by Ananth
‘Yeah.’ I turned on the player. I had a Pink Floyd CD in the system. She fiddled with it until she found a track she liked and let it play.
As I pulled out of the basement, it began to drizzle and slowly turned into a steady downpour. I loved driving in the rain and, echoing my thoughts, Cara said, ‘I love rain.’ We drove in relaxed silence, and I gradually began to speed, which usually happens when I am pleased about something. She was busy with her phone, so when I jumped the second light I wasn’t expecting her to notice.
‘Where’s the fire?’ she asked, touching my thigh. ‘You want to get rid of me that badly, huh?’
I smiled and slowed down.
She laughed. She knew she’d made me feel like an idiot.
‘I am in the Aralias,’ she said, telling me where she lived.
When we entered the apartment block it was still raining steadily. I pulled into the porch and she got out of the car.
She leaned in and asked, ‘Do you want to come up for a drink? I know you would have stayed at the party for another if I hadn’t asked you to leave.’
Without waiting for me to respond, she continued, ‘It’s just me at home. Come up, I know you want to.’
At that moment a security guard came out of the building.
‘Can he leave the car here? He’s coming up to get something,’ she asked him.
The guard nodded with the deference beautiful people seem to command, only marginally disapproving about the fact that she was carrying her shoes in her hand. I parked the car in the nearest vacant slot he pointed to, and followed her into the building. We rode the elevator in silence. Sixth floor, seventh floor, eighth floor, the voice-programmed lift kept announcing.
‘That’s just annoying,’ she mumbled, pointing to the built-in speakers.
We got off on the fourteenth floor and turned towards a door on the right. She got the key out of her clutch, unlocked the door and led me into a dark, quiet apartment. She didn’t switch on any lights and from what little I could see it was a very large space, European in design, minimalist yet tastefully appointed. Across the room was a wall made entirely of glass overlooking an empty golf course. I walked over to it, taking in the view of a large manicured course. In the pale light outside, and with the falling rain, the course looked beautiful.
‘Thank God the lights aren’t on. I hate it when they play golf at night.’
‘Does that happen often?’
‘Yeah, must. I only moved in yesterday. It’s not direct light and we do have pretty good blinds but I still hate them, knowing there are people walking around late at night.’
I didn’t quite get what she meant.
‘What will you drink? I don’t have rum, but there’s vodka and whisky.’
‘Vodka with ice will do.’
She took out a tray of ice from the fridge, brought it to the kitchen counter and began to pour our drinks. I stood there staring at her silhouette, as she walked around. The lights in the apartment were still off, yet she continued functioning as if it was the most normal thing to do.
When she came back and handed me my glass she smiled again. ‘Let’s go look at the rain,’ she said and walked past me, deeper into the dark, empty apartment.
I followed her across the living room, past a bedroom on the right (the door was ajar), a closed door on the left and another right in front of us. She turned and led me into a room that was a walk-in closet and unlatched another door that opened to a terrace. I hadn’t ever been in a place like that; it felt surreal. I realized this one, like a few others, was jutting out of the building as if suspended in mid-air. It offered a never-ending view of the Aravallis. There were little lights on the floor and the rain was beating down gently.
‘Wow,’ I exclaimed.
‘This is now officially my favourite place on earth,’ Cara said and, walking straight into the rain, she spread both her arms and began to dance.
I stood there transfixed. Twirling amid the twinkling terrace lights, her bare, wet legs gleaming, Cara looked like an ice cube inside your drink. Something you desperately wanted inside your mouth, to roll your tongue around. I couldn’t take my eyes off her even when she saw me gawking, and when she smiled, a slow, dull ache began to gnaw at me. She continued dancing in the rain, moving like the tongue of a black fire. Her wet dress clung to her like second skin, accentuating every curve of her gorgeous body, begging to be peeled off. She was bathed in sparkling light. The dress, now wet, was almost transparent. I noticed she wasn’t wearing a bra. I had read somewhere that breasts were the perfect size if they fit within the rim of a champagne saucer and that made me smile – her breasts were beautiful and delectably large, and wouldn’t fit in any champagne glass.
She motioned to me, asking me to join her.
‘Maybe I should get out of this, I am completely wet.’ She looked me in the eye and pulled off her dress and stood there in the rain, in just her red panties.
I couldn’t feign indifference any more, so I walked up close to her and said, ‘Cara.’
She leaned towards me and I pulled her into my arms.
I could taste the rain on her luscious lips and when I slid my hands down her back and squeezed her ass, she moaned. Kissing my way down her body to her navel I went on my knees and licked her along the edge of her panties. I felt her shiver for a delicious moment and then she yanked my head back up to her breasts, which I gladly took in my mouth, one by one. I rolled my tongue around her nipples, sucking and biting them lightly. She arched her body towards me and groaned.
Suddenly she pulled away from me, whispering, ‘Wait,’ when I reached for her, and stepped out of her panties. I tore at my clothes in a hurry to get undressed and drew her back in my arms. With the rain gently beating down on us, we kissed hungrily before she knelt and took me in her mouth. I was afraid my head would explode and when she began sucking harder I couldn’t stand any more, my knees buckled and I slid to the floor. She crawled over to me on all fours and straddled me, taking me inside her, and began moving her hips in slow circles. With my eyes closed to shield them from the falling rain, I was intensely aware of every move she made, every wet slide up and down my throbbing shaft. I cupped her breasts in my palms and kneaded them. Moaning, she quickened her pace, and began riding me hard. I sat up and held her close as she continued riding me. All of a sudden she stiffened, leaned back and shuddered, squeezing a spine-shattering orgasm out of me in return.
We sat there holding each other tight, letting the rain wash away our sweat. After what seemed a really long time, she stood up and walked into the apartment, leaving her dress and me lying on the wet floor.
I got up after a while, gathered my clothes and started to follow her back into the apartment. My knees felt weak getting to the door and I had to lean on the wall for a bit. The apartment seemed even darker than when we had first entered. Feeling my way to the fridge I took a long drink of cold water and stood there for a while, trying to gather my thoughts. I was beginning to wonder where Cara was, when a door opened somewhere in the apartment. When I turned around I saw her walking towards me, naked. She came up close smelling fresh and lemony, and gave me a hug. I threw my arms around her and kissed her slowly, until I realized I was aroused again.
‘Hmm, someone’s awake again,’ she said.
‘You are something,’ I replied.
‘I know I am. And if you are wondering if I’ve jumped into the sack with someone on the first date, yes, I have.’
‘I wasn’t thinking that,’ I replied, pushing her away from me so I could see her face. We were about the same height and she stared right into my eyes, saying, ‘I know you weren’t. But we haven’t even gone out on a date yet.’
‘That’s true.’
‘So when are you going to ask me out, you sick bastard?’ she asked, smiling.
Grinning, I leaned forward and we kissed again. It was a wet one and her mouth was warm. She pulled back and said, ‘Come inside,’ and took me by the hand and led me into
her bedroom.
All I had time to notice was a large back-lit bed before she took my face in her hands, and commanded, ‘Okay, do me this time, slowly. I want to feel every bit of you.’
She lay back on the bed and spread her legs open, inviting me. I knelt between them and began licking her.
6
When I woke up the next morning the bed was empty. I pulled on my clothes, grimacing at their crumpled, damp state, and walked to the kitchen. With light pouring in through the glass wall and bouncing off the marble floors, the apartment looked beautiful despite the harsh lines of the glass and dark wood décor. In the living room, I couldn’t take my eyes off the large sketch of a nude woman done in charcoal. I wanted to walk around and open every door to make sure this was all real when my eye caught a Post-it on the fridge door.
Off to work! XXX was scribbled across in a crisp handwriting.
I checked my phone; it was ten to ten. Pulling the door shut behind me I rushed out of the apartment. When I reached the lobby, the guard who had let us into the building last night was standing there, a knowing smile on his face. As I ran to my car, somewhere at the back of my head I wondered if he had seen her do this often.
After a quick stop at home for a shower and a change of clothes, I got to work. I called Aanya as I walked up the stairs. I wanted to check if she knew I had gone home with Cara.
‘Hi! Where are you?’ she asked
‘Where are you?’ I retorted, slightly impatient.
‘In the office, in a meeting,’ she began to whisper.
‘Can you get me a coffee, please?’ I asked lamely.
‘Uff, Sid. Okay.’
I knew if Aanya knew, her first question would’ve been a mischievous, ‘So how was last night?’
‘Super,’ I replied. As I hung up, I heard her on the other side saying, ‘Sid is here, sounds hung-over.’
‘SLEEPY,’ I said loudly, knowing full well she wouldn’t hear me.
I walked into my office and deposited my bag on the sofa before going over to the desk, on which stood a large crocodile skull someone had gifted me a while ago, holding things in its cavernous mouth. As I dropped my car keys in, I noticed another set of keys and picked them up. They were attached to a small patch of jeans, cut out from the midriff, with the key ring looped through the buttonhole. I smiled.
Cara, I thought to myself.
I went around the table and sat down. The insurance shoot review was scheduled for this morning. I picked up the phone to call Cara and ask if the keys were hers, and what this meant, and then wondered if it would become a morning-after phone call, and if indeed the night required a morning-after call. Then realizing I was thinking about it too much, I put the phone back. About twenty minutes later Aanya entered with a mug of coffee.
‘You have a meeting this morning,’ she began. ‘I’ve blocked the boardroom.’
‘That was quick,’ I complained as I took the mug from her, though I knew I had no right to say that.
‘I was in a meeting, Sid. C’mon!’
‘Someone’s not in a good mood.’
‘I am, no problem there,’ she replied.
Then it struck me. ‘Hang on! Weren’t you taking Matt out shopping and then bringing him over to the office today?’
‘JWT called to say they’ll drop him here at three,’ she said, sounding annoyed.
‘Strange guy,’ I responded.
‘Not at all, considering he went back to his hotel with one of those Ukrainian models,’ she scoffed.
‘Aah, that’s why you are angry! It’s okay . . . Actually, I’m relieved,’ I added.
‘Why, didn’t you want him to like us?’
‘Of course I did, but our work. Not because we had you babysit him before the meeting. And clearly he’s creepy.’
‘Sid, not everything is that black and white.’
‘It is, you know, ask my camera,’ I replied, winking.
‘Whatever,’ she said and, squinting her eyes, added, ‘Sid, that is some rash on your neck.’
I touched my neck, knowing exactly what it was. The memory brought an involuntary smile to my lips. ‘Is there?’
‘Sorry!’ Aanya said, giving me a knowing smile, and walked to the door. She stopped and turned around. ‘And thank you.’
I shook my head, thinking about how the people in Alpha almost always tended to tread that thin line between friendly and familiar. But Aanya was different. She knew she could take liberties with me. We had been friends for a long time, even had a brief moment one evening in Goa. We had just begun Alpha and I was still getting my head around putting a team together and was spending quite some time with the group, mentoring. Fortunately, she had seen that ‘moment’ for what it was: the result of a playful evening, and not something to be pursued further. And that was not because we were embarrassed. Over the years we had become very fond of each other. (I had become quite protective actually!)
At one Roy called to remind me the meeting was about to begin. I picked up a set of the shortlisted images from the shoot and went over to the boardroom. Nat, Roy and CD were already there, having an animated conversation.
‘Guys, we might be very good photographers, but I don’t think we’ll make the cut on videos,’ CD was almost yelling.
‘C’mon, CD!’ Nat objected.
‘Natasha—’ he never called her Nat, wasn’t one to use nicknames—‘we may want to be brave about this, but we are talking about GM here! You think they don’t know about putting a good video together? And why us? We’ve won awards for our stills but our videos—? We’re always told the ideas are great but they lack the edge. I really think we should be careful about what we pitch in a potential million-dollar account. Besides, these shoots will be costly exercises.’
‘I hate to admit this but he may have a point, Nat,’ Roy added.
Her head in her hands, Nat turned to me in despair. ‘Sid? Help me here.’
I pulled out a chair and sat down. ‘Guys, Nat is right but so are you, CD. You are. We aren’t really kicking ass on the videos, haven’t ever. But Nat wants to, and I think that is important, so we should get the right crew together and give it a shot.’
‘What’s the point, Sid? I don’t want us to try and be number two in the game, then come out short and lose the print window too!’
‘CD, no one can screw us in photography, we are the best! He is the best,’ Nat said, pointing at me. ‘We will get the print window,’ she pleaded. ‘I know JWT; we always get our cards right and they know it too.’
‘I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Nat,’ CD disagreed.
‘EXCUSE ME!’ Nat yelled, beginning to get angry.
I had to stop this from getting ugly.
‘CD, what’s bothering you?’ I asked, interrupting them. ‘It’s not the videos.’
Everyone went quiet.
‘Nothing.’ He paused and then said, ‘Okay, I didn’t like this whole party thing last night. A, it wasn’t the normal JWT way . . . they were hitting a new low with the girls and everything, and B, Rubicon was also there.’
‘But JWT have worked with Rubicon before, so what’s new? I saw those guys too,’ Nat objected.
‘Natasha, I don’t like to be in a race for something, especially not with so many players,’ CD continued. ‘I saw Jay Arora and Matt at the bar quite late. He was laying it on.’
That’s when I figured out what CD was getting at.
‘CD, I know I came in late and left early coz I had to drop Cara home. Nat had left too. Roy was having a good time – you can’t blame him, it’s his work they were celebrating. If you expect us to strap up and play hungry ghosts all the time, chasing the next buck, then I’m sorry but that’s not how I think of Alpha. At the heart of it all, we have to have fun. A little less money . . . yes, but fun. And I am never going to be desperate enough to hunt down clients. You know that.’
Arms crossed, CD stared back at me superciliously but kept quiet. Roy raised an eyebrow. He knew as well as I did
that it was CD’s hard-earned savings that had helped us kick-start Alpha. And I had said ‘I’. All of a sudden CD pushed back his chair and stood up. It worried me just a bit, before he said, ‘Coffee, anyone? I definitely need one, and we have to look at those insurance shots before the great Matt comes in.’ It was his way of indicating that this conversation was over for the moment but it would be continued another time. Everyone got the message.
Nat leaned over and put her hand on my arm. ‘It’s fine, CD, I’ll think about this carefully. We’ll make sure we have the print in, and make it clear that we’d like to pitch for the videos too.’
CD’s eyes lingered on Nat’s hand, then he smiled, and said, ‘Thank you. Coffee?’
Nat smiled back and said, ‘No, medication, thanks.’
It seemed that all was well again. But CD had given me something to think about. And I also told myself that at some point I would ask Nat what her medication was all about. She’d been saying that for more than a fortnight.
As soon as CD stepped out of the boardroom, Roy let out a huge sigh. ‘What’s gotten into him?’
‘He has a point. I think we should think about how we can keep all the fires burning. Nat is right too. We need to up the ante and look into doing more videos.’
‘We don’t have that skill set, Sid, not in-house. Unless of course we change gears,’ Roy said reasonably.
‘That is exactly what I want to do, Roy,’ Nat started. ‘If we get this contract, and I know this is a BIG if, then we’ll have enough dough to set up and hire a new crew for videos. To make that happen we only have what we are showing today, but I think we can swing Matt to our side. He knows we can think as a team.’
‘That we can!’ Roy agreed. ‘If you think we can do this, Nat, then let’s do this.’
‘Guys, we don’t have much time before he gets here and I do want everyone to see the insurance shoot, especially since we’ve had to can the girl. Can everyone please give this a quick run?’ I asked.
CD walked back in at that point, and somebody switched on the projector and the slideshow began.