Chapter 12

He looked over at Nikki. Her breath caught in her throat. It wasn’t Landon, but he could easily pass as his brother. Landon never mentioned having a brother.
This guy had short hair. His nose was larger, and his eyes set closers together. He was nowhere as beautiful as her Landon. Since when was he “her Landon”?
When the doppelganger gave her a quizzical look she realized that she had stopped playing. She quickly started again and averted her eyes.
“Kevin.” Lil Foot greeted Landon look alike.
Nikki made a mental note to inquire with Landon about a possible relative named Kevin.
Lil Foot led Kevin out to the party, but not before Kevin glanced at her again.
Nikki looked around the room to make sure no one was near. She looked down at her dancing fingers and spoke softly. “Lil foot has his posse along with his grandmother’s friends out on the patio. He just greeted a guy named Kevin.”

Now what? Was she just supposed to sit here playing and wait? Were they going to bust in and arrest the gang member and his posse? Her anxiety was building. She recognized it and began taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down.

A few minutes later she realized that the police were not going to charge in, that she would have to finish the private concert and hope that she lived to leave this predicament.

Nikki spotted the goon enter the kitchen and pile a plate with a mountain of food. He looked over and winked at Nikki. “You play good.” He smiled. “Maybe we should have you over to play with some other instruments.” He showed a large toothy grin. He licked his upper lip and sauntered back into the front room.
Nikki made a face and tried to erase the image from her mind. “I hope you heard that.” She spoke down at her chest.

It wasn’t long before some of the elderly women grew tired and began departing.
Fantastic! Nikki thought, I should be done here in half an hour.
A bit later, Nanna, with the help of Lil’ Foot came back in. She smiled at Nikki. “You played beautifully, Dear. My friends enjoyed the music you played. We don’t get to listen to that type much anymore. Its refreshing that you younger people haven’t forgotten it.” She looked to Lil’ Foot. “Its much better than that loud rap music you listen to today.” She shook her head.
“Thank you, Nanna.” Nikki began putting some of her sheet music away.
“It’s time for my nap.” She told her. “I hope he brings you around again sometime.”
“Stay put.” Lil’ Foot instructed her. “I’ll be right back.” He then took Nanna’s arm. “Come on, Nanna, lets get you to bed.”
Nikki watched in wonderment as the gang leader, drug dealer and killer gently and lovingly guided is grandmother towards her bedroom.

She may have just spent two hours playing the piano, but that was for someone else. She started with just a few strokes of the keys and soon she was losing herself in a favorite piano concerto. Her eyes closed as she just played, the music swelling and waning as her fingers flickered over the ivories.

“Beautiful.” She heard Lil’ Foots voice. Her fingers never faltered although her heart did she nearly came out of her skin.

The drug dealing murderer stepped closer and beamed down at her. The scent of his cologne along with his own musk filed her nostrils. She was mad at herself for enjoying his smell.

Lil’ Foot pulled an envelope from a back pocket and dropped it on top of her sheet music. “Thank you for coming and playing today.” He smiled. “It meant a lot to my Nanna.”

“I like your Nanna.” She smiled up at him, her fingers slowing to a stop. ‘you not so much’ she thought.

“Nikki.” His smile slid away then was immediately replaced with a different one.

Nikki was just about to scream for help when unexpected words came from his mouth.

“I like you, Nikki.” He said. “I was wondering if you’d like to go out do dinner sometime.”

Nikki’s heart stopped. Her chest tightened. Did he really just ask her out on a date? This murderous drug dealer?

“I um, I have a boyfriend.” Nikki managed. Mentally she told herself to breathe.

The smile slid just a touch. “Of course, you do.” He replaced it with a different smile. “It was just a thought. If it doesn’t work out with him, let me know.”

The silence between them drew out. Each avoiding one another’s eye contact.

“Well, I really should be going.” Nikki stood up. The skirt of the dress brushed lightly across her thighs as it fell in place making her conscious of just how revealing it was. She gathered up her sheet music along with the envelope and shifted.

Lil’ Foot moved aside, and she very consciously made herself calmly walk to the front room.

The goon put down his sandwich and smiled at her. “You did good, Princess. It sounded real pretty.”

“Thank you. Can I have my purse back?” Nikki put a sickly-sweet lilt into her voice.

“It’s right there, Princess.” The goon pointed to the end of the table near the door. “No one touched it.”

Nikki opened it and quickly scanned its contents. It all seemed to be in order. She stuffed the envelope into it and swung it over her shoulder and tried not to seem in too much of a rush as she exited the quite common looking house.

She was shaking by the time she climbed into her car. She just spent a couple of hours in the presence of Lil’ Foot and survived. Not only that, but he had asked her out. What the hell kind of life was she living?

Finally, she started up her car and began driving it. She nearly forgot that she had to return to the police station. Remembering that she was wearing the bugged locket, she nearly tore it from her neck and tossed it onto the seat next to her.

Nikki took a deep breath as she got out of her car. She stiffened her back and stalked into the police station. Estrada was busy talking to several other officers when she walked in. He waved her over and guided her into a private room.

“You didn’t give us much to go on.” He grimaced.

“I did what you asked for.” Nikki growled. “I reported what I saw, who I saw and what I heard. I couldn’t help it if the piano was inside the house and all of the guests were outside.”

“Well we didn’t get any information that we could arrest him on. Did you see any drugs there?”

Nikki shook her head. “It was a fucking party for his Nanna.” She growled. “You think the little old biddies were out there snorting coke? Here’s your locket back.” She dropped it on the table.

The woman officer that had given it to her entered the room. “She may not have gotten anything for us today, but we can still use her.”

Nikki looked at the woman in shock. What the hell was she talking about, using her?

Estrada looked confused as well.

“He asked her out on a date.” The woman stated. She looked at Nikki. “I wonder if we could put you undercover as his girlfriend.”

“This isn’t no fucking twenty-one Jump Street.” Nikki swore. “I didn’t even want to do this today. I only did it so that you could arrest him so that I don’t have to look over my fucking shoulder all day every day. That is a big, fat, hairy-ass No.”

Estrada looked at the woman and shrugged as if saying ‘there you have it’.

“If you are done with me, I’m going home to take a very long shower.” Nikki got up and started for the door.

“Nikki.” The woman softened her voice. “I know what we are asking is a lot but think of how much safer the streets will be once we can get Lil’ Foot off from them.”

“No!” Nikki snapped and stormed out to her car.

She wanted to cry. Just cry and get all of the built-up emotion out of her system. She dialed Landon.

“Hey Nikki, what’s up? I was just thinking about you.”

“Landon.” Nikki nearly sobbed. She hated this part about being a girl. It was like all they did was cry.

Landon’s voice took on a different tone. “What is it? Are you alright?”

“Yes.” It didn’t sound confident. “I really just need someone to hold me.” It was nearly a whine.

“Calm down. Take a few deep breaths.” Landon instructed.

Nikki did so.

“Do you remember how to get to my house?” Landon asked.

“Yes.”

“Come on over and I’ll try to fix whatever is bothering you.”

Nikki nearly sniffled. “Okay.” Why did she sound like this? It was awful. She sounded like a simpering little girl who need attention.

Nikki hung up and pulled out of the police station. She looked down at what she was wearing and nearly started crying all over again. She couldn’t let Landon see her in this get up. At the red light she text him saying that she’d need to go home first.

Nikki parked her car in the drive and walked in the house.

“Wait a minute, young lady.” Aunt Mary’s voice called from the living room. “What the hell are you wearing?”

Nikki groaned. She really didn’t want to go over this now. “Not now, Aunt Mary.” She practically kicked off her shoes and ran upstairs.

Nikki let the dress slide to the floor and kicked it into the closet. She grabbed her robe and darted into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She sat on the toilet and peed and grunted as she pulled the adhesive bra off of her breasts. Nikki tossed them into the trash and climbed into a hot steaming shower.

A knock came at the door. “We need to have a talk, young lady.” Aunt Mary’s voice carried through the door and the steam.

Nikki chose to ignore it and decided she just needed to get the nervous sweat washed off and relax her muscles. Hopefully the memories of Lil’ Foot being close to her, his wonderful smell and his asking her out would also wash down the drain.

She only turned the shower off when it ran out of hot water and dried herself off. She slipped into her robe and padded into her bedroom to find Aunt Mary hanging up the dress that she had discarded.

“Have a seat, Nikki.”

“Fine.” Nikki grumbled. She plopped down on her bed and let out a deep breath. She hoped this wasn’t going to take too long, she really just wanted to be in Landon’s arms.

Aunt Mary’s eyes slid from the sexy dress to Nikki. “Care to explain how you came home wearing that when you left wearing your work outfit?”

How much should she tell her Aunt Mary? The job with Lil’ Foot was finished. The job with the police was also finished. She may not feel comfortable being Nick for a while with Lil’ Foot still looking for him.

“I think you had better have a seat.” Nikki told her.

Aunt Mary sat on the bed opposite and met Nikki’s eyes.

“I wasn’t at work at the mall today.” She began. Aunt Mary nodded knowingly. “I was asked to do a private concert at a private party.”

“Wearing a dress like that? What kind of party?

“It ended up being for a little old lady. Her grandson hired me to play background music.” Nikki continued. “I found out that the grandson was being investigated by the police and they asked that I wear a wire during my concert.” Aunt Mary looked to interrupt again, her face growing hot. Nikki put up her hand to forestall it. “I didn’t want to do it, but the police were pretty adamant. When I saw that dress, I thought that there would be no place to hide a wire.” Nikki explained. “Anyway, the police found a way to hide it and I did the concert. Nothing happened and all I wanted was to take a shower and go see Landon.”

Aunt Mary’s face was red. Her arms were crossed over her breasts and she waited a second or two longer to make sure that there wasn’t any more to the story before she burst. “You, Nikki. Are a high school student. The police had no right to coerce you that way and if you had come to me and told me, I would have said ‘No’. What were you thinking?”

“I just wanted to help catch this guy.” Nikki tried to justify.

“Who is this ‘guy’?”

“The guy who shot Vic.” Nikki dreaded telling her Aunt Mary that.

“Oh my God! And the police talked you into going under cover to play a concert for this guy?”

“I was already hired to play the party. I didn’t want him to suspect that I was a gendermorph and that I, as Nick, saw the whole thing.” Nikki began to really cry. “Why do you think I’ve been morphing so much? I’ve been stressing out!”

Aunt Mary stood up, crossed the room and sat down and held Nikki as she sobbed. “I’ve been so stressed out.”

“And I thought it was over this new, very cute guy, Landon.”

“He’s mine, Aunt Mary.” Nikki nearly growled.

“I’m so sorry, honey.” Aunt Mary tried to soothe. “I’m sure it has been very stressful. Why don’t you lay down for a bit? I think I’m going to have a serious talk with these police officers. What were their names?”

“Detective Estrada.” Nikki murmured. A nap did sound pretty good. It sounded better if she could be taking curled up to Landon’s chest. “I told Landon I would be over in a bit.”

“You aren’t going anywhere.” Aunt Mary ordered. “He can come over here, but you are not to leave this house for the rest of the day.”

“But?” Nikki whined.

“No.” Aunt Mary demanded. “He can come here.”

Aunt Mary stroked her damp hair and stood up. Nikki nearly collapsed into bed as Aunt Mary made her way down stairs.

“Landon?” She spoke into the phone. “I’m kinda grounded. I have to stay home today, but you can come over here.”

“I’ll be right over.” Landon assured her.

“Landon? Do you have a brother?”