Hummingbird

by Nathan L. Flamank

  The Toyota stopped and Selena turned face-on and cocked her left foot out at an angle from the rest of her body, she knew this stance accentuated her curvaceous frame and highlighted her legs; she also knew that Jack, from his lowered position in the car-seat would be able to see all that she wanted him to see, the short dress would not hide the fact that she had foregone the wearing of any lingerie and she hoped that the bastard could see her pussy, she wanted him to want her, to long for her.

  All day she had thought about this moment and the reaction that her outfit would elicit in her one-time boyfriend.

  ‘Fuck him,’ she said and she waited for the driver’s door to open.

  The passenger window buzzed down and she was startled to see the stranger sitting in the car. Selena let go of the extendable handle of one of her three cases and pulled her coat closed, covering her exposure.

  ‘I’m sorry; I thought you were someone else.’

  ‘That’s okay, he sent us to pick you up,’ the stranger replied cordially and Selena grunted.

  Typical of him, more fucking mind games.

  ‘Jack sent you?’

  The driver’s door opened and the driver got out, another man she didn’t recognise, but they both looked like the type of man that Jack would hang around with; they looked mean and capable.

  The passenger got out of the car and opened the rear door for her.

  ‘Yes, Jack sent us, told us to bring you to him,’ the passenger said.

  The driver walked to the rear of the Toyota and popped the trunk, he came over towards her and Selena took a step backwards.

  ‘Relax,’ the driver said as he took hold of two of the cases. Selena laughed to hide her nerves.

  ‘Sorry.’

  ‘No problem Miss,’ the driver said with a boyish smile as he stowed the first case in to the trunk.

  The passenger held the rear door open for Selena and she started towards the car, she saw headlights approaching from her left and the driver cast a glance at his companion and Selena saw the look the two men shared and she tried to step back away from the car.

  ‘Jack didn’t send you.’

  ‘Fuck Jack,’ the passenger said and he pulled a small .38 from the rear of his jeans and pointed it at Selena’s face.

  ‘Get in the car bitch,’ the driver said, all attempts at pleasantness now a distant memory.

  ‘Wait, you don’t know what you’re doing,’ Selena said and she raised her hands in a “stay-away” gesture.

  The passenger thumbed the hammer back on the revolver in his gloved hand.

  ‘Dead or alive we’re fucking you bitch, now get in the damn car.’

  Selena started forwards, she saw the approaching car had pulled up at the kerb and as the passenger grabbed her shoulder she caught a fleeting glimpse of the new arrival’s car door open and then she was pushed in through the open passenger door where she fell across the seat.

  From outside she heard a gunshot followed by two others in rapid succession and then another shot followed by the sound of someone cursing.

  Selena scrabbled backwards across the seat and she felt a rough hand grab her by the hair and yank her to her feet, it was the driver and he raised a gun, this one a lot bigger than his companion’s .38 and he pressed it against her right temple, she could smell the man’s fetid breath.

  ‘Don’t move man or the bitch...’

  He never finished the threat and it took Selena several stunned seconds to realise that she’d heard another gunshot and she turned around to see the driver crawling away from her on his hands and knees, she could see that the left side of his face was awash in blood and she yelped when someone touched her and she spun back to see Jack standing in front of her, in his hand was a large gun.

  ‘You okay?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Are you okay?’

  Selena nodded her head.

  Jack walked past her and aimed his gun at the man crawling on the sidewalk and before she knew what was happening Jack pulled the trigger and she saw the hole appear between the man’s shoulders and the man collapsed on to the sidewalk. Selena cried out and watched as Jack put another bullet in to the back of the man’s head.

  She watched as Jack calmly walked over to the other man who was just then beginning to get to his feet, she could see blood running down the man’s pants and even more flowed from his left shoulder. The man raised his right hand to plead with Jack but Jack ignored the man’s attempts and pulled the trigger and Selena bent over and threw up as she watched the back of the man’s head splash across the sidewalk.

  Selena was shaking by the time her stomach finished emptying and she wiped a hand across her mouth.

  ‘Jesus Jack, who are you?’ a stunned Selena asked.

  Jack put his gun in to the shoulder-rig that he was wearing beneath his leather jacket and he smiled at Selena.

  ‘I’m the guy that just saved your life, again, it’s getting to become a habit.’

  Jack spent two minutes getting her cases from the trunk of the strangers’ car and storing them in his Taurus, he came back for the third case that was still on the sidewalk and then he ushered a still shaken and stunned Selena towards the waiting car.

  He opened the passenger door for Selena and she got in, he closed the door once she was seated and he walked around to the driver’s still open door and got in behind the wheel, he closed his door, slipped the car in to gear and pulled away from the kerb.

  Selena started to speak but Jack raised a finger silencing her.

  Jack slipped a mobile phone from his jacket pocket and made a call.

  ‘Yeah Nicky, it’s me, there are two dead bodies on the sidewalk outside of Selena Boyd’s shop, I need you to send a team to clear them away.’ Jack drove as he listened to Nicky and Selena turned slightly in her seat to look at Jack as he discussed the incident with the two men; to Selena it sounded like Jack wasn’t fazed by the killing.

  Just who is he? Selena wondered.

  ‘Nah, she’s fine,’ Jack said, he listened for a half minute and then added, ‘I owe you, thanks Nicky.’ He closed the mobile phone and slipped it back in to a pocket of his leather jacket, he glanced at Selena.

  ‘Take the coat off Selena.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The coat, take it off.’ He held her gaze for three seconds. ‘I won’t ask you again.’

  Hands still shaking from the recent gunfight she did as Jack told her and once she had it in her lap she said, ‘I can’t believe you just killed two people.’

  Jack didn’t respond but instead pulled in to the side of the road, he snatched the coat from Selena’s hands.

  ‘Anything of yours in the pockets?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘No, I only bought it today.’

  Without saying another word Jack got out of the car and threw the coat in to a nearby dumpster, he got back in to the car and pulled back out on to the road.

  ‘What the fuck Jack?’ Selena cried. ‘That cost two hundred dollars.’

  ‘There was blood on the back of it.’

  ‘Jesus Christ,’ Selena said and she checked her bare arms and legs for blood splatter; in the dimness of the car she wasn’t one hundred percent sure but she thought she was okay.

  Selena looked down at her lap and realised that her dress had ridden up; she moved her hands to adjust the hem.

  ‘Don’t, you put that dress on for a reason so leave it the fuck alone.’

  ‘Fuck,’ Selena muttered and sat back in her seat, she had to admit to herself that her whole plan of pissing Jack off had backfired and now with her pubic hair clearly on show she once more felt totally vulnerable.

  ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘You’ll know when you need to know.’

  They rode in silence for several miles and then Selena said, the bitterness evident in her tone, ‘I’d love to know when you became this big an asshole.’

  Jack glanced across at her and Selena was annoyed that he wasn’t even
looking at her exposed crotch, his eyes burned in to hers and he offered up a smile, a smile that to her shame she could see was tinged with sadness.

  ‘Oh I don’t know, probably around the time I came home to find you with another man’s cock in your mouth,’ Jack tightened his grip on the steering wheel and returned his attention to the road ahead, after several seconds he nodded his head and said: ‘Yeah, that would have been it, when I saw you on your knees with that bastard’s cock deep in your mouth.’

  They continued in silence for twenty minutes and Selena finally said, ‘I’m sorry Jack.’

  ‘For what, for cheating on me back then or for being a total ungrateful bitch today?’

  Selena barked out a short laugh.

  ‘Both, I guess.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘Come on Jack, where are you taking me?’

  ‘We’re here.’

  Selena looked out of the car and saw where they were and she smiled again, this time his sadness was eclipsed by her own as she realised where they were.

  Jack switched the engine off and pulled the keys from the ignition and as he started to open his door Selena placed a restraining hand on his thigh, Jack glanced at her and raised an eyebrow in question.

  ‘Are they still open?’

  Jack laughed.

  ‘They’re always open for the Fat Man.’

  Jack saw the panic in Selena’s eyes and he smiled reassuringly.

  ‘Relax Selena, it’s just a restaurant, I called in a favour, the boss isn’t in there, it’s just you and me.’

  *****

  Jack was wrong, Selena thought as she looked at him across the small table, it’s not just a restaurant, its, well was, our restaurant.

  The Italian was a favourite of theirs and they had dined here more times than she could remember.

  A waiter, who had been kept late specifically to cater to Jack’s every wish came to take their order and Selena requested a scotch, the waiter nodded his head but Jack told the waiter to hold off on the alcohol.

  ‘She needs a clear head, just bring us both some water, no ice.’

  ‘Very well sir,’ the waiter replied and then disappeared in to the shadows.

  ‘What the fuck Jack? After the day I’ve had I could use the alcohol.’

  ‘Later, but right now you need a clear head.’

  ‘For what?’

  ‘This,’ and with that he removed a folded document from the inside pocket of his jacket and he handed it across the table to her. Selena took it but didn’t unfold the two page document.

  ‘What’s this?’

  ‘Read it,’ Jack told her and the look in his eyes made her hold back on the sarcastic reply that she had been about to fire back.

  Selena unfolded the pages and she noticed her hands were still trembling but whether they shook from the recent gunfight, her shitty day or the close proximity to the only man that she had ever loved she had no way of knowing.

  Selena began to read and Jack watched her intently, he saw her nibbling her bottom lip, a trait that he remembered from their relationship; she always nibbled her full lip when she was nervous and he took a sip of his water once the waiter had placed two glasses down on the table. Selena didn’t acknowledge the waiter’s presence, her attention fully on the words before her.

  The waiter started away from the table but Jack gestured that the man should wait. The waiter nodded his head and took a couple of steps back from the table and waited obediently; he knew better than to dismiss Jack’s request.

  Selena finally finished reading and looked up at Jack.

  ‘Is this for real?’ she asked, the sarcasm clear.

  Jack nodded his head and just sat there waiting for her next response.

  Selena looked back at the document and her eyes scanned it once more from start to finish. She picked up her glass of water and downed half the glass and put the glass back down on the perfect white crispness of the table’s cloth.

  ‘This would make me a slave.’

  Jack chuckled.

  ‘That’s a little melodramatic Selena, I’ve never really studied the history of slavery but I’m pretty sure no slave ever got paid the sort of money you owe.’

  ‘Thirty days and my debt is wiped clean, the Fat Man won’t come after me?’

  ‘Thirty days and nights Selena, the contract is quite clear on that little detail, and no, to answer your question, the Fat Man won’t be coming after you.’

  Selena snorted.

  ‘You have my word.’

  Selena laughed and even to her own ears she could hear the harshness in it.

  ‘Your word?’

  Jack nodded his head; his calmness was infuriating but Selena kept her emotions in check, she really didn’t need Jack abandoning her.

  ‘When have you ever known me to break my word?’

  And there it is, Selena thought, I know he means it, Jack’s many things but he’s no liar.

  ‘But this, this,’ Selena shook the paper in her hand, ‘contract basically says that if I sign it I’m yours to do with as you please.’

  ‘There’s no basically about it Selena, that’s exactly what that contract means, you sign it, you give up any rights you have for the next thirty days.’

  ‘Don’t forget the thirty nights,’ Selena spat back.

  ‘Oh I haven’t forgotten.’

  ‘Jesus Christ,’ Selena sighed. ‘I can’t believe you actually expect me to sign this.’

  Jack shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘I don’t expect anything Selena, this is just an option that you have, an option that only you could have, but it’s up to you.’

  ‘And what if I sign it and then decide to say fuck you, or I don’t want to do whatever it is you ask me to do, what then?’

  Jack smiled and sipped his water.

  ‘It’s all there Selena, you renege during the period that the contract covers, right up until the last fucking second of those thirty days and nights and the deal is void and you’re back to owing the Fat Man.’

  ‘And how do I know you’ll honour this contract?’

  ‘My word.’

  There are those two words again and despite everything I know I can trust him to honour his word, damn it, the simple fact of the matter is what choice do I have?

  Selena asked Jack for a pen and he handed her one. She looked at him one last time and then scrawled her signature where it was required.

  ‘There,’ Selena said and she threw the pen down on top of the contract and sat back in her seat. Jesus, what have I just done….you’ve just saved your ass girl, Selena’s inner voice/s said and she exhaled a huge sigh of relief, at least the Fat Man’s out of my life.

  Jack leaned over the table and picked up the papers, he signed his own name and then had the waiter witness the document, he folded the contract up and slipped it back in to his jacket pocket.

  ‘Can I have that scotch now?’

  ‘Sure,’ Jack said and he ordered them both a shot of a very expensive and rare single malt.

  ‘Trying to impress me?’ Selena asked.

  Jack laughed, ‘I have this contract, I have no need to impress you.’

  ‘So what now?’ Selena asked.

  ‘Now you’ll take that dress off.’

  ‘What?’ Selena asked, she hadn’t expected Jack’s response and the full meaning of what she had just signed came to her.

  ‘Paragraph two, clause one: “the individual will follow any command given to her without hesitation or question, failure to do so voids the contract” so take that fucking dress off right now.’

  ‘B-b-but the waiter?’

  ‘I can accept that this is all a learning curve for you Selena; that you might be slightly discombobulated by your unique situation but if I have to ask again then I’m getting up and leaving you to your fate.’

  ‘Fuck,’ Selena said, and she felt her face flush with embarrassment, the waiter was heading directly towards her but she did as she’d been instructed and s
he took hold of the hem of her dress and lifting her ass up out of the chair she began to work the tight cashmere dress up over her hips.

  Selena’s eyes were on the waiter, she saw him pause mid-step as he noticed her pulling her dress up over her ribs and then the waiter looked away and resumed walking towards their table. Selena sat down and glanced at Jack, he nodded his head and Selena sighed as she pulled the dress up over her breasts and they spilled free and her face flushed redder still and then the dress was obscuring her face and she spent a few blissful seconds hidden from the waiter and then she had to concede defeat and she tugged the garment fully over her head and up her arms, she quickly finished removing the dress and dropped it on top of the table.

  Selena glowered across the table at Jack and she crossed her arms over her ample breasts, she expected him to tell her off, to put her in her place once again but he didn’t say a thing and she didn’t know what was more infuriating; the fact that he didn’t object to her covering her breasts or the simple truth that was her own annoyance at wanting him to object.

  Goddamnit, what a situation to be in.

  Selena waited until the server had left their drinks and walked away and then she reached out with her left hand and snatched up her scotch, as she took a sip she could see that Jack’s eyes were on her chest and she glanced down and spied that her right nipple was exposed and she cursed herself as she watched the bud grow hard before her very eyes.

  Selena downed the contents of her glass, the alcohol burning as it slid down her throat and in to her stomach and she put the empty glass down and Jack indicated his own untouched drink.

  ‘Do you want mine?’

  ‘Ha, what do I have to do for it?’ Selena asked, her words dripping with scorn.

  ‘You look as if you could use it more than me, here,’ Jack said and he picked his glass up and offered it across the table. Selena reached across with her left hand and Jack pulled his hand and the much needed alcohol away from her extended hand, she stretched further and she felt her right breast caress the table cloth and then her hand clasped the glass.

  Jack held the glass tightly for a moment and then gave it up and Selena sat back in her chair and without consciously knowing her right arm had dropped to her seat’s arm and it wasn’t until she noticed Jack’s eyes had moved away from her face that she became aware of her now totally exposed upper body; Selena toyed with the idea of covering herself but realised that if she really wanted to get out from under the Fat Man and the mess that she was in that she would be showing Jack a lot more than just her tits over the next month.