Still In Love With Her (13 page)

“Ok. Will meet u,”
I write.

I hug myself because it’s chilly outside. Robert is already out here, leaning against the wall and puffing on a cigarette. The collar of his black leather jacket is flipped up. He’s a long, lean drink of something addictive. He smirks at me upon eye contact, drops his cigarette, and smashes it with his foot. One look at him, and I remember the other night. His skills in the bedroom are unmatched, even by Vince.

“What are you doing in London?” I ask.

He smirks. “No small talk first?”
 

Due to our recent encounter, I’m not as repulsed by his smirk as I used to be. It’s suggestive but honest. He is the embodiment of sensual sex.
 

“How are you?” I say brusquely.

“I’ve been better. I’m in London because no one knows what the hell to do without you.”

I grimace as I hug myself tighter. “And they called
you
to the rescue?” My tone is sarcastic.

“Are you cold?” he asks.

“That’s obvious.”

“My room isn’t too far from here.”

I snort. “I’m not going to your room.”

He laughs. “I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t try anything. I have a confession.” He pauses and waits for my reaction.
 

I crumple my eyebrows.
 

“I can’t stop thinking about what we did—all of it.”

“So how long are you going to stand there with your jacket on while I’m freezing?” I shake a finger at him. “That’s my number-one issue with you. You aren’t chivalrous.”

Robert takes off his jacket and drapes it around my shoulders. “Now do you want to go back to my room?”

 
“You’re also impossible, and look at this…” I raise my ring finger. At the moment, the beautiful jewelry is as light as an eyelash on my finger.

“I thought I saw you take that off.”

“Vince put it back on.”

“He personally put it on your finger?”

I nod.
 

Robert tosses his head back and yells, “Fuck! Fucking Vince!”

I’m pretty surprised by his reaction.
 

“Am I supposed to be in love with you for the rest of my life?”

“You don’t love me. You were coming on to my assistant right in front of me,” I say.

“Then you don’t trust me? Is that why you’re choosing Vince?”

“No, I don’t trust you, but that’s not why I’m choosing to do whatever the hell I have to do to keep Vince. I just love him, that’s all.”

“But you and me, we have chemistry. You really don’t want more of the other night?”

I laugh bitterly. “That’s what you were counting on?”

He shrugs.

“Yeah, you are an amazing lay. I climaxed so much I probably would’ve gone blind if you’d kept it up. But Robert, I’m not the kind of woman who chases after a prime fuck. Vince is in my heart. He’s in my pores. I can’t breathe without him.”

Robert and I turn at the same time to look at a group of people who are huddled together and smoking about five feet away.

He puts an arm around me. “Let’s walk.”

We’re moving along before I can acquiesce, which is something else about him that makes my panties dry. We pass a pub that I’ve been to before. They have the tastiest “chips,” which are french fries in American-speak. I’m hungry again.
 

“If I ask you a question, would you answer honestly?” he asks.

“I always do.”

“There’s not even a tiny bit of you that wants more of Monday night?” He measures a small amount of air with two fingers. “Just this much?”

I glance at him sideways. “You know what I think?”

“Is this the part where you try to tell me what’s wrong with me?”

“I think you’re like a child surrounded by all of your toys. They’re piled up to the ceiling. But all you want is Vince’s rattle because it’s his favorite thing to play with. Monroe has the same problem, except she loves me way too much to make a pass at my boyfriend.”

We listen to our feet shuffling up the sidewalk. Horns honk. People pass us.
 

“He said he and I are finished,” Robert says.

“Vince said you and him are done?”

“Yeah,” he barely says.
 

I picture what we were doing when he walked in on us. “I’m surprised he hasn’t left me out in the rain. Gosh, you were… And I was…” I shake my head, trying to rid myself of the memory.

Robert draws me against his hard body. “It’ll be worth it if you come back to my room with me.”

“And then what?”

“Let’s do it differently. Let’s make love.”

“And then what?”

He sighs. “What the fuck?”

I grunt. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I don’t want ever to put that look on Vince’s face again.”

Robert stares into my eyes as if he trying to change my mind. Finally he nods. “All right. Me neither.”

“Good. We’re on the same page.”

“Well, do you want to go grab a drink, at least?”

“I’m working.”

“Are you really going through with this quitting shit?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Then I’ll be seeing a lot less of you.”

“No one else to mind-fuck?” I ask.

He chuckles. “There’s Mavis.”

I lean back to make sure he sees the warning in my expression. “If you screw with her, I’ll hang you by your balls and throw hot coals at you.”
 

He flexes his eyebrows. “Promise?”

“You’re impossible.”
 

His body shakes when he laughs, and it dawns on me that we’re still embracing.
 

“Plus as soon as we become profitable, I’m going to make her an offer she can’t refuse,” I say.

“Then I’ll double your offer.”

I feel my face crumple. “You suck.”

“Oh, that’s way too easy.”

We look into each other’s eyes, smiling.

“A kiss before we say good-bye?” he asks.

“What the hell,” I say.
 

Robert comes in slowly as if he’s savoring the moment. Our lips lock. His tongue tastes like whisky and cigarettes. I don’t feel weak in the knees, and my head doesn’t swim. I like Robert more than I did before we smashed, but I just don’t love him. We step away from each other, I undrape his jacket from around me, and hand it back.
 

“Do you want to come in and join us? Monroe’s upstairs. I think it’s about time you two get better acquainted.”

He takes his jacket. “I’m not interested in your friend, Maggie.” He sounds as though I’ve insulted him.

“I’m not offering her as a consolation prize.”

“She’s not my type.”

“No? I think you two are perfect for each other.”

“Then you’re wrong. Plus I have something brewing at Hokey-Pokey around the corner.” He points his thumb over his shoulder.

I’m not surprised that he was trying to catch one fish while having another on the line.

“Well…” I say.

“Okay…”

There’s nothing more to say but good-bye. I feel as though I’ve got this part of my life under control for the time being. Vince can trust that Robert is completely out of my system.
 

I skip up all six flights of stairs, and I’m only slightly winded when I reach the top. Francesca and her manager, Aiden, are seated around the table. Her thin legs, which are confined by tight blue jeans, are draped over Delta’s lap. An attractive young man wearing a black business suit sits close to Delta. The guy’s hair is slicked back, and he’s talking and gesturing wildly. Whatever he’s saying must be pretty interesting because he has the attention of everyone except the two dark-haired, slender girls with super-red lipstick who are standing near Aiden’s shoulder and humping the air out of rhythm. The girls appear to be identical twins. Monroe sits in the middle of the group. The key people turn their attention toward me when I sit next to the guy in the suit. I’m momentarily caught off guard by how good he smells.
 

“Where the hell did you go?” Monroe asks.

“I had to take care of something.”

Her eyes narrow curiously. I can tell that she wants to ask a follow-up question, but now isn’t the time or place.

“Did you take care of it?” Delta asks.

“I did. It looks like the two of you have gotten better acquainted. Are we ready to move forward?” I ask.

Monroe rolls her eyes, which is a clue that there’s a bump in the road.
 

Delta slides Francesca off his lap. “Time to unclench those ass cheeks of yours, Maggie.” He gestures to the server. “The special brew!”

The server glances at me then brings a bottle of wine from under his cart. It’s already uncapped, and white vapor snakes out of the neck.

“I’ll loosen up when I know we have a deal,” I say.

Francesca studies my chest as though she can see right through my shirt. “So you’re Maggie?”

I glance at my tits to make sure they’re still covered. “I am.”

“I didn’t know you were so…” She chews on her bottom lip and finishes undressing me with her eyes. Francesca is wearing a see-through blouse with no bra, and her nipples are right in Delta’s face.

I shift uncomfortably. “Did Monroe explain—”

“Get a drink in her mouth now!” Delta says.

The server hands me a glass filled with clear, greenish liquid. I set it on the table. People like Delta and Francesca are used to others jumping through hoops, but I’m not their trained monkey.

“I’m not drinking this until our deal is done.” My tone says that I mean business.

Delta motions to the server. The guy pulls out another silver tray.

Francesca recoils as Delta fills the indentations and sniffs two lines of white powder. “You’re a fucking junkie?”

“No,” he says as though he’s not sure.

“The fuck you’re not. No way am I getting involved with a junkie.”
 

Monroe and I are shocked. We would’ve never guessed Francesca has such an aversion to blow. I figure it’s a common practice in the thespian culture.

“Hey, I can attest that he only does it when he parties,” Monroe says.

“How often does he party?” Francesca’s English accent isn’t very strong, since she was born and raised in Connecticut, but it’s pronounced enough to make her sound condescending. When Monroe doesn’t answer, Francesca says, “Right… I want to improve my image, not flush it down the loo.”

I raise a hand to halt Monroe from saying whatever she was going to say. “You have a valid point,” I say to Francesca.

“Don’t call me a fucking junkie!” Delta says.

“But coke up your nose is so nineteen-seventy done,” I say. “Marijuana is legal in two U.S. states, and it doesn’t bake your brain the same way other narcotics do.” I focus on Francesca. “What if he replaced one with the other?”

“I can handle my shit,” Delta says, sniffing and wiping his nose.

“For now, you can,” I say before Monroe can respond. “See that’s the thing about ‘junkies.’ You have it under control until one day it controls you. I know you feel invincible and shit, but you’re a fucking human being. Just like me.” I point at the twins. “Just like them. You will fall. How far is up to you. So if you want me to change your fucking image, then you’re going to do what I say next… rehab.”

Monroe is speechless. We’re very different in that I’m ready to walk. For so many reasons, I want Delta to get over himself and follow the program. We cannot begin to change his image if he’s calling the shots and telling us what he will and won’t do. I’ve gotten to him. I can tell because I’ve never seen him look so angry.
 

“Then it’s a fucking negative,” he says. “I’m not going to fucking rehab.”

I down the drink in the glass. The contents are so strong that it stings my brain. My eyes water and my nose burns, but I show no signs of that. I stand up, and my head is spinning. “We’ll annul the contract,” I say to Monroe.

“Where are you going?” Francesca asks.

“Back to the hotel. I’m wasting my time here.” I feel the air dancing on my skin.

Delta has gone from frowning to smirking. “Sit your ass down, Maggie. I’ll give you one stint in rehab. I pick the place.” He turns to Francesca. “How does that sound?”

She points her chin at me. “Throw in a night with her, and you have a deal.”

“There will be no nights with me. Tell her, Delta.” The look on my face dares her to object.

Delta turns the corners of his mouth down and shakes his head. “She’s asexual.”

Francesca studies me intensely. “He goes to rehab in Newport. It’s where I went.” She lifts two fingers. “Two years sober.”

I blink slowly. “Then we have a deal?”
 

Delta whispers something to Francesca, and they grin at me.

“I’m in,” Francesca says.

The room is spinning. Delta and Francesca engage in a slobbery kiss to seal the deal. My head is spiraling up a vortex, and I’m flooded by happy feelings. We’re signing our second client, I’ve resolved my issues with Robert, and I’m ready to…

Francesca takes my hand. “I want to dance!”
 

I’m ready to dance! I’m splitting the crowd. I can’t feel my feet hit the floor. Perhaps I’m walking on air. Disco lights spray my face. Vince is my partner. His smile is made of diamonds, and his eyes are like emeralds.

I beam. “You’re here.”
 

He’s shirtless. I rest my cheek on his chest. His skin feels like velvet.

“Didn’t I promise that I’d never leave you?” he says.

“Yes, you did, and I always believed you.”

We shuffle to a slow, rhythmic, sexy song. Our eyes are fastened on each other. His hands are like vines caressing my waist. They grow up to my breasts and down to my hips. I close my eyes as the vines sweep around my thighs and my clit. I fall into him. Wetness and warmth covers my nipples. I moan.

“Vince…” I sigh.

“No, no, no…” Monroe’s voice fills my head. “Not like this.”

The sensations dissolve. I’m sitting, and the world is moving in slow motion. Where did Vince go? The spotlight illuminates a single glass of wine.

“Open your eyes, Mags!” Monroe says.

It’s time to toast to success. Liquid warms my throat. The dark-haired twins grind on each other. A head bobs against Delta’s lap. It’s the man with the slick hair. Delta is panting, his eyes are hooded, and he’s staring at me. A Marilyn Monroe lookalike plays with the hem of her dress as she changes poses.