Moral Degeneration

“Here it is,” Britta said as she pulled open the apartment door. It was close to midnight when we reached New York. Not the best part of town, but not the worst either. The apartment Britta and Frieda brought me to had a hipster vibe. The building looked like it had been an old warehouse, but was repurposed to be an apartment building. 

 

Tall ceilings, hardwood floors, large hanging doors on tracks, it was rather large for the outskirts of the city. At first I wondered what kind of friend they took me to meet, but it became obvious as I noticed a huge pile of cocaine on a glass coffee table. 

 

Behind the cocaine was a motherly looking woman. Darker skin, short black hair, completely nude she smiled wide at me as I approached. 

 

“Britta, Freddy, you made it,” she said. “And you brought a…boy?” 

 

“We did,” Britta said. Carrying a large duffel bag on her back she threw it next to the black woman. 

 

“We can talk about you later,” the older woman said with a wink then unzipped the duffel bag to reveal bricks of marijuana. 

 

“Should have none,” I grumbled. Of course they were drug mules. Hippies didn’t have the best moral guides, and they were rather friendly, but they didn’t act high. 

 

“Sorry,” Frieda said as she patted my shoulder. “Would have told you, but…”

 

“They know better not to,” the older woman said. I frowned, upset I was inadvertently a part of a smuggling scheme. That was until she zipped up the bag and pulled out some money. Throwing some to Britta and Frieda she also threw a stack to me. I guessed it was about $2,000. Not bad for 5 hours of driving. 

 

“What? That’s ours,” Britta whined looking at my stack. 

 

“Rules change when new people are shown my abode,” the older woman said. “He doesn’t seem too anxious. Money is a great silencer.”

 

“The best,” I said. I looked around the large apartment. There were rooms off to my left, and kitchen to the right. But I wasn’t in the city to dig into this. “So I’m gonna go.”

 

“What? No,” Frieda said, grabbing my arm. 

 

“Sorry, I came to New York on my own business,” I said. I eyed the older woman. “Got a name?”

 

“They call me Maeda,” she said. “Or Big Maeda.”

 

“Maeda, I’m Russ,” I said with a nod. “Got a big operation here it seems.”

 

“I dabble,” she said. 

 

“Ever need a long distance mule?” I asked. 

 

“How long?” She asked, peeking up. 

 

“Chicago or so. I could do something that far in a few days,” I said. I’d already smuggled a little. What was a little more? 

 

“Now that might be doable,” she said. Eyeing me she asked, “Lots of boys you know willing to get their hands dirty?”

 

“Just me,” I said. “Why?”

 

“I have lots of work,” she said. “Don’t have as good of help as I’d like.” She eyed Britta who blushed and looked down. 

 

“I’d be open to jobs,” I said. “Not so much now, but the future. But high risk, high reward. Not for no chump change.”

 

“I’m willing to pay the worth,” she said. I looked around but nodded. 

 

“I’ll be in touch,” I said. Turning around, Frieda was behind me. 

 

“Take me with you,” she said shyly. Her eyes batting slowly as she looked up at me. 

 

“Sorry, I have other business,” I said, tapping her cheek. “But I’ll be back.”

 

“H-how long,” she asked, fidgeting a little. 

 

“A few days, maybe less,” I said. “But when I come back I’m leaving. If you want to come with me, you should understand that.”

 

“Whatever,” she said. “Just uh don’t leave without me, okay?”

 

“Fine,” I said and moved past her. No one stopped me and I didn’t look back. As soon as I was in the elevator going down I let out a long breath. 

 

“Holy shit that was close,” I said. I’d been so tempted to just make myself at home in the apartment. I could see Maeda wouldn’t have been against it. There were a lot of rooms in the apartment and women I didn’t see. 

 

My week very easily could have turned into a drug fueled sex frenzy. Doing lines of coke off girls tits, staying awake for days on end, and never touching my true goal in the city. 

 

“I have to watch it,” I said, my hand shaking as I wiped sweat from my brow. “Gotta deliver the stuff. Not use it.”

 

The 2 girls very well could have brought me to my source of illegitimate revenue. With the auto shop almost mine I needed a source of income for me to launder. I had money, but not anything too crazy. 

 

I already planned to “sell” some of the muscle cars at the back of the shop. I’d give my girls cash. They’d buy the cars from me. Then they would “pay” me to fix them up. I’d claim the sale and should be able to launder a good $50,000 since I could claim they were worth a lot more than they actually were. I only had about $100,000 that needed to be laundered but I could do that easy enough over the next year at the shop. 

 

I needed people like Maeda. Underworld contacts to help provide me with the untraceable cash I needed. I didn’t mind taking risks. With my new agreement from the government Cooper trucking would be able to grow exponentially. 

 

If things happened like they did in my world, this world’s version of Amazon, would make trucking needs grow to new heights. If we could acquire more businesses and locations throughout the US we could own a lot of the market. 

 

With that I could put all of my legitimate cash into local businesses and stocks. Eventually eliminating the need to do shady work like stealing or smuggling. But for now I had to put the work in to make my dream life come true. There were plenty of risks of course, but life was about risks. Risks, rewards, and regret. 

I let out another sigh. A big part of me wanted to just forget this week and party hard. Forget my other girls, my other life, disappear for a while and let life happen. But that was the life of a man that died from a heart attack in his 50s. I needed to do better with this body. For me and my future kids. 

 

I walked out of the apartment. Getting into my car I simply drove around. I knew where my dad worked, but I needed a base of operations. For now though I wanted food. The lights of a diner ahead I parked at the front of ti. Not many people inside during the weekday. I sat at the counter. The red and white themed chairs were comfy as I twisted around waiting for the waitress. 

 

She was in her late teens or early twenties. Brown hair tied in a ponytail over her shoulder, she wore the normal attire of a small diner waitress. Red uniform, white apron. Very plain looks, she didn’t have much of a bust, but smiled brightly as she approached. 

“A boy?” She asked. “Don’t see many of you around.” 

“I am rather hard to find,” I said with a smile as she slid the menu to me.

“I bet. What can I get yah?” She asked.

“Coffee and…make it simple. Bacon, pancakes, a few eggs,” I said, handing her back the menu. 

“And a slice of pie,” she told me. 

“A pie?” 

“Yep,” she said. “I get commission on pies. You’re a boy, I think you want one.”

“Got me there,” I said. She wrote on her order pad and threw it on the stainless counter for the kitchen. An older woman grabbed it, eyed me, but began on the order right away. The waitress turned back and grabbed a piece of pie. Sliding it to me she leaned forward, smiling at me as I studied the food. 

“Pie first?”

“Yep,” she said. 

“Why’s that?” 

“You got pancakes coming. Trust me, you’d rather fill up on the pie than those,” she said. 

“Got me there…Rowan,” I said reading her nametag. I dug into the apple pie, and it was good. But pies were hard to screw up. 

“Ah, you know my name, but I don’t know yours,” she said. 

“Russ,” I said. “Meet a lot of boys working here?” 

“A couple,” she said. “They usually come when it’s busy though so I can’t pick their brains.”

“Just us here, pick away,” I said between bites. 

“Really?” She asked, flashing me a smile. I shrugged. “What’s it like being a boy?”

“That’s too ambiguous. Gotta be more specific,” I said. 

 

“Uhhh well shoot, I don’t know,” she said with a frown. “I guess I’m curious what you do for fun.”

“Me? I hunt and fish. Go driving. Random diners in the middle of the night,” I said. “You?”

“Ha, I wish I had a life outside this place,” she said. Taking a rag she rubbed it on the spotless counter. “Costs too much to live in the city.”

“Oh yeah, why not move?”

“I used to live outside of town. Up North with my folks,” she said with a sigh. “Moved here for the wrong reasons, but I do love the city life.” 

“Gunshots, lights on all the time, sirens everywhere?” I asked. 

“It’s not that bad,” she said. “What about you? Where do you live? I’m guessing you’re not a local”

“Minnesota,” I said. 

“That’s a long way from here. What are you doing here?” She asked. I finished my pie and she took the plate, but was back over to me. 

“It’s my spring break. I figured I might as well see the country,” I said.

“Alone?” She asked, wide eyed. I nodded. “Jeez, most boys I’ve met are shy little rabbits when I ask for their order. 

 

“Sounds right,” I said. “What can I say, I’m always up for new stuff.”

“Any plans in New York?” She asked. 

“I have an idea of a plan,” I said. “Research mainly.”

“Who are you-” The bell dinged and the chef yelled at her. Rowan turned around and grabbed my plates. I ate them hungrily and she did some more cleaning. At one point my coffee ran out and she refilled it. Sliding it back over to me our hands touched a beep sounded. 

It took a moment for me to register the sound, but then my wrist beeped again. My Lineage Bracelet was going off. I stared wide eyed at Rowan for a minute as she gave me a confused look. 

 

“You’re my sister?!” I practically yelled without meaning to. 

 

—

 

Rowan came out the back of the diner and I pushed off the wall. Walking over to her she frowned as she looked me up and down. “Still here, huh?” 

“Yep,” I said unashamedly. I’d tried to get her to talk to me after the revelation of our kinship, but she busied herself somewhere else. I reluctantly waited in my car until her relief started a little bit ago, and was waiting expectantly for her. 

 

“What do you want?” She asked, her hands in the red uniform pockets. 

“I don’t know. I’d like to get to know my sister,” I admitted. 

“We aren’t brother and sister,” she said.

“My bracelet says something different.”

“That doesn’t make us brother and sister,” she said, chewing her lip, much like I did. “Siblings are raised together.”

“So? We can still be siblings. Come on, please,” I said. “I want to get to know you.” 

“Why though?” She asked, her cheeks a little red. 

“Because you’re my sister,” I said as if that explained everything. “I never had one before. I…don’t know. I never really thought about it, but I’ve been dreading this bracelet going off so much. Now that it has, all I want to do is get to know you. Rowan, please?”

She continued chewing her lip. “Fine,” she said. “What do you want to know?” She stepped off the stoop and walked down the alley. I caught up to her, walking in stride. 

“Where are we going, for one,” I said.

“My apartment. It’s a ways away, but not too far on the subway,” she said.

“Let me drive you,” I said. “It’ll be quicker.”

She thought about it, but gave me a nod. I led her toward the car and finally she was impressed a little. “This is yours?” She asked, moving to the passenger seat. 

“Yep, rebuilt it myself,” I said. “Stick around, maybe I’ll let you drive it.” She rolled her eyes but got in. 

“Been living out of it?” She asked, checking out the back. 

“It’s very comfortable to sleep in,” I said. “Where are we going?” 

“That way,” she said and I followed her directions. The city was already getting busy despite the early hour, so we got to play a game of stop and go with the lights.

“You have any mom’s?” I asked. 

“My biological mom is kind of non-existent,” she admitted. Her hands clasped in her lap nervously, she twiddled her thumbs. “She was a big druggie. Kind of dropped me off at foster care one day.”

“Ouch, I know the feeling,” I said. My original mom basically did the same thing. 

“Really?” She asked. I nodded. “Well, I bounced around to a few homes, but ended up getting adopted by a nice older couple. They had a few of us girls. They’re nice, but are retired and don’t travel much.”

“When did you come to the city?” 

“As soon as I graduated,” she admitted. “I met a girl. The wrong kind. She talked me into shacking up with her. But it was one mistake after another.”

“Oh yeah? You’re between girls then?” I asked. 

“Yep,” she said, staring out the window as it began to rain. “I have a couple of roommates who aren’t so bad. We all work at the diner, so we never see each other since we always have different shifts.”

“That sucks,” I said. “So no significant other, no assets holding you down, nothing holding you here?” I asked. “That’s great. You can move in with me.”

“What?” She asked, finally turning to me. 

“Yeah, I live in this big place in Minnesota. There are plenty of rooms. I started this business too and we could use a front desk girl. It’ll be great,” I said with all seriousness. “Quit your job, dissolve your lease, and come live with me.” 

“I-I can’t do that,” she said quickly. 

“Why?” I asked. 

“I have a life here. I have 3 months on my lease too. I couldn’t leave the girl-” 

“I’ll pay it,” I said. 

“What?”

“I’ll pay what you owe on the lease,” I said. I pulled out the $2,000 I got from Maeda. “Take this. Give it to the landlord. Grab what you need and we can go have some fun.”

She was quiet for a long time. I looked between the road and her multiple times. Eventually she said, “You’re serious, aren’t you?” 

“Yep,” I said. “Come on, Rowan. No offense, but your life sounds like crap. Working nights at a diner? Barely scraping by? This city is nice, but it’s not the world. Come with me. You’re my sister. I’ll take care of you. I can get you a job, a place to stay, whatever you need.” 

“What do you get out of this?” She asked, a tear in her eye. 

“I get to know you,” I said. “My own sister. We can have fights, and help each other. And I’m surprised to admit how nice it is to meet a girl I have no attraction to whatsoever. Like, come on, this is fate.”

“Fate?” She whispered, some more tears coming to her eye. “Uh this is me,” she said, wiping her eye as she sniffed some snot up. I pulled over and turned to face her. 

“Rowan, I am only here for a week. But I have money. Go up there, get what you need. I’m going to go get a hotel. You stay there and relax. I’ll give you some spending money. You can buy clothes, order food in, whatever the hell you want to do. I can see it on you, you’re exhausted. Not sleepy tired, but bags under your eyes that don’t go away because being tired is a part of you now, tired. Just forget all this here. I’ll help you make a life somewhere else.”

“But why?” She asked, wiping more tears away. “I just don’t understand why you would want to help me?”

“Because you’re my sister,” I said. “That’s the only reason I need.” 

 

Her mouth scrunched up trying to hold back a sob. As she studied me I gave her my most sincere smile. “Fine…I’ll trust you,” she said. “But I need more than this.” She flashed the $2k at me.

“How much do you need?” I asked with a smile. Ready to spend whatever it took to get her to go with me. I didn’t want a sister before, but I sure as shit wanted one now.