First Down

by Paula Mabbel

  He let his hands fall to the line of her jeans and then he fumbled with the button until it popped open. He let his hand slide down into her panties, enjoying the hot, wet feeling that was covering his fingers. She slid his fingers into her and felt her back arch in satisfaction. He could feel her nails digging into his back, as he lowered his jeans and then thrust into her with such a hardness that she cried out. He was throbbing inside of her.

  Trina rolled off Rob and onto her back, so that she could catch her breath. She’d had plenty of sex in her life. Sex was something she enjoyed doing, but she’d never had sex like that before. She’d never felt her body connect to a person the way it had with Rob’s. It had been like every movement he made had been perfectly aligned with her pleasure. It had been perfect and it had made leaving Rob ten times harder than it had seemed before it’d happened.

  ******

  The drop off was only two days away and Trina was starting to feel the pressure. Her brother had been messaging her for days, but she hadn’t answered any of his texts. She knew that if she let any more time pass that her brother would start to grow suspicious, but even that thought couldn’t force her into sending the message that seemed impossible to write.

  She had gone into this plan with a straight head. She was going to find out the location of the drop and then she was going to walk away with half of the money. It couldn’t have been any simpler, so how had she messed up so badly? How had she managed to fall for Rob? When had she let her defences down enough for that to happen? She didn’t know, but the one thing she did know with certainty was that she didn’t want to betray him.

  She could feel the weight of her stress, as it sat on her shoulders. It was making her feel ill. She was waking up in the morning and spending half an hour next to the toilet. In a way she couldn’t wait for it all to end just so she could stop feeling so crappy. It didn’t occur to her, of course, that she might be pregnant, until she’d gone to the bar and saw the tampon machine in the bathroom. It was only then that she realized that her period had been due a few days before.

  The realization almost crushed her. It made the impossible decision she had to make, so much harder than it had already been. She half wanted to just ignore the possibility until it either went away or didn’t, but she knew she couldn’t do that. She knew she needed to know for sure one way or another because if she was pregnant, then she wasn’t only, deceiving the man that she was pretty sure she loved, but also the father to her baby.

  She’d grown up with her brother. Her brother had been everything to her and he’d taught her more than she could have ever hoped for, but her loyalty was wavering. She found the closest chemist and bought a pregnancy test. She made sure that it was well wrapped up in the brown paper bagged, before she stepped back out onto the sidewalk and then she headed for Rob’s place, so she could know for certain what was happening.

  She sat with the stick between her legs and waited for the pee to come. She tried to push with all the force that she had, but it wasn’t coming out. She’d drunk a bottle of water a half an hour before to make sure that she would need to pee, but it hadn’t worked. Her nerves were on edge and because of that they’d put a blocker on her bladder. She sighed with relief when she finally felt the first drops of pee leave her and then she put the test on the white marble side, as she cleaned herself up.

  She’d checked the packet before she’d gone into the room, but she couldn’t help but scan over the instructions again to make sure that she had everything right in her head. The test would take three minutes, before she could check the results. She paced the room willing the second hand on her watch to tick by quicker, as she waited.

  It got to thirty seconds; before she could check to see what the test said when she was disturbed by a loud knocking at the front door. She glanced at the test and then to the bathroom door, as though she was torn between which one to give her attention to, but the knocking at the door persisted and the test couldn’t speak for itself, so she turned away from it and went to see who it was that obviously couldn’t wait a minute.

  She opened the door with an annoyed look on her face over being disturbed. “Johnathan, what are you doing here?” She asked in distain, when she realized that it was the man who had stood against her at the meeting who was standing on the other side of Rob’s door.

  “Oh, I’ve just found something out that’s really interesting,” Johnathan said in a taunting voice that made Trina’s stomach sink. “You see; I’ve never bought that little sob story you came here with. You know the one where you said your brother killed that little boyfriend of yours? So, well, I thought I’d do some digging.” The look in his eyes was one of glee and Trina could tell that whatever he had found wasn’t going to be good for her. “I went to see an old friend. He runs with your brother’s lot you see. We keep the friendship on the down low because, well, I’m sure you get it,” he continued, as enjoyed prolonging the big reveal. “And, well, you see my friend seems to be under the impression that you’ve been working undercover, that you didn’t in fact fall out with your brother at all, it was all just a little scheme, so that you could try and disrupt the drop off.”

  “I’d like to see you prove it,” Trina said as she stared right into his eyes. She could tell from his gestures that he was trying to make her afraid, but she’d taken on much bigger, worse men than him and come out to tell the tale afterwards.

  “I don’t need to prove it. I just need to make sure that Rob believes it,” he said with a nasty sneer.

  ******

  Trina walked down the dark sidewalk quickly, checking behind her as she went. Johnathan had left the apartment nearly an hour ago and she was sure that he’d be with Rob at that very moment telling him everything. She’d had no other choice. She’d had to go. She took a quick turn off from the sidewalk and walked over to a poorly lit bar that didn’t look open.

  She knew it was open, though. She’d already text her brother and asked him to meet her there. There had been no other option. She had to make sure that she was protected by somebody and Rob would be gunning for her once he realized the truth. The situation that she was in was tight and she could feel her back being pushed firmly against the wall.

  “Brother,” she said as she threw her arms around his neck.

  “Trina, I’ve been worried about you.”

  “I’m sorry that I went so quiet. I had to make sure that nobody caught on to what was really happening.”

  “I understand. Did you find out what we needed to know?” He asked Trina with eyes that were fixed onto her face, so that she couldn’t lie.

  She thought about her answer. It was in this moment of pause that Dominic realized that something wasn’t right. “I did find out what we needed to know, but I’m unsure whether or not we should go through with our plan,” she said carefully, as she tried to push her brother away from the idea that they had created together.

  “You want to walk away from half a million dollars?” He asked her. “I hope you have a mighty fine reason for that,” he continued, as he leaned over to his sister and waited for an explanation.

  “He’s got a lot of men on this. I mean a lot more than we thought. It’s going to be dangerous and I think we’ll end up losing more men than walk out.”

  “So?”

  “Don’t you think it’s wrong to lead our club, the people who follow us no questions asked into a fight that we know we can’t win?”

  “First of all Trina the only way we know we won’t win, is if we don’t try and secondly, my club doesn’t follow us, they follow me. You’re best remembering that,” he said with so much warning in his undertone that Trina actually found herself wondering what he might do if she didn’t.

  “I was only telling you my opinion, you’re welcome to do as you see fit,” she said, as she shifted a little on the barstool she had sat down on.

  “Good, well now that is sorted we should go back and tell the others the good news,” her brother said as he stood up an
d grabbed her roughly by the arm.

  She winced under the tightness of his grasp, but she didn’t struggle away from it. Her brother was acting oddly and she always knew that meant trouble. They drove back in silence as the wind whipped through Trina’s hair and she watched the world pass her in a blur.

  The bar hadn’t changed in the weeks she’d been gone. It was still dank and dirty. She walked into the room with her head held high, as the club members turned around to look at her. She could hear a small gust of whispers surrounding her, as she started to walk over to the bar, but she ignored them.

  “I’m sure you all know where my sister has been these last few weeks. I’m pleased to tell you that she’s got the location of the drop off and we’ll be heading out there tomorrow night,” her brother said cheerfully to the rest of the room when he’d joined her at the bar.

  The room became full of happy murmurs, as the club talked over the news. It was going to be the biggest heist they’d ever done. It was going to be worth more money than had ever run through their hands before. It was big.

  “There is one little problem though,” Dominic said, when he’d grown tired of waiting for the room to quieten down. “You see, I think we have a traitor in our midst,” he continued, as he looked around the room at each person who was sitting within it. “We all know that we can’t allow traitors to roll with us. We need trust if this club is ever going to work, don’t we?” He asked the room and was met with mumbles of agreeance. “Good,” he said when the rest of the room had agreed with him. “So, what are we going to do with you-sis?” He asked, as he turned to look at Trina with cold eyes.

  “Me?” Trina almost choked on her words. “You think I’m a traitor?”

  “I think you could be and that’s close enough for me. You don’t think I didn’t know what you were getting into when you were with the Snake Fangs? You don’t think I know how much time you were spending with Rob? I know your loyalties are divided and I can’t let that continue.”

  Trina looked at her brother right in the eye. If there was any man on earth that she feared, then it was him, but she wasn’t about to let that show. “You are wrong brother,” she said as she tried to hold her voice steady.

  “I really wish I was,” Dominic said, before he pulled his arm back and sent his fist flying into Trina’s face.

  She felt pain. Red hot pain, as his fist struck against her cheek and then nothing. There was nothing, only blackness as she sank into a beautiful unconsciousness where nobody could reach her and nobody could touch her.

  ******

  Trina woke up and looked around her. Her head was thumping with pain from where her brother had hit her and she felt dizzy. She tried to work out where she was, but there was nothing in the room that she recognized. There wasn’t really anything in the room at all. All she could see were four gray walls and the bed that she had been laid on.

  She pushed herself up from the hard mattress and walked over to the door. She could hear the light rasp of someone breathing on the other side and she hit her fists against the solid wood in the hopes that whoever was on the other side would explain to her what was happening.

  She stood back when the door opened. She recognized the man who was standing in front of her, but she didn’t know his name. He was the one who’d spoken up in the bar about her share. He was the one that she had slammed with her words and nothing else. He was the one who was standing in front of her with a dirty sneer spread across his cracked lips.

  “You know, when I talked to my friend about you, I didn’t actually think you’d be stupid enough to come back here,” he said, as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him. “You see, he came to ask me about you because he didn’t believe your little story. Hardly surprising really because let’s face it, you really aren’t an actress are you.” He stopped speaking and reached over to Trina’s hair, so that he could brush it back behind her ear. “You sure are pretty though,” he said, as a wildness flashed into his eyes that spelled out trouble.

  Trina looked behind him at the door, which he hadn’t locked. She had no chance of making a dash for it. She looked at the man standing in front of her. He was bigger than her, but his overhanging gut told her that his reaction speeds wouldn’t match up to hers. She waited for him to step closer. She waited until she could feel his slimy breath against the skin on her neck and then she pushed the palm of her hand hard into his nose, until she felt the thick rush of blood pouring out.

  She dodged under his swipe, as he tried to stop her from getting to the door and then she ran. She still had no idea where she was. The hallway was dark and none of the doors looked like exits to the building. She reached the end of the hallway and her heart was hammering against her chest. She could barely breathe with anxiety, as she realized that footsteps were quickly approaching her. She had no other option than to go into the door closest to her. She pushed on the handle and found that it was unlocked to her relief.

  She stepped into the brightly lit room and for a moment she couldn’t see anything. She felt as though she’d been temporally blinded just as she was desperate to see. She waited for the lights to stop burning her eyes and then she looked around the room she had just gone into. It was a storage room. She could tell from the towering shelving units that ran down the huge space.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Dominic called out from the other side of the room.

  “What are you doing Dominic? This is crazy. I’m your sister. Have you gone mad?” Trina asked him in a desperate attempt to make him see what he was doing.

  “You know at first I thought I’d gone mad. You know, when I saw you getting your dirty little rocks off with Rob, but then I realized that I should have known.”

  “You should have known what?” Trina asked him with a confused look of hurt on her face.

  “That you’d been the dirty little skank that you are. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Rob’s a good looking guy, I get why you did it, but then to betray your family? To betray you’re only living blood family for someone you met a few weeks ago? That’s something I don’t understand.”

  “Of course you don’t,” Trina spat at him. “You don’t understand anything that isn’t about domination. That’s all you care about. You can give me every speech in the book about family, but you’re the one who sent your little sister into the heart of the enemy just to earn a quick buck. Your only reason for loving me is because I’m useful to you.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Isn’t it? Because do you know what. The moment I stopped being useful, you called me a traitor and you hit me in the fucking face. That’s messed up brother, even by your standards.”

  “I had to do that to get you here,” Dominic said quickly. “I’ve decided that I’m going to make this real easy on you, you see. Because I was thinking after I realized that your loyalty was with the pretty boy of things I could do to change that. You are my sister after all and regardless of what you might think, I do love you. And do you know what is it that I thought?” He asked with a self-appreciating look in his eyes.

  “What did you think?” Trina asked him as she held his eyes with her own.

  “I thought it would be really fun to get Rob out here. I thought we could have a little chat about everything that’s happened and about all of your lies. You know, clear the air. Because, I mean, let’s face it, he’s not going to want you after that. Is he?”

  “You need to leave Rob out of this,” Trina said and she couldn’t hide the sadness from her face.

  “Don’t start crying on me now,” Dominic mocked her cruelly. “You don’t need to worry about your precious Rob; I promise I’m not going to do anything to him,” Dominic said in a sly voice that implied that there was more to what he was saying than just the words that were coming out of his mouth.

  ******

  A sharp knock at the door sent chills running down Trina’s spine. She knew without even having to see that it was Rob standing on the other sid
e of the door. Dominic stood up quickly from the small metal table that had been placed in the middle of the large storage room. He walked over to the door and opened it with a cruel smile on his face. “Well, if it isn’t Rob, why don’t you come in? You are after all my future brother in law right?”

  Rob didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look at Dominic. His eyes glazed right over him and over to Trina who was still sitting at the table. Her eyes were fixed on him from across the room. She could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew about her lies. She could tell from the way that he was looking at her as though she was almost a stranger to him.

  Rob and Dominic walked over to the table and took their seats. Trina watched, as Dominic eagerly glanced between her and Rob, as though he couldn’t wait for the show to start.

  “I’m so sorry about all of this Rob,” Trina started and then stopped when her brother’s cruel laughter rang through the air.

  “She isn’t sorry. She’s only sorry she’s been caught,” Dominic said snidely. “You see, that’s the thing about my sister. She likes to have everything her own way. Only life doesn’t always work out like that, does it?” He asked as he tilted his head and his eyes over to Trina. “I’m sure though you’re wondering why it is that I’ve asked you here today.”

  “I can’t say that it hasn’t crossed my mind,” Rob said in a low voice that cut across the atmosphere that sat between them.

  “Well, first of all -I want you to know that my little sister told me everything. She told me about the drop off location and I’ve got men there now.”

  “That’s strange,” Rob said with a small frown, “Because my men are there now too and they haven’t reported any problems picking up the goods.”

  Dominic’s eyes dashed over to his sister. Trina could feel the anger burning into her skin from them, as he refused to move his gaze off her. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, as she realized that her last deception had been uncovered.