Masquerade

by J. S. Cooper

  “What are you talking about, Mother?”

  “Don’t worry yourself, son. What’s in the past should be kept in the past.”

  “I wish you didn’t still hurt, Mother. I wish I could take your pain away.”

  “You have taken my pain away. You’re starting college in the fall. You’re a smart, handsome, brilliant son. The best son I could hope for. You’re all my dreams come true, Jakob. And you made it on your own, with no help from your father. You’re smarter, more handsome, and more accomplished than David, who had everything given to him on a silver platter. Your father could only wish that you were his heir.”

  “I’m sorry he hurt you, Mother.”

  “I’m sorry for many things.” She sighed. “I must go and lie down now. The dance has worn me out.”

  “Okay, do you need anything?”

  “No, just a small rest.” She kissed the top of my head. “Thank you for the dance. I do so love remembering my days on the dance floor, but I’m no longer a sprightly young thing.”

  “Mother.”

  “Don’t Mother me.” She smiled and walked out of the room. I watched her walking slowly, her body already fading away into the night as I stood in the middle of the room, listening to the piano recording reverberating throughout the room. I vowed to myself that I would make the Londons pay for their hand in ruining my mother’s life. I wasn’t sure what they had done or said to make my father end his relationship with my mother, but it didn’t matter. They would pay, one way or another.

  * * *

  I went to the coffee shop and sat in the corner at a table facing the front door so I could watch as people arrived and left. It’s scarily easy to stalk people. At least it had been easy to stalk Bianca London. She had a Twitter account linked to her articles and she basically tweeted every time she was at a coffee shop or restaurant with a photo of the drink she was having or meal she was eating. The fact that she checked in on Yelp as well had proven to be very helpful. There were two coffee shops she seemed to favor and one that she had been frequenting more recently. I wanted to see her in person. I knew it wasn’t smart to come into contact with her now, but I needed to see the face of the woman causing so much turmoil for me and David—though the turmoil was for different reasons.

  I looked at the novel in front of me and sighed. I was having a hard time focusing on my book, A Confederacy of Dunces, because I was so preoccupied, but I would look suspicious if I just sat there watching the door. I knew her as soon as she walked into the coffee shop. She had a green canvas messenger bag slung over her shoulder and her hair hung down her back, unkempt. She bounded into the coffee shop with a wide smile on her face as she stared at the baristas. I jumped up from my table and headed toward the counter to order a drink. I knew it was a risk to be so close to her, but I couldn’t stop myself. I watched her as she stared at the menu, nibbling her lower lip as she surveyed the options. I wondered why it was taking her so long—there weren’t that many choices on the board and she came here almost daily. Did she really need to study it that hard?

  “Oh, sorry, you can go first if you want.” She turned to me with a small smile, my stomach churning as her light brown eyes gazed into mine. “I’m still deciding.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled back at her and nodded slightly. I noticed that the rims of her eyes were actually green. I turned my face to stop from staring at her. She was prettier than I’d realized from her photographs. She had a natural beauty that was captivating. I wanted to look at her again, but that annoyed me. I wasn’t sure why I was so drawn to her. Not that it mattered. She wasn’t anyone for me to be drawn toward. Though . . . could I bring her down with sex? Make her fall for me and then break her heart? I ordered a coffee and mentally dismissed the idea. That wasn’t enough punishment, plus I knew that David and Larry most probably had other plans. Plans that I had to adhere to before going after my own retribution.

  I took my coffee to my table and sat down again. She chose a table that was in my line of vision, and I watched as she pulled her laptop out and sat down, typing away quickly as she sipped on her frozen drink. She paused for a few moments, and I watched as she nibbled on a pen, leaving a blue stain on her lips. Her luscious pink lips. She wasn’t the type I normally went for, but I was instinctively attracted to her. Bianca London was someone I could see myself fucking. Her clothes were baggy but didn’t cover her curves and her ample chest. Her face was expressive, and I could almost picture her different faces as I made her come, with my tongue, my finger, and then my cock. I shifted in the chair as I realized I was getting hard just from thinking about her.

  I picked up my book and read a few pages to distract myself from my thoughts. I couldn’t afford to be attracted to Bianca. I couldn’t afford to see her in any other light. She was simply the daughter of the people who had ruined my mother’s life. To think of her as anything other than that person would undermine my plan. It had been a mistake coming to the coffee shop to see her. It had been a mistake putting a face to the person before I’d had to. She looked too human. Too fragile. There was an ethereal air to her that reminded me of my mother. She looked like someone who needed protecting. A primal part of me wanted to be that person. I wanted to take her into my arms and protect her from the world. And that made me laugh inwardly as I closed my book and stood up. Of course that wasn’t going to happen. I was in no position to protect her. The person she was going to need protection from was me.

  three

  Nostalgia ran in my veins as I made my way through the ballroom, listening to the sounds of the string orchestra. Once a year, my mother and I would go listen to the New York Philharmonic. We’d gone for twenty years and I could still remember the way my mother closed her eyes as she let the music take her away. Those had been some of the best moments I’d had with her. I had never been able to lose myself as deeply as she had in the music, but classical music always took me back to those happy memories with her. I adjusted my mask and looked out at the crowds of people, most of whom I didn’t recognize under their masks. It had been David’s idea to make this a masquerade ball, and it seemed to have gone over well. The guests were pretty much all in disguise and enjoying the fact that they had some anonymity in the room. I was seeing hands groping and caressing, with people being bolder due to their disguises. I was studying one couple in a corner when I saw a woman in a deep purple gown hurrying across the room. My heart stopped as I stared at the expanse of her back and I walked toward her quickly, needing to see if it was who I thought it was. She paused for a second and bent down to adjust her right heel; her long brown hair cascading to the side in big bouncy curls. My fingers itched to touch her smooth back, and I longed to watch her eyes widen in surprise and delight as those fingers made their way down to her ample bottom. She’d gasp as I’d pull her close to me and lean in to say hello. I’d let my lips lightly brush hers and tease her. Her eyes would stare into mine in shock as we’d look at each other from behind our masks. My skin felt warm as I approached her, my excitement growing in every step that I took. I didn’t think about what I was doing. I didn’t want to analyze why I wanted to kiss Bianca London so much or why I wanted to feel her heartbeat as my fingers caressed her skin. I was just a few inches away when she turned around and my heart dropped. The lady in the purple dress was not Bianca. Disappointment flooded me as this lady, this stranger, looked me up and down and smiled. I turned away, angry at myself for getting carried away and for hoping so badly that she would be Bianca.

  “There you are, Jakob!” David’s voice boomed across the room as he walked toward me with a statuesque woman by his side. “This is my girlfriend, Roma.” David held her arm proudly as he introduced me to the beauty by his side. I shook her hand and smiled at her, noting that her blue eyes were calculating as she smiled back at me tightly. She was well put together, with not a hair out of place, and I wondered what her story was.

  “Nice to meet you, Roma.” I bowed my head at her.

  “You too, Jakob.”
She took her gold and blue mask off and gazed down the length of my suit and back up again, a coquettish smile on her face as she peered at me through her long lashes. “I do hope we will become better acquainted. I’ve been telling David I’ve wanted to meet you for months.”

  “Why is that?” I tilted my head and glanced at the tops of her breasts as she licked her lips slowly, flirting with me so subtly that a fool like David wouldn’t even know it was happening.

  “You’re his brother. I wanted to meet his family.”

  “Oh, but we’re not brothers in the full sense of the word.”

  “Meaning you don’t share?” She smiled sweetly.

  “There is nothing we need to share.” I shrugged and gazed at David’s face, so smug and confident.

  “No, I suppose there isn’t.” She nodded. “You seem to be the sort of guy who takes what he wants.”

  “Yes.” I nodded. “I don’t hesitate to go after what I want.”

  “Neither do I¸” she said simply, and looked pointedly at my crotch again. “Life is too short to just sit back and wait.”

  I said nothing in response. I knew what she was intimating. My hands up her skirt, pulling her panties down and fucking her hard. It wasn’t an altogether displeasing idea. She was hot and my body was attracted to her. My cock was already hardening in my pants at her gaze, and it didn’t hurt that her hand had casually grazed my crotch. Roma was obviously a woman of the world. I could already tell she had a story. She was someone for David to be wary of, but I didn’t care. He could fight his own battles when it came to women.

  David was the sort of man who always put himself and his money first. He would never let a woman get close enough to completely take him, because he was already distrustful as it was. Our father had done that to him. It was one of the reasons I didn’t envy him for being the heir to the Bradley throne. Jeremiah Bradley had been so paranoid in his dealings, likely because he knew how he’d come across his riches. He’d ingrained in his son a paranoia and worry that I was glad I didn’t carry. Though of course I had my own concerns. My mother had made me wary, but for a completely different reason. The pain and concern I carried around wasn’t influenced by how much money I had but by how many users had tried to get close to me for it. My pain existed because my mother had been used and discarded as if she didn’t matter. My pain existed because my mother had died due to that heartache. She’d died without getting to see me take down the people who had ruined her life. Maybe they hadn’t foreseen what was going to happen to my mother, but that didn’t matter. I didn’t care what they did or didn’t know. I didn’t care what their intentions had been. The simple fact was that my mother had lived most of her life heartbroken due to a few key people, and they were going to pay. I looked at Roma and wondered if she thought I trusted her. I wondered if she knew that I knew her secrets. I wondered if she knew all of the information my mother had given me before she’d died. Yes, my mother’s life had been ruined, but it wasn’t going to be in vain. I’d play along with the charade until I was ready to pounce.

  “I’m going to get a drink.” My hand caught Roma’s as David turned around to talk to someone else. “Would you like anything?”

  “Sex on the Beach,” she said simply, her eyes flashing at me as she pushed her shoulders back. I looked down at the top of her dress, the tops and sides of her breasts exposed in a daring fashion with the plunging neckline.

  “Okay.” I nodded.

  “You can make it happen, right?” She grinned at me as she took a step forward. “You have an island, right?”

  “I do.” I nodded, my eyes not leaving hers. The moment was fraught with tension and I wondered why I was still standing here, talking to this woman. She was beautiful, but there was an air surrounding her that felt dark and heavy. I didn’t like this woman, even though a part of her excited the primal part of me.

  “So what are you two talking about?” David turned back around and glanced back and forth at us, his eyes narrowed as he studied our body language.

  “Sex.” I grinned at him, watching the mask of displeasure cloak his face for a few seconds.

  “I asked him for a Sex on the Beach,” Roma interjected with a small laugh, though the humor didn’t hit her eyes. “He offered to go and get me a drink.”

  “Oh, okay.” David paused and looked at me. “I’ll have a scotch on the rocks.”

  “Okay.”

  “Go to the side bar,” he continued. “They have a bottle of 1926 Macallan.”

  “A bottle of that goes for around fifty-four thousand dollars.” I frowned.

  “Yeah, so what? It’s good stuff. In fact, why don’t you make it a double.” David smiled. “And forget the rocks, I’ll take it neat.”

  “I’ve changed my mind as well,” Roma said. “I’ll have the scotch, too. The Sex on the Beach seems too tawdry and cheap.” She paused. “I almost forgot where I was . . .” She glanced at me for a few seconds, her eyes dismissing me as she took David’s arm.

  I nodded and walked away to find the bar. I wasn’t sure what game they were playing, but I’d be the winner tonight, of that I was sure. The fact that they believed I was here without my own interests first was proof that my masquerade was working.

  * * *

  I watched as Larry Renee approached me and I could feel my blood boiling as I stared at his tight smile and beady eyes. Larry Renee was at the top of my hit list, being the man that had made my mother feel like a whore for having slept with Jeremiah Bradley. I could still remember her pain as she’d told me the story of what Larry had made her do. She’d only told me the story once, maybe because she’d been too embarrassed to mention it again. I didn’t blame her though. I understood what it was like to have your actions twisted. She’d told me when I was in ninth grade and not studying much. In fact, I’d come home with a D on a math test and she’d scolded me harshly, the upset evident in her voice.

  “It’s just one test, Mom.” I’d shrugged, annoyed that she was making a big deal of it. I didn’t care about school and particularly not that school. The other students didn’t like smart kids and I didn’t want to draw more attention to myself. I was already the kid who everyone whispered about. I didn’t want to be the class nerd as well.

  “You can do better than this,” she’d said, her eyes wide with a pain I hadn’t understood at the time.

  “Yeah,” I’d said, and looked away, feeling annoyed.

  “Jakob, listen to me.” She’d grabbed my hands and pulled me to the couch. “You go to an expensive school. A very good school, but it’s expensive. And I want you to go to a good college.” Her voice broke and I looked up at her in confusion. “I can’t afford either of these tuitions by myself. And I can’t afford this apartment either.” She sighed. “I need you to try harder, Jakob. I need you to soak this all up, so you can have the opportunities that I can’t give you.”

  “How can you even afford this place or the school?” I’d asked angrily. I didn’t understand how we were able to live in such a nice apartment yet I couldn’t even get some nice shoes.

  “Jakob, your dad . . .” Her voice trailed off and she looked at me consideringly before taking a deep breath. My heart thudded as I noticed there were tears in her eyes. “Jakob, your father had me sign a nondisclosure agreement that stated I would never talk to the media about our relationship. In return he gave me a chunk of money. I used the money to buy us a home and for your education.”

  “Oh.” I just looked at her, not knowing what to say.

  “It made me feel cheap, Jakob, my darling. It made me feel like I was some sort of prostitute being paid to keep my mouth shut, but I didn’t care. I still signed those damn papers that Larry Renee shoved in my face.” She shook her head angrily. “He made me feel like a cheap whore that had sold her soul, but I still did it, Jakob. I signed those papers for you. I signed them for your future. Don’t waste this opportunity. You need to study, you need to do well.” She grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eye.
“One of these days, I want you to run your own company. One of these days, I want you to be the one in charge. You might think David has it all now, but one of these days you’re going to be the one on top.” She’d kissed my forehead then and stood up abruptly. I’d sat there, with my head spinning and hatred in my heart that my father and his lawyer had made my mother sign an agreement that had made her feel cheap. I’d vowed to myself then that I wouldn’t let it be in vain. I would work my ass off so that one day I would be successful and make my mother proud.

  “Jakob, young man, how are you doing?” Larry walked up to me as I stood at the bar waiting to place my order, an out-of-place Steve following behind him.

  “I’m fine. How are you?” I shook his hand, faking warmth toward the man who had my mother sign papers that said she would never tell of her affair with Jeremiah Bradley in exchange for a chunk of money. She’d never showed me the agreement, but I’d found the papers in her drawer after she’d died and I hated him for making my mother feel like some sort of whore. She worked as a maid all her life and I knew that she’d been too proud to take the money, but had done so for me; even when the language of the agreement had been so degrading.

  “Good.” He nodded and lowered his voice. “David told me he talked to you about Bianca London.”

  “Yes, yes, he did.” I was annoyed at the mention of her name.

  “She’s going to be at the shareholders’ meeting next week.” He made a face. “She asked me to get her shares, so she’s using a proxy from me.”

  “Okay.”

  “She wants to meet Mattias Bradley.” He looked at me and then at Steve. “She wants to ask him some questions about her father, his inventions, and why he left the company.” He looked around quickly and then spoke again. “She wants to know what happened to her mother.”

  “Her mother?” I asked him curiously. “What do you mean?”

  “She wants to investigate her mother’s death.”