Illusion of Luck (18 page)

“
Are you kidding? I’m Lucky
Larry. I always win. I haven’t played in a long time because I
didn’t need the money. But I knew I could win again whenever I
needed to.”

Larry exited Highway 59 and pulled in at a
seedy looking motel and parked in front of the office.

He handcuffed Cynthia to the steering
wheel.

“
Don’t let anybody see the
cuffs—unless you want them to die.”

“
What are we doing
here?”

“
I met a very interesting
woman online. She’s meeting us here. She’s very hot—you’ll like
her. And she’s gonna
love
your body.” He got out of
the car and walked into the office.

Cynthia felt ill. What kind
of a sleazy tramp would come to this roach motel to have sex with
two strangers? She wondered how much Larry was paying her. And what
horrible things would Cynthia be forced to do tonight just to stay
alive? Would she ever be the same? And
if
she survived it, would Greg
still want her?

**********

Chaucey opened the dusty package of fishnet
thigh highs she had ordered online two years earlier. She couldn’t
remember what had possessed her to buy them. Perhaps it was just
to see how they made her feel.

She had always been beautiful. In high
school she could have had any boy she wanted. But they were all so
immature. Art school was not much better.

She had been working
full-time for three years when she ran into a good-looking guy in a
Blockbuster. Normally she would have walked right past him. But
when she saw that he was renting
Sense
and Sensibility
she introduced
herself.

“
Great movie,” she
said.

“
Yes, it is.”

“
Got anybody to watch it
with?”

“
Uh…”

“
My name is Chaucey.” She
shook his hand.

“
Hi. I’m
Timothy.”

They went to his place to watch the movie.
He was entranced by her beauty. She loved his quiet intellect.

Both families approved of their coupledom.
Everybody thought the doctor and the graphic designer were made for
each other.

Sexually, Chaucey gave
Timothy everything he could have ever hoped for. But emotionally,
she always held back a part of herself. He thought she would
finally open up to him. But she never did. And it wasn’t that she
didn’t
want
to. She just couldn’t.

Her parents had been so disappointed when
they learned of the breakup. She tried to save the relationship.
She even posed for a sexy photo and mailed it to him with a plea to
give it one more try. He had never responded.

After that, she had gone back into her
shell. It was only a year ago that she had allowed a friend into
her life. Crow had been a great buddy to hang out with. But now he
wanted more. He wanted love.

Her feelings for him were strong, but they
were not romantic. How could she ever love a man of his…low
intelligence? She hated herself for even thinking those thoughts.
But it was the one thing Crow lacked. And it was the thing she
desired most.

Barry Undermine was an intellectual—a
talented novelist. She imagined being held in his arms, melting in
the warmth of his eloquent prose.

When she had walked out on Crow after his
declaration of love, and returned to her apartment, she had found a
message waiting from Mr. Undermine. He had located her website and
sent her an email. She had been shocked and excited.

You are cordially invited to join me for an
evening of poetry reading, wine, and lovemaking.

Location: Room 109 at Lovelong Motel in
Sugar Land

Time: 9 PM

Sincerely, Barry Undermine

She had responded immediately. Yes, it would
be her honor to join him.

She would dazzle him with her sexuality,
just in case he was not sufficiently impressed with her mind.
Chaucey had never dated a man who was smarter than her. This might
be a first, she thought.

**********

Crow heard Chaucey come out of her
apartment. He jumped up from the couch and ran to the door. Then he
quietly opened it and peeked out just in time to see her walking
into the elevator.

He wondered why she was dressed like that.
He’d never seen her wear fishnet stockings, high heels, and a mini
skirt. She did look very sexy. But she didn’t look like his
Chaucey.

**********

“
Where could they be?” said
Greg.

“
Who knows?” said
Sandy.

“
How long have we been
sitting here?”

“
You just asked me that.
About twenty minutes.”

“
I wonder if Rebecca found
anything on his web page.”

“
She’ll call as soon as she
does. Come on, Buddy—it’s only 8:45. And it’s gonna be a long night
if you don’t settle down a little bit. Try to think about something
else for a while.”

“
I’ll try.”

“
Good.”

Greg had parked the Bonneville in a
poorly-lit back corner of the lot where it wouldn’t be noticed.

“
So, what’s the deal with
you and Rebecca?” said Greg.

“
What do you
mean?”

“
Well, you two seem pretty
close.”

“
I wouldn’t say that. I
mean, yeah, I like her. And I guess she likes me. But we’re like
oil and water, Man. And you can’t mix oil and water.”

“
Sure, you can.”

“
Huh?”

“
You take water…add
oil…throw in some vinegar and spices and—“

“—
you’re turning us into a
salad dressing?”

“
I saw you hugging her on
the bed, Sandy.”

“…
You did?”

“
Yeah. And I didn’t see her
pushing you away.”

“
She was asleep.”

“
Oh.”

“
I mean—I
think
she
was.”

“
What if you’re wrong? What
if she was awake and she
wanted
you to snuggle with
her…

Sandy looked straight ahead.

“…
and play with her breast?”
said Greg.

“
You
saw
that?”

Greg laughed. “No. I
couldn’t see
anything
. It was too dark in
the room, you knucklehead. But knowing you, I just
figured.”

“
Okay, yeah, you caught me.
That’s exactly what I was doing. I’m crazy about her.”

“
That’s great. I’m happy for
you.”

“
No—I don’t know if it’s
great. I can’t tell how
she
feels about
me
.”

“
Well, I didn’t hear her
yelling at you or slapping you.”

“
Yeah. That surprised me. I
still had my arm around her right before she got up.”

“
See? She
does
like
you.”

Sandy’s cell phone rang. He put it on
speakerphone.

“
You got
something?”

“
I found out where Chaucey
lives,” said Rebecca.

“
Where?”

“
In Sugar Land. I think that
might be where Larry went.”

“
Why? Did he post another
comment?” said Greg.

“
No. But in his
last
comment it sure
sounded like he wanted to meet her. And since he’s not at
his
place, maybe he
went to
hers
.”

“
Do you have her address?”
said Sandy.

“
Yeah. I looked up the
domain name owner info for her website and got it that way. I think
we should go down there right now. It’s about an hour
drive.”

“
But we might miss him,”
said Greg. “What if he comes back here while we’re
gone?”

“
If he’s not down there we
can come right back,” said Sandy.

“
Yeah, okay,” said Greg.
“We’ll come pick you up, Rebecca.”

Chapter
24

Larry opened the door to Room 110 and
flipped the light switch. “Not too bad.”

Yeah, thought Cynthia, if
you’re a
roach
.

Larry checked his watch. “It’s almost 9:00.
Come over here.”

He led her to the king size bed and turned
on the lamp.

“
Lay down on the bed,” he
said as he took the handcuffs out of his jacket pocket.

“
Are those really
necessary?”

“
I’m afraid so, Honey. Until
I think I can trust you.”

He had planned to cuff her to the bedrail,
but saw a hole in the box springs and decided to hook onto a spring
instead. He removed the Bible, telephone book, and complimentary
notepad from the nightstand drawer and put them on the floor where
she couldn’t reach them. Then he unplugged the phone and put it in
a chair across the room.

He opened the door that led to the adjoining
room—109, and said, “Just relax and keep quiet.” Then he turned off
the overhead light and went outside. He unlocked the door to Room
109, went in.

Larry stuck his head in
Cynthia’s room and said, “I hope you know it’s really
you
I want. But I
have needs. I just hope this won’t make you
too
jealous.” He
grinned.

He left both doors open just a crack to be
sure his lovely redhead could hear him having sex in the next room.
Soon, she’d want to join them.

There was a knock at Door 109.

Larry opened the door. “You must be
Chaucey.”

“
And you’re
Barry?”

“
Yes. Come on in.” Larry
could already feel the blood gushing to his crotch. She was
dressed like a hooker—the most beautiful hooker he’d ever
seen.

“
I just love your writing.
You’re so talented.”

“
Thank you. You’re pretty
good at turning a phrase yourself.”

“
I try. My mother is a
literature professor, so I guess it comes sort of naturally. She
even named me after Chaucer.”

“
I wondered about that when
you kept quoting Chaucer in your comments.”

“
But how lame is
that?
For a mother
to give her daughter a British man’s name?”

“
Very
lame, if you’re name
was
Chaucer
.
But
Chaucey
is a beautiful name.”

She decided to leave it at that. He didn’t
need to know that her real name was Geoffrey Chaucer Reed. “Thank
you.” She smiled. “In your email you said something about
wine.”

“
Oh, yeah. I’m sorry, but I
didn’t have time to pick up any.”

“
Well, that’s okay—as long
as you read some poetry. I’m really looking forward to
that.”

He took her hands in his. “And up he rist,
and by the wenche he crepte.” (And he rose and sneaked up on the
girl).

Chaucey immediately
recognized it as a quote from Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales: The Reeves Tale
.

He drew her closer. “This wenche lay
uprighte, and faste slepte.” (This girl lay across the bed, fast
asleep.)

His voice both soothed and excited her.

“
Til he so ny was, er she
myghte espie.” (Until he was so close before she saw him.) He put
his left arm around her and began to unbutton her
blouse.

She began to feel uneasy. What was she doing
here? She had envisioned a tasteful recitation of lovely poetry,
sipping fine wine from a chalice, falling into her poet’s arms in
passionate love. But this was not love. This was dirty and
tawdry.

“
That it had been to late
for to crie.” (That it was too late for her to cry out for help.)
He opened her blouse and began to run his fingers across the top of
her lacy, low-cut bra.

“
Wait. I don’t know if
I—“

“—
and shortly for to seyn,
they were aton.” (And soon they were one.)

“
I’m sorry, Barry. I
shouldn’t have come here.”

“
It’s okay, Baby. I’ll be
gentle.”

“
No. I really don’t want to
do this.” She tried to push him away.

“
Barry,” yelled Cynthia from
the other room. “I want you, Baby.”

Chaucey was startled. “You’ve got another
woman here?”

“
If you’re trying to make me
jealous, it’s working,” said Cynthia. “Come on, Honey. I got naked
for you and I’m ready to go.”

Larry released Chaucey. “Hang on. I’ll be
right back.”

Larry opened the doors and went into the
other room. He shut the second door behind him so Chaucey wouldn’t
hear the conversation. Then he realized Cynthia had turned off the
lamp. He was standing in the dark. “I know you’re lying. So, just
shut up and let me have my fun.”

“
I’m not lying. I really am
naked. Come feel for yourself.”

Larry followed the wall to
the night stand and felt for the lamp. When he turned it on, he
barely had time to see that she was
not
naked before something flew
at his face. It was Cynthia’s shoe—and her foot was in it. There
was no time to react.