The New Adventures of Amber!

[Oscar DeBarataria]

I don't know why, but when Paula left I had an immediate urge to engage in some financial protection. So I used my bank's app to freeze our account.

And just after I did, I got a text from Amber complaining that she couldn't use her credit card. I texted her back telling her that I'm concerned about the account getting hacked or somebody using stolen checks to clean us out.

"Just get Kim to front you," I messaged her, "and I'll pay her back."

I just knew that Paula had done something. Paula knew where I kept the business checks. I looked, and none were missing, but all you need is the account and routing numbers and you can do a lot of damage.

Half an hour later, my phone rang. It was Kim.

"Amber's missing," she said.

"What do you mean, missing?"

"I mean, she went to use the ladies' room at Forever 21 and she never came back."

"Kim, I thought we agreed you wouldn't let her out of your sight."

"I know. I'm sorry. I swear, she wasn't gone long at all."

So I hopped in the car and went over to the mall, and Kim and I scoured the place.

Amber had vanished without a trace.

Back at the house...

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"Oscar, I'm so sorry. I don't know what to say."

"It's not your fault, Kim. This is Cole's doing."

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"What are you going to do?"

"Go over there and get her, obviously."

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"Wait. That's what you did last time, right?"

"Yeah. You know it is."

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"It seems like he'd be prepared for that. I'd be really careful if I were you, based on what you told me."

"Well, I can't just do nothing."

Just then the phone rang. It was Rachel. I told her about Amber.

"I'm on the way over," she said. "I have news on Cole from my connections."

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"Oscar, I hate to say it - if you go to war with Dan Cole, you're going to get hurt."

"Why would you say that to me, Kim?"

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"Because I care about you. And I think you could be in a lot of danger."

"You know something you're not telling me."

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"My father had a friend who was in the construction business a few years ago, and Cole approached him about merging the companies. My dad's friend wouldn't sell. For two months Cole kept harassing him about selling. And then his pretty young wife just disappeared."

"Sounds familiar."

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"My dad's friend went to see Cole. They fought. He beat Cole up. But his wife wasn't there. The police came and arrested Terry. And then he hung himself in jail, or so they say."

"Jesus."

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"I know. And I'm really scared that something like that could happen now."

"Well, what would you have me do, Kim?"

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"I don't know."

"I can't file a missing person's report until tomorrow, so going to the cops right now isn't available. But I guess I need to do that."

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"Are you sure you want to go that route?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

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"Because she's a Factory Girl, Oscar. They won't treat it as a missing person. They'll treat it as lost goods."

"Oh, shit. You might be right."

[Oscar DeBarataria]

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"And if you accuse Cole, you're accusing him of theft, not kidnapping."

"Legally...dammit. That's true. I can't go to the cops at all, can I?"

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"Cole had Terry killed in the city jail, Oscar. He's got connections with the police. I can imagine you going to the cops and immediately you're on the six o'clock news as the guy who's accusing one of the leading citizens in town of stealing his sex doll. It would make you the laughingstock of the whole state."

"That's a fair point, but..."

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"Oscar, that would kill your business."

"Actually it won't."

I told Kim about the sale.

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"That's great, Oscar. But look - it's an even more compelling reason that you not overreact to this."

"You're remarkably calm. I thought Amber was your friend."

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"She IS my friend. But Oscar, she said something to me when we were at lunch. She said that she'd screwed up with her crush on Paula and that she had lost your trust. She said it was just a matter of time before you got rid of her."

"That's ridiculous, Kim."

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"Oscar, it's what she believed. So while I think Cole had something to do with this, what if Amber just left?"

"Impossible."

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"She was pretty depressed, Oscar. Maybe she just panicked and took off."

"I'd never be able to live with myself if I'd driven her away. I can't believe that would have happened."

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"Sometimes it does."

"Kim, a week ago everything was perfect!"

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"Well, honey, things change. But look - I'm here for you, OK? I know you're hurting, and I don't like seeing you like this. Whatever I can do to help, consider it done."

"Thanks, Kim. You're a good friend."

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"If I was a better friend, I would have brought your girl home. I'm really sorry, Oscar."

"Ohhh, man. What a shit situation."

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"OK, but think of it this way. You sold your business! You're a rich man now. There are so many great things in front of you!"

"Yeah, but I don't want to think of all that right now. The point was to be able to enjoy it with Amber."

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"Well, maybe you can replace her and start over."

"I guess that's an option. I don't know."

Then Rachel came in.

[Oscar DeBarataria]

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"I guess I've been here enough that I don't need to knock."

"Hey, Rachel."

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"Anything new? Oh, hi Kim."

"Hi, Rachel," said Kim.

"No," I said. "Kim's just talking me down from doing anything about this."

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"Well, you know that's not my style. I think you need to know what Cole's about, though."

"I know he's a very, very dangerous guy."

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"Uh, yeah! How does human trafficking strike you?"

"Really?"

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"Really. He's plugged into a network of scumbags who move people into prostitution all over the country."

"Still think I shouldn't do anything, Kim?"

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"That's...disturbing."

"Rachel, I know Cole is behind this."

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"I'd be surprised if he isn't. And if you want to go to war, I'm with you."

"Good."

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"It's going to be expensive, though. My guys? They don't come cheap."

"Money isn't an object."

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"It isn't?"

"I sold the company. I'm flush."

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"Well, all right then. War it is."

"Umm," said Kim, "can I just be the voice of reason here?"

"Yes, Kim," I said.

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"OK, I just want to say that you'd better make sure you aren't wrong before you go off on this crusade. Remember my story."

"This is about saving Amber, Kim."

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"OK, I know. But I want to save you, too."

"Let me take care of that," said Rachel. "We're going to fix this - and we'll fix Cole, if he had anything to do with it."

"I'll bet he did, Rache," I said.

She nodded.

[Oscar DeBarataria]

"Rachel, what's up with the creepy setting? I'm assuming this is good news for you to drag me out to this beat-up old warehouse."

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"Oh, yeah. It's good news. I think you're going to be happy. We had a break in the Amber case and you're going to get to meet the guy who took her."

"Nice! What's the story?"

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"He was laying in wait for her at the mall, and he dragged her out of that dressing room through a window."

"Seriously?"

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"Yep. My guy hacked into the security cameras and caught it. Then we got the license plate on the truck he put her in, ran the plate and nailed him."

"Guy used his own car for a kidnapping?"

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"Criminals tend not to be all that smart, you know."

"So is this a Dan Cole thing?"

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"We're about to find out."

"All right then. By the way, I like your hair. Not sure I'm going to get used to you as a blonde any time soon, though."

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"Yeah? You really like it?"

"It's different, for sure. Makes you look more fun. So do you have a guy or something?"

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"Nah. Not really. Just thought I'd change some things up and experiment with my look a little."

"Right. I notice that you're wearing some different black things today."

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"Hahaha! You know I can't quit wearing black. But hey - the last time you saw me I was wearing brown, so..."

"Yeah, that was a real explosion of color coming from you."

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"You're funny. OK, are you ready for this guy?"

"I guess so. Is that him?"

Rachel nodded, and...

"Looks like Tank and Delbert worked him over pretty good. Hey, man...you awake?"

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"Yeah, homes. You gonna let me get outta here?"

"Not really. Where's my girl?"

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"She gone, bro. Sorry."

"Not good enough. Rachel, should we call Tank and Delbert back in?"

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"Man, you can beat on me all you want. Your girl ain't comin' back. I can't give her to you."

"These are very bad answers. They displease me greatly. I think it's dangerous for you to keep stalling on me."

[Oscar DeBarataria]

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"I ain't stalling, homes. For real, I don't know where she is. The job was to take her, and then turn her over to the middle man, and he's the one took her where she was goin'."

"Rachel, this freaking chump is giving me a headache."

"Who's the middle man?" Rachel asked.

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"Lady, you don't wanna know. You can't handle him, yo."

"Where is he?" I cut in. "We'll decide whether we can handle him or not."

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"I don't know where he is. All I know is they call him El Tigre, and he's real bad."

"How do you not know where he is? You gave Amber to him!"

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"Yeah, homes - in a Home Depot parkin' lot. Then he took her and she long gone."

"I feel like I should do something terrible to this guy," I said.

"Who hired you?" asked Rachel.

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"I dunno, lady," he said. "The way it works is I never know who hires me. They send me a file and I go pick up the girl, and then I make my drop."

"How do you get the file?"

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"It gets posted in a video game chat, yo. And usually it's a real girl. Somebody musta really wanted your bitch, homes. I never had a contract for a factory girl before."

"So that's it? This is really all the information you have for us?"

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"That's it, homes. I swear."

"What about Dan Cole?" asked Rachel. "He have anything to do with this?"

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"I never said nothing about Dan Cole, lady. Don't put me with that cabron."

"You've done work for him before," I said.

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"Like maybe, homes! I work with the middle man, like I said."

"Well, this is unsatisfying," I said.

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"Hey homes, that's it. It's all I got. Really, I would tell you more. And I'm not even mad about gettin' beat on - it's like a regular hazard in this job."

"Listen to this fucking guy. 'No hard feelings?' Are you kidding me right now?"

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"Hey, man, I'm sorry. You seem like a good dude. I just do what the job is, y'know?"

"What do you want us to do with him?" Rachel asked.

"I really don't care, Rache. Maybe give him another day and see if his memory improves?"

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"Not a bad idea," she said.

"Hey, homes!" said the kidnapper. "You can't leave me like this! I gotta go take a leak, yo!"

"So take a leak," i said. "It's not like you're going to stink any worse."

[Oscar DeBarataria]

The disappointing interaction with the kidnapper having made me more depressed, I headed home to an empty house. Kim called and asked how I was doing, and I told her what we'd found out.

"Oh, damn," she said. "I should have gone into that dressing room with her."

"If you had, they might have gotten you, too. This guy was a pro kidnapper who apparently works for a ring of human traffickers. Apparently they're branching out to Factory Girls now."

"Oh, Oscar. I'm so sorry. Do you need anything? Can I make you dinner? I can come over..."

"It's OK, Kim. I kinda think I want to be alone tonight."

"Are you sure you should be alone now?"

"No, but I'm really not feeling very social."

"OK. Call me if you change your mind."

Then Rachel texted me. "Our friend doesn't seem to have anything else to offer us," her message said. "Should we kick him free?"

"Get him to confess to something else," I said, "and tape it and then give him to the cops."

"Good call," she said. "We're on it."

But a few hours later, I got another message. It was an email, with "From Amber" in the subject line, that contained a link to a video.

And it was, in fact, Amber.

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"Hey honey, they let me send you a message, so I want you to know that I'm OK. And I'm really sorry this happened."

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"I don't know where I am and I don't know what they want to do to me. They made me completely change my hair; I hope you can recognize me."

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"So I just want to tell you that I love you so much. Oh my God, I can't even describe how much. And I'm so sorry about the mistakes I made. Dan Cole, Paula, all of it. I really let you down and I didn't get a chance to make it up to you, and that's my biggest regret."

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"But I have to tell you something else, OK? Which is that they're watching you, or at least they told me they are. And they know about the guy you caught. It made them really mad that you did that, and they broke my fingers for it."

My eyes glazed over with rage at that.

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"So as much as I would love to be in your arms again, honey, I really think you need to let me go. OK? Just remember the good times we had."

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"Because whatever happens, they can't take those memories away."

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"And they can't take away my love for you."

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"But Oscar, you should move on from me. OK? I'm letting you go, because I don't think you can find me. And I don't think you should. You could get hurt. Other people around you could get hurt. I could get hurt."

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"You're such a wonderful man. You can get any girl you want. I'm just honored that it was me for the time we had."

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"So I guess this is goodbye, my love. I want you to live your best life for me, OK? Be happy, and just remember the good times."

There was an unintelligible voice off camera...

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"I didn't say anything! Please! Don't..."

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"OK, Oscar. I've got to go! I love you. Live a great life! Goodbye, honey!"

And then she was gone.

[4891d]

Damn!!!

[NoFrillsmoreFrills]

from interesting to exciting to mysterious.
Will it end well. Or will the reader be shocked at the end, is it even the end -- we hope not! The good always wins (more often)

[GraFXman]

• 
  
  Hot Stuff !!
  
  
  You should put these over on the “Dolls in Bondage” thread..
  
  viewtopic.php?t=22716&hilit=dolls+in+bondage&start=720
  
  

[Oscar DeBarataria]

After that video came in, I was pretty much inconsolable.

After all, how do you respond to something like that? Redouble your efforts to find the people who took her, and the consequences could be worse than a few broken fingers.

But on the other hand, it was clear that whoever had her was not just going to hold her indefinitely. If Rachel was right, and Rachel tended to be right, we were dealing with a ring of sex traffickers and almost certainly people affiliated with one of the cartels. Getting her out from under these people was going to be all but impossible.

Doing it surgically, in a way that wouldn't arouse suspicion and lead to retaliation either before or after the fact?

Not all but impossible. Inconceivable.

I was out of pocket for a couple of days after I saw the video. Rachel finally broke my isolation.

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"What is wrong with you? I've been calling and texting you for two days! We have to make some decisions about what we're going to do."

"I think the decision has been made for us."

I opened up the video and gave her my phone.

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"Oh, shit. Oscar, I can't tell you how sorry I am."

"I've been sitting here for two days trying to decide whether I ought to go out in a blaze of glory trying to rescue Amber, or just accept that I'm never going to see her again."

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"I'm a blaze of glory kind of girl, but in this case, it does seem kind of pointless.'"

"How did you get in here, anyway? Isn't the door locked?"

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"You think picking an ordinary door lock isn't the first thing the Company trained me to do? Besides, I needed to make sure you're ok."

"Well, I'm not dead. Even though I've definitely been thinking some dark thoughts."

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"And I'm also a dark thoughts kind of girl, but honestly, Oscar, they aren't really appropriate for you."

"You don't think so?"

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"Hell, no. You have far too much going for you for that."

"Everybody seems to be telling me that, but how do I live with myself if I don't fight for her?"

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"OK, move over."

So I did, and she laid down next to me.

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"Look, this is really hard. But what we have to keep in mind is that Amber let you go. She told you to move on."

"Yeah, right. Under duress she did that."

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"But the problem is, honey, that duress isn't going away."

"You're saying that keeping at it is only going to make for more suffering."

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"It already has."

"What's that mean?"

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"Nothing. Just that broken fingers on poor Amber isn't the only consequence of us grabbing old Nacho and turning him into the cops."

"What happened, Rachel?"

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"Tank is in the hospital. He got hit by a car."

"Damn!"

[Oscar DeBarataria]

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"And I got fired this morning."

"You got fired? How is..."

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"That company I work for? Turns out they're connected with the cartels. I should have known. But these people have the ability to reach out and touch just about anybody."

"I can't believe this is happening."

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"Look, if you want to pursue this to the ends of the earth I'm coming with you. I'm in. But we should be under no illusions - it ends for us Butch and Sundance style."

"Jeez."

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"What?"

"Dark thoughts like that, and you finally showed up here wearing something other than black."

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"Hahaha! I know, right? But it's almost St. Paddy's day, and I've got some Irish in me, so..."

"Look, Rache, I want to thank you for everything you've done. You're a really good friend."

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"You're very welcome, Oscar."

"No, really. This whole thing, costing you your job and all - its too much."

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"It's not too much. This is the good fight, you realize that? Most people go through their whole lives and they never once put anything at risk for a worthy cause. I can't say that's living at all."

"Yeah, but you really liked that job."

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"I know. You got me fired, you dick!"

"Hahaha! What are you gonna do?"

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"I've been thinking maybe I'll get in to security consulting. Been wanting to do that for a while anyway."

"Well, if you need some capital to get started, I'll invest some of my stash with you."

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"Cool. It'll be fun working with you again."

"So how does a bad-ass hot chick like you not have a guy?"

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"That's simple, Oscar. I'm not sweet like Amber is. I have sharp edges. Hanging around with me is like petting a porcupine."

"Well, you are pretty disagreeable. I'll give you that."

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"Hah! You have no idea. So my marriage was just loveless. We sucked the joy out of each other in six months. So honestly, since then I'm just trying to survive. Maybe I'm too damaged to have a relationship."

"Oh, I don't think that's true."

[Oscar DeBarataria]

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"You're sweet. But I think you should get up. You aren't going to solve anything laying in bed playing Hamlet about what you're going to do."

"Fine. OK."

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"Come on, I'll take you to lunch."

"How are you going to buy me lunch? You don't even have a job!"

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"You're right. You're taking me to lunch."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Unemployed chick comes over here looking for a sugar daddy!"

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"Yeah, as if. I should be so lucky!"

"Wait, what?"

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"I was just saying..."

"Did you just let slip that you're, y'know, attracted to me?"

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"Oh, no. NO! That would be..."

"Wrong, but Rachel - tell me the truth. How many guys have you dated since you met me?"

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"Umm, I don't know."

"How many, Rachel?"

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"One or two."

"Give me names."

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"I...can't."

"So this whole time, helping with Paula and then with Amber, you've what? Had designs on me?"

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"No. God, no. You were taken! ARE taken! I would never, EVER cross that line."

"So far as I can tell, you haven't."

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"But I'll absolutely admit that it crossed my mind. And I'm sorry for that."

"This must have been hard, then. Fighting off a conflict of interest."

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"No. It isn't. My daddy always told me, put others first. So that's what I'm doing."

"You're a good girl, Rachel. And I guess I'm blind that I completely missed your feelings for me."

She just smiled.

"Because you're a good guy, Oscar," she said. "Come on, let's get out of here. I have an idea forming in my mind that I want to kick around with you."

[4891d]

A great team!

[Oscar DeBarataria]

A great team!

I've got to give Rachel credit - she's a lot prettier than I perceived her to be, particularly with that glamorous blonde hair she's sporting.

[Oscar DeBarataria]

A wasted post before the next entry starts on the next page...