynn shook her head, “No he didn’t want to give me too many details but he said he would update me if anything else came up.”

Jacob frowned, “So now it’s just a waiting game.”

“Not exactly…”Joelynn hedged.

“Joelynn…” Jacob knew that tone of voice in his best friend. It usually meant she had something up her sleeve. “What are you planning to do?”

“Now Jacob…understand that I’m doing this for Eva.”

“Doing what?

“I met a woman named Trixie and she’s going to help me go undercover. She's a prostitute”

“Undercover?” Jacob asked. “Why would you need to go undercover? Undercover as what?”

“Before she went missing, Eva met with a hooker named Roxy. I want to find out if there’s any other information I can find out.”

Jacob was dumbstruck. “So…you’re going to pretend to be a hooker?  Why?”

“Why? What do you mean why? She’s my cousin…the only family I have. Of course I’m going to do everything I can to get her back!” Joelynn thought Jacob would support her…especially after what happened to his sister, Nessa.

“Are you stupid?”                                                                                                                   

“What?”

“Joelynn, you’re not the police! Why would you do that?”

“Because I want to do everything I possibly can to find my cousin!”

“So putting yourself in danger is going to help Eva? Do you know how stupid you sound right now?”

“Jacob!”

“Joelynn!” Jacob mocked. He was pissed. He couldn’t believe Joelynn. She was going to put herself in danger and right now she was the only person he felt he could depend on. It was like she was abandoning him too in a way. Worst of all…it involved prostitution. “I’m sorry Joelynn. I didn’t mean to call you stupid…I just don’t want anything to happen to you. I already lost Nessa. I don’t want to lose you too. You know you're more than a friend to me. You’re family. Please…please don’t do this.”

Joelynn took a deep breath. “I’m sorry Jacob. I understand what you’re saying but I have to do this for Eva. She’s my family.”

It felt like a punch in the gut to Jacob. “You do what you have to Joelynn…but don’t act like you’re doing this for Eva. You’re doing this for yourself. You feel guilty because you ditched her and you want to stop feeling that way. I wonder if you’ll eventually feel guilty for abandoning me too.”

“Jacob I’m not abandoning you…”

“Really? ‘Cuz that’s not how it feels to me. I’ll leave you to it.” Jacob got up and made his way out the door.

Joelynn tried to stop him but he still left. After he was gone, she leaned against her door and prayed that she was making the right choice.

Across Town

He laughed when he thought of the reaction the other online disciples must’ve had after he posted Eva’s picture. He looked across at Eva. She had been throwing up since he had killed that prostitute. If he thought about it, she had been dry heaving since he had taken her. He looked at her sleeping on the floor. She was lying on her side. He walked towards her and looked at her carefully. Physically, she looked the same. He bent over and listened to her steady breathing. He placed a hand on her stomach and felt a slight swell. Her eyes opened in fear.

He cursed and asked her, “Are you pregnant?”

***

***

Translations:

¿Dónde estás? - Where are you?

Enojado -  Angry

Hijo, ¿por qué te encontraste con él? – Son, why did you meet with him?

***