by Ava Wood
Talia couldn’t understand why he had to dig, why he couldn’t just leave well enough alone. “Stop. You don’t know anything about me and I wish you would stop presuming you do. Just leave it alone. Leave me alone.” She jumped up from her chair and raced for the stairs, running into Camey at the landing.
“Where you going so fast?” Camey steadied Talia as she wavered.
“Are you ready?” Talia snapped. She had to get out of the club. She had to get away from him.
“Yeah.” Tilting her head, Camey looked first at Talia, then over Talia’s shoulder.
“Petal, wait.”
Talia began her descent down the stairs, sensing Landon’s nearness. She was done trying to shrug him off. Realizing she hadn’t taken a full breath since he sat at her table, she hurriedly left him behind, rushing outside where the air was lighter, praying she’d be able to breathe easier.
Once outside, the cold wind battered her, knocking her against the icy wall. She stood waiting to see who would join her, speculating that Reina and Sara couldn’t be troubled to leave the club this early. She wasn’t surprised when Camey appeared alone, huffing from trying to keep up in her mile-high fuck me heels. If Talia had been wearing those shoes, she wouldn’t have made it out of the car, much less lasted in a club for any considerable amount of time. She was relieved to see her burst through the door and join her on the sidewalk as a cab pulled to the curb. Talia didn’t say a word. She fell into the cab, the heater blasting hard against her face, and waited for Camey to climb in to give directions. Her voice, as well as her anger, were caught somewhere in her throat.
When the cab was on its way to Camey’s apartment, Camey turned her attention to Talia, who couldn’t bring herself to speak. “So who was the hottie? He looked like he was really interested in you.” Camey nudged Talia’s elbow with her own, waiting for a response.
Talia forced the words to the surface and spoke, “He wasn’t of consequence.”
“Really? He seemed like he was totally into you. Are you sure you don’t want to go back and get his number?”
Talia could see Camey’s anxious grin out of the corner of her eye before she turned to rebuke her. “Why would I want his number? I have no time for him or any other man. Now can we please drop it? I’m tired and I’d love nothing more than peace and quiet right now.”
“Humph.” Camey fell back into her seat, chewing her bottom lip.
Talia was grateful she’d let it go. She couldn’t stand another minute of thinking about Landon and his sparkling sapphire eyes or the way his dirty-blonde hair complimented them as the lights of the club changed those thick locks from blue to purple to red. “Damn it.” Talia leaned forward in her seat and called to the driver, “Can you pull over?”
“You gonna be sick, lady?” He pulled to the curb and Talia jumped out of the car.
It was nearly midnight; the streets were growing quieter as the night dragged on and Talia just needed the fresh air. She couldn’t sit another minute in the back of the stifling cab.
“Talia, what are you doing?” Camey had rolled down the window to call after her.
“I just need to walk a while. I’ll be fine.”
“I’m not leaving you out here. Are you nuts?” Camey opened her door and began to step out of the cab when the driver called after her.
“Lady, are we going or not?”
“Hold your damn horses.” Camey held the door open as she analyzed Talia’s face. “Come on, Talia. It’s freezing. You don’t even have a jacket. Whatever’s bothering you, you can work it out at home. Please, just get back in the cab.”
Talia looked up and down the dark street. Some of the street lights in the distance were out and the shadows looked more frightening than before, reminding her that she would be completely alone if the cab left. Hesitantly, she fell back into her seat.
“Onward Jeeves,” Camey called to the driver.
The remainder of the drive was quiet. Camey’s apartment was just up the block from Talia’s, so Talia walked the last bit alone. She knew the neighborhood well; she’d be safe.
Before she was out of Camey’s sight, Camey yelled after her, “Text me when you get home.”
Talia waved back at her and continued on. She saw the glow of her living room light as she grew closer. She focused on that light and scolded herself for neglecting to turn it off once again, but she was thankful for the beacon that led her. Her scolding emptied her mind of thoughts of Landon briefly and she was grateful. She didn’t understand why he had to disturb her evening. He should have left well enough alone. And, while she hoped she’d never see him again, deep down his face was still emblazoned in her mind.
She reached her apartment and climbed the stairs in the alleyway behind the flower shop to her meager home above, anxious to sleep off this night, hoping desperately that his face didn’t haunt her dreams.
When she was inside the door she texted Camey before she changed for bed. Sleep was her only escape from this disaster of an evening. She wanted this to all be a distant memory when morning arrived.
Camey walked through the back door of the shop to a deafening silence. Sara and Reina were moving hastily in and out of the cooler pulling arrangements to load into the delivery van. When Sara noticed Camey had arrived she stopped in her tracks and hastened to her side.
“Finally. My sister is on a rampage.” Sara pulled Camey into the cooler, trying to appear busy while questioning the previous night’s events. “What the hell happened last night? Talia has been impossible this morning. She’s already reamed me out three times.”
“I don’t know. When I asked her who Landon was, she told me no one of consequence. He was doing a really good job of looking interested, but she just wouldn’t budge.”
“Well, we’re going to have to run interference between her and the wedding planner if she continues on this tear. We can’t afford to lose any clientele, especially not one of this magnitude.” Camey quickly quieted when Talia entered the room.
“Good, you’re finally here. Some of these arrangements are subpar and since you put them together, I thought you could fix them. Get them up to my standards before we make the delivery.” Talia gave a snide scowl and walked out of the cooler with a large arrangement of hydrangeas and roses in hand.
“Holy shit, you weren’t kidding.” Camey inspected the remaining arrangements waiting to be removed from the cooler and could find nothing wrong, so she returned to the workroom to find her presumed mistakes.
Talia ripped tulips, roses, and hydrangeas from one of the main centerpieces placed on the metal workstation in the middle of the room. “This is all wrong. These tulips are completely the wrong color and the hydrangeas…” Talia scornfully rebuked Camey. “Could you have chosen uglier hydrangeas? I can’t believe Sara even signed for these.”
Camey cautiously moved closer to her, wanting to better examine the offending flowers. “Talia, these hydrangeas are beautiful. I don’t understand what the problem is.” She felt her voice waver standing toe to toe with Talia.
“Beautiful? Are we looking at the same flowers?” Talia snatched a single hydrangea stem from the table and shoved it in Camey’s face. “Look at that.” She pointed to a slight blemish on the edge of one of the many petals. “Do you see that discoloration? That is not acceptable.”
“It’s barely even noticeable and I believe that the imperfections make the flower more perfect. They add just a hint of character to an otherwise somewhat dull flower.”
“I can’t believe I allow you to work in my shop. You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Talia began selectively placing a new batch of tulips back in the arrangement and tossed the imperfect hydrangea in the trash. “I’ll finish these up since you seem to be rather incapable at the moment. Why don’t you help the girls get the rest of the flowers loaded into the van? We need to leave in thirty minutes.”
Camey stared after Talia in disbelief. She’d never acted this bitchy before. Camey returned to the cool
er, where Reina was silently shaking her head. “Not a word.” She grabbed one of the completed arrangements and carried it to the van.
Landon had been feeling off all day and heading to his mysterious job had him feeling no different. The information Quincy gave was minimal. All he had to prepare for the evening was the location of their date, his expected attire, and that the woman was to be called Lady Vanna. The name alone made him groan in annoyance. When had his job become so mind-numbing?
As Landon pulled into a quiet, run-down neighborhood, he began checking addresses, finding the darkest, most dreary house on the block was the home he was searching for. It was a bungalow style, but it was painted in a dark, dismal gray. Every window was darkened by black-out curtains and there was no semblance of light that he could see.
Landon reluctantly pulled his bike to the curb as he checked the address again. The darkness of the home and unkempt yard made the place look vacant, but it was the address he’d been given so he wandered to the door. He could hear the faint hum of what sounded like chanting coming from somewhere inside as he knocked and waited for an answer.
“Come in,” a seductive voice called.
Landon looked down at the all-black ensemble he had been advised to wear before opening the door to step inside. The door creaked open and a room full of candles sat before him. He could hear the chanting resonating from the back of the house as he stepped inside. “Hello?”
“Back here," the voice called.
Landon had nothing to go on, no face, no real name, not even expectations for the date. As he made his way through the darkened home, he wondered just what he’d gotten himself into. When he rounded the corner to what appeared to be a kitchen, he found a table for two lit by candlelight and a willowy woman looking to be in her early thirties sitting stark naked at the table. “Lady Vanna?”
“Sit down.” Her seductive voice had grown commanding and Landon did as he was told. “I’ve fixed you something to eat.” As she spoke, she lifted a silver serving lid from the table to reveal a black plate containing a large T-bone steak.
Landon stared at Lady Vanna a moment, examining her obviously dyed black hair and dark-as-midnight eyes. If the house hadn’t been disturbing enough, her appearance did the trick. He wasn’t certain what Lady Vanna had in mind, but he wasn’t sure how keen he was on finding out. Unsure of whether she’d tainted the food, he decided to decline eating. “I’m sorry to say I’m not hungry. I wasn’t aware I’d be---”
“Don’t be rude. Eat.” Her eyes were squinting, staring him down.
Landon quickly cut into the steak and saw blood oozing at the edges. He was all for a medium-cooked steak, but this cut was practically mooing. “Honestly, I just can’t.” He was trying to be polite, to meet her expectations, but virtually uncooked meat was just something he couldn’t endure.
“Fine.” Lady Vanna threw down the napkin she’d had in her lap and grabbed Landon by his collar as she passed. “But you must be cleansed.”
“Okay.” He was utterly confused. Was this some kind of joke the guys were playing on him? Did he really look like he hadn’t taken care of himself? Lady Vanna guided him through a bedroom and, along the way, Landon couldn’t get the pungent odor of copper out of his nose. “What is that—”
“Do not speak again until you’ve been cleansed.” Lady Vanna pulled harder at his shirt, dragging him closer to the smell.
In Landon’s six years as an escort, he’d dealt with his share of crazy, but this woman seemed completely off her rocker. As nuts as he accepted her to be, nothing prepared him for what he saw inside the candlelit bathroom. “What is that?”
“Do not speak.”
“Is that blood?”
Lady Vanna whipped around to face him, covering his mouth with her hand. “I won’t ask again. Now get in the bath.”
Removing her hand, he uttered, “Look, there are some things I’ll do and some I just won’t. Getting in a pool of blood is not something I’ll even consider.”
“I’ve paid my money, now be cleansed.” She shoved at his back, knocking him closer to the blood.
Landon looked at the thick red pool before him and weighed his options. He’d done things before that he wasn’t proud of, but he just couldn’t fathom this. It was too much.
“Stop thinking. Turn off your emotions and get in already.”
“No, I can’t. I’m not built that way.”
“You’re an escort. Of course you’re built that way. Isn’t that what being an escort is? You turn off your emotions to avoid attachment. Just pretend for an hour you’re someone else. Isn’t that what your job is all about?” She changed her tactic from a forceful approach to trying to reason with him.
“What? No. I’m not pretending.” Am I? “I have to go.”
“You can’t.” Lady Vanna ran past him and slammed the bathroom door shut, throwing herself in front of it. “This is my fantasy. I’ve paid you. You can’t say no.”
“I just did. Now let me go.”
“What kind of escort are you? You can’t even handle a little blood?”
“A little blood would be a scrape on the knee, this is a fucking homicide.”
“Is that what you’re worried about? You think I killed someone?” Lady Vanna placed her hands on Landon’s face. “It’s just pig’s blood. It’s really not that bad.”
“Oh my God, you’re insane. I’m out of here.” Landon pushed Lady Vanna out of his way.
“You’ll be back. They all come back,” her voice echoed throughout the hallway.
He bolted out of the house, leaving the naked lunatic inside with her blood bath.
By Friday afternoon Talia had spent the better part of the week trying to come up with an excuse to avoid her weekly visit to Satin. She couldn’t risk seeing Landon again. He was the only thing on her mind lately and she’d become much more volatile for it. She knew the girls were tiptoeing around her trying to avoid any confrontation, but Talia just couldn’t keep her emotions in check. She was so desperate to clear her mind that, after endless hours of cleaning each evening failed, she finally succumbed to mindless hours of television.
Her first choice was a comedy about a family in turmoil over their teenage daughter’s pregnancy. It had some witty parts, but all Talia could wrap her head around were the sapphire eyes of the teenager’s boyfriend. This was not sitting well with Talia. She flipped channels to a vampire drama, remembering their eyes tended to be of a red or amber color, but the hair of the lead vampire was wheat blonde and sat messily atop his head. Her attempts were not going well. Finally she settled on the lifecycle of a caterpillar and was pleasantly surprised by her interest in their eating habits just before they would spin their cocoons. She had actually become surprisingly engrossed when a commercial played on the screen and the announcer’s voice set her off with his deep raspy tone. She cursed, turned the television off, and threw the remote across the room in sheer frustration. “That’s enough of that.”
She began rearranging knickknacks on her lone bookshelf in the living room, but the task didn’t last long, leaving her mind to wander yet again. She remembered it had been a week since she’d bleached her bathroom so she took to scouring all of the surfaces, making quick work of removing any stubborn stains. The job was soon completed, so she took to the spare bath in her father’s old bedroom. Before long, that bathroom too was sparkling and Talia was left wondering what to do next to occupy her time. She was surprised when a knock came at her door and swiftly realized it was nine o’clock. She knew it must be the girls ready to pick her up half an hour earlier than expected and she wasn’t anywhere near ready. Before she could get to the door to open it, Sara came barging in.
“It’s freezing out there.” Sara stopped dead in her tracks, taking in Talia’s state. “Please tell me you don’t plan to go out like that.”
“Well hello to you, too. You’re awfully early.” Talia dropped onto her couch, focusing on her folded hands in front of her.
“
Did you forget we’re going out to eat beforehand? Hurry up and get ready.”
“I’m not feeling up to it.”
“You’ve been pulling this shit all week. Get your ass up, go put something decent on, and let’s go.” Sara marched across the room and gripped Talia by the arm, dragging her into their once shared closet. She began pulling various items from within, then returned them to the rack.
“This is ridiculous. It’s going to take me forever to get ready.” Talia tried for empathy.
“Bullshit. You know the only thing you ever do to get ready is get dressed in your most pissed-off outfit and brush your hair, although I’m not sure you even do that half the time.” She stopped to pull a V-neck black shift dress from the closet and matched it with a wide tan belt. “Here, put this on and shut up.”
“I wore that dress to our grandmother’s funeral.” Talia stood in her bedroom in disbelief as a pair of tan cowboy boots came flying at her. “Where did these come from?”
“Nice, Talia. I bought them for you last Christmas.” Sara stared derisively. When Talia stood firm in place, Sara added, “Are you going to get ready or what?”
“A little privacy please.” Talia shoved Sara out of the room and heard Sara bellow as she shut the door.
“I’ll be in the car so hurry your ass up.”
Talia rolled her eyes, slunk into her bathroom to wash up, and got dressed as quickly as possible. She grabbed a black scarf and denim jacket on the way out to slightly ward off the cold. When she walked out of the door into the early spring chill, she pulled her jacket tight around her then locked her door behind her to head downstairs. At ground level, she saw that Sara was the only person in the car. As she got in she questioned, “Where are Camey and Reina?”
“They’re going to meet us at the diner. Camey made some excuse about wanting to drive herself.”
“Whatever.” Talia dropped back in her seat and rolled her eyes, looking out the window as Sara pulled away. She hoped if she ate slowly enough she could postpone the inevitable.