She sat on the couch and put her face in her hands. She had broken the most sacred of rules that she had set for herself. Never allow anyone else to be in control. And he had been. She was petrified of giving herself, knowing that the last time she had done so, she had almost been killed. And she had promised herself that it would never happen again.
Amber grabbed her purse her clothes and the small packet she had never gotten a chance to use and fled out the door.
NINETEEN
David woke up the next morning, alone. He sat up in bed wondering if the previous night had been nothing more than a pleasant dream. But he smelled her on the bedding and knew that she had been here. He wondered when she had left. He wished that he knew more about her and had at least gotten her phone number. Still half asleep he wondered if she was Italian. It would piss his mother off if not. He laughed at thinking something so ridiculous and got up to get ready for his day.
Whistling, David headed into the shower. He got dressed quickly and went down to the station. He walked in saying hello to everyone and bounded into his office. Like usual, Joe was already there.
“Good morning Joseph,” David beamed.
“Take some happy dust this morning Tinkerbell?” Joe asked cynically.
“Nope,” David said. “Can’t I just be happy that it is such a beautiful day outside today?”
“Uh huh,” his partner said dully. “More like someone got laid last night.”
David grinned widely.
“You did?” Joe asked. “You boned Kelly on the first date?”
“Not Kelly, she had to back out for personal reasons,” David answered. “I did something wild.”
“You dog,” Joe punched him in the arm. “I wonder if this still counts in the betting pool?”
“Yeah I went out last night to that club on the corner of Fifth and Main and met the most amazing … wait a fucking minute. You guys betting on my sex life now too?” David asked.
“Dunno what you’re talking about,” Joe said abstractly. “So what happened to Kelly? Did she dump your ass already?”
“No,” David said. “She had an emergency.”
“Damn that could have been worth 50 bucks. So tell me all about it.”
“Would you guys quit betting on my relationship status? I’m a grown man for Christ sake.”
“Yes well the problem with that is you assume you work with mature people,” Joe joked back. “So tell me about your mystery date. Was it the right hand or left one?”
“Fucker,” David grinned. “I went to that new club we’ve heard about. She walked in, I bought her a drink, we danced, and one thing led to another.”
“You gonna see her again?” Joe asked.
“I’d like to,” David said sheepishly. “But I never got her phone number.”
“Damn, you really are a dog,” Joe replied. “Seriously, I am glad that you got out and had a good time.”
“Well,” David said. “I was actually going to do some investigating while having fun, and I started to, but then I totally didn’t think about it. I kinda lost myself at some point. Did you know that I am a computer nerd from Heresford?”
“No one needs to be a cop all the time David,” Joe said solemnly. “Sometimes you have to be someone else for a while, or else it eats away at your soul.”
“Wise advice,” David said, “Very wise. Where’d you learn to be so wise?”
“Isn’t the answer obvious?” Joe said as he turned to face David seriously.
“You’ve been a cop a long time, and you have seen it eat away at guys before?” David guessed.
“Nope,” Joe retorted. “I’ve eaten a lot of fuckin’ fortune cookies.”
TWENTY
Lila woke up in surprise. It was the first time in a while that she didn’t have any vivid dreams or nightmares. It was kind of comforting to know that she wasn’t completely mental. Well at least not yet. She had actually had a good night sleep, and didn’t feel the normal overwhelming tiredness she normally felt.
She got up and showered. Knowing that she had a date that night with her boss, Lila made sure to let her hair go looser than normal. He seemed to prefer it that way. She smiled as she thought about her upcoming dinner invitation. It was weird though, she thought. First he didn’t know her name, now he wanted to take her out to dinner? But she tried to dismiss the nagging in the back of her brain as overactive imagination.
She drove to work thinking about what she wanted to wear that night. She mentally went through her whole closet, knowing that she would never find anything suitable in there. She wondered if she should go clothes shopping at lunch or ask Amber to borrow something. Lila laughed at the thought of wearing anything of her roommate’s to a dinner date with her boss. She decided she should make a mall run at lunch instead.
The morning seemed to pass by in a blur. Lila had never remembered the time passing so quickly before. She definitely was looking forward to the evening ahead of her. A few minutes before lunch, she grabbed her purse and quickly slipped out the door. She drove to the nearest mall and ran inside. Knowing she didn’t have much time, she grabbed a few outfits and went to try them on.
Deciding on a short swingy black skirt and an emerald green silky knit top, Lila looked in the mirror. She almost didn’t recognize herself. Her hair was a little wilder than normal, her cheeks were flushed vermillion, and the clothes she wore showed off more of her body than she was used to. She liked the thrill that went through her as she thought about the way men would react to her new look.
Deciding that she needed new lingerie to go under her new clothes, she quickly changed back in her work clothes and went to the underwear department. There, the clerk helped her to pick out the right bra for her outfit. Lila also decided to be a little wild and splurged on a matching pair of underwear.
Tickled by the idea of being so utterly female, Lila drove back to the office. She knew that the afternoon would pass slowly as she counted down the hours to her impending dinner. Lila tried to remember a time when she had anticipated doing something so much. She couldn’t. She couldn’t remember anything. The only memories she had from before the accident were not pleasant ones. All she could remember were hazy recollections of physical pain.
She was right; the afternoon seemed to crawl by. At two, a deliveryman came to see her.
“Lila Patterson?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said cautiously. She wasn’t expecting anything.
“These are for you,” he said, putting a vase of red roses on her desk.
Shocked, Lila looked for a card. Who would send her roses? She had never received flowers before, at least not in her recent memory. She inhaled their fragrance and was rewarded with a flash of a black eye and a broken arm. She shook herself out of her flashback and continued to search for a card.
She found the small card and opened it eagerly. See you tonight. C
Lila smiled at the thoughtfulness of the man she was to be with that evening. Lost in a daydream, she didn’t see Brenda from accounting pass her desk.
“Flowers?” Brenda asked inquisitively. “Who are they from?”
“They’re in preparation for my dinner date tonight,” Lila answered proudly.
“You have a dinner date?” Brenda said incredulously.
“Yes I have a date,” Lila mocked back.
Brenda grabbed the card off of Lila’s desk and read it. Lila tried to get the card from her, but it was too late. She didn’t want everyone to know that she was going to dinner with the boss. She knew that her work would never hold any merit if anyone knew she was dating Carl.
“C?” Brenda said. “The C? Lila, are you going out with Carl Olberman tonight?”
Lila took a deep breath to remain calm. “Yes. So what of it?”
“Girl, be careful,” Brenda warned. “Don’t let yourself become Olberman’s new plaything. He’s gone through half of this office already.”
“I’m a big girl,” Lila said back stiffly.
“I didn’t mean anything by it Lila,” Brenda said softly. “Just watch your back is all I am saying. I like you and don’t want you to get hurt.”
Lila looked up at Brenda and saw the sincerity in her face. “Sorry Brenda. Thank you for your concern. I’ll make sure to watch my step.”
“Well if nothing else,” Brenda said smiling, “order the lobster. You may as well get a great meal out of it.”
The two girls laughed and Brenda left, leaving Lila with her own troubled thoughts. Again Lila was plagued by the possibility that her boss was using her. But for what? She wasn’t overly pretty. He could get any girl he wanted. He had any girl that he wanted. As if he could read her thoughts, the phone rang.
“You ready for this evening?” Carl asked gently.
His voice washed over her and she decided that the girls in accounting were just a little jealous. “Yes,” she said breathlessly.
“Good. Me too. I will see you at the restaurant at 6:00. Ok?”
“It sounds divine, Carl. I will see you there.” Lila hung up the phone.
The day finally passed and it was time to go home. Lila gathered all her stuff and came back for the vase of roses. She didn’t want to leave it in the office over the weekend. They were too pretty to just wither away on her desk. She drove home quickly so that she could take her time getting ready.
Lila carefully put on her makeup, applying it a little more heavily than she normally did, amazed at the way it complimented her face. Maybe she should apply it like this more often, she thought. She didn’t spend a lot of time on her hair, since it did whatever it wanted anyway, but re-curled some of the out of place curls, and then foofed it out and sprayed it. She then put on her new undergarments. The emerald green of the lingerie made her brown hair look a little fierier.
After making sure the lingerie fitted properly, Lila dressed in her new outfit. She reappraised herself in the mirror and knew that she looked good. She put on some jewelry and her shoes, walking out into the kitchen to see what time it was. It was still a little too early to leave, so Lila poured herself a glass of water and sat down at the table to pass the time. Surprisingly, Amber came out of her room.
“Hey Lila. You look good. Where are you going?” Amber said yawning.
“I have a dinner date with my boss,” Lila answered, smiling at her roommate.
“Lila,” Amber said looking at her, “you’re going out with Carl Olberman tonight?”
“Yes,” Lila said, her feelings a little hurt. Did everyone think she wasn’t able to actually deserve a date with him? Lila briefly wondered how Amber knew Carl, since she had never seemed interested in her work before. But, Lila also knew that Carl was a known name in town and frequently was in the society pages of the newspaper.
“Where are you going?” Amber asked.
“I am going to meet him at the Echo Lounge at six,” Lila answered. “I am not sure where we are going from there.”
“Let me ask you a question,” Amber continued. “Was this an unexpected all of the sudden kind of date?”
Lila looked at Amber in surprise. “Well sort of. We had a business lunch the other day and I kind of reacted badly when he tried to kiss me.”
“Lila, did he even know your name before this?” Amber interrogated.
Lila hung her head a little shamefully. “No, actually he didn’t,” she said softly. “I knew this was too good to be true.”
“That son of a bitch,” Amber said, slamming the counter with her fist. Amber stood there quietly gripping the counter top tightly; the knuckles of her hands turning white as she contemplated what she should do. Something in Amber had snapped and was taking control of her. Slowly she looked back at Lila. “Lila, I am going to do something that you may not understand right now, but trust me, it is for your own good. Ok?”
“Ok … ” Lila said, looking up at Amber with confusion. Before anything else could be said, though, she was greeted with a vase to the side of the head. Lila lost consciousness immediately.
Amber looked down at Lila on the floor. She was sprawled out in an unladylike position and Amber knew that there would be a knot on the poor girl’s head. “I am sorry, but I can’t let you go out with him. I won’t let you make that same mistake twice.”
Despite the fact that she didn’t really care for Lila, she couldn’t let Carl have his way with her. She knew through the grapevine that Carl Olberman was a sleazy womanizer. She stayed on top of the social scene and knew that Carl went through women like most people went through ice cream flavors. Deciding what she had to do, Amber quickly went to get dressed. She subdued her look a little so that she resembled the appearance of her roommate.
Amber called a cab and quickly arrived at the restaurant at the right time. She had seen pictures of Carl before in the society paper and had a general idea of what he looked like. It didn’t take too much scouting before she spotted him in the corner and strode to his table. He saw her, smiled and stood up to greet her.
“Lila,” he said, astonished. “You look fabulous this evening. Please, have a seat. We must get you a glass of wine.”
“Thank you sir,” Amber said demurely, guessing that Lila would use sir because of her primness. “I decided to go with a different look tonight in hopes that you like it.”
He looked at her curves appreciatively. “I certainly do. And I must say, you hide yourself at work.”
Amber smiled seductively. This was going to be easy. All men were easy. They only thought with one head and it wasn’t the one that their brain was in.
The waiter brought their wine to the table. Carl lifted his glass to hers, “Here’s to a fabulous evening spent with a lovely woman.”
Amber lowered the lids of her lashes coyly and drank the wine. At least the man had good taste in alcohol, even if it pissed her off that he assumed she would like it. “This wine is magnificent, Carl. What kind is it?”
“It’s actually from my friend’s estate,” he said. He then went on to drone on about wine, the wine country and the snobs that he had as friends. Amber just let him talk. The less talking she did, the less likely he was to notice that she wasn’t Lila. Besides, it was just like a man to talk about himself and not be interested in the woman they were with for conversation.
The waiter came back to take their order. “Lila,” Carl said, “would it be ok if I ordered for you?”
“I guess,” she answered back, knowing that Lila would have given in. Internally she was steaming. There was nothing more irritating than a guy that took over. Amber hated it. She didn’t want anyone telling her what to do. She was the one in control dammit. But she knew, in order to remain on top, she had to let go of some things. It would all be worth it in the end.
He continued to talk on, about places he had been and people he knew. Amber smiled and nodded politely when it was appropriate. It took all of her willpower to not throw a glass of wine in his face. He was so conceited and arrogant.
Their meal arrived and they continued to eat and drink. Amber had to admit that the food was excellent, even if the company was less than par. She wondered what would make Lila want to go out with him. Poor sweet delusional girl. No wonder Amber felt the need to protect her. She would be the type to let a man walk all over her. No woman needed to be treated like a carpet.
After dinner, he helped her outside. They stood there for a second.
So,” Carl asked. “Where would you like to go now?”
Amber leaned in to him enticingly, making sure that her hand brushed over his crotch, knowing damn good and well that Lila would never act this way. “How about you show me where you live?” she whispered in his ear.
She could feel him stiffen at her touch. “That’s a good idea,” he agreed.
They got into his car and drove to his house. Like his car and his appearance, his home was ostentatious. It was nice, Amber thought, but a bit over the top for her. He parked the car in the driveway and helped her out.
They walked in and he turned on a few lam
ps for mood lighting. “Can I get you something to drink?” he offered.
“That would be lovely,” she answered.
He walked over to the bar and opened up another bottle of wine. Amber liked wine, but it wasn’t her favorite. She thought back to her date the night before. What would make her think of David now? She never thought about previous dates. Carl walked over to her and handed her a glass. He then leaned in to tell her something or toast her. Amber took the opportunity to make her move. She pretended to be bumped and spilled some wine on the front of his shirt.
“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed in a falsetto voice. “How could I have been so clumsy?”
“It’s no big deal,” he answered, setting his glass down to go wipe up the excess liquid.
Amber used the time he turned his back to pour the white powder into his drink. “I am so sorry,” she said, pretending to be distraught at what she had done.
“Don’t worry about it Lila,” he said, removing his shirt. “It’ll come out. Besides, this just gets us one step closer to where we want to be.”
“Mmm,” Amber smiled, thinking this was the most arrogant asshole she had ever been with.
Carl walked over to her and placed his hands on either side of her face. He leaned in to kiss her softly.
“Oh Lila,” he whispered. “I have been waiting for this for so long.”
They continued to kiss and undress. When they were both naked, Carl stood back to look at her, making Amber feel like a hunk of meat on the slaughter table.
“Lila,” he said. “You are so beautiful. I want you so bad.” He came back in to kiss her again.
“Yes Carl,” breathed Amber, “but I do have one question.”
“Anything baby,” he said still kissing on her. “You can ask me anything.”
“How the hell do you go from not knowing my name to wanting to fuck me in two days?” she asked, grabbing his balls and squeezing until he fell to his knees.
“But Lila!” he protested. “I do know your name! You’re Lila and I want to get to know you and take care of you.”
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