by Coy, Andrina
“I want that too, Mattie. I’d love to spend as much time with you as possible if you’ll let me. We don’t have to do the video. I can tell Oleg it’s off. That we both need more time to think about it. Is that what you want me to do?”
Mattie put her forehead against Porter’s chest, trying to hide the tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes.
“I think I do, Porter. You sure that’s going to be ok? I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
Porter hugged Mattie more tightly as he kissed the top of her head.
“It’s no trouble at all. Can I see you again tonight? We could eat dinner here if you want, just hang out.”
In her entire adult life, despite the many sexual exploitations she had engaged in, Mattie Martinson had yet to have a man ask her if she simply wanted to hang out – and mean it.
Until now.
For some, Porter’s request might have meant little more than a kind gesture, but for Mattie that kind gesture meant everything to her. The hard and indifferent outer shell she had manufactured to protect herself all these years from getting hurt now melted away as she felt Porter’s heart beat gently moving against her right cheek.
“Yeah, I’d like that a lot. See you at six?”
Porter kissed Mattie on her left cheek and then gave her another hug before he moved toward the door.
“Awesome. I’ll bring a pizza and some beer and we can just…talk.”
Mattie smiled, hoping she didn’t look too pathetic standing there with a blanket wrapped around her and her eyes glistening with stubborn tears.
“It’s a date, Porter. See you then.”
After the door closed, Mattie Martinson stood very still with her eyes shut tight as she silently processed what she knew was happening to her. She then dropped the blanket from her body and began to dance in place, her arms rising above her head as her face broke out into an exuberant grin.
Despite all her best efforts over many years, Mattie Martinson was undeniably falling in love.
Porter Voss was nearly a hundred yards from Mattie’s apartment when he made the call to Oleg, knowing that doing so in the morning assured he would get the Russian’s voice mail. Oleg rarely woke up before noon.
“Yeah, Mr. Teplov, this is Porter. Uh, a bit of bad news. We’ve decided to hold off on doing the videos. We need more time to think it over. I’ll be at work today, but you can call and leave a message on my voice mail if you have any questions.”
Am I really ok about passing up a hundred thousand dollars just to make a woman happy?
His own question caused Porter to momentarily stop walking and look up into the clear morning sky above him. The answer arrived quickly, eliciting a surprised and satisfied grunt from him as it did so.
Yeah, I am.
5.
Mattie showered and dressed quickly, actually excited over the prospect of going to work for the first time in a very-very long time. Just before heading out the door, she decided to give Kelly a call, hoping her friend would pick up so Mattie could apologize to her for the other night at the pub.
On the third ring, Kelly answered.
“Mattie?”
Mattie smiled to herself before answering, happy to hear Kelly’s voice again.
“Yeah, it’s me. I just wanted to say something before you were out the door for work. You have a minute?”
Kelly’s tone was cautious, but not unfriendly. Whatever anger she had earlier seemed to have dissipated.
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Well, I’m sorry for how things went down the other night. I know you felt weird about it, and I can be a real cold bitch about that kind of stuff. I should have been more sensitive to how you were feeling. I don’t want it to get in the way of our friendship, ok?”
There was a long pause before Kelly replied, but when she did, Mattie was shocked at how happy her friend sounded.
“God, I’m so glad you said that, Mattie! I was the one being a bitch about it. We got a little crazy, whatever. The fact is, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I’m thinking about it right now. If you ever want to, you know, do it again some time…”
Mattie giggled as she held her phone to her ear.
“Why Kelly, you little slut!”
Now it was Kelly’s turn to laugh.
“Yeah-yeah, well it’s your fault. You created a monster!”
“Text me after lunch?”
Kelly happily agreed.
“You bet. Have a great day, Mattie and thank you for calling. I really mean that.”
The call was ended, leaving Mattie to look at herself in the small mirror that hung in the hallway near her apartment door. As a gesture of her good mood, she wore a bright red blouse and tight black dress slacks and a matching pair of black heels. Her dark hair was tied back in a tight, professional looking bun. With a final smile for her own image staring back at her, Mattie opened the door.
She didn’t see the face of the man who stood outside her entrance, rather only feeling his hand push her firmly back into her apartment with enough force she fell down onto the tiled hallway floor, her left ankle twisting painfully beneath her.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
Mattie looked up to see the face of Oleg looming above her. He appeared both angry, though also concerned she had fallen.
“I am sorry, Mattie, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
Oleg extended his right hand to help her up as Mattie’s temper continued to flare.
“Well you did hurt me you asshole! Why are you here? This is MY HOME!”
Oleg held up both his leather gloved hands and then pointed toward the hide-a-bed couch in the apartment’s main living area.
“Please, a moment of your time. Just a moment.”
Mattie glared back at Oleg and then winced as a hot poker of pain shot up from her injured ankle when she put weight upon it.
“You have five minutes, and then I’m calling the cops.”
Oleg nodded as he waited for Mattie to sit down. He remained standing, still looking apologetic and also nervous.
“Is this about the videos? Did Porter call you?”
Oleg nodded again, his eyes already pleading with Mattie for her to reconsider the refusal Porter’s message indicated.
“Yes, he left a message. He said you needed more time to consider it.”
Mattie nodded while rubbing her left ankle.
“Yeah, that’s right, what the fuck business of it is yours? You have no right to come into my home like this, Oleg. If you want to talk with someone, it should be Porter, not me.”
Oleg waived a finger at Mattie as his tongue made a soft clicking sound.
“You know that’s not true, Mattie. Porter is simply doing what he’s been told. I come to you because you are the one making this decision, not him.”
Mattie stood up, ignoring the pain in her leg.
“Yeah, I don’t want to do the videos anymore, so what? Get your ass out of here!”
Oleg shook his head as his eyes narrowed, the apologetic tone turning angry.
“It’s not so simple, Mattie. I have obligations. I made certain promises to important people, and your videos with Porter were to help me to meet those obligations. Did Porter tell you how much money I was going to pay him to be filmed with you?”
Mattie shook her head.
“No, and it doesn’t matter. I’M NOT DOING IT.”
Oleg stared at Mattie as his voice lowered to a near whisper.
“One hundred thousand dollars cash.”
Mattie blinked several times, not believing what Oleg just told her.
“Bullshit.”
Oleg sighed, suddenly looking tired and rumpled despite being dressed in a beautifully custom tailored pinstriped navy blue suit.
“I don’t bullshit about money, Mattie, particularly about my money.”
Mattie slowly sat back down, wondering why Porter would give up so much money so easily.
He
didn’t even argue a little about me not wanting to do the videos. A hundred thousand dollars! Holy shit!
“I am here to make a direct proposal to you, Mattie. I hope to secure your unwavering willingness to proceed with tonight’s filming. I have a Japanese distributor already familiar with Porter’s work willing to pay me a very nice sum to have three entirely new videos featuring our mutual acquaintance. Porter has clearly taken a surprisingly strong liking to you. That’s not difficult to understand – you’re a beautiful woman. What I propose then is to pay you the same sum – one hundred thousand dollars for three videos.”
Mattie wasn’t surprised how quickly she answered. It was her old self, colder, more calculating, and relishing the idea of being paid so much for something she might have done for free. Her initial refusal had less to do with newfound morality as it did her desire to have more control. Oleg’s arrival this morning and his generous offer gave Mattie that sense of control and thus the motivation to accept.
“Agreed – a hundred thousand dollars for each of us.”
Oleg’s smile indicated his great relief in hearing Mattie’s willingness to participate in the filming.
“You will speak with Porter yourself and get his approval?”
Mattie waved a dismissive hand at Oleg.
“No worries, the only reason he was saying no was because it was my idea. He’ll not only do it, but will be happy to. We haven’t actually fucked yet, you know. He’s gonna be very into it.”
Oleg nodded his head and then extended his right hand to shake Mattie’s.
“Very good, we have a deal then.”
Mattie prepared to shake Oleg’s hand and the paused.
Oleg frowned, appearing nervous once again.
“Is something wrong?”
Mattie reached down to touch her ankle, wincing as she did so.
“Yeah, I’m going to have to miss work today. That means you owe me a day’s wages plus the hundred thousand. Just make it $200 and we’ll call it good for hurting my foot.”
Oleg grunted as he reached into his right pants pocket and withdrew a sizeable money roll and then took out two crisp hundred dollar bills and handed them to Mattie.
“You are an interesting woman, Mattie.”
Though Mattie’s mouth smiled, her eyes were devoid of emotion.
“Not really, Oleg, just a bitch who wants what is owed her. Now that we’ve made a deal I want you to understand something. You are to never come here again without my permission, do you understand?”
Oleg offered Mattie a short bow and then an even shorter smile.
“Of course, I apologize for doing so this morning. Don’t forget to call Porter soon and let him know we have come to an agreement.”
Mattie didn’t answer but rather sat on her couch and waited for Oleg to leave. When the door closed behind him she looked down at the two hundred dollar bills in her hands and then thought of the hundred thousand that were soon to follow.
If I’m gonna be some kind of Internet whore, I might as well be a well-paid one! Ka-ching you bitches! Ka-ching!
A loud knock sounded on Mattie’s apartment door, indicating to her Oleg had likely forgotten to ask for something more. She pushed herself up slowly from the couch and limped to the door, her mind silently cursing the Russian for the second intrusion into her home.
The knock was repeated again more urgently.
“I heard you the first time, Oleg! Just a second!”
Mattie opened her door, not caring that she looked so angry. She was angry. Oleg was annoying the shit out of her.
The man who stood just outside the door wasn’t Oleg Teplov though. He was younger by at least ten years, more heavily built, with a mop of unruly and unwashed black and grey hair sitting atop a prominent brow, large hook nose, and abnormally wide, scowling mouth.
Mattie had no idea who Vlad was, though her instincts cried out that he was someone very dangerous. She moved quickly to close the door, but Vlad’s large, leather booted left foot slid into the doorway and prevented her from doing so.
Next the Russian enforcer slammed the door open with his shoulder, once again knocking Mattie onto the floor. Vlad was over her like a great wolf pouncing upon its prey, his left hand grabbing a hold of her neck and then easily lifting her up while his right hand clamped down over her mouth so she couldn’t scream.
Mattie refused to give up though, kicking with her feet and trying to scratch at Vlad’s eyes with her hands. Vlad said nothing, slamming the door shut with the bottom of his boot while continuing to push Mattie back onto the couch.
The Russian’s hand was covering both her mouth and nose, and soon Mattie felt herself weakening due to lack of oxygen. Her hands and feet grew limp as she suddenly realized her life might be ending at that very moment. Vlad’s abnormally wide face loomed in front of hers, his dark eyes staring into her own until finally the pressure over her nose and mouth lessened just enough that she was able to take a desperate, searing gasp of air.
“If you scream, I will kill you and it won’t be pleasant.”
Mattie recognized the man’s accent as being very similar to Oleg’s though the voice was deeper, more guttural, and imminently more frightening.
He’s not lying – he’ll kill me.
Vlad stood over Mattie with both of his hands stuffed into the pockets of his dark trench coat.
“Why was Oleg here? And do not lie to me, bitch.”
Mattie felt a terrible headache coming on, likely due to her almost passing out just seconds ago.
“Just a little business, why?”
Vlad lowered his head slightly and frowned.
“What kind of business?”
Mattie tried to think of something convincing that would also keep her deal with Oleg a secret, but no such example came to her.
“Just a little movie thing, that’s all. No big deal.”
Oleg’s wiry haired right eyebrow lifted upward slightly as he sneered down at Mattie.
“It is pornography? Is that what Oleg is doing?”
Mattie nodded, but said nothing.
“Where? Where does he do the movies?”
Mattie shook her head.
“I don’t know. I haven’t actually done anything yet. I was supposed to go there tonight.”
Vlad’s snarl worsened as his large hands withdrew from his pockets.
“I told you not to lie to me.”
Terror filled Mattie’s voice as she fought not to scream, remembering Vlad’s warning of the terrible punishment for doing so.
“I’m not lying! I really don’t know!”
Vlad pointed down at the much smaller woman and growled another warning.
“Don’t move, I need to make a call.”
Mattie watched Vlad turn his back to her and then began speaking Russian into his cell phone. She in turn slowly took out her own phone and pressed the redial button and then pushed the phone back into the front pocket of her slacks. A second after doing so Vlad glanced back at her before he resumed his own phone conversation.
A moment later and the Russian was again looming over Mattie and motioning with his right hand for her to stand up.
“You’re coming with me.”
Mattie remained sitting on her couch.
“Where?”
Vlad let out an exasperated growl and removed a handgun from his coat pocket and then pointed it at Mattie’s face.
“No questions! Come with me – NOW.”
Mattie stood up slowly, struggling to remain calm. She knew she needed to keep a clear head if she was to survive whatever shit she now found herself involved in. Vlad stood still until Mattie moved past him and then he jammed his gun into the small of her back and hissed yet another warning into her right ear.
“Outside, and don’t try anything stupid. Look for the black Cadillac and walk to it.”
Mattie felt herself trembling as she willed her feet to move her toward the door while Vlad’s hot breath caressed the back of her ex
posed neck like an ill-smelling pair of soft hands.
“Are you going to hurt me?”
Vlad said nothing, instead jamming his gun into her back with enough force she cried out in pain.