Page 52 of I Am Sin

Dragon…

Come in…

I’m waiting for you…

All you have to do is grab the door handle…

Open the door…

I’m waiting…waiting…waiting…

Come in, Dragon…

You know you want to…

Want to…

Want to…

I force myself to pass, to ignore the yearning to walk in, grab a six-pack of some mellow IPA, and drown myself in it.

How long have I been walking? I don’t have a clue. I pull out my phone. It’s after midnight now, and I’ve walked all through downtown Denver. I’m getting into the seedy area toward the north.

A young lady stops me in my path. “Looking for a date?”

She’s a pretty young thing. I’m not even sure she’s of age.

Blond hair, smoking-hot body, but there’s something worn about her. Her face is so made up that she looks like a fucking clown.

“No,” I say.

She walks alongside me. “You sure? I can make you forget your troubles.”

If only.

I’d grab her, take her roughly behind the building, and pay her whatever she asked if I thought that were actually true.

“No,” I say again.

Then she steps in front of me, her eyes wide and pleading. “I’ve got to bring in some cash tonight. If I don’t…”

If she doesn’t, what? Her pimp will beat the shit out of her?

“No.”

She grabs my arm. “Please. I have to.”

God, she looks so much like…

No. I don’t know what Griffin would look like as an adult. This woman has blond hair and blue eyes, but I know nothing after that. Still, the look in the young woman’s eyes pulls at me. It’s one of desperation—a look I know well.

I pull out my wallet. I still have some cash. I don’t want this woman to get beat up because I’m turning her down. “Look,” I tell her. “This is for you. I’m not going to do anything with you, but take this. Maybe it will save you for tonight. But after that, get the hell out of here. Go back to school. You’re better than this.”

She takes the money from me, and then her eyes widen. She turns tail and scampers off into a nearby alley.

I turn around. Headlights are on me. A car.

A police car.