by Love, Kimmy
“So, why are you shouting at me?”
“Why are you shouting at me?” She exhaled loudly and edged completely over to one side of the seats and pinned her gaze on the city streets.
They were both seething, the atmosphere hot and unbearable. The driver checked his rear view mirror to satisfy himself that the couple had simmered down. It was late, but there was a considerable amount of traffic and he needed to keep his wits about him, not referee what he thought was a lovers' argument.
“Why can't we be together and not argue for five minutes?” Damian said after a while. He leaned his arm along the back of the seats and when his hand touched the back of Sonia's neck he stroked it tenderly. “I mean, when we're not at each other's throats, we've always managed to find better ways to spend our time.”
She sat forward abruptly. “You seriously think I'm going to sleep with you after you made me look like a fake in front of the Merrimans.”
“You are a fake,” he retorted.
“Thanks a lot.” Sonia slumped back in her seat. Damian hadn't moved his arm away and lightly touched her skin again. Waves of emotion filled her body and took her mind back to the first night they shared a taxi and what happened when he dropped her home.
“You are a fake.” Damian's voice softened. He edged a little closer. “But a wonderful fake. A talented, beautiful fake, and I love …”
“What do you love?”
“I love being in your company, Sonia.” He smiled. “And it would do me a great honor to have you fake being my wife again.”
“Well, now you're just trying to butter me up,” she said, not looking at him.
“Give me break, Sonia!”
“You don't have to put on an act, Damian. It's fine. I'll do it. But that's the very last time.” She held out a hand and moved away from the fingers touching her skin. “Okay?”
“Okay!”
All of a sudden, the car came to an abrupt halt. The two of them got jolted forward out of their seats.
“Apologies, Mr. Hedley … miss,” the driver said, looking at them through the rear view mirror again. “The traffic just stopped suddenly. I think there might be an accident up ahead.”
“Damn it,” Damian said. “Can't we reverse?”
“Already another couple of cars right behind us, Mr. Hedley. They'd have to back up, but I think another two have just joined us. Yep, there's no backing up now.”
“Can you turn around?”
“Sit tight sir, I'll go see if I can make myself some space ahead to do just that. I'll need to speak to the drivers in front. Otherwise, this is going to be a very long night.” The driver got out and headed to the car stopped right in front of him. He was shaking his head. It didn't look good at all.
Just then the sirens of a police car could be heard. There was silence in the car at last. At least the two of them had stopped arguing. They both craned their necks to see if they could make out what was going on. They saw police car lights flashing and heard several car doors slam as impatient drivers got out and tried to get a handle on what was going on.
“You know what, Damian?” Sonia said. “If you don't mind, I think I'll go see if I can find a taxi. I need to get home. I'm really tired.”
“You hate being in my presence that much, you'd rather make your own way home?” he asked.
“No, Damian. No, I don't. Like I said, I'm tired and I'm tired of arguing. So, if you don't mind …”
She opened the door but Damian followed right behind.
“I'm coming with you,” he said. “You know I can't allow you to walk out into the night on your own.”
“Damian, I do it all the time.”
“Well, I'm here now. Just let me tell the driver we're going.”
“Suit yourself.”
Sonia watched the way he walked over to the driver, the assured way he spoke, the handsome outline of his face and pretty soon she was having thoughts she told herself she mustn't have.
“There,” he said running back to her. “All done. Let me escort you home.”
“Thank you.”
They walked a little way and turned onto a main road. There arms were practically brushing together. Sonia turned to Damian after a while. “I prefer it when we don't argue,” she said.
“You could have fooled me,” he chuckled.
“Damian! Let's enjoy the peace. Like this, my life becomes a lot less complicated.”
“It doesn't have to be complicated, Sonia.”
“No more talking, Damian. If you're escorting me home, then that's the deal.”
“Fine with me.”
He hailed a taxi and once they were inside and on their way to Sonia's apartment, she kept thinking back to their hot and passionate night again and visualized them ending up in her bed. She felt weak at the knees, but fought against the urge to invite him in once they got to her building. Sonia almost ran out of the taxi to the front door to stop herself uttering the fateful words that would put her back to square one of this emotional roller-coaster ride she'd been on since the day she met Damian.
“I'll swing by at about a quarter past nine tomorrow, okay?” Damian called after her.
“Okay,” she said over her shoulder. She let herself into the building and bolted for the elevator.
Damian was having a mixed bag of emotions on his journey back to his hotel. He was annoyed with the Merrimans for not just getting out the contract there and then and signing on the dotted line. Why did they have to make him jump through hoops all of a sudden? It was ludicrous.
That frustration was nothing compared to the hurt he felt at how easily Sonia could walk away from a night like this. They had argued, but there had been sparks of electricity between them. How could she not feel them? Sometimes, he felt glimmers that she actually liked him but then she turned cold and businesslike at the drop of a hat.
Now he had to see her again and act like her fake husband; pretend to be loving and adoring when all he wanted was a chance to get somewhere close to making that real.
Back at his hotel he made two calls. The first was to his secretary.
“Mr. Hedley? Do you realize what time it is?” she grunted in the phone. “And it's the weekend.”
“I know that, Penny, and I'm sorry. I wouldn't have called you unless it was important. Don't be mad. I need you to change my flight back to DC. Get me on a much later flight than the one I already have would you? A night flight. And text me the details.”
“You what, now? Couldn't you do that yourself?”
“Penny, please. I'm in the middle of the deal of my life. I know I can rely on you to help this happen. Thank you so much, Penny.”
He could tell she was furious but he'd always been able to smooth talk her. Even when she got wise to him, she could still never refuse. But, after all, wasn't that always the way women had been with him. Always. Up until now that is.
He sighed at the thought and went on to make his second call.
“Damian – what the hell, man? It's Friday night, I'm busy.” His friend Max was not pleased by a call when he was out drinking with a few of their friends back at their favorite haunt in DC
“If you don't want to talk to me, then don't pick up.”
“Jesus, Damian, don't bite my head off. You called me, remember? Don't tell me – something went wrong. Did you lose the deal?”
“No, the deal is still on. At least I think it is. The Merrimans want one more night to think about it. So I'm staying in New York until tomorrow. I just wanted to let you know that I'll have to cancel that round of golf.”
“No worries, my man. I understand. But what else is up? You could have sent a text to cancel. Is there trouble in paradise?” Max asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean you don't sound yourself. Wait, is that escort girl with you?”
“No, she most definitely is not.” Damian was back to grunting in the phone.
“So you managed to pull it off without her being there?”
“Are you kidding me? Are you fucking kidding me? No deal could make me part with that amount of money with an escort.”
“Don't say escort like it’s something bad. There's nothing wrong with Sonia. It was just a job and I owe her big time. You have no idea.”
“And at that price I don't want to know,” Max laughed. He had moved outside the bar he was in. Damian could tell that there was less background noise. When all was said and done, Max would always be there for him.
“Look, Max, I'll be home late on Saturday with a string of hotels under my belt. That's all you need to know.”
“Good news. I knew you had it in you. So what's your problem, exactly? You want to talk about it?”
“Forget it, Max. There is no problem. I'll see you on the golf course next weekend.” Damian hung up the phone.
He had been sitting on the sofa to make his calls and decided to recline onto his back. He drew his legs up onto the sofa and crossed them, placing both hands behind his head.
He remembered what Sonia said. It was nice not to be arguing and the fatigue at faking all night, and wanting Sonia to feel the way he did, took its toll. He was tired.
Damian couldn't make it to the bedroom and he didn't have the energy to explain to Max how he was feeling about Sonia. If he was honest he couldn't explain it to himself. These were not feelings he'd had before. And while trying to make himself drop off to sleep, all he could think about was her and had to remind himself that out of her own lips she'd told him: this was all just business.
***
Sonia barely slept all night. She kept tossing and turning and dreaming of fighting with Damian and then having make-up sex in the back of the chauffeur driven car, his hotel room and under a seductive light in her bedroom. Because of the almost sleepless night, she woke late the next morning and had to hurry to get ready. This was it, she kept thinking to herself, this is the last time she'd see Damian and the feeling wasn't good.
“Aren't you even going to have breakfast?” Bibi said to her when she heard the door buzz for Sonia. Damian was waiting downstairs.
“No time,” Sonia said as she breezed out. Maybe she'd grab a pastry after the meeting. She couldn't think about eating anything. She needed this final chapter on her life to be well and truly closed.
She and Damian barely spoke as they sat in the back of the taxi. Neither wanted to instigate another heated conversation before such an important meeting. Sonia was feeling light headed from not having eaten. She always grabbed something for breakfast, like clockwork, every day. But today her stomach was in knots and she was on an emotional knife's edge.
Sonia also noticed that Damian barely touched her. During the time he'd pretended to be her husband, he'd have a gentle hand in the small of her back, but not today. She would have to stop herself missing his touch.
They entered the Merriman's Manhattan hotel and were asked to follow a member of staff to the board rooms on the top floor. They were situated in the older part of the building. The floor in the corridor was marble and Sonia's heels clicked and echoed as they walked. There were old paintings on the walls and behind them was a thin window looking out onto the busy street downstairs. It had plush, red drapes tied to either side. Ahead was the boardroom.
“So much history here,” Damian said as he looked around the corridors. Sonia looked at him and realized that what they'd shared would soon be history, too.
At the end of the corridor, Mr. Merriman opened up the double doors onto the boardroom and had a huge smile on his face.
“Damian and Penny,” he exclaimed. “You made it.”
“How could we not?” asked Damian as the two men shook hands energetically. Damian allowed Sonia to enter the room first and slowed down when he saw a room full of people – including Mrs. Merriman. Sonia smiled but Gloria Merriman did not smile back. Mr. Merriman extended his arm to introduce the people at the table.
“These are my shareholders,” Mr. Merriman said. “Soon to become ex-shareholders, of course. All going to retire once the new owner of the Merriman hotels makes them rich men and women.” There was a rumble of laughter around the large table. Damian smiled, too, but noticed that Merriman hadn't introduced him to everyone in the room.
At the end of the table was a swarthy looking businessman whom Damian recognized by reputation alone. He was an investor who took over companies and sold them on. Damian couldn't understand why he was there.
“You look confused, Damian,” Joseph Merriman said. “No need to be. Please, you and Penny – take a seat.”
Damian held a chair out for Sonia and they sat at the large oval table. Damian looked at the space on the table in front of Mr. Merriman to see if he'd brought the contracts to sign. There was nothing there. Nor were there any papers in front of any of the shareholders. Mrs. Merriman was sitting beside her husband and looked intently at Sonia.
Mr. Merriman cleared his throat.
“I told you from the start how much honesty, family and integrity meant to me, Damian,” he began.
“Yes, of course, and I'm completely on board with that. We are aren't we, Penny?” He put a loving hand on Sonia's and gave her a smile. She nodded in agreement with Damian. And though it felt good to have the comfort of his touch in a room full of strangers, she sensed the chill in the air. Something was wrong.
“So,” said Mr. Merriman. “In that case, I wonder if you could tell me how it was my wife came across a news item, one that has been seen by millions of people on at least three news channels on Tuesday night of this week?”
“Which news item?” asked Damian. He looked at Sonia because Mr. Merriman was staring right at her.
“Maybe your wife, Penny, could explain this to us.” Mr. Merriman nodded to someone who turned down all the lights in the room and then at another person who was operating an overhead projector. Instantly, there was a picture on the screen that confused both Damian and Sonia until she saw the front of the sleazy bar she had worked at on Monday and Tuesday night.
The picture on the screen showed a gang of police officers forcing their way into the bar in the background. In the foreground was a news reporter, a woman wearing a mustard colored scarf around her neck, tucked into her jacket. Her hair was blowing in the wind and she was looking over her shoulder at the bar behind her, at the scene with the police officers before turning back to the camera to speak:
This was the scene outside the Blue Pirate, tonight, when police were called to raid a bar they have suspected for weeks was the center of a drug ring. As well as the raid to find Class A drugs, the owner has allegedly been known to pimp prostitutes from this very bar...
Sonia's blood ran cold. She had no idea that the chaos of that night had been televised. She never once saw it on the news and neither had she seen in a newspaper. Looking up at the expression on Damian's face, he had no idea about it either. But then she remembered – there had been cameras.
The reporter continued.
Right now, the police are inside making their arrests. The press don't have permission to enter but we understand that the police have warrants and are targeting the owner of the bar, Mr. Hal Meadows. He apparently graduated from being a pimp on the street to buying this bar. But, as far as the New York City police department are concerned, he continues to pimp women and girls and plays a large part in the alleged drugs ring.
She looked over her shoulder again before continuing:
We see the police have already made some arrests.
“I don't understand what I'm seeing here, Joseph,” Damian looked at him, confused.
“Keep watching and you'll see.”
At that precise moment the image of Sonia in her cutoff jeans and skimpy t-shirt, showing more flesh than any hooker on the street would show, being dragged out of the bar by a police officer, was flashed across the screen
. She shielded her face from flashing lights but it was very clearly Sonia and the technician froze the picture right on her face.
“Penny?” the voice from the corner came from Mrs. Merriman. “What were you doing in that bar? Do you mind explaining?”
Sonia was speechless and the lights came up. She blinked several times to make her eyes adjust and found every shareholder staring right at her.
Damian turned to Sonia.
“What am I seeing?” he said to her in a quiet voice.
“It's not what you're thinking, Damian,” Sonia said.
“And what am I thinking?” He clenched his teeth.
