by Alex Strong
Karina stopped in the middle of the dining room and did a mad spin, looking. It couldn’t be.
“Oh my god!” her mother squealed into the phone. “It is you!”
And then Karina saw her. The woman waving madly from her seat in the far corner as she hung up the phone
“What is it?” Damien said.
“Oh god,” said Karina as she watched her mother and father sitting patiently at the table, waiting for her to go over to them.
“What’s going on?” asked Damien, putting a hand on her arm.
“Get ready to meet my parents.”
Confusion
“Your parents are here?” Damien asked.
Karina pointed to where they were sitting, watching, still waiting.
“What are they doing here?”
“I have no idea,” she said as she started walking their way.
“Will you excuse us a minute?” she heard Damien say to the maître d’. “We’ve just seen someone we know.”
“Of course, sir.”
Karina’s mother stood as she and Damien neared the table.
“I can’t believe it’s you,” her mother said, giving her a quick hug before holding her at arm’s length. “Wow, Karina, you look so good! You look tan. What are you doing in Manhattan?”
“I’m visiting for a couple days,” she said, risking a quick glance at Damien. “What are you guys doing here?”
“We realized we hadn’t been able to get away in a while,” her mother said, sitting back down in her chair. “Not since…. Well, since we weren’t feeling so strapped this month, we thought we’d spend the weekend in New York. We catch the train home tomorrow.”
“Are you staying here at the hotel?” Karina asked.
“Oh lord no! We aren’t feeling that well off. We just came for—”
“Who’s your friend?” her father asked, speaking for the first time.
“Mom, Dad,” she said, looking nervously at both of them. “This is Damien Bishop. Damien, these are my parents, Cheri and Ron.”
Damien extended his hand first to Cheri, who accepted it, then to Ron, who wouldn’t budge.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Damien said, sliding the rejected hand into his trouser pocket.
“I didn’t know you were dating anyone,” Cheri said, giving Karina a playful swat on the arm. “How did you two meet? Do you live here in the city?”
“Damien lives in Miami, Mom. I met him when he came into the coffee shop.” Technically every word of it was true.
“I had to come up here for business,” Damien explained, “and I invited Karina to join me.”
“How exciting!” her mother gushed.
Karina noticed her dad was awfully silent, refusing to even smile. She wanted to believe it was the thought of his little girl going away with a man he’d never met that had him so quiet, but she suspected it was more than that. And it worried her.
“We should probably let you guys get back to your meal,” said Karina. “We have a table waiting for us—”
“Nonsense,” said her mother. “There’s plenty of room at our table, and we haven’t even ordered yet. You don’t mind, Ron, do you?”
Ron gave a grunt.
“Really, we wouldn’t want to intrude,” Karina said.
“Please,” Cheri begged, her eyes wide. “Have dinner with us. We miss you.”
Karina looked to Damien for help.
“It’s okay,” he said quietly, not understanding that this was the last thing she wanted. “Really. I’ll go tell the maître d’ we won’t need our table after all and have him grab a couple chairs.”
“That’s so sweet,” said Cheri.
Karina had never felt so awkward around her parents as Damien rushed off.
“That dress is adorable, sweetie,” her mom said. “Where did you find it?”
Karina looked down at the designer dress. “Um, would you believe at Goodwill?” Again, not really a lie, since she was simply asking a question.
“Get out of here! Why can’t I ever find gems like that at the thrift stores? And it fits you so perfectly.”
“Just lucky, I guess.”
Fortunately Damien wasn’t long, and a waiter was right behind him bringing two extra chairs. Cheri slid her chair over to sit next to Ron, and Karina sat down between Damien and her father. The last two men in the world she wanted in a room together. The man who had raised her to be a strong, independent woman, and the man who had essentially bought her.
“So Damien, what exactly is it that you do?” Cheri asked.
Damien cleared his throat as Karina held her breath.
“I’m in software development and sales,” he said, and she allowed herself to exhale.
“And do you get to travel a lot for work?” Cheri asked.
“I do,” Damien answered.
A server arrived just then and took everyone’s order.
“So sweetie,” Cheri said with a smile when that was all done. “Why didn’t you tell us you were seeing someone?”
Karina could feel herself turn beet red, as well as Damien giving her knee a squeeze under the table.
“Well,” she said, blushing as she looked at Damien. “It’s still new.”
“Yet you know him well enough to come all the way to New York with him,” her father said.
“Oh, Ron. You hush,” said Cheri.
“I’m just sayin’.” Ron muttered.
“Look at Karina,” said Cheri. “She’s obviously happy. You let her be.”
Karina was starting to sweat now. This had been a bad idea. A very bad idea.
“I understand your concerns,” Damien said, and Karina prayed for a hole to swallow her up. “But I assure you I have nothing but the best of intentions for your daughter.”
Karina snapped her head in his direction. Now that was a blatant lie.
“Could we please not do this?” Karina pleaded, her face reddening even more.
“Please, Ron,” Cheri said, placing a hand on his arm.
Ron sighed but said nothing else—until they were halfway through the main course. The conversation had managed to steer toward how work was going for Karina—more lies—and some of the places Damien had visited. Then after a couple glasses of wine, Cheri started talking about their recent “miracle.”
“Interesting thing about that, though,” Ron said, and Karina closed her eyes, knowing exactly where this was going. “I did a little digging and it turns out that everything had been taken care of by a single, generous man.” Karina opened her eyes. “A man by the name of Damien Bishop.”
Damien gently set his fork down and pulled the napkin from his lap, wiping the corner of his mouth with it before placing it next to his plate.
“You never told me that,” said Cheri, her eyes wide as she looked from Ron to Damien.
“That’s because I was still trying to put all the pieces together,” said Ron. “And now I find him here, in New York City, with my one and only daughter.”
“Mr. Watson—”
“Is my daughter your whore, Mr. Bishop?” Ron asked, narrowing his eyes at Damien.
“Daddy!”
Ron looked at Karina, and she had never seen him look so sad. Not even when her mom had been diagnosed. “I thought I raised you better than that,” he whispered, slowly shaking his head.
“It’s not like that,” Karina said, her throat burning because that was the biggest lie of them all. Sort of.
Ron stood and started pulling dollar bills from his wallet.
“I’ve got this, sir,” Damien said. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I won’t have my daughter pay for it later,” Ron snapped.
Damien stood as well. “I’ve never treated Karina with anything but respect,” he said, his voice stern.
“Let’s go, Cheri,” said Ron. “I’ve lost my appetite.”
They all looked at Karina’s mom, who was sitting there dumbfounded, still trying to register everything that was hap
pening.
“Is this all true?” she asked from across the table.
“No,” Karina said, shaking her head.
“Then what is it, sweetie?”
Karina’s face fell, and she fought back the tears. There was no better explanation to give.
“We’re leaving,” Ron said as Cheri finally got up from her chair. He held his hand out. “You can come with us, Karina.”
She looked from her father to Damien, then back to Ron. “I—I don’t want to.”
Ron sighed and started to pull her mother with him toward the exit, but Cheri stopped and walked around the table to Karina, pressing a hand to her cheek.
“I love you, honey,” she said. “You call if you need anything.”
“It’s not like that,” Karina whispered again as her mother and father walked away.
Damien placed a hand on her shoulder as he called a waiter over.
“We need the check, please,” she heard him say, and then he was helping her out of the chair.
They made it as far as the elevator before she was burying her face into his chest and letting the tears finally fall.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around her.
“Do you understand now?” she asked, looking up at him. “Do you understand why I didn’t want to tell them the truth?”
“I had no idea,” he said as he wiped her cheek with his thumb. “It’s not true though. You and I both know it’s not true.”
Karina rested her head against his chest again as the elevator continued its ascent.
“Isn’t it though?” she asked. “Wasn’t this all about getting me into your bed?”
“Yes…and no.” Damien lifted her chin with his finger. “I think we both know it’s not as simple as that,” he said before kissing her.
He was right, it wasn’t as simple as that. But Karina wasn’t sure she understood exactly what it was just yet.
The elevator doors opened and their lips parted.
“I wish I’d never come here,” she said as they approached the door to their room. “New York has been ruined for me.”
“You can’t mean that,” he said, unlocking the door and letting her in first.
“You realize my father called me a whore.”
“He’s just confused by the whole thing.”
“You know what, Damien,” she said, spinning around to face him. “So am I. Tell me what about this doesn’t make me one. The money may not have gone directly to me, but you sure paid a pretty penny for me to be here.”
She crossed her arms, and Damien rested his hands on her shoulders.
“That night I came to see you at work,” he said, “you told me that you had too much on your plate to even consider my offer. I was simply giving you the freedom to say yes.”
“Freedom? Don’t you mean you twisted my arm?”
He scowled at her, removing his hands to plant them on his waist. “Is that what you think?” he said. “I gave you the choice. You could’ve said no. But you said yes, Karina.” He swallowed hard. “You said yes.”
“Because I didn’t think you were serious,” she said quietly. “I had no idea you were in any position to make it happen.”
The pained expression on Damien’s face shocked her.
“I was planning to tell you that I had changed my mind,” she explained. “And then my mom called and it turned out you had already taken care of everything.”
He gripped the back of a nearby chair, leaning against it. It was obvious that he was hurting, and it confused Karina. Why did it hurt him to hear this if he’d only been trying to sleep with her? And why was her heart aching to see him this way?
He looked up at her and she stood there, wringing her hands, fearing what he would say next.
“Do you regret coming to Miami with me?” he asked.
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “I don’t.”
Damien stood and pulled the phone from his pocket.
“Who are you calling?” she asked.
He turned away from her before speaking into the phone. “Tom. I need you to call Jim and tell him to get the plane ready. We’re heading home tonight after all.”
“We’re leaving?” she said when he hung up.
“I think we’re both done with New York,” he said as he walked into the bedroom, presumably to pack, and she followed him to where he stopped at the end of the bed, his back to her.
“I say something you don’t want to hear,” she said, “and now you’re ready to run back home?”
He turned to face her.
“You just said New York was ruined for you. Are you telling me you’d rather stay?”
“What does it matter if I was going to change my mind?’ she asked.
“You’re right,” he sighed. “It’s doesn’t matter.”
She took a step forward and pushed him until he fell back onto the bed before climbing on top of him.
“What the hell are you doing?” he asked.
“Isn’t this what you want?” she asked, undoing his belt. “Isn’t this why you brought me along on your business trip?”
“Stop it, Karina!” he shouted, fighting off her hands as he sat up, causing her to fall onto the floor with a thud. “I’m so sorry!” he said, jumping off the bed to help her up.
“What’s the problem?” she asked, wrenching her hand away when she was back on two feet. She looked him square in the eye, her blood coursing hotly through her. “You don’t want me anymore?”
“What? That’s ridiculous.”
“Then fuck me, Damien,” she said, and he frowned, running a hand through his hair as she pulled on the tie holding her dress together. “Fuck me like you meant it.”
There was a pause, and she watched a darkness cloud his expression before he suddenly slipped a hand beneath her dress, slamming her hips into him.
“Be careful what you ask for,” he growled, placing his other hand at the base of her neck where he grabbed a fistful of hair, forcing her lips up to his.
The kiss was angry and primal, and she welcomed it as she pressed her hands to his chest. This she could understand. At least for this moment, there was no confusion about what he wanted from her.
He forced her back against the wall and roughly ran his hand down between her legs. She groaned at his touch and pulled the dress shirt from his waistband before ripping it open, causing buttons to fall silently onto the carpet at their feet.
He pulled away, scowling at her, but said nothing as the hand in her hair yanked again, lifting her chin to expose her neck, and she closed her eyes as he buried his mouth into it. She dug her nails into his chest, and the hand between her thighs left briefly as Damien undid his own pants before returning, simply sliding her underwear to the side to give him access. She wrapped her right leg around him and he plunged into her, deep and hard, her shoulder blades slamming against the wall with the force of it.
“Is this what you wanted?” he asked, releasing her hair to hold the leg around him.
“Yes!” she screamed as he drove into her again. “God, yes,” she panted, and he kissed her as he gripped her other leg, lifting her off the floor completely. Still locked together at the hips, he walked backwards until he hit the edge of the bed and fell back onto it, Karina on top of him. He tried to sit up, to face her, but she pushed him back down on the bed, sinking her nails even deeper into his chest until he grimaced from the pain of it.
“Is this what you wanted, Mr. Bishop?” she asked and saw a flash of anger in his eyes before he gripped her ass so tightly she was sure she would bruise from the pressure. It only made her grind that much harder against him, and before she knew it, she was climaxing with Damien growling only seconds later as he released everything he had into her.
Karina fell forward, planting her hands on either side of his head, feeling more exhausted than the brief minutes should have warranted, and found herself unable to look him in the eye. She focused instead on his chest, still r
ising rapidly as he struggled to catch his breath, red marks visible from where she had clawed him.
“I hope you’re getting your money’s worth,” she muttered as she climbed off and wrapped her dress back around her.
Damien said nothing, and she forced herself to glance at him. The tormented look on his face only made her stomach knot. Slightly ashamed of herself, she walked to the bathroom and locked the door behind her. She sat on the edge of the tub, wanting to cry at her childish behavior. But no tears came.
Two hours later, the five of them were boarding the plane, Jim and his co-pilot already in the cockpit. Damien sat down across from her, though he had said very little since she’d left him on the bed. Even now, he rested his chin in his palm and looked out the window.
“Do you guys want anything before we take off?” Tom asked.
“We’re fine,” Damien said, looking up at him. “We won’t be needing anything. Just sit down and relax.” He went back to gazing out the dark window.
Karina watched Tom look from Damien to her, puzzled. She averted her eyes, and he walked away without saying anything else.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
He didn’t look up, and she wasn’t sure if he’d heard her.
“It’s not your fault,” he finally whispered back.
The plane started moving, and Karina braced herself for the longest four hours of her life.
The Fall
It was long past midnight by the time Damien and Karina walked into the house. To her surprise, he took her hand as they walked up the stairs—a good sign, she decided. When they reached her door, however, she stopped and pulled her hand from his before he could continue to his own room.
“Is everything okay?” he asked, facing her.
“I’m going to turn in for the night,” she said.
He frowned. “In your room?”
“It’s late and I’m exhausted, and I’m sure you are too.”
“I see.”
“I’ll see you in the morning though, right?”
He closed the short distance between them and took her face in both his hands before kissing her. It was slow and sensual and awakened so much in her, but Karina didn’t know if she had the energy to be in his bed tonight.