‘How???’ Tatiana asked.
‘Well, it's partly my fault. He ate some cookies that had been spiked with liquid ecstasy, or GHB. It’s what I used to drug Barbara’s dog, Attila, a while ago. Its main effect is a state similar to the drunkenness produced by alcohol, with the addition of sexual excitement,’ he said, sitting down on the couch in the living room. He picked up a chocolate from a box on the table.
‘Do you want one?’ They both shook their heads. Then he took the last cookie from the basket that Dallas had brought and showed it to them. ‘What you see here, buddy, made you super horny.’
‘Horny!’ Dallas yelled.
‘Yes, you got a little annoying… or even very annoying,’ he said, frowning.
‘But you... you drugged me!’
‘No, you found the cookies at home - Barbara made them to give to your brother, I guess. You brought them here and you ate them.’
‘But they're yours, Randy!’ Tatiana exclaimed.
‘No, let me explain - it was a joke that I played on her dog Attila, they’re dog biscuits!’ Randy said, with his mouth full of chocolate. ‘Only the idea was mine.’
‘And... I ate them all?’ Dallas asked worriedly.
‘Of course, I almost had to call casualty, you were awful.’
‘That’s so disgusting!’ Tatiana said.
‘Did you take advantage of me?’ Asked Dallas, angry.
‘No! Relax.’
‘Ugh, I don’t remember anything.’
‘It’s OK man, trust me!’
Tatiana started laughing. She was in a corner, leaning against the wall, and the two men turned to look at her. Her relief soon turned into hysterics - she was almost wetting herself, falling over.
‘It’s not funny! Put yourself in my shoes, darling!’ Exclaimed Dallas.
‘Impossible, hahaha, you couldn’t make it up.’ They both watched her, amused – Dallas was still holding onto the quilt to cover himself, Randy had stopped eating the chocolates. In the end Tatiana’s laughter got Randy too, and both of them ended up clutching their sides, bent double with tears running down their faces. Dallas smiled a little despite himself.
Chapter 5
Tatiana didn’t stop laughing for a long time and nor did Randy, especially when they looked at Dallas.
‘Don’t be angry, it was all a bit of confusion, nobody's to blame!’ Tatiana exclaimed, caressing Dallas. He had his arms crossed and his brow furrowed.
‘You won’t tell anyone what happened, right?’ He looked at my sister and Randy, waiting for an answer.
‘I swear not to tell anyone.’ Tatiana mimed sewing her mouth shut, ‘trust me.’ They embraced and then looked at the art director, waiting for his answer. He was still trying to contain his laughter.
‘Randy!’ Dallas insisted.
‘Okay, it's okay! I won’t tell anyone.’ He covered his mouth, trying to suppress his giggles.
‘I don’t trust you, I don’t find it funny! I'm not a gay giggler like you!’ Even though the comment was provoked by anger, it was offensive.
‘Hey! All you heteros are the same, you can’t hide your homophobia.’
‘Let's have peace now, let’s not fall out over something silly, Randy... ’ my sister looked at him, expecting a change of attitude.
‘OK, OK, but I'd like an apology.’ He said, lifting his chin with pride.
‘I apologize, Randy. By the way, where did you get that stuff?’ Dallas got up and looked for his clothes, then went into the bathroom to change.
‘It's true, why did Barbara's cookies have GHB in them?’ Asked my sister.
‘I already told you, it was a joke that I played on Attila, the day that Barbara came to the magazine to mess with all of us.’
‘Honestly, Randy... ’ Tatiana reproached him.
‘It was just a small prank! And to answer Dallas' question, a friend of mine passed it on to me a while ago... ’ He didn’t want to talk too much about this controversial topic.
‘Be careful,’ Troy's brother said, dressed now.
‘Don’t worry; I know how to take care of myself.’
Randy and Dallas finished having breakfast and they all got ready to go out for a walk around the city. But just then Tatiana received a message; she stopped to read it and the boys began to get impatient.
‘Come on, honey, you can look at your cell phone later.’ Dallas said, eager to get out.
‘Wait... oh my God!’ exclaimed my sister, horrified. The boys looked at her warily.
‘What happened?’ Randy asked.
‘Look what I just received!’ Tatiana showed them her phone; they saw a photograph of Troy in bed with Barbara.
‘Oh, fuck! I can’t believe it... ’ Seeing his brother in that attitude made him feel embarrassed.
‘Who sent you the image? Was it him?’ Randy asked, magnifying the picture to see the details.
‘No, no... It’s an unknown number.’ They both looked at my sister, surprised.
‘Let me check something!’ Dallas grabbed his phone and looked in his contacts, ‘it’s what I thought! It's Barbara.’
‘That harpy doesn’t give up, what’s she hoping to gain with this?’ Randy asked.
‘Who knows - and how did she manage to trick Troy again?’
The art director slapped his forehead. ‘Of course! The cookies!’ He cried.
‘It's true; I saw her leaving just before I found them.’ Dallas commented.
‘These are the cookies I gave to Attila. Fuck! That’s disgusting, he ate them too.’
‘She gave them to Troy, and he took the bait just like you.’ Said my sister, looking worried.
At that moment, Tatiana's cell phone rang.
‘Oh! It's my sister Elsa; I hope she doesn’t know anything about this... ’ She looked at Dallas and Randy in anguish. She picked up.
‘Tatiana, Troy has gone back to Barbara! I can’t believe it... ’ I said, with tears in my eyes.
‘Calm down honey, it was all a dirty strategy of Barbara’s, Troy didn’t have any choice.’ I didn’t believe her at that moment, I was too shocked by what I had seen.
‘That bitch sent me her dirty pictures with him!’
‘Oh my God, the woman has no limits… but don’t worry Elsa, don’t suffer for him.’
‘I don’t want to see him ever again!’ I sobbed. I blew my nose, crying inconsolably.
‘No, Elsa! I'll explain everything to you.’
‘What can you explain, it's a lost cause – he was laughing at us the whole time, he’s not like his brother at all.’
Tatiana frowned at Dallas and Randy; it was clear from her face that there was a big problem. ‘Elsa, I'll talk to you when you leave the delicatessen!’ Tatiana said.
‘There's nothing to say about that pig, I don’t want to know.’ I hung up.
My sister stood there with her cell phone in her hand. Dallas and Randy looked concerned.
‘Did she also send that picture to your sister?’ Dallas asked.
‘Of course, how could she not!’ She said with suppressed anger.
‘I guess the whole point for Barbara is to hurt you all.’ Randy said, pressing the button to call the elevator.
‘... and get revenge.’ Tatiana added. They entered the elevator and disappeared.
Meanwhile, I had to swallow my tears and continue working, come down from the clouds, back to earth. It had been too good to be true, why would a millionaire look at me? I’m only a butcher…
I believed everything - when Troy had come to see me the previous day he told me that his delay was due to an urgent problem at work, that that was why he hadn’t called me all day... he took me out to dinner, we had a great night, we slept together, it was fantastic! But I had had my head in the clouds, submerged in my sweet fantasies. It was hard to receive the photographs from that bitch, and to see the pictures of Troy in bed with her, doing dirty things...
My phone rang. I was at the counter finishing serving a customer, but I deci
ded to answer, to be brave and tell him to go to hell, right there in front of everyone.
‘How is my sweet volcano today?’ He clearly had no idea what his disgusting lover had done.
‘Don’t call me again, you pig from hell!’ I screamed. A lady in front of me was scared by my words, and crossed herself.
‘What's going on? I don’t... I don’t understand.’
‘You heard, you asshole! Go and mess around with that woman, you don’t need me.’
‘Sweetheart... ’
‘Do not call me sweetheart!’ I shouted. The customers in the queue stopped talking to each other, shocked.
Troy raised his voice now: ‘give me an explanation! You can’t leave me like this!’ His stupid excuses only made me angrier.
‘Stop acting like an idiot! You swore to me that this woman would never get anything from you again; you said you didn’t want to see her... ’
‘And it’s true! But she won’t stop persecuting me.’ They weren’t very convincing words, given what had happened.
‘But why did you fuck her?’ A few of the women in the queue started to leave, muttering amongst themselves.
‘What? Elsa, I’m sure there’s an explanation... ’
‘Even for the photos that Barbara sent me? The dirty ones?’ My boss appeared and hurried towards me, angry. I figured I was in trouble, so I hung up.
Troy was left there, helpless, unable to do anything, and wondering about things he didn’t understand.
‘How could I have ended up sleeping with that woman? I remember feeling dizzy… oh God, she must have drugged me!’ His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his phone ringing; it was my sister Tatiana.
‘Troy! Are you busy?’
‘What's wrong?’ He said in a depressed voice.
‘There's something you should know.’ She said nervously, looking at the others. She took a breath.
‘It's not a good day for me, better tomorrow.’ He replied.
‘It's about Barbara! She sent me some photos, she... she drugged you!’ Tatiana exclaimed.
‘What?! Aha, I was right! Now I understand.’
Randy, Dallas and Tatiana didn’t move. They were downtown, in the city.
‘Did we do the right thing?’ Dallas asked turning around and scratching his head.
‘Yes, we have to sort out this mess and also talk to my sister.’
‘Phew, in the end everyone is going to find out that I slept with Randy.’ Dallas said, putting his hands in his pockets and looking moodily at the sky.
‘Is that the only thing that worries you?’ Tatiana asked.
‘She's right. Besides, it wasn’t bad.’ Randy commented jokingly.
‘Stop it! We're in a real mess, we don’t know what my brother might be capable of.’
‘What do you mean?’ Tatiana asked uneasily.
‘He might go to look for Barbara, everyone has their limits and that woman has gone past them.’
They decided to go and find Troy; fortunately, Dallas knew where Barbara lived. It seemed likely that Troy would go to her apartment.
However, Troy got there first. He leaned on the bell, ringing it twice, insistently.
‘Who is it?’
‘Open up, it's me, Troy!’ He exclaimed furiously.
‘You don’t seem very happy, why don’t you come another day?’ Barbara's words irritated him even more.
‘You're kidding! Open up now!’
‘Honey, you seem agitated, another day!’ She replied.
‘It’s OK; I just want to talk to you.’ His words were followed by a few seconds of tense silence.
‘Promise me you won’t get angry!’
Troy got even angrier; he punched the bell. ‘Open the fucking door!’ He yelled, hitting it.
‘No... I'm sorry.’
‘OK, I admit that I haven’t been very nice the past few weeks, but I wish I could convince you that I want peace.’
‘I know why you’ve come...’ Barbara said
‘I’ve left Elsa... can we fix our relationship?’ He asked urgently.
‘Oh! What a surprise! Come in…’
He managed to get in. A moment later he was standing in front of her door. It opened suddenly.
‘What a surprise, honey, how happy I am! Come in, come in... ’
‘Of course you’re happy, are you proud of what you did?’
‘Do you mean the cookies?’ She asked suspiciously.
‘Right! You used them to drug me, didn’t you?’
Barbara realized that maybe he wasn’t looking for peace. She went over to caress his cheeks. ‘If it hadn’t been for that, you wouldn’t have been able to get out of a relationship that was going nowhere.’
‘You’re capable of everything!’ Troy's eyes burned like volcanoes, he glared at her.
‘What were you doing with a butcher? What a lack of class!’ She said with contempt.
‘Damn you!’
His hatred was such that he couldn’t contain himself any longer. He grabbed Barbara by the neck with both hands and began to squeeze hard, while his eyes burned into her with a hatred she had never seen before. She was unable to speak. Attila wasn’t there; she had hired a dog walker to avoid having to take him out every day; only Lulu was there. She, seeing her owner’s desperate situation, didn’t hesitate to come to her aid, yapping like a dog possessed. She threw herself at Troy's legs, sinking her teeth in.
‘Ow! Damn rat! Disgusting animal!’ He shook his leg and threw the little dog into the air. She landed on the ground but immediately started back towards Troy, snarling.
‘Attack, Lulu, attack! I’m a victim of domestic violence!’ Barbara was screaming, her face reddened by Troy's attempted strangulation.
‘Argh, damn animal!’ He screamed. He jumped and tried to run down the stairs, but Lulu had never been so aggressive; she growled like a little demon and launched herself again, her tiny fangs bared. No matter how many kicks he gave her, she kept coming back for him, furious.
Dallas, Tatiana and Randy arrived just as Troy burst out of the main door. He was running desperately, his face stricken. Once outside, he turned around and saw that the little poodle had stopped on the threshold and was barking like a demon, shrill barks that forced everyone to cover their ears. They moved away from the place together. Troy’s pants were ripped from the knee to the ankles.
‘What happened to you? Christ, what a poodle!’ Randy exclaimed, stroking his beard and opening his eyes wide when he saw his boss’ legs.
‘I need to go to the emergency room, that animal is a nightmare.’ He had several bites that were bleeding freely; the sight was Dantesque.
‘Incredible, it almost destroyed your legs!’ Tatiana said.
‘Don’t worry, they're not serious injuries, I don’t think.’
Randy called an ambulance. When the doctors arrived, they found a suited man with torn pants and bloody shins... can you imagine what they thought when he told them that he had been attacked by a poodle?
As for me, I almost got fired; my boss gave me a real telling off about the scene, she forbade me from talking on the phone while working.
My sister Tatiana showed up at my house just as I got back from the deli.
‘Don’t worry, little sister, I'll get over it!’ I told her when she hugged me.
‘Elsa... there's something you should know, Troy was drugged.’ It was the first thing she said.
‘What? Is that what he told you? And you believe it?’ My face said it all; I didn’t want to hear any justifications for the person I thought was a despicable pig.
‘He didn’t tell me; it was Randy's fault... the art director at the magazine.’ It was like she was speaking Chinese, what did Randy have to do with it?
‘What? You've lost your mind!’
‘No – let’s go up to your apartment and I’ll explain.’ We entered the elevator, I was still feeling depressed.
When we got in, my little sister started preparing dinner, but before
that she made me a delicious herbal tea that calmed my spirits a bit.
‘It was one of Barbara’s dirty strategies - another one,’ she said, stroking my hair.
During dinner she told me everything. It was the most absurd story I'd ever heard, but if she said it was true... if I’d heard it from someone else, I would never have believed it. Tatiana stayed the night at my house, but before going to bed I called Troy.
‘Sweetie! I would like to explain...’ he pleaded, sounding worried.
‘I know everything. How are your legs?’
‘Bandaged from the knees to the ankles. I'll crush that damned animal!’ I glanced at Tatiana, amused.
‘We met Attila, who is a real terror; who would’ve thought that the poodle was even worse!’ I couldn’t help but laugh.
‘It might seem funny to you… it’s because it has a tiny Attila inside it.’ He answered.
‘Does it hurt, darling?’
‘No, not now. But I can’t believe I’m going to have scars because of that little schmuck,’ he said with regret.
‘Just be grateful that you aren’t going to be anyone’s father - if you were, maybe you wouldn’t have had it out with Barbara. Tomorrow I'll visit you, mwah.’
Chapter 6
The incident with Barbara left Troy in a rage; he told me that he wanted to get a restraining order put on her. We were having coffee in my house after work.
‘I’ve had it with that woman, I can’t take it anymore.’ He said angrily as he sipped his coffee.
‘Of course, I told you that you should have broken off all contact before.’ Really he should never have been with her at all.
‘Alright, know-it-all, but who could’ve known that the woman would go crazy for me?’ He spoke with a certain innocence; he didn’t want to take responsibility for his own mistakes.
‘You're immature, you know? You don’t know how to choose.’ I said, annoyed. I was tired of someone like him, with so much money, not being able to manage his life. All the women wanted him....
‘What? Stop talking nonsense! It's not my fault that she became obsessed with me, it's all in her head.’
‘Listen to me... don’t do anything crazy.’ I feared that the next thing could land him in jail.
My boss seduces me! Page 4