Whiskey River, Drown my Soul

Chapter Nine

"No", Rev said for the third time as Luke continued to argue why his plan was the right course of action.

"I don't take no for an answer", Luke said, sounding exasperated.

"That's very rapey of you", I spoke up.

He turned his annoyed face to me, still immaculately handsome in spite of it.

"You're not putting my girl in a brothel", Rev said sternly. "It's not an option".

"She's not actually having sex with anyone", Luke pointed out again.

"How are you going to handle that?", Rev snapped. "You can't put her in there and then expect for nothing to happen. If she refuses, she's going to draw suspicions. It's not an option".

"Rev's right", I agreed. "I can't be there and not be doing what they do. That won't work. What's another angle I can use? They won't trust social workers or cops. I need to be on their level".

"We know a lot of them have been recruited from a battered women's shelter", Clint mused. "Those aren't the women we're interested in getting information from, but that could be an in".

"If I can form a friendship, bridge a gap that way...". I started considering some options.

"That might work", I agreed. I turned to Rev.

"You're going to have to hit me, though. I need bruises".

Rev's face was horrified. "Absolutely not!", he roared.

"If I'm a battered woman, I need to look battered", I pointed out. "I've lived it. I can handle it. It's not a big deal".

"It's a big deal to me, ain't it!?!?", he scowled, sounding scandalized.

"I'll do it", Luke said quietly.

We both whipped our heads around.

"The fuck you will!", Rev snarled.

"I won't hurt her badly", Luke said, "but she's right. It's gotta be believable. And you're right. You shouldn't hurt her, so I'll do it".

"Wait, you're coming with us?", I realized, internally cringing.

"Yes. I'm supervising until I have a read on how you work".

"Great", I said, sarcastically. "When can we leave?"

"Right now, if we're all in agreement?", Luke asked, looking around at Clint, Rev, and I.

We all nodded.

"Excellent. Let's go".

...........................................................................

Rev's insides were churning. He thought their plan was a good one and he knew that Paige could play a battered woman because she had been one...with Jay and occasionally with Brad. She knew about manipulations, narcissism, and control because she lived it. She would be able to gain trust from those women, and they would tell her what she needed to know.

Specifically, they needed to find out who was in charge of landing the young women in the network of brothels across Texas. The brothels were connected, that much was clear, but the how wasn't. Who was benefiting at the top? Paige's job was to figure that out. Rev was good with that and was happy about the location, but he felt sick about Luke hitting her. He knew it needed to be done but it still made him cringe. He hoped Luke wouldn't get any pleasure from doing it, either. He didn't think he was that vindictive, but the man clearly didn't like her...yet. Everyone came around eventually with his girl.