14
“Many people would argue that it wasn’t Rome’s aqueducts that made it the greatest empire in the ancient world. It was their roads. The Romans had an extensive system stretching throughout Europe, and even into parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. This fostered an unprecedented amount of trade, but more importantly it allowed them to move their troops quickly and...”
The narrator’s voice was interrupted by the sound of the door chiming. Lori turned off the TV, set her ice cream aside, and lifted herself out of bed. She ordered the stuff two minutes ago; it just arrived, and she knew as soon as she saw the frowning face written in chocolate fudge, that the night wasn’t over.
She had one weapon, which she fully intended on using if he found a way to get inside. He wasn’t allowed in her vicinity, not for one second, and she told the staff that. She even scrawled out a message on her tablet.
She told them that she would gladly go to the brig, and they weren’t going to risk a conflict; still, she answered the door, tennis racket in hand, and a drunken Reina burst out laughing. “You thought...” she could barely talk. “You....Hah!”
“Get in here,” Lori checked from side to side and pulled her in by the wrist, before shutting the door and latching it.
“It’s fine,” Reina swept her hand, still laughing. “Your golden prince wasn’t at the ball.” She lifted a saucepan by the handle and made a comical expression in the copper bottom.
“Are you sure?”
Lori took it away and put it with the others just like it, stacked in the corner. Reina ruffled her green dress and pushed aside a leaning tower of plastic refrigerator containers, so she could find a place to sit on one of the couches. She looked like a grouchy princess, her hair pulled into a messy bun and her lips pouty. “He wasn’t there. I could see the whole room.”
“OK,” Lori groaned, ready to go back to bed.
“What?” she snapped, eyes narrow.
“I don’t know,” she said, confused.
“Look at this shit. How can you stand to be in here? You want to hide in your room all depressed and cynical, surrounded by—what are these?” she looked around at all the boxes. Her speech came out of nowhere. She wasn’t making sense, and Lori was starting to get irritated.
“It’s restaurant equipment. He gave me everything I needed. What isn’t here is paid for.” She ripped the envelope off the largest of the eight flower displays, which took up more space than the both of them and held it out for her friend to see. “He even hired an accountant and a marketing firm”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“That restaurant was what I wanted more than anything else. It was mine—to do my way, with my resources. It wasn’t anyone else’s,” Lori said, slumping down into a pile of empty boxes, smothering the armchair next to where Reina was sitting.
“I know what you need to do, and you’re not going to want to hear this.”
“Probably not.”
“Go with me to the captain’s quarters.”
“No,” Lori said, wrinkling her brow.
“Come on.”
“Absolutely, not.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want some douche that thinks he owns the world trying to stick his hand up my dress, and you shouldn’t go either. You know what he wants.”
“It’s not like that,” Reina said.
“What else did you have? Did you smoke with Harris? I know you’re not this stupid sober.”
“No, I mean it.”
“Did you hit your head?” Lori persisted.
“I am neither high nor brain damaged. This man’s intentions are pure. He just wants to show us his haven.”
“I’ve lost all respect for you.”
“He’s also gorgeous, like a statue or something—all muscle, a little bit of five o’clock shadow, and he’s quiet. He’s not the type.”
“You’re really going to make me meet him?”
“I didn’t say that, but he was asking about you.”
“By name?”
Reina nodded. “Uh-huh, you should come. He was nice, but he wasn’t like that. I don’t think he wanted me.”
“Then he wants me, and he’s using you to lure me in.”
Her hand shot up to cover her mouth, stifling a hiccup. “His suite is legendary. I was reading about it online an—”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Why are you being like this?”
“You’re the one that decided to get drunk and hang on the arm of the first man you saw. It’s ridiculous. But I guess I have to go,” Lori stood to her feet.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“Yes, I do. I have to babysit.”
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that,” Reina said.
“I’ll talk to you however I want, especially if you come in here at one in morning, drunk and infatuated. Wait here while I get ready.”
“Bu—I do not need babysitting.”
Lori ignored her and pulled her white dress off the clothes rack. She wasn’t one for diamonds or bright colors. She never wore red or sky blue. Her style was simple and elegant, clean white fabric, a golden strand at the waist, and maybe—she stopped herself before she ended up walking out, wearing fifteen thousand dollars worth of jewels. She was going to be the stalwart prude, ready to block anything coming Reina’s way.
There would be no hanky-panky, no playing let’s try to overdose. They were going to talk and enjoy the suite. Nothing was going to enter Reina’s body, unless Lori was certain it was safe.
She was aware that it was a formal occasion. Like Reina said, meeting the captain was an honor. She was going to have to put in the extra effort. She took out her makeup kit and straightened her hair, leaving two bright spirals to hover above her neckline.
She told herself no jewels, and she meant it. To many people, the captain might have been a celebrity. He strutted the halls of the ship, past people baulking at his presence, women throwing themselves at him, men respecting him, but when he stepped foot on land, he was nothing—just some jerk with a stiff uniform.
Other than the dress, there would be no sign of luxury, just her lips—two red petals in a field of snow. It stood out, and when she finished herself off with a bit of perfume, she was satisfied that she could play the part of the swooning post-adolescent.
Reina was jumping up and down with glee, talking about how Lori should learn to empower herself, while she sifted through the rack, looking for accessories. She wouldn’t stop; she insisted on finding something, and Lori was just standing next to the hall door, tapping her feet. “You should go with something that really pops and accents your features.”
“I look fine.”
Reina held up a blue scarf. “Just have an open mind.”
“I’ll make a you a deal,” Lori said, “I will open my mind if you agree to close your legs.”
“Just stop being a prude.”
“I am not a prude.” Lori had had enough. “We’re leaving.”
“Alright,” they walked out and let the door slam behind them. Both sides of the hall had boxes stacked from floor to ceiling, and Reina couldn’t help but stop and peek inside one resting at eye level.
When the stack threatened to tip, Lori almost let it happen. “Knives?”
She came up, pushed the leaning boxes upright and checked over Reina’s shoulder. “Are there Japanese characters on the handle?”
“Yeah, how’d you know?” Reina looked back, her head inches away, giving Lori a huge whiff of what was obviously hard liquor.
“They’re the best in the world. Samurais stopped making swords after the war and started catering to chefs. Now are we leaving?”
“Fine,” she shut the box and started walking. When she stopped in front of the elevator, she pulled something out of her bra. It was small and shiny, and it fit perfectly into the hole underneath the up and down buttons.
The chamber twisted as it descended
, like a rocket in reverse, and the doors opened with a female voice calling out, “Welcome, Captain.”
“He gave you the key?”
“He wanted to make sure we could get in. It’s not like it’s a vial of his man juice.”
“That’s waiting for us upstairs,” Lori told her, holding onto the railing as they twisted through the air, into the upper decks, past networks of pipes and tunnels, snaking their way down through the hull of the ship, into the grungy caverns where the crew rested and spent what little time they had to themselves. It was depressing and small, what little she could see, but there was something above, made visible when the elevator broke through the top deck.
They were surrounded by nothing but glass and open air on the three sides; the fourth was taken up by a black pillar, the highest point on the ship. Thousands of people—passengers and crew—all lived out the best worst moment of their lives beneath it.
It was a monolith, lined with dark, reflective glass, making it impossible to see inside. There could be anything in there, and it was frightening—enough to keep Lori from moving until she felt Reina’s hand clasp her own, and she the metallic ridges of the golden key pressed into her palm.
Lori stuffed it in her bra and did her best to remember to breathe. He was trying to reel them in. If she allowed herself to be impressed—if she took her eyes off of Reina for a second—she could taste the man’s stench; he would cut their heads off and mount them right on his wall.
Reina’s hand never left her own, even when they stopped, and the doors slid open; between them a widening gap—all white, an orchestra, running water, and the sound of a fire crackling. The captain was standing in the corridor a few yards ahead, speaking to one of the crew members.
“You hear that?’ Lori whispered quick. “He practically slid the condom on already.”
“Look at him. He’s gorgeous, and he’s after you, not me.”
“What?”
“Well, he told me to bring you. He saw you before.” Lori watched him move away and George met her eye with an unmistakable smile, and she knew—she didn’t even have to see his face. She knew it was Cade. She memorized every single cell, every bump, every wrinkle, and he hadn’t changed—not in ten years. He was not going to convince her of that. No, she had one thing left to do.
In a flash, she was standing behind him, her wrap coiled around his thick fucking neck. “You took something from me, and I will never get it back. I hope you suffer.”
She kicked him in the back of the knee. It buckled. He fell, and his voice, a cracked baritone, started to come out, and he must’ve said something, but she couldn’t hear. She was lost in the tremendous wave of shock and indignation, like insect crawling underneath her skin—fire ants, devouring tissue and bone. She didn’t even know that she was kicking him and screaming. All she knew was the trauma of finding out that her sanctuary, his love—the shelter she built her life on—was a lie, and she would always be broken because of it.
A hand wrapped around her wrist, and she looked down to see him staring up at her, giving her the perfect mixture of heartbreak and indignation. “Let’s go,” a voice shouted.
“Screw you!” she shrieked and kicked him in the gut. He let her. He didn’t even try to stop her, and when she ran she could hear him rising to his feet. She turned to face him and pushed the elevator key in the hole behind her. “Don’t you fucking come near me. I mean it!”
He met her eyes, pleading silently, and the door chimed. She was inside, on her way back to her deck before he could take a step towards her. Collapsing in bed wasn’t enough to calm her to sleep, and she didn’t want to leave and buy sleeping pills. Instead, she rolled around, through sweaty sheets, trying to drown in the noise of the TV in the other room—anything to keep from hearing that sound—seeing his face.
She laid for hours, trying to plan her escape. She thought of stealing rowboats, kidnapping the crew, holding them hostage, or just plain jumping overboard. But nothing would work. Cade himself would drag her out of the water, just to draw out the pain.
She was trapped, and that was nothing new. But at least with Tim she had this sanctuary. As cramped and as boring as it was, it was still hers. Tim couldn’t get in. The staff wouldn’t enter, but Cade—he was a lion on the prowl, and he was willing to do anything to force her back.
15
Two titans clashed; one glowing with the intensity of a true flame—a capable chaotician with the power to burn through anything it touched; the other, the queen of ice, whose shrill cry traveled the snowy wastelands, devouring the souls of anyone that threatened to enter her domain.
A complacent Lori sat, with her head in her hands, pouring over the thick Titans and Legends instruction manual. She closed it and set it on the couch beside her, so she could watch Reina count the points on her yellow pad—something she had to do every single time they took a move. “Do people really learn all this crap?”
“Harris made me dress like Mother Nature at a convention last year—you know the one near the docks?”
“I’ll bet that was terrible.”
“It smelled like fish and snot, and I was one of less than a handful of women there.”
“I could see Harris doing this in high school—maybe even college, but... no, this is too much.”
“It’s good for passing the time,” Reina handed her a slip of paper. When it was clear that Lori wasn’t going to check it, she announced, “You’re winning.”
“Yay.” Lori’s voice couldn’t have been blander.
“You’re too focu—
“I think I’ll try these mountains over here.” She sent her three-inch, hand-painted ice queen on a trek through the plastic peaks of Horath, before allowing her to take refuge at the rubber river delta. She imagined her character kneeling down to take a drink, and just before the water touched her lips, her eyes would flash up and hone in on the fire beast on the other side. “Ice sixteen, cannon, plus five.”
Reina pulled a pink card off the top of the pile sitting next to the game board. “Miss, take fifty-percent damage from counterattack.”
“You’re still at fifty percent strength, right?”
She shook her head. “Nope, and I’m not handing over the jewel this time.”
“You said you’d revive me,” Lori reminded her.
“You said yo—
“Alright, so what does that make it? Twenty-three hit points?”
“Twenty-three hit points left,” Reina smirked at that last word. She handed Lori a lead figurine painted to look like death in a black robe.
“Let’s use the key to sneak into Harris’s room and find something better to do,” Lori shifted away. “I mean, he won’t know.”
“No, I told you that kid that let me in here is watching out. I think he knows I have it. If you coul—
Years of painting, designing and studying—more than a thousand dollars’ worth of action figures—kicked off the table and scattered across the floor, where Lori was sitting into between the two sofas.
Reina pushed the table aside, so she could go sit with her. They both looked at one another and kicked the couch in front of them across the room. It hit the wall with a clank and one of the wooden legs snapped off. “Do you think we’re going to get into trouble?” she asked, breathless.
“No, they’ve got a warehouse filled with this shit. I’ll bet you they switch the decor out every few years and just keep rotating for decades.”
“Plus, the capta—"
“You know what we should do?”
“What?”
“Use Tim’s money to rent jewels.”
Reina’s laugh made Lori smile. “OK, but we need to do something about this mess.”
“Is there like a trash hole or something?”
“No, you have to ca—”
“I think we’ll leave it for now. I can handle it later.” Lori patted her thighs and went to stand up, exhausted and ready to kick Reina out. Something tugged on her shoulder, and she lo
oked down to see Reina gripping her wrist.
Lori wrenched away. “You’ve been trying to lure me in. You said... you have to call room service. If you think he’s so dreamy, why don’t you—
“You paranoid. Sit down.”
“I am not paranoid,” Lori said, her throat practically constricting with anger. “I am stuck in this tiny space, surrounded by him, and he can do whatever he wants. Reina, he is literally the leader of a small nation. I can’t avoid him. Please, do not make it any worse for me by asking me to do things that will lead me directly to him. No,” she held up a finger, “you are not coy. I know what you’re doing I swear to God, I will jump out and drown you myself after I push you overboard. No—”
Reina’s mouth looked ready to fly open at any second.
“He’s satan.”
“You look like you’ve been in prison. You do nothing but throw fits, and you know why?”
“Shut up.”
“You don’t want a fairy tale. You want to be pissy and storm around.”
“I want it, but I don’t want him, and I don’t want to hear your commentary. I’ve been through a lot.”
“Fair enough,” Reina shrugged.
“Look.” Lori motioned to the piles of crumpled carboard and the random stacks of dishes. He knew that I would have to call them to get rid of this trash.”
“He must’ve known that would make you mad.”
“Oh, he did. He’s not trying to make me happy. He’s trying to make me crack. It’s his way. He’s Lucifer.”
“It’s romantic.”
“Oh, bullshit. He sent me an entire restaurant’s worth of kitchen supplies. And don’t forget he said that the crew could come in here at any time. I have a skillet ready. That is not OK.”
Sweetest Obsessions - Anthology Page 31
