Chapter Seven
And thirty minutes later I have gotten over my initial shock enough to scowl at him questionably as he parks in the lot of a new mall. He doesn’t say anything as he opens the door for me. I ignore his outstretched hand as I step out and move fast so as to not encourage him to steal an embrace because that could be what that small smile is about.
The early evening air is crisp and sharp as Taylor drapes his arm around my shoulders and he begins to lead me to god knows where
‘Where on earth are you taking me?’
‘Come on.’
I scowl at him again before I turn my eyes up front and we are at the entrance of a flashy boutique. I’m about to snap at him when a tall lady who somehow remind me of Celine because of her dark smooth skin and confident gait approach us. Her six inch heels clicking loudly on the tiled floor.
She runs her long slender fingers into her extensions before she smiles languidly at Taylor as we step inside.
‘May I help you?’ her smile widens.
‘Yes, we want that.’ Taylor points at a dress I think but I don’t notice, somehow my eyes are glued at the woman who is now looking at me from head to toe. Yeah I do look like one of the hopeless street fellas from a Charles Dickens novel to her – but if she smiles at Taylor one more time…
‘Sure,’ she flashes a smile again as she saunters away to where Taylor showed her. Oh she can as well take him off my hands. The man is a giant spaceship that has landed in my territory and invaded my planet without any compromise. And now he is here buying me a stupid dress when I told him that I am not having any fancy dinner with him.
‘They come in different colors, which would you prefer?’ the woman materializes in front of us again and I feel two pairs of eyes on me
‘Surprise me.’ I look at Taylor with a too sweet smile that may as well be screaming-murder-
‘You hate it when I do that.’ He says holding my seething gaze
‘Oh so I get the free pass now? How about driving me back to my house.’
‘Don’t mention that shoe box to me right now.’
‘It’s my shoe box!’ I say through my teeth.
‘Pack that one and she will wear the blue one.’ He says to tall lady without breaking his gaze from mine then flashes one of those annoying small smiles. ‘Surprise.’
My lips part as I pick up his adamant stand behind that simple taunting look he is giving me. What is he planning to do? Drag me back to his world? And why is he mad at me I didn’t do anything wrong? I am the reasonable one trying to pull the strings of my own life in my hands and out of everyone’s control.
‘The changing room is at the far end on the right.’ Tall lady is back and I don’t move as she stretches the shopping back to me.
‘Go and change,’ Taylor says with a seemingly fond voice, ‘or I don’t mind changing you myself.’
Tall lady blinks at Taylor in surprise but quickly recovers herself and retains the smile on her face. I take the shopping bag and start for the changing rooms. I quickly find it and shut the door. I exhale loudly and lean against the door. Why is he behaving like this? He is scaring me. Even tall lady switched from swooning to wary at him in seconds.
A shudder runs through me when I realise that Brian really was sent to spy on me. Since the door of escaping seems to be closed, tonight I plan to get some answers from him.
I quickly discard my sweater and sweat pants and pull the dress on. It’s soft and hangs a little above my knees. I put on the shoes that are in the bag. I fix the pony tail of my hair which I had contemplated cutting short when I got fired and I couldn’t afford to buy hair products anymore. But it still looks good. Not that I had even paid much attention to my appearance for the past month. Oh I couldn’t afford a mirror anyway. I turn to the full length mirror and a petite girl looks back at me. The soft blue hue of the dress makes her honey toned skin outstanding.
She tilts her head to one side small brown eyes narrowing into slits as she stares back at me. I have always been slender but right now I am bordering towards skinny.
The knock on the door startles me and I turn to stare at it in alarm.
‘Is everything okay?’ comes Tall lady’s voice.
I nod then I realise that she can’t see me, ‘yes,’ I stammer as I open the door and step out.
‘Look at you—this was truly made for you.’ she marvels, ‘you and this dress are a match made in heaven.’ She grins as she saunters away
My hold on the shopping back with my old clothes and flip flops tightens as my eyes roam around before they land on Taylor who manages to give me a fond look and a gentle smile curls on his lips. But he doesn’t make any move to come close to me. He tucks his hands behind him instead.
Wild, emotion and heart give him a dreamy look with their heads rested languidly inside their palm, while my logic and sense are trying to pick up any other resistance against him.
We hold each other’s gaze for a long moment before he says, ‘let’s go.’
I realise that I left my phone in my room when Taylor starts driving us to wherever he dressed me up for. I suppress a frustrated sigh. That phone has been my close companion for a month. And right now I doubt that I am going back there. I can’t even figure out how I can make him take me back to my room. At least I should get through the dinner first before I try to figure that one out.
We don’t talk all the way to dinner. It’s a Friday and those cheesy songs are playing on the radio. How ironic—the events of my life make up for an interesting novel. It’s a dark dangerous romance. The one that you continue to drown with no hope of coming back up to the surface. But I am determined to continue to deny the truth until I find a way to swim back up. This is a too dangerous world I have found myself in to relent and let go of my defenses.
But the surprise I get to the fact that I don’t feel sick when we enter the restaurant and the smell of different types of foods hits me makes me snort under my breath. Maybe the sleep I got after that tyrant fired me did the trick. I inhale deeply and I feel hungry instead of sick. At least one problem in solved at the moment.
Taylor studies me with a look on interest as we sit in our chairs in a tables that is in a private corner. A corner we can both breathe murderous threats to each other and no one would notice, I think wildly.
‘What are you thinking about?’
‘You wouldn’t understand.’ I say with a straight face
‘You are right I wouldn’t.’
‘Why are you behaving like this? A new trick to kidnap me?’
‘Behaving like what?’
‘You switched from adamant to compromising in a second and you are doing everything I rejected while maintaining your simple cool domineer.’
He shrugs, ‘I thought we wanted to talk.’
I narrow my eyes, ‘yes we are talking.’ I flash a small smile.
He picks up his menu, ‘I’m not going to kidnap you.’ he says simply, ‘you are coming with me.’
I bite my lip, we can set this issue aside and argue about it later. I watch him as his eyes roam on the menu he is holding. Those lashes fluttering as his eyes move from one item to another. I cross my leg over the other one under the table and my hands rest easily on my thigh as I study him. His hair looks unkempt and wild but still very appealing. Those curls twisted devilishly to form a mass on his head and I think one is long enough to almost drape on his brow. And of course my fingers do the twitchy thing to want to sink into that mass of hair.
‘My mother was Mexican, that’s where I got the hair.’
I snap out of my reverie, I just got caught studying someone’s hair. Aren’t I supposed to be mad at him? What is wrong with me?
‘I thought she was a Motswana.’
‘She was by birth, but both her parents were Mexican. She chose to stay in Botswana and applied for citizenship.’
My interest is suddenly piqued, ‘your grandparents live here as well?’
He shakes his head with a rueful smile, ‘no they moved back to Mexico.’
‘Do they ever come here?’
He shakes his head again, ‘no they never really exchanged nice words with my mother the moment she met my father. They hate my father with a passion.’ A small devilish smile curls on his lips.
‘What about you?’
He pauses for a moment as if it’s the first time he has ever thought of that question
‘I never really met them since I was seven, they were nice to me back then.’
I am about to say something when the waitress comes to take our orders. At least she doesn’t flatter her eye lashes at Taylor. I hadn’t read my menu so Taylor orders for me. When the waitress leaves he settles that gaze on me
‘What about you?’
I shrug, ‘nothing much, pretty much everything you already know,’
‘I only know your family here, but what about your other family back in your country?’
‘Ah, that’s complicated, they are my cousin sisters from my father’s side or something like that. They took care of me since I was little up until I left for college.’
‘You didn’t live with your parents?’
‘No, mother often visited but father only send money, it didn’t bother me I had a happy childhood. It’s only till two years ago that I began to wonder the weirdness of my existence to my parents.’
I shake my head. Some things are just not meant to be understood and it doesn’t even really matter. I have immediate problems to solve at the moment anyway.
‘So getting back to the topic.’ I announce with a sigh
‘Which topic?’
‘Taylor!’ my lips form a frown
‘Sorry go on.’
‘What does your family do?’ I ask. Might as well start with the much gory stuff.
‘A lot of things.’ He says evasively and does not elaborate
‘Yeah that explains why Brian seemed to almost have a heart attack when he saw you.’ my mouth forms a hard line. Seriously, is it always going to be like this, dragging information out of him like I’m trying to squeeze toothpaste out of an empty tube?
He regards me with a thoughtful expression for a moment before his lips start to move, ‘we are rich and powerful Heather and my father is not the nicest person on the planet.’
‘He’s a mafia king.’
He laughs, ‘that’s a nice analogy.’ And I think he mutters – fitting – before he brings the water glass to his lips
‘He’s not nice to the women he catches you with either,’
He coughs, water spluttering from his mouth. He takes a napkin and starts to dab his mouth.
‘What on earth did Celine tell you?’ he mutters angrily when he puts the napkin back on the table.
‘You can imagine what I heard to make me pack and run a mile Taylor, now tell me what I want to know or I will be happy to have your cousin who is self-employed in the business of getting rid of your gold diggers give me more insight on the mess I am in.’
‘You know the fact that you trust Celine and not me kind of sucks.’
‘I don’t trust anyone Taylor—but Celine didn’t marry me behind my back.’
‘You can’t let that issue go can you?’
‘And I don’t plan to.’
We stare at each other for a long moment. Taylor devising, me threatening.
‘Okay.’ He says, ‘I went to your house with the intention of taking you away from the Charles deal. I figured if it’s the money that made your father do such a thing if I pay off his debt he will release you from all the mess.’
‘Why would you do that?’ I scowl at him in unbelief.
His eyes fill with frustration, ‘Heather stop asking me why I do things for you, the answer is going to be the same whether you want to believe it or not.’
I purse my lips, ‘okay, noted—go on.’
He narrows his eyes at me for a moment in annoyance before he continues, ‘so when I got to your house and I saw your father, I knew you were in much deeper crap than I had anticipated.’
I tilt my head to one side with a scowl, ‘what do you mean?’
‘Our fathers have known each other since Adam.’
‘Like friends?’
He nods quietly and it all comes into place. Instead of gasping I laugh and mumble something unintelligent under my breath.
The waitress returns with our food, tells us to enjoy and she is gone. I keep staring at Taylor for him to continue.
‘Eat!’
I narrow my eyes at him- that is not important right now!
‘Eat or I’m afraid what I am saying maybe ruining your appetite.’
‘My appetite has been screwed for a month now, it’s not news.’
‘That’s why you are so skinny.’
‘Yes you already told me that back in my shoe box.’
‘Well then start eating—I will fatten you up in a few days.’
I raise an eyebrow, ‘you will return me to my room won’t you? Shoe box or not I paid full rent for it and my phone is there.’
He doesn’t say anything but keep looking at me with a hard scowl on his mouth. That’s scary. I pick up my fork and start digging into my food then a satisfied look comes on his face.
Tyrant! My emotion growls with clenched fists.
‘Okay, so how are your father and mine friends?’
He raises an eyebrow and I roll my eyes
‘oh come on—my father is a starving billionaire wanna be and your father’s name makes people want to hide in their closets they obviously don’t run in the same social circles.’
‘The term friendship has a different meaning in the business world,’
‘Can’t you answer a question straight?’
He shrugs, ‘an old habit.’
‘Well I don’t like it at all.’ I scowl angrily at him
‘Eat!’ he gestures at my plate.
I tighten my hold on my fork before I start to shove food in my mouth. He watches me quietly like he has adopted to lately—and it’s annoying—and soon I have cleared my plate. I take glass of water, gulp half of it, put the glass back on the table, and wipe my mouth with a napkin before I fold my hands on my lap
‘All done, now you can go on.’
He chuckles softly shaking his head. ‘Where were we?’
‘A reasonable term of friendship.’ I roll my eyes, ‘stop acting like an eighty year old.’
‘Well—my father’s company bought your father’s business and in other words, your father works for my father. He is he boss’s, boss’s, boss’s boss.’
I don’t know how he says all that without biting his tongue.
‘So when I came to your house and he saw me, he took the opportunity to get what he always wanted, family ties get you to the top without question. He will benefit from this marriage a lot.’
I start to feel the food that I ate come back up to my throat.
‘Okay so why do you come in?’
‘I already told you that part Heather--.’
I cut him off, ‘you didn’t have to agree to marry me.’
‘That was non negotiable—your father had a solid argument, I had been with his daughter and defiled her so I am to marry her.’
I inhale deeply, ‘this all still doesn’t make any sense, what if I refuse?’
‘You have no say in this right now.’
‘And you all turn out to be tyrants.’
‘Call it as you wish—but these kind of arrangements can’t just be broken.’
And I can imagine his livid mafia king father’s reaction when he learned that his precious mafia heir just got entangled into a messy arrangement with a destitute girl from a laughable family whom he supposedly got caught defiling.
I am so screwed, not scratch that. I am finished.
‘Stop worrying about all that—I won’t let anything happen to you.’
‘oh says the man who has his weird cousin sister make a career out of chasing his women away because your father will ruin them if he gets his hands on them himself.’
‘Stop categorizing yourself with the term ‘my women’ Heather—if I wanted to treat you like that I would have done it a long time ago.’
With the look in his eyes right now, I don’t doubt that. Even when I attempted to throw myself at him he didn’t give in. but that doesn’t prove anything, my logic hedges. His gut instincts obviously told him that I could ruin his existence if he did.
Okay so let me put this into my own roles and try to get it straight. So father is now what? Taylor’s father-in-law that gives him better access to the empire than when he was just the manager of one of the small SBUs which is a position he could easily be fired from. And it didn’t help the situation that he went on and got mixed up with some twisted loan sharks.
The man was in much crappier trouble than I had ever realised. As much as it kills me to admit—Taylor saved me from what could have been a twisted fate of my life story. Though the crap I ended up in isn’t that liberating but I guess a mafia family is better than loan sharks
Oh what am I saying? Mafia life is the definition of hell on earth. Considering what I have just discovered, I can’t get out of this one unscathed. Yes, here I go quoiting Celine again like she is the female form of the 21st century Socrates.