by Gregg Burton
Conceding to his Asian friend, Malik followed her. He still managed to tell my masseur, “David, give her the ecstasy treatment.”
Then, the back bells chimed twice.
Chapter 5
The room I was made out of curtains that were too small to fit a Queen size bed. It was an area that was way too small for six people to stand in a straight line. It was, however, big enough for the small chair that held my clothes, a small table that had a portable radio playing soft earth music, massage oils, and the small massage bed that held me.
I was one step away from being naked. The only thing covering my body was a thin, white cotton towel. My head was stilled by the hole of the massage table. My back, neck, arms, and thighs were oiled, and my body was rubbed to the point of ecstasy. I swear I couldn’t move. I really didn't want to either.
This was the life. I had made more money in the last forty-eight hours than I’d made in my entire life. I had met up with guys who would show me how to make more money. Now all I had to do was…
Hey!
David hands were moving too high up my towel. He moved his thumbs in small circular motions, causing my body to…
What’s that tingle?
It was time for that man to stop touching me, but it felt so damn good.
“What are you doing?” I mustered the strength to ask.
“Ma’am, this is part of the ecstasy treatment,” answered David, my masseur. “If you want me to stop, I will. Do you want me to stop?”
His oiled thumbs never stopped moving up my thigh as he spoke. Everything in me told me to get up and beat his ass for violating my body. But, it felt so damn good.
All I could do was mumble, “No.”
Every time that man touched me, it felt like he was popping something new inside me that had been trapped all my life. Those manipulating fingers forced sounds of passion to escape from my mouth.
He switched his magical thumbs to my other thigh, and it started all over again. He removed my towel and poured some oil over my backside. It was warmer than the oil he originally started with. He ran his small but strong hands smoothly across my backside, spreading out the oil. He then applied a little pressure along my inner thighs. My body started to tingle more. Shocking as it may sound; no man had ever gotten that close to my body. This feeling was new and intense. For the first time in my life, I felt vulnerable.
“Miss, would you like me to stop now?” David asked me again.
This time, I didn’t answer. Although I would have replied no, my vocal cords had gone into hiding. I was left mute, fearing that my body would betray me by feeling more of whatever David was doing to me.
He parted my legs. He was about to do something I’d never done to myself.
What am I doing? I don’t know this man. Why can’t I speak? I’m not a prisoner, but my vocal cords have been put on lock.
My body felt like the fireworks finale on the Fourth of July. His small hands were lapping the lower end of my backside, near the walls of the untouched. My head started getting light, and my moans increased. Then…then…
“Linda…Linda,” Malik nudged me. “Wake up. We have to go. We don’t want Ace waiting on us.”
I blinked slowly as I adjusted my vision to Malik’s knowing smirk.
The first words out of my mouth were, “Malik, you’re an asshole.”
He got a good laugh out of that and threw my clothes to me. “Will you please get dressed so we can get out of here? Ace is going to be waiting on us.”
That’s when I realized that I was naked. I touched my body. It was clear of any signs of oil, and David was gone.
“Any day now,” Malik yelled from behind the curtains. “We really have to go.”
“Alright, stop rushing me. Shit!”
Malik saw me naked! He saw me naked and didn’t give any sign of approval. Something is definitely wrong with that boy.
Fully clothed, I’ve been able to at least jar a man’s attention. Malik didn’t even bat an eyelash at me in my birthday suit. Funny thing is, I thought he was feeling me.
I rushed to put on my clothes and shoes so Mr. Demanding could shut the hell up.
When I opened the curtains, Malik was by the door talking to Sue. He paid her with the money Ace had given him to get us something to eat. She handed him a brown paper bag that I assumed was Ace’s medicine.
My legs were weak. It was so bad that I had to concentrate on every step I took. The damn NYU sweater I had on suddenly felt like a hundred pounds. I could barely keep my eyes open. That massage had messed me up.
When Malik saw me coming, he gave Sue a kiss on the cheek and rushed to open the door for me.
“Bye, miss,” Sue said as I walked out. “I hope we see you again.”
I didn’t respond. I just gave her a light wave and walked into the cool spring night.
“Are you going to be okay? You look like you’ve been drinking. I guess I should have warned you about David. He’s been known to put people to sleep.”
“You ain’t shit, Malik. If my body wasn’t so damn limp, I would slap the shit out of you right now. You basically told that man to molest me.”
“Aww, don’t be so harsh. I’m sure he asked you if you wanted him to stop.”
“Yeah, after he paralyzed me. That was more than just a massage.”
“It’s called a happy ending.”
“A what?”
“A happy ending. It comes with the ecstasy treatment.”
Happy ending? That shit wasn’t cool. I still felt David’s hands on my body. He had touched me with such intensity. My body was numb because of his damn hands, and he knew it.
Two guys walked up to us and gave Malik a clan handshake and hug.
“What’s good, fam?”
“Ain’t shit, maintaining,” Malik replied as he released hands with one of the guys.
“Yo, that’s your shortie?” One guy asked. “She hot and a college chick? Let me find out, Malik.”
Malik put his arm around me. “Yeah, man, you know how I do it. Linda, meet Tommy and Sam. I grew up with these two gents.”
“Yo, you better hold down green eyes, or I’ma come through and scoop her up,” said the one named Tommy. Malik cut the conversation short. “I got you, but we out. I got some business to handle.”
Sammy said, “It’s always business with you, fam.”
“As it should be,” Malik responded. We started walking away.
After we were some distance from his friends, I removed Malik’s arm from my shoulder. “You know, the only reason I let you do that is because I didn’t want one of your dirty-looking friends to try to talk to me.”
“I know.”
“And, let me find out you got some hood in you.” I started mocking him. “'Ain’t shit, maintaining. We out.'”
I laughed. Malik laughed, too.
“I don’t talk that way because Ace said it’s bad for business,” he said. “But, how would I look speaking all proper and professional to my boys, the same guys I grew up with? That's why, with them, I keep it one hundred.”
“Okay, okay, I feel you. Don’t think you’re off the hook for that massage. I will get you back.”
If Malik only knew the truth…if he only knew that the way he proudly put his arm around me and called me his girl made me want to melt...
Something was definitely wrong with me, and I knew what my problem was––I had never been with a guy. Up until that massage, I never knew a man could make me feel the way David, the masseur, did. Sure, I kissed a couple of boys and even let a couple of them touch my breasts. But, I had NEVER been with a man. I don’t know why either. I wasn’t trying to wait for marriage or true love. It just never felt like the right time or person. Now, I wanted to do it.
If David could make me feel that kind of tingle just from a massage, I needed to know what else was going on inside my body. I wanted my body to explode. All of a sudden, money wasn’t the only thing on my mind. I wanted that feeling all the girls i
n the locker room used to brag about after gym class. I wanted to know if a man could make love to me so hard that it caused me to do some of the stupid things I’ve seen other women do for love. I wanted to see the look in a man’s eyes when he reached his point of ecstasy. I wanted to see the desire in his eyes to bring me to mine. I wanted all of that, and I believed I had finally found the right candidate.
Malik tapped me on my shoulder, causing me to jump.
“Hey, you were about to trip over that bum. Are you sure you’re okay?”
The bum that I almost tripped over was on his knees in a prayer position in front of a church near Ace’s apartment. His hair was gray and kinked up. He wore a stained blue and white flannel shirt, a pair of dark gray ripped Dickies and shoes with the front missing, showing two sets of ashy claws that were supposed to be his feet. I wanted to be nice and say excuse me for almost knocking him over, but the drool coming out the side of his mouth told me that he wouldn’t care if I did or didn’t.
Drugs were killing our beautiful city.
“Linda, let’s stop and get you some tea before we get to Ace’s place. He can’t see you like this. Damn, you must’ve had a real good happy ending.”
“You really want me to punch you, don’t you?”
We walked into the café where I had met Ace that Saturday morning. Malik went to the cashier and ordered me a cup of tea. He was right. I had to get myself together. I needed to start thinking about the money we were about to make and get my mind off of sex.
Malik walked carefully with my tea. He was still smiling. Does he ever stop smiling? I thought.
“So look,” he said, positioning the tea in front of me. “I wanted to talk to you about the score. You have to rope the mark into meeting me, but that won’t be the hard part. The hard part is convincing him to trust me. And, with the 'Falling Mike' con, you’re going to have to do a really good job.”
“What’s the 'Falling Mike’ con?”
“Remember the big guy at the park, the one who took my place when you came?”
“Big Mike, right?”
“Yeah, Big Mike. Well, Big Mike is part of our crew. Although he scares people away from the Monte table, he has an ingenious way of making marks believe he’s an ex-boxer, fighting underground fights in order to pay off a debt of some kind.”
“Okay.”
“Well, I will convince the mark that, with the right backing, we could help out Big Mike and make some good money at the same time.”
I sipped my tea and listened to Malik. I think I understood what he was trying to do, but I just didn’t see it working. To be honest, it sounded really difficult. Malik seemed like a smart enough guy. I just couldn’t see him pulling something like that off. Three Card Monte was one thing. This was something entirely different. I heard Malik and Ace talk about a shill. Although I didn’t know exactly what that was, I did know this would be Malik’s first real con, as well as mine. I’ve only been in the game for less than four days.
“Malik, what makes you think we can pull this off? This is my first time attempting something like this. If I understand correctly, it will also be your first time pulling a major con like this, too. You told Ace something about you being a shill. What is that anyways?”
“A shill is just like an extra on a con. You know how they have extras in the movies? Well, we have an extra in our cons. And as far as pulling this off, if Ace taught me one thing, he taught me that as long as the word greed exists, there has to be a scholar to teach people the true definition of the word, to show them that greed will get you nowhere. And another thing, in our world we have a saying: 'You can’t con an honest man.' And an honest man your friend Simon Newman is not. So, you ask why I think we can pull this off... It’s because your new friend has shown us a tenth of his greed. Now we teach him what greed really is. You never know. We may be helping him become a better man. The best part about it is the con will only cost him a measly ten thousand dollars.”
I smiled. “You sound like Ace. I’ll give it to you, though. You’re good.”
“That’s the thing. I’ve seen you in action, too. That’s why I know we can pull this off. All you have to do is follow my lead, and come next week; we will be ten thousand dollars richer than we are right now. This is just the beginning. All you have to do is believe in me like I believe in you.” Malik stopped and grabbed my hand. “Linda, we really can do this.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” I eased my hand away from his. “But, we need to get one thing straight. I don’t know what you may think, but I don’t want you trying to push up on me. I want this money as much as you do, and you flirting with me won’t help us get it.”
“What are you talking about? The only thing I can think of saying to you that would be remotely close to flirting would be that God gave you some beautiful eyes. If you call that flirting, well then, I don’t think you know anything when it comes to men.”
I became a little upset that I put myself out there.
“Are you trying to say I don’t know when someone is flirting with me? I know when somebody is flirting with me. I know and you know that you were flirting with me.”
Malik averted his eyes off of me and to the heavy traffic outside. He looked out until the light on the corner turned red. He placed his attention back on me. “Look, I apologize if I offended you. You don’t have to worry about me flirting with you. Okay?”
He didn’t mean it. I could see it in his eyes. He was just saying that so I wouldn’t walk out of there. I swear he was flirting with me.
“Are you gay?” I asked him.
“What?! No, I’m not gay. I don’t believe you. Every time a man is not attracted to a woman he has to be gay. Why can’t it be you’re just not my type?”
“So I’m not your type?”
“Oh my God! First, you get mad because you think I’m flirting with you. Now, you’re calling me gay, because I say I’m not attracted to you. You can’t be serious!”
“So now you’re trying to say I’m not attractive.”
I was starting to attract attention to us. Malik noticed it, too. He smiled nervously at a couple next to us.
“Look, Linda,” Malik lowered his voice. “Do I think you’re attractive? Yes. Hell yes! Was I flirting with you? Maybe, I’m not sure. But, do I want to wreck our chances of making this money? My answer to that is no. In short, I will not do anything to damage our working relationship. If at any time I do or say something to upset you, please let me know in private, because you know how to cause a scene.”
“Kiss me,” I said.
“What?”
“Well, you said I’m not your type, so kiss me. If you don’t feel anything, I’ll let it go.”
“Linda, can you help me out? Do you want me to like you or not, because I’m confused?”
“I want you to kiss me.”
Without hesitation, Malik leaned over the table and softly kissed me. He eyed me and tilted his head, he used his tongue to part my lips. My intentions were to keep my eyes open, proving to myself that I was not attracted to him. From what I understand, if a kiss meant something to you, one of the first things you’ll do is close your eyes as part of savoring the moment. However, the minute his tongue touched my tongue I felt something. My heart tripled in pace. My head became light. I didn’t want him to stop. This was not the reaction I was supposed to be feeling, but Malik’s kiss left me floating in place. Malik put his hands on my shoulder and slightly pulled us apart.
His breath was short. “See, nothing.”
I was paralyzed for a second before I could shake myself back into reality. “Same here. I just want to make sure. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, can we please leave before we’re late?”
“Sure,” he said, touching his lips. “We are running late. Just so we’re clear, you felt nothing, right?”
“Not a thing,” I assured him.
The funny thing was when I stood up, I couldn’t feel my legs. Maybe that kiss wasn’t such a
good idea.
“Linda, you know we can do this, right?”
“Do what?”
“Get this money.”
“Oh, yeah, I know.”
I used whatever power I could muster to walk out of the café like was I wasn’t fazed. Like Malik’s kiss didn’t just buckle my legs. He waited until I passed him before he moved. Much like Ace, he was the perfect, smooth-talking gentleman.