Dark knight, p.7
Dark Knight, page 7
“Thank you. I hope I can use you as a testimonial.”
“You can. As a matter of fact, I’ll help you get started when you’re ready to set up your business. You seem to know what you’re doing. How did you get into this massage therapy field?”
“My little sister has scoliosis, so I started rubbing her back at nights. Pretty soon, I was massaging my dad’s feet after he had a long day. Then when my mother sprained her wrist badly, I pitched in to help her recovery. I realised I was good at it and took a few evening courses after school. I practised on friends, family, neighbours and just about anyone who would be my guinea pig. When I left high school I decided to try for a degree in business management and a diploma in massage therapy. I think people respect you a little more when you have a piece of paper hanging on the wall.”
“A piece of paper just opens the door. It’s what you do afterwards that determines if the door stays open.” I pull the towel around my buttocks as I stand.
“That will be three fifty please,” she smiles and holds out her hand.
“Three fifty!?,” I feign surprise, “You used my lotion, my towel, my bed and you want full payment? Two.”
“Three sixty.”
“I think you skipped the day they taught negotiation skills. You’re supposed to come down, not go up.”
“I said what I said. Three seventy and not a penny less.” She sticks her finger in my chest, and I laugh. I think about the last time I had laughed this much and felt so light and free. It has been a very long time. Aurora’s presence and her effect on me is refreshing.
“I’ll write you a check.”
“Thank you,” she drops her eyes, the smile slipping off her face. When she looks at me again. She looks almost sad.
“Mr. Dra- I mean Adrian, thank you for all that you’ve done for me so far. I-I’ve never been shot at before. I hate to think what would have happened if you and your friend hadn’t been there.”
I take her hands and look into her eyes. “What did you see that night, Aurora? I need to know.”
She worries her lip, looking away, but not before I see the tears form. I grip her chin and force her to look at me once again.
“What did you see?” I press and I know the moment she cracks when fear shadows her face.
“I saw a man being murdered,” she whispers, her voice breaking, and a tear escapes.
Chapter 14
Aurora
The instance the words leave my mouth the heavy knot in my stomach unravels. I stare at him, waiting for him to respond. I do not know what I expected his reaction to be, but I certainly did not expect him to be so nonchalant.
“That’s a given, Aurora. You wouldn’t be running scared if you’d seen someone just taking a piss that night. What I want to know is who did you see?”
“Who did I see? The alley was dark, there was nothing to see,” I reply.
“Bullshit, He scoffs, “Someone wants you dead because you saw nothing? Did you see the man that was killed?”
“I-I couldn’t see him clearly. But I know they shot him in the head. He was kneeling. I didn’t hear any talking. He was just kneeling, and they shot him.”
“Was he tied up? Can you remember where his hands were?” Adrian asks.
“They looked like they were tied.”
“Were they behind him or in front of him?” He questions.
I look up at him incredulously. “Does it really matter?”
“It does. In front of or behind?” he demands.
“Behind.”
His face turns to ice, and a muscle in his jaw jumping as he grits his teeth. He breathes in harshly and sits on the side of the bed. He sits upright, placing his hands on his knees and stares at the wall in front of him.
“Tell me everything that happened up to the time you ran in front of my car.”
I scowl, tired of this interrogation, “But you know what happened.”
“Tell me again,” Adrian insists.
I sigh and recount that night. “I was working the late shift at the bar. We closed at one thirty and my co-worker and I were cleaning up until nearly three. I left the bar and went to get a couple of things before heading to my bus stop. I got my stuff and was on my way to my bus stop. I look down the alley and saw three men, on kneeling on the ground. The tall one shot him. The short one came after me. I ran to the only place I could think of where there would be people. I ran through and was just about to wonder what my next move would be when I saw a bus. I ran into the street to try to catch it. And you know the rest.”
“Can you describe the man who chased you?”
“No,” I shake my head.
“What about the shooter? Can you identify him?”
“He was taller than the other guy, and what looked like a scar on his face but I’m not sure since it was dark,” I answer without hesitation.
“Are you telling the truth, Aurora?”
“Yes, Adrian. That’s the truth,” I reply.
He stares at me and for the first time I stare back with no hint of nervousness. He opens his mouth to say something but then his phone rings.
“Hello.” He pauses and listens. “Okay.”
He stands and turns to me. “Your stuff is here. Stay here.”
I watch as he leaves the room in only the towel. I had deliberately avoided massaging his buttocks and hope he does not notice. But after the kiss he planted on me, and despite his assurance of being considerate of my inexperience, I felt tingling and warmth and wetness in places I would prefer not to encourage with both of us so scantily clad.
My being a virgin is not the result of some moral or religious belief. I just have not found the person with whom I have that chemistry and click. But the way Adrian makes me feel, could he be the one?
“Good job,” I mutter to myself sarcastically. “You’re going to give it up to a mafia boss. You must like living on the dangerous side of life. Sheesh!”
I sit on the edge of the bed as I wait. I hear voices moving back and forth then eventually they fade away. I look up as the door opens and Adrian reappears.
“Come take a look and let me know if they brought everything.”
I brush past him in the doorway and make my way to the guestroom. I have some mixed emotions as I look at my suitcase standing in the middle of the room. There are a few boxes beside it with some other things.
I sit on the floor and go through everything. My clothes, shoes, cosmetics, food and other things from the cupboards, laptop, linen, airbed and books. Everything is all there – except the painting. But that is the least. I look up at a knock on the door and find Adrian in the doorway.
“Everything intact?”
“Yes,” I nod.
“Are you sure? They can go back if they missed anything you know.”
“Thank you. But no. it’s all good.” I assure him.
“Okay.”
I watch him leave, noticing he has dressed once again in sweats and a t-shirt. I walk over and close the door then go back to my belongings.
I begin hanging clothes in the closet and already know that I am going to have a ton of space left over. This room alone would have swallowed my apartment and had space left over. I find a pair of shorts, some underwear and a t-shirt and change out of the shirt. I also get to work on my hair now that I have my products. It is not until I hear my phone ringing that I look up from the task of twisting my hair. It is the bar owner. Shit!
“Hello.”
“Aurora! How far away are you sweetie. You’re not usually late.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Cameron. An emergency has come up suddenly and I have to quit,” I say.
“Is everything okay? Your family is good?”
“They are fine, but I had to move in a rush and everything. I’m so sorry I didn’t get the chance to call and tell you. Things happened so quickly.”
“Are you okay?” I can hear the fatherly concern in his voice.
“I am,” I lie.
“Okay. Let’s not use the word quit. Take some time off and sort out whatever you need to in the interim. Your job will still be here in two weeks.”
“Oh! Thank you, Mr. Cameron!”
“No problem.”
The call ends and I almost burst into tears. I bolster the courage to make another call, this time to the restaurant. They express their regret that I had to quit and told me that if I ever needed to come back, they would find a space for me.
I sit looking at my reflection as I ponder my life. Just this morning I had been over the moon about the prospect of finding a business space. This evening I am living with a dangerous man while on the run from some very bad people. It is cray how life can flip in an instant. But I do not intend to remain with Adrian forever. A week or two tops until things blow over and these men forget about me. In the meantime, I will need to figure out a new apartment as my lease would have been up at the end of this month anyway. I will take Mr. Cameron up on his offer, and instead of getting a second job, I will pour my time into building the business. Yes, that sounds like a plan.
But first, I need to get through graduation in a few weeks. Everything else can come afterward.
Chapter 15
Adrian
“The landlord called after the guys got back and he checked the apartment. They’re went to pick up a few more things,” Dmitri says as he gobbles down a sandwich.
“But she said she got everything.”
“Maybe she didn’t want to be a bother.” He takes a gulp of soda and burps. “But what are we going to do with her?”
“She saw Andrei being murdered and based on this morning we know that whoever did it was able to track her down to within a block of her house. She’s going to be here indefinitely whether she likes it or not,” I say.
“Okay.” He crushes his sandwich wrapper and finishes off the soda. “What’s on the agenda tonight?”
“The Carreras shipment should be coming in as we speak. With all the trouble and leaks we’ve been having we’ve changed ports for this one.”
“Oh?”
“Marcos is letting us bring our stuff into their dock.” I twist my face at the mention of their name. With everything that has been happening with Aurora, I have yet to address Andrei’s murder with them.
“After we get our shipment then we can deal with the other thing, right?” Dmitri asks. It is as though he is in my head.
I nod. “Troy is on it and we’ll meet him there. I’ll come back here and check on my guest. Afterwards we can hit the clubs and check in there. The usual Saturday night routine more or less.”
“Okay. Let me know when you’re ready to move.”
When Dmitri leaves, I turn my attention back to the ledger in front of me. I go through it one more time. Time passes by and when I check the clock, I note that it is nearly six. I have not seen or heard a peep out of Aurora since I checked on her earlier. I stand and stretch before closing the ledger. I lock my office and walk to her door. I knock softly. Silence. I turn the knob slowly and stick my head inside.
The pile of things in the middle of the room is gone and Aurora is lying on the bed. I walk over and look down at her.
She has her hair covered with a sort of satin bonnet and she has changed into shorts and a t-shirt. She is lying on her side with her head pillowed on her arms and one leg pulled up at a right angle.
I clench my jaw as my cock stirs. Earlier, it had been so tempting to pull her astride me, pull up the shirt and shift my towel. A virgin. I cannot recall ever having been with one. Heck, even when I lost my own it was with someone with experience. But virgin or not, I know I want Aurora – badly. And it will just be a matter of time. She responds to me well. A little more direction and charming and she will be ready. This makes me even more determined to protect her at all costs.
I stroke her cheek lightly before pulling a blanket up around her. I close the blackout drapes and leave the room quietly.
In another hour, Dmitri comes up and I am ready to go. I scribble a note for Aurora letting her know I will be back in a few hours, and she is free to help herself to anything from the kitchen. I make sure to add that she is not to try leaving the apartment. It occurs to me belatedly that I am going to have to get her a guard for the times I am not around.
I strap on my ankle piece and tug my pant leg down.
“Let’s go.” I tell Dmitri.
We are halfway to the Marcos port when Troy calls. “Adrian, tell me that you’re on your way here.”
“I’m a couple blocks away. Everything okay with the shipment?” I ask.
“Yeah. But we’ve got a situation. Oscar is here and it’s not pretty.” He hangs up abruptly.
When we arrive, I see Troy and my men milling around outside. The Marcos crew is standing on the other side of the parking lot. I get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I look up to find Oscar bearing down on me. He looks furious.
“What the fuck are you playing at, Adrian!? My goddamned nephew!?” Oscar barks.
I hear the pain in his voice and look at him puzzled. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Without another word, he storms onto the dock. With a nod to my men, I follow, knowing that every one of my men within a hundred-foot radius has his weapon drawn and ready for anything. I do not doubt that Oscar’s men have done the same. I pull my piece out as well.
Oscar comes to a stop beside an open box. I peer inside to find a young guy who seems to be barely out of his teens. He is holding a red rose. The Drakos’ calling card! I hide my shock well as I look up at everyone looking at Oscar and me.
“Who’s this?” I ask.
"Why don’t you ask whichever one of your sons of bitches you ordered to do this!” Oscar snarls.
I look at Oscar, scowling. “You can’t be serious. Oscar, sweetheart, we’re working together. why would I do something like this?”
“You tell me!” Oscar fumes, “The only reason I don’t fucking waste you right now is that it will turn into a fucking bloodbath in here and we don’t operate on sensationalism. I thought we had an agreement, Adrian. We’re supposed to be merging, not dividing.”
I look at him coldly. “Oh yeah? Care to explain this?” I pull out my phone and pull up the picture I took of Andrei. I watch his face carefully.
“See anything familiar?”
His eye twitch slightly and I know he has seen the purple ribbon. He drops his voice. “I swear, Adrian. We didn’t do this.”
“The same way we didn’t do this,” I point to the box at our feet.
“Well, someone did, and if it wasn’t you and it wasn’t me, then who?”
I slip my phone back into my pocket before patting his cheek. “That, my friend, is the million-dollar question. Unless one of us is lying, and I know it isn’t me.”
I step back and beckon for Troy, all the while keeping my eyes on Oscar.
“Let’s get our merchandise and get out of here. There will be a lodgement to your account as promised for the rental of your port, Marcos. Sorry about your nephew. But at least you have something to bury. I had to cremate mine.” I tell him.
I turn and walk away and wait at the parking lot until the last of my trucks have left the dock. I am the last to leave. I sit in silence, but my mind is going at light speed, vacillating through a range of emotions. There is a slow anger raging within and I struggle to remain calm.
The audacity of Oscar to accuse me of killing his nephew then to deny any involvement in Andrei’s death. I trust my men. And our internal communication is such that if one person stepped in dog shit it is logged somewhere, much more someone offing Marcos’ nephew. And he has some nerve denying any involvement in Andrei’s death.
When we arrive at our warehouse, I pull Troy aside.
“You saw what went down, right?”
He nods. “We need to figure out what’s going on. Like you said, someone is lying.”
“And in this world, you know how it goes. How do we even know if it’s really his nephew? He could have found some random dude and set it up to make it look like we did it.”
“But why?”
“Who knows?” I shrug. “Maybe they no longer want to do business with us, and they’ve got to find a way out of our agreement.”
“Then just say so. It’s not like we signed anything yet,” Troy says.
“Fucking cowards is what they are. They want to start a war. War it is. Spread the word. Let our men know, the Marcos allegiance is out the window, and they are to be prepared for anything at any time if they encounter any of them.”
Troy nods grimly.
“Alright.” I nod towards the trucks as they are being unloaded. “Wrap this up and give me a call when you’re done. I’ll be at one of the clubs.”
“Got it.”
I return to the car and Dmitri starts the car, getting us out of here. Everything that has happened in the last two hours is again going through my head. Something is off. And I am going to find out what it is. But first I need to check on Aurora.
Chapter 16
Aurora
I wake up with a start, wondering why the room is so dark. I snuggle down underneath the blanket, shivering slightly against the chill of the air conditioning. I am almost asleep again. Then my eyes fly open, and the next thought has me flying out of bed.
“Shit! I’m late!”
I feel my way in the dark wondering why I cannot find the light switch. Finally, my hands connect with a solid surface. I feel along until I find what must be a switch. I squint against the sudden onslaught of light. When everything comes into focus, it all comes flooding back. I am at Adrian’s. I look around the room and wonder who had closed the drapes. When lay down for a nap earlier, the drapes were open, and it had been light outside.
I walk to the kitchen to get a drink of water and catch sight of a note on the refrigerator.
Be back in a few. Help yourself to anything. Don’t leave the apartment. A.
As if on cue, my stomach rumbles. I get my phone from the bedroom and note that it is just past eight-thirty. I would have been on my meal break if I had been at work right now.
