She had him eating out of the palm of her hand. He was like her little lap dog. He would have done just about anything for her. Gone to the ends of the earth for her. Taken the gun, counted to three and pulled the trigger for her. All for the promise of one night. The promise of one night of heat and sweat and naked abandon. All for the promise of a fantasy that she could never, not even on her best day, live up to. But that didn't matter. What did matter was that this promise, although a lie, heck probably because it was a lie, was her power. And she was going to milk it for all it was worth.
Thomas asked her if she wanted another drink. Checking the time, Nicki decided against it. It was almost three. It was getting to be that time. She shook her head. Placed a hand on Thomas' chest.
“I'm good. How about we get out of her?”
Nicki could have sworn she felt Thomas' heart do a somersault in his chest. It was time to cash in on that cheque. And about time too. He was beginning to wonder.
“Yeah, sure. I was actually thinking the same thing.” he replied as nonchalantly as possible. “Do you want to check out another joint or just head home?”
best to sound as if you're not rushing to get her home, Thomas had learned from past experience. Best to let her think that you're doing what she wants to do. Things go a whole lot smoother that way.
Nicki allowed herself a smile, Thomas was so transparent it was actually kind of funny. Let him think that he's in control, letting me think that I'm in control, Nicki said to herself.
“No, let's go home.” She said to Thomas who was already on his feet. Nicki held out an arm so Thomas could help her up. Once up, she leaned up against him, giving him a feel of her body. If he noticed the stares he was getting, Thomas didn't let on. And the fact is, he did notice the stares. He took them, however, for stares of envy and jealousy and not for what they really were; stares of forbearance and from some, pity.
He had been after this for quite sometime, of course he was going to see what he wanted to see. Almost two years now. Well, one year really. She had dropped off of the radar for a while. Some people had said that she had been pregnant. had been shipped off to the village so that she could have the kid away from prying eyes and wagging tongues. And even if it was true, Thomas couldn't have cared less, the girl looked good. And to him that's all that mattered. Of course there had been whispers of something else but Thomas hadn't entertained those at all. Hearsay was hearsay and that was all it was. Until he heard it from a reliable source, Thomas had decided he wasn't going to listen to all of the chatter. The thing was, could he really afford to not to? He was running quite the risk; what if they were right? Yeah, but then what if they were wrong? But then every night, every girl was a risk, how was this any different?
Taking Nicki's hand, Thomas led her past the curious looks and the ill disguised stares. Through the entrance slash exit and into the night. The night air was a huge relief after the heat of the club.
“how close is your car?” Nicki asked, snuggling up against Thomas. Sure the night air was a relief but it also was kind of chilly.
“Right over there.” Thomas replied, pointing at a green corona not fifty meters away.
They reached the car, Thomas opened his side first, leaned in and then opened the passenger side for Nicki. She slid in next to Thomas who had already started up the car, closed the door behind her and they were off.
As they sped through the mostly empty streets, Thomas turned on the stereo, Usher's “DJ got us falling in love again” blasting through the speakers.
“Whoooo!” Nicki exclaimed, bouncing her seat. “I love this song!”
Ten minutes and three songs later and Thomas was pulling up in front of his gate. Climbing out of the car, Thomas opened the gate, jumped back into the car and drove into the compound, parking a few feet away from the waiting veranda.
Tossing Nicki the keys, Thomas told her to open up while he went and locked up the gate.
He found her in the bedroom admiring the paintings on the wall.
“Did you do these?” she asked, gesturing at them.
“Yup.” Thomas nodded, “You like?”
“I love.” Nicki replied, throwing Thomas a smile.
Thomas walked up to her.
“Just how much do you love them? Enough to offer the artist a little something for all of his hard work?”
He wrapped his arms around Nicki's waist and pulled her until her front was pressed up against his.
Nicki raised an eyebrow, a mischievous smile dancing around her lips.
“I think I can rustle up something...”
The first time he used protection. The second time too. The third time though...Nicki coaxed him into forgetting about it.
“We're just going to end up doing it again anyway. A waste of time and latex, I say. Unless of course you don't trust me...”
and just like that, Nicki got Thomas to get rid of what was left of his sense of caution.
Three months later and Thomas found out the hard way that all the whispers, all the chatter, all the indications that he had tried so hard to ignore had all been true...and Nicki? He never heard from her again. One night is what he had wanted and one night is what he had gotten. That and something from her that he would take to his grave. A grave that, as he sat in that doctor's office holding his head wandering just what the fuck he was going to do, loomed a whole lot bigger and a whole lot closer than it did moments before.
BANG!
...don't you trust me?
ReplyDeleteThat question has laid the foundation for all kinds of traps over the centuries. It should be banned.