by Kimmy Love
“Okay!” She got up and pulled Lemar's legs off the coffee table. “That's enough. When do you want it by and how can I get it to you?”
Lemar began to laugh. His laugh was ugly, high pitched and never ending. He held his stomach and snorted. “You can't get it to me – I'll come to you. What do you take me for?”
“So when?”
“One week from today. Be here, on your own. I'll come to collect.”
“Not here. Meet me at that place we used to meet with Moose and the others. It's still there.”
“I know. That's where I've just come from.”
“You've been in this building before, haven't you?” she asked. “Spying on me.”
“It's so easy, H. So, so easy.” He peeled himself off the sofa and walked to the door. He looked at his watch as he stood in the open doorway. “One week today, this exact time and you know the place.” He left without closing the door.
Heather ran over and double locked it. A bit too late, she thought. Her stomach turned over and she began to retch. She raced to the bathroom but could not manage to throw anything up. She turned on the cold tap and splashed her face several times.
In the living room, her cell phone rang. It seemed so loud, even though she was in the bathroom it was like the cell was right next to her ear. It kept ringing and ringing. She wondered if Lemar had her number, too. She wouldn't be surprised. Heather watched her cell vibrate on the coffee table as it continued to ring. She looked down at it and saw Yuri's picture. Her hands shook, she couldn’t answer it. She could not bring herself to speak to him, she would only cry.
Between now and the time before Yuri came back, she would have to try to think of a way to get hold of that money. How was she going to get around this? It was an impossible situation.
A light flashed on her cell. Yuri must have left a message; she listened to it.
Hey baby. I guess you're in the bath or something. The second we hung up I started missing you. I know, call me a big softy, but for you – I am. I wish you were right here with me. Anyway. I'll call you tomorrow. 'Night, Heather.
It was comforting to hear his voice but listening to Yuri broke her heart. She couldn't take his money. But Lemar was a dangerous man; he was capable of a lot, especially when he was high. He had seemed straight earlier but who knew what he would do if she didn't come up with that money. All he had to do was fill Yuri in on a few details of her past and she would lose him. Her only choices were to lie to Yuri and somehow get him to part with $300,000 or she would have to run.
Chapter8
When Yuri returned to New York from his business trip, the first thing he wanted to talk about was the wedding. “Did you make a decision about when?” he asked her.
Heather had a day off work and came to meet him for lunch. They sat on the balcony floor of one of New York's newest restaurants. The cuisine was European and the interior was glass and metal. It was spacious but a little on the busy side because it was new. Heather felt self-conscious; partly because of the looks they were still getting from people who recognized them from the newspaper and magazine reports. Only a week ago, Laura Madison had her interview published in Cosmopolitan and there was another picture of Yuri and Heather in there.
It was the publicity that told Heather she could not run away from Lemar and his threats – where could she hide? Asking Yuri for the money was her only option, especially as she didn't want to lose him by running away. But finding the best way to approach the subject had given her sleepless nights.
She had finally found a solution. “I was thinking,” she said, “How about a winter wedding after all, like you said, or even fall?” She was smiling, a fake smile that she hoped Yuri would not see through. She had barely eaten anything and laid down her knife and fork as she waited for an answer.
“I'm totally fine with that,” he said. “Did you have a date in mind?”
“How about late October. It's not too cold and before we get snow.”
“It doesn't have to be in New York, remember? There's the island. I'm sure a lot of people would love to come to a Caribbean wedding. What do you think?”
“People? Who would you invite? You don't have family,” said Heather.
“It would be close friends. I'd say about ten people. We could fly them all out. What about you? How many of your friends?”
“Maybe just a handful, people I've worked with these past few years.”
“No one from before that?”
Heather didn't say anything but picked up her fork and started moving her salad around the plate.
“What is it, Heather? You've been very quiet since I got back. Want to tell me what's wrong?”
She looked straight into his eyes and didn't blink. “Yuri, I have something to ask you. It's big and if you say no, I can completely understand.”
“Why would I say no to you?”
“Because it's seriously a lot to ask of you and because I wasn't honest with you about my past.”
“In what way?”
“I-I told you I had no family. That wasn't strictly honest. My-my father is around and he's in big trouble with some people.”
“Your father? You mean you might have someone to give you away?” Yuri brightened. “That's good, isn't it? Or, wait, you said your folks were no longer around, so if you wanted to keep him out of your life, you don't want him at your wedding.”
“That's right. My childhood was nothing to write about and when I got to my teens, well, I was pretty much abandoned by my folks.”
“That's terrible. You know you could have told me all this before.”
She shook her head. “I wanted to forget but now something has come up.”
“Concerning your father?”
“That's right.”
“You need money, don't you Heather?” He leaned an elbow on the table, lowered his voice.
She looked up at him, alarmed. She wondered what he knew.
“Your father is in trouble,” he went on. “He's contacted you because he knows I have money and he needs someone to bail him out.”
She nodded.
“Heather, it's all right. Anything you want of me, you can have. Everything I have is yours. How much does he need?”
She closed her eyes and exhaled. “I can't even bring myself to say.”
He put his hand on hers. “Just tell me, the check is as good as written.”
“Yuri, it's $300,000.” She could not look at him.
“I'll have Susan arrange a bank transfer.”
“He'll need cash.” She looked up quickly.
“Okay,” he said, dragging out the word. “When?”
“I need to get it to him by tomorrow evening.”
Yuri pulled out his cell phone and called Susan. “Hey Suzie. I want you to withdraw $300,000 cash and you and someone else deliver it to Heather's apartment by five tomorrow evening.” He clicked off his cell. “Done,” he said. “And are you definitely sure you don't want your father to give you away? Things might have changed. It was a long time ago.”
She shook her head. She reached across the table and took Yuri's hands. “This is a one off. I told my father. I'm so sorry to have to ask, it's not the way I wanted our lives to start out. Yuri, can you ever forgive me for this?”
“Heather, there’s nothing to forgive; it's your father. People have a way of showing up out of the blue when they think they're entitled to something. We pay him off and we start our lives fresh. We never have to look back, only forward. Okay?”
She blinked tears down her face and smiled at Yuri through glassy eyes. He came and sat beside her, put his strong arm around her shoulder and kissed her.
“You want to leave?” he asked. She nodded.
***
It was the day; the day Heather had been dreading for a whole week. Ever since Lemar left her apartment, the whole place had never felt the same. She couldn't wait to be moving in with Yuri. They had her move planned for the weekend. Heather had given notice to both h
er jobs and was concentrating on getting a university place for the next term. She was awaiting a response from Cornell, Columbia and NYU.
Susan arrived at her apartment just before five o'clock with the money in a soft bag. $300,000 looked inconspicuous as sports clothes. Carrying it to her meeting place with Lemar, Heather might look as if she were going to the gym. Heather could barely look Susan in the eye when she handed Heather the bag. Susan had come up to her apartment without the security guard and stood just inside the door clutching it to her chest. When she finally got Heather to meet her eyes she held the bag out.
“Thank you,” Heather said but Susan hadn't quite let go.
“Yuri is like a brother to me, Heather,” she said.
“Yes, I know. I understand that.”
“He's absolutely crazy about you and would give you anything you ever asked for. I know this for a fact. But one thing I won't do is stand by and let my friend be taken for a ride. What is this all about Heather?”
“Susan, with respect, it really isn't any of your business. I've spoken to Yuri. He didn't have to do this, he had a choice.”
“But not really, not when it comes to you.”
“You think I don't love him? You think all I want to do is extort money from him? Is that what you think of me, Susan?”
“I thought you were the real deal, Heather, always have done, but this just seems so out of place. I have a bad feeling.”
“Don't think for one moment I'm taking this lightly; I have to do this. Susan, you could never begin to understand. I just have to. Yuri and I, well, after this we just move on. Like it never happened.”
“But $300,000 is nothing to be sneezed at. True, Yuri can afford it but is this the last of it?”
“Yes, of course.”
“And you're sure?”
“Look, Susan. You don't police Yuri's money. Don't forget I'm about to become his wife.”
Susan let go of the handle, the bag sagged down with the weight of the money to Heather's side. She let it drop to the ground.
“Okay, Heather, it's all yours,” Susan breathed. She turned and let herself out of the apartment without looking back.
Heather sat on the sofa, her arms around her knees, just staring at the money. It was just a few hours before she had to be across town at the bar she used to frequent with the crowd she was running with from the age of fifteen. Far too young to be drinking, far too young to be doing lots of the things she was doing in those days but that world seemed a lifetime away. She wondered how easy it would be to rub this reminder of her past away once she'd handed over the money to Lemar and turned her back on him.
Later, she dressed in dark jeans, a black t-shirt and pulled on a thin black hooded sweater. She picked up the bag and headed for the subway. She held the bag on her lap, firmly gripping it with the strap twisted around her wrist so no one could grab it away.
Arriving in the seedier part of town sent shivers over her skin. She hadn’t been there in years and hoped she would not see anyone she knew. She wondered how different she looked now. Surely, she was cleaner and better dressed but with every step she took, she couldn't help feeling the place was dragging her back by its claws, that she had never moved on from being that druggie teenager who would’ve given her life to Lemar for her next fix.
She looked up at the battered neon sign: Ronnie's Yard. Most of the letters were not lit up, the windows were blacked out, as usual, and the crack in the front step where a drive by had shattered the concrete had still not been repaired.
Heather pushed the door and the familiar smell of booze and hot bodies swept over her like a beaten up blanket. She saw Lemar straight away. He was at the back, shooting pool and didn't even look up at the door. She didn't recognize the people he was with but marched straight over to him and leaned her hand on the pool table as he was about to take a shot.
“That's not very friendly,” Lemar said and let out that chilling laugh from the other week.
Heather shuddered. “Here.” Lemar shoved his pool cue into the hands of a skinny boy who looked about twelve years old.
He grabbed Heather's elbow, pulled the bag from her hand and led her through the familiar, plastic strip curtains that led to a back room. It was filled with smoke and fairly crowded compared to the front part of the bar.
“All here?” he asked her, lifting the bag.
“Of course.”
“I'll trust you, I always used to.”
She said nothing but followed Lemar who dragged a guy out of a table in a corner, his friends followed close after, taking their drinks with them.
“Sit,” he said to her, dumping the bag under the table.
Heather shook her head. “I can't stay,” she said.
“Yes you can, H. You can stay and be sociable for one second, I may never see you again.”
She sat opposite him. “You'll never see me again, you understand?”
“After all we've been through, after all that time I did for you.”
“For me. Don't forget I went to prison too,” she hissed.
“But not with the charges I carried for you.” He leaned forward.
He smelled of stale clothes and stale breath. Heather couldn’t remember what it was she ever saw in this man. At the time, she wanted to escape her family but it was a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire when she met Lemar. Nothing went right for her since meeting him.
“Look, I can't take away the past,” she said through her teeth. “I've paid for my mistakes inside and outside prison. I've finally turned my life around and now you've got the money to do the same. Consider the slate wiped clean.” She got up.
Lemar grabbed her wrist. “Don't you ever miss me? Not even a little?” he asked, eyes boring into her.
She flung his hand away and stormed out of Ronnie's Place in a such a rage she barged someone aside, no time to apologize. She waved her hand when she saw a taxi going by Ronnie's. She could tell the driver was reluctant to stop. Anyone coming out of Ronnie's had to be carrying a weapon, was wasted, or both. She had to run the extra feet it took for the driver of the cab to make up his mind to stop for her. She gave Yuri's address and the driver pulled a face. Maybe he thought she was a call girl going from this place to plush Manhattan address. She didn't care. She just had to get out of there and go to Yuri.
“Heather?” he asked when she arrived and threw herself at him. “You got it sorted out?”
She nodded.
“It's okay,” he told her. “We never have to talk about this again. Have you eaten?”
“I couldn't eat. I need a bath.”
“Sure.”
Heather went into the bathroom and turned on the taps. She slipped off all her clothes, knowing she'd throw them all into the trash. She got into the bath while the water was still running and closed her eyes. Yuri knocked on the door.
“Do you need anything?” he asked from the other side.
“No, I just need to soak.”
“Okay, fine. I'll be in the living room, watching a film.”
Almost an hour later, Heather emerged from the water which was beginning to cool down. She had a desire to be in Yuri's arms now that she had soaked away the past and the pain meeting Lemar had caused. She walked into the living room in just a towel.
“Wine?” he asked, turning to her.
Heather shook her head 'no'. Yuri got to his feet. He pulled Heather back to the sofa by the top of her towel. He unraveled it and let the towel slip to the floor. Stroking her shoulders he kissed her forehead. Heather closed her eyes and sighed. He caressed the skin on her shoulders. There were a couple of drops of water on one, which he kissed away. Next he cupped her breasts in his hands and began to squeeze them, gently at first and then harder.
Heather's skin was slightly damp but dried quickly under his touch. He flicked his thumbs over her nipples; they were hard. She sighed and tilted her head back. Yuri took her face in his hands and kissed her, his tongue flicking deep inside her mouth.
She pulled him to her by his shoulders and kissed back just as aggressively.
They sat down on the sofa, Yuri pulling her on top of him to a lying position. Heather pressed her lower body into his as they continued to kiss. She was becoming wet as she gyrated against him and could feel that Yuri was hard and just as anxious for full intercourse. She hovered above him on one knee, helping him off with his pants, the shirt could stay, she was hungry for him to be inside her. Heather turned them around until she was beneath Yuri, one leg up towards the backrest of the sofa, the other on the floor. She guided him inside her, jerking her body up and down; her eyes clenched shut, breathing heavily.
“Harder,” she said to him, “harder.”
Yuri thrust with an increased energy. She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled in with every thrust he made. She was coming fast; he wasn't far behind. His orgasm was vocal, hers a grunted sigh through gritted teeth as she convulsed with passion until her orgasm finally subsided.
Yuri looked into her eyes. “Welcome back,” he said. “You were miles away from me when you walked in.”
“It's good to be back.” Her arms were tight around Yuri now and her emotions were telling her she must either laugh or cry. She chose to laugh.
“Better?” he asked, looking at her happy face.
“Much. I think I can eat now.”
“Let's do it.”
And like that, the past was behind her again. All that mattered was Yuri, and all she wanted to do was marry him and move on with their lives.
*
Heather and Yuri's wedding date was announced in the newspapers. They had sent out the invitations to twenty people whom they would fly out to the Caribbean to share their wedding day. Heather was excited, she had invited Janey over to help her look through bridal magazines so she could choose a style for her wedding dress.
“It mustn't be too fussy as it'll be hot,” Janey said. They were sitting out on the balcony of the luxury flat. “What about this? Wait, are you going for white?”
“I was thinking cream or pearl white. It just has to make me think 'wow' when I see it so maybe strapless, maybe crystals. Should I go calf length as it's on a beach?”