Louise

by Diana Nixon

  “I don’t want Mr. William to be angry at me, but I feel like I need to warn you about a few things…”

  “What do you mean?” I asked cautiously. I didn’t like the sound of Christopher’s words.

  ‘I need to warn you…’ Warn me about what?

  “I’m sure there will be a day when Mr. William will have to tell you everything you want to know. I just want to ask you for a small favor — don’t jump to conclusions. No matter how upset you might feel, give him a chance to explain.”

  “Explain what?”

  “See, Mr. William is a very powerful man. But there are things that not even he can control. As well as there are people who have so much more power than he does.”

  “I don’t understand…”

  “I’m not trying to make you understand anything right now. I’m just saying that there will come a time when you will need to show just how grown up and wise you are. And I know that you are a very wise girl, despite your young age, Miss Louise. And one more thing — there are people who have a lot of control over your life. But not all of them are bad. Some just don’t have any other choice than to follow the orders they get from people who have more control than they do.”

  “Who are the others?”

  “There’s a time for everything, Miss. Soon you will find out everything you want to know. Just be patient.”

  A nervous laugh escaped my lips. “Now I feel like I’m not going to be able to fall asleep, any time soon. You sound so serious. I am going to start worrying about every step I take.”

  “Just remember what I said. When the right time comes, you will see that your life is not just about black and white. There are other colors that you will need to see, even when it feels like you can’t see them.”

  “I will remember that. Thank you, Christopher. By the way, did you know that Will took photography classes in Paris?”

  “Oh, yes. Ever since he was a boy who could barely hold up the heavy camera, he has been in love with photography. When he was eight, his father presented him with his first camera. He even went to bed, holding it in his hands.” Christopher smiled. “He didn’t want any toys, cars, or robots. He just wanted to take pictures of everything he saw around him. I think we still have the pictures he took when he was young. Some are really good.”

  “What made him decide to go into business then?”

  “His fate, I guess. And the desire to prove to everyone that he was his father’s son.”

  “Oh, so he took control of his father’s company, right?”

  Christopher nodded, smiling sadly. “He lost him about eight years ago. It was a huge tragedy for all of us.”

  “What happened? I mean his death was natural, wasn’t it?” Surprisingly enough, Christopher had been very open and honest with me today; I think it was the first time that I managed to get so much information from him.

  “Mr. William doesn’t like talking about his death. He doubts it was natural, and that’s the problem, because there was nothing to prove his father was murdered.”

  “How did his father die?”

  “His boat sank in the ocean, and he drowned. The police spent almost a week looking for the body and the remnants of the boat. Thank God, it didn’t get very far from the beach. At least we got a chance to bury the body, and not just an empty coffin.”

  “Oh, my God, it sounds so awful. I bet Will was devastated by what happened to his father.”

  “Yes. He spent years trying to find clues as to how the accident happened, but he always came back empty handed. He hasn’t given up the search, but I don’t think he will ever succeed. So much time has passed since then…”

  “What makes him think that it was a murder?”

  “There are many things that just don’t add up in the police report. We still have them all, the police reports I mean. I don’t know how many times Will has gone through them.”

  “So it’s just Will now?” I asked, smiling. From the very first day I met Christopher, I knew he was not just a driver.

  He smiled too. “You got me there. I have known William since the day he was born. He has always been more like a son to me. When we are alone, I always call him just Will. Or Mr. Impossible. He hates me for doing that.”

  I laughed. “I bet he does.”

  Christopher looked at his watch and then at me.

  “I think it’s time to go, Miss. You have had a long night. You need to sleep.”

  “Yeah, you are right.” I didn’t get a wink of sleep last night. The flight went well, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Will.

  I kept looking through the pictures taken in Paris, both by him and me. Some made me smile, others made me blush. But thank God, I was the only passenger in the cabin, so no one could see me there. Lucy didn’t count, she only came by a few times to check on me, and left right after I told her that I was all right.

  I missed Will like hell… More than I had ever missed anyone. And now, that we had become so close, I couldn’t imagine being with any other man, ever.

  About twenty minutes later, Christopher stopped not far away from the club’s entrance. Not too close to be seen by anyone, but close enough so I wouldn’t get drenched in the torrential downpour we were having.

  “Thank you, for everything,” I said, getting out of the car.

  “Do you have my phone number?” He asked, helping me with the baggage.

  “I don’t think I do.” I only had Will’s phone number in my contact list.

  “Give me your phone. Just in case you need anything, remember you can always call me.” He took my phone, punched in some numbers and handed it back to me.

  “Thanks.” I took the phone and put it into my purse. No one in the club knew I had a phone, and I preferred it to stay that way.

  “Good-bye, Miss Louise.”

  “Good-bye, Christopher.”

  I rushed to the front door of the club that I could just barely see through the wall of rain, pouring from the sky. If I didn’t know it was still morning outside, I would think it was late afternoon.

  The guards greeted me and let me in. The club was quiet and looked empty. I didn’t even hear anyone training. Did Kate give the girls a day off or something?

  “Louise, is that you?” I heard Drew calling. I cursed mentally, and turned around, trying to seem polite.

  “Yes, Sir. I’m back.”

  “Great. Did you like Paris?” He asked, coming closer to me.

  “A lot. Well, who wouldn’t?”

  “Indeed. What about The Crimson Moon? I hope its local atmosphere didn’t shock you?”

  “Not at all. It was not exactly what I expected, but dancing there was okay. And they paid me well enough to not notice the difference between their club and ours.”

  “Good. I’m glad you had a great time there. Pierre was good to you, wasn’t he?”

  “Oh, don’t worry. He was polite and decent.”

  “How very refreshing for him,” Drew muttered. “Anyway, I’m glad to know that we will see you dancing tomorrow. The clients can’t wait to see you again. Some even asked me about you last night.”

  “They did?”

  “I think we should make a new billboard with your name on it. They would love it.”

  I didn’t like the idea, but I nodded anyway and said I was all for it. I was sure I was not the only person who wouldn’t like to see my face and my name on the club’s billboard. I could name at least one person other than myself who would hate it. Tess…

  “Do you have any pictures from your Paris show to share with us?”

  “Oh yes, I do. I will bring them a little later. Not sure where I put them.”

  “It’s okay. No need to rush.” Drew smiled, but I knew that he didn’t just ask me about the pictures out of curiosity. Will was right, he needed proof.

  We shared a couple meaningless phrases, and he let me go. Finally.

  I entered my room and immediately felt that something was different about it.

  “
Do you like the new color?” Kate asked behind me.

  “Jeez! You scared me half to death. When did you manage to repaint the walls?” They used to be white, but now there were light yellow, as if they were touched by the rays of the sun.

  “I didn’t really think white was your color. I hope you don’t mind me changing it for you?”

  “I don’t. If fact, I love it. Looks so much better than the white did.”

  Kate smiled, pleased. “Good. So how was your trip? No unexpected accidents, I hope?”

  “No. It was great. The show and the city, of course. I think it was love at first sight.”

  “Yeah, I know the feeling. What about the dancing team?”

  “They are cool girls.”

  “Even Julia?”

  “We didn’t have much time to talk. But I wouldn’t want her to be my boss.”

  Kate didn’t even try to hide her smile. “She’s a bitch. Everyone knows that.”

  “Actually, I think she could say the same about you.”

  She laughed. “Oh, no doubt she could. She has hated me for as long as I have known her.”

  “Why?”

  I took a seat on one of the chairs, and waited for Kate to sit down too. Something was telling me that she wanted to know more about my trip, and there were a few questions I wanted to ask her as well.

  “What did they tell you about me?” Kate asked. She was wearing torn jeans and a black sleeveless shirt, her usually perfect red locks were a mess, but she didn’t seem to care.

  “Why do you think they told me anything about you?”

  “Because I know them. Well, maybe not all of them, but some ‘ladies’ are very talkative.”

  “Well, they told me you worked there a couple of years ago, and…”

  “And that I slept with the clients, right?”

  I nodded wordlessly.

  To my surprise, Kate didn’t look like she was offended, rather on the contrary — my silent response humored her.

  “I didn’t sleep with anyone. I only pretended I did.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “Because back then, I thought it was the best way to punish Drew for sending me there. I hated the idea of leaving Le Papillon, but he wouldn’t let me stay. He said Pierre had a better job for me, and I didn’t have a choice but to go to Paris. Lucky me, I had never been forced to sleep with the clients. And you know why?”

  “Because Pierre was in love with you, I guess.”

  “Now I can see that they told you more than I expected.”

  “Well, don’t get me wrong… I wasn’t going to gossip about you, Kate. But there was a girl, Carrie. She asked me about you, and when I told her you are my boss, she just started spilling everything she knew or at least thought she knew about you. I wouldn’t have been able to stop her, even if I wanted to.”

  “There’s no need to explain anything, Darling. I’ve been living in this world for too long to pretend I don’t know how things work here. We always gossip about each other. That is how we get promoted, or a chance to have more time on our solos.”

  “Dirty world, I know. Do you know why Drew wanted to get rid of you? I mean I thought you had always been special to him. Then why would he suddenly want to send you away?”

  “I wish I knew the answer to that, Louise.”

  “Did you and Pierre…”

  “No, we didn’t. Even though I’m sure he wanted to.”

  “The night I told you Drew wanted me to go to Paris with Pierre, you were not glad to hear the news. Why?”

  “Because I couldn’t believe Drew wanted to make you go through the same hell I had to go through while living in Paris. As you already know, my trip was a little longer than yours. And no, I didn’t sleep with the clients, but I had to watch other girls doing the dirty job. Pierre knew I would never agree to sleep with anyone for money, but he couldn’t let me ruin his reputation, no matter how much he loved me. He said I would work in pairs with other girls, who didn’t mind letting men use them. So every time a new client ordered a private dance, I danced for him, but when the time for sex came, I blindfolded his eyes, and a new girl, dressed like me, took my place. I was not allowed to leave until everything was over, because when the client took the blindfold off, he needed to see my face, and not the face of a fake me.”

  “This is disgusting…” I shivered at the thought of sharing Kate’s experience.

  Kate smirked. “Trust me, Sweetie, the reality was so much worse than the story.”

  “Have you ever told anyone else about it?”

  “No. Only Pierre knows the truth.”

  “What about the rumors? Didn’t you ever care about them?”

  “I didn’t give a damn. So even when Julia started spreading them, I only laughed at her. Because I knew for sure that unlike me, she slept with almost every client that crossed the threshold of The Crimson Moon.”

  “Did you know that she had and still has feelings for Pierre?”

  “It has never been a secret, at least not to me. I could see it all right through her. But I never hated her. I knew that one day, I would come back here, and here, she was no one, and I was the boss lady.”

  I laughed. “Talking to you was one of few things I missed about this place.”

  Kate looked at me thoughtfully. “You are a good girl Louise, you know that, don’t you? Just please, be careful with what you feel. Feelings don’t always do us good.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Because something tells me that you are one of those girls for whom there are only two sides of love — heaven and hell. And I don’t want your heart to be broken. You have a whole eternity to live and love, just don’t fall for the wrong guys.”

  Oh, she just didn’t know how close she was to the truth about my attitude towards love.

  “Don’t worry, Kate. I’m not planning on falling for anyone, any time soon.”

  “Good. Because I think you are too young to let some beautiful bastard ruin you.”

  “I can take care of myself, you know? Don’t forget that my life has always been like a living hell.”

  “Love changes everything, Doll. You just don’t know how powerful its force can be.”

  Didn’t I? I think two days with Will were more than enough to know exactly what Kate’s words meant. She was right, love could be a hell, but right there and then I still wanted to believe that mine would be heaven.

  “I think it’s time for me to go,” Kate said, rising. “Jet-lag is a bitch and you need to rest before tomorrow’s training. Have a good day, Louise.”

  “You too, boss lady.”

  She laughed, heading for the door. “Oh, I just love people calling me that.”

  Chapter 19

  Talking to Drew and Kate, I totally forgot to check on my cellphone again. And of course, there were missed calls and messages from Will.

  “Where are you?” The first one said.

  “Are you all right?” Said the second one.

  “For God’s sake, Louise, call me back, ASAP!” Screamed the third one.

  Okay, so he was pissed now, and I didn’t even realize until this very moment that my conversation with Kate lasted a little longer than I had thought it did.

  I made sure my door was locked, and then I dialed Will’s number.

  “Finally!” Was the first thing he said, answering my call. “Where have you been? I thought I was going to lose my mind waiting for your call.”

  “Sorry, I got stuck in a conversation with my two bosses.”

  “Did it go well?”

  “Yeah, both of them wanted to know how my trip was, but since it was amazing in every sense of the word, I didn’t even need to lie about it.”

  “God, Louise, I was so worried about you. I thought something must have gone wrong, I even asked Christopher to go to the tomorrow’s show to make sure you were alright.”

  I giggled. “I bet he wasn’t thrilled with the idea of coming to the show.”

&nbs
p; “Not even close, but he said he would come anyway.”

  “Tell him that I’m fine. There’s no need to test his moral boundaries.”

  I could hear Will laughing into the handset. “I miss you, you know?” He said after a short pause.

  “Same here… How was your meeting? Is it over? I don’t even know what time it is in Paris now.”

  “It’s around five in the morning.”

  “Oh, my God… I’m sorry for making you stay up so late. I’ve been waiting for your call since the moment the plane landed, and then Christopher said you were in a meeting, and I didn’t think I would be hearing from you any time soon so I just stopped hoping. I figured you would get ahold of me when you could.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t call you yesterday. I don’t even know why I couldn’t make myself call you. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to you, I was scared of hearing your voice and feeling guilty for ruining the rest of the our short vacation.”

  “It’s okay. We are talking now, and I know that you miss me, so I’ll think of it as my revenge for your sudden disappearance.”

  He laughed again. “Serves me right, I know.”

  “My point exactly.”

  “What are your plans for the rest of the day?”

  “Well, I am in dire need of shower… So, I think I will shower first,” I said, intentionally pausing to make him think about me — naked and wet, in the shower, and to make him recall the memories we had made in the shower in our hotel. “Then, I’ll try to get some sleep, and maybe later, I will think about the rest of the things I need to get done.”

  “Sounds like a very good plan… Especially the part about a shower.”

  I smiled to myself. “I wish you could be here with me…”

  “Oh, yeah? And why exactly do you want me to be there now?”

  “Well, you could at least hold the towel for me.”

  “And that’s it? Then I’d better stay in Paris for a few more days and give you more time to miss me.”

  “Hey, that’s not fair!”

  “Don’t you know by now that I never play fair?”

  I rolled my eyes, leaning against the pillows on my bed. “Just come back as soon as possible. I might even dance for you…”