Deception by Desire

How Chance met his feisty female hitter.

The lifestyle I chose many moons ago forged a rock hard exterior that I used to block out those around me. I’ve seen and done s**t that would have me in the darkest hole under a prison awaiting a single death for the many I have given the same experience. I prided myself with how I used to keep people at a certain emotional position in my life deflecting all attempts that threatened my existence, but after time even stone erodes. Even though I would walk out of my house everyday measuring every option and keeping my awareness the first obligation, she arrived when the cracks were my only weakness. An escape from a life I made very difficult for myself was an intricate test of just how much my brain was set for trickery as I left behind everything I knew with those I knew witnessing a stranger being put in the ground instead of me.

My eyes were drawn to her when she sat next to me alone at a café. Years had went by since I had approached a woman with the intentions of getting to know them but much like my profession, once I have a target; I always follow through. Little did I know I was a fly in her spider web as I learned about a past she had fabricated as she already knew all about mine. I told her an around about way about mine but never disclosed how truly fucked up it really was. She told me tales of home schooling and how nervous she was when she came home drunk for the first time.

When a man first recognizes a woman it is not their personality that they see; that comes second. But it is the beauty in the eye of the beholder; her hair was Uno, red and bold it required that any eye in the vicinity to bear witness to what came next. A petite frame with a rack that fit along with an a*s that would deserve a smack if you was to be bold enough do it in public. But what got me smitten were the eyes; they were green, with a touch of cold steel blue. I know it is cliché but she really did have me at hello; her voice caressed my ear drums as she did what many couldn’t on do on first impression, made me smile. We didn’t instantly connect on first contact because I’ve never have been the type to be desperate, but I made sure I just so happened to be around when she took her lunch. We ate together and talked about life in general before I found out something that made me more interested on who I was dealing with; she was ten years younger than me. With mature conversation she gave off the vibe that wisdom had been in her past and had grown a seed in her mind that far exceeded a lot of people I had encountered at my age and we related on many subjects.

In the neighborhood where I resided things were abnormal, the opposite of what I intended for my retirement. I befriended a girl with kids next door and a guy who lived in the other half of duplex I lived in, one night after a date with Camille I witnessed three thugs snatching the girl in a dark alley and I had to hurt them; I hurt them bad. One of them cut my leg and something in me snapped when I felt the blood running down and adrenaline coursing through my veins; one will never walk the same again, another won’t ever see from his right eye, and the last I was close to cutting his throat with his own knife but had to vanish into the darkness as the police arrived. I didn’t leave him with a lifelong scar but he pissed on himself. After my neighbor stitched me up I stayed away from everyone including her for a couple of weeks locked away in my home. The girl next door had a feeling that it was me that helped her and began bugging trying to get me to admit culpability but I kept my secret like the many others I hide in a dank abode I possess. I had no one in my life that I wanted contact with so I didn’t keep a phone, I had to go to the café for a couple of days before I saw her again and it was her that found me sitting alone reading a book. She greeted me with a smile but never asked where I was, she began to tell me about trivial things that I hadn’t heard since the last we had talked it was like we hadn’t missed a day. I invited her to have dinner with me later that night and we did afterwards walking through a park with her arm in mine.

Twenty six years ago I was infatuated with a female in my class named Mrs. Franklin, she smiled at me every day and I would raise my hand for every question she asked even though half of my answers were wrong, but she rewarded me by pinching my cheek and telling me to keep trying.  I hadn’t felt that away since I first met my wife; it was a crush and it felt good once more to know that I had those kind emotions still left. That night we got caught in the rain, we ran to a bar that was close by and we entered drenched and laughing, that’s where we shared our first kiss while playing pool and conversing. That night I went back to her loft, she asked me about my wound but I lied; told her like I told the rest I had gotten robbed. That night was the first time I swan in her arms of ecstasy, and while she slept I watched her staring and wondering just what the hell I was doing. I didn’t need to get attached to anyone; I had went two years in solitude in the house I was in not even communicating with the two that lived next to me. And now I been walking around like I was just a normal man with no cares in the world. I was a piece of s**t to my ex-wife; sneaking behind her back more involved with vial, despicable, sorts of people. I tried to be good and it worked until another like me put my family into the mix to get my attention. He did and died for it but it frightened her and I completely understood when she took my little girls far away while I laid in a hideaway healing from a bullet to my stomach. When she called me on how bad of a husband I was I didn’t take it personal; I knew my sins they were a part of me. I didn’t want to subject Camille to any trouble because it always seemed to find me no matter where I ran. We only slept together once but for a week we saw each other steadily as I met her after work, we would have dinner ending the night on her balcony with me holding her and a glass of Jack with her smoking a joint as we talked about life staring out at the city. I tried to tell her that I feared hurting her in the long run but she would always tell me that she was different.

The problem I constantly run into is that bullshit brews in the background and when it comes to me it’s after it has had time to get somehow worse. The girl I lived next door to her boyfriend got released from prison and his boys fed him lies as if I were trying to mess with her while he was down. He attempted to fight me but violence was not on my agenda anymore, I had found peace one more time and handled him with some quick talking and some reassurance. I dodged that bullet and spent the next couple of days at home just talking to her on the phone instead of with her. The girl’s boyfriend wasn’t the only obstacle in the background with plans for me without my knowledge, two of my old friends from my past appeared in a bar that I frequented and came back to my house with me. One was my old partner and best friend, the other a kid I taught how to be a contract killer; both really close but immoral for me. They informed me of a price on my head and about two ruthless assassins on my a*s; said that they could come for me at any time. They said that they were the type to hurt everything I cared for just get to me, and it was something I had dealt with but now I had time to deal with it before it once again got out of hand. They added more to my theory of how fucked my life was when they admitted that they were there to collect on the price tag too but gave me the option to help them with a much higher paying job; the catch was that I had to assist to gain a little money plus my life. I didn’t care about my life though, and I was three seconds away from breaking the promise to myself by killing both of them in my kitchen, but my old partner gave me a reason to not add another hole in both of their heads; he showed me that I had a son I didn’t know about. It was his doing; another one his plans to get what he wanted and once again I was forced to conform to his undertakings. I didn’t give them an answer before I escorted them out of my house but they knew the conclusion. From there I had to do the right thing once again and it frustrated me for some reason; maybe because I was so good at doing the wrong thing. Some of the money I had stashed away I gave to the girl with the kids next door to get away from her abusive boyfriend. The last of it went to my buddy next door to get away from that neighborhood to something better; they both deserved it. I surprised my pursuers at a bar as they sat drinking beers awaiting their move on me and made them give their word not to harm anyone around me with a promise of my submission far away from my locale. The last thing I had to do was to let another person I had grown to care for down; I somehow knew it would come to it but denied the thought like it was not possible that history wouldn’t come back to haunt me.

I met with her in a parking garage across the street from her loft and I sat in her car again afraid to dismiss a person that I felt kept the sensation of loneliness away. Upon telling her of my absence without giving her the details of why she surprisingly took it well in a harsh kind of way. She appeared quietly angry as she told me to remove myself from her car and drove away without looking back or even asking me more about why I had to do it. I stood and watched her leave and while she didn’t say a word to talk me out of it, her lack of words hurt me more than if she was to tell me how much of an a*****e I really was.  I was used to punitive confrontations; it was silence that I wasn’t expecting.

I had to focus on what was ahead of me now as I mentally prepared myself for showdown I had set up, she would have to be like the others I had left behind just another face is what I kept telling myself; leave my past behind and to know when the cracks begin to show to once again walk away. I met my two adversaries far away from everything; in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest where corn fields and farmland were the only scenery. We convened by a huge lone oak tree that I admired some time ago while I drove to a job. They stood ready to take my life but also knew it wasn’t going to be easy as we chose to handle it without guns. I once heard that when we die if they break our bodies down to the minerals and compounds in us, we would only be worth four dollars and some change so when one of those a******s told me what they would be getting paid I was actually impressed. I gave them their money’s worth as we battled for what seemed like hours but what was in reality about a half an hour. I held my own against the two youngsters the best I could but unfitness and the odds caught up to me as I laid on the ground body feeling like it was on fire even before I got to hell, but I still was conscience enough to see that I had left a couple of knots and even drew some blood. I brought myself to my feet for my last stand to only be saved by my two comrades who gave me the last option of helping or a single bullet to my already blood soaked head. I conformed but I didn’t have to kill anyone for it and was rewarded with the chance to be with the only living proof of me with some money to get us by for a while.

It was a rainy night three months later when I decided to relapse on my alcohol refusal; hundreds of miles away I sat in a small bar in Texas taking down a couple of shots and sipping on a beer while watching a soccer game. I felt funny after my second drink of Jack as my tongue got numb first; dizziness and profuse sweating came next as I stood up from the bar finding my legs feeling like wet noodles. I staggered for the exit appearing to others to be just another inebriated bum bumping into people fighting to keep my eyes open, my mind intact, and to make each step closer to find my way to at least one of the cabs outside. Then I heard that voice again; I tried to deny what I was hearing but when I saw her I wanted to be that drunk. She was there; not where I left her and she looked at me quietly with that same smile. I tried to get help from the nearest man next to me but the words fell out of my mouth silent breaking on the ground at my feet. I grew weak and fell to one knee then heard her call out for help for me; two bouncers came quickly pulling me up by my arms. I was coherent but lacked the capability to speak normally whispering out that the moment was fowl. They took me to a car and tossed me in the backseat while they attempted their luck at her in front of me, before she shut the door I received another smile but this time it was a devious one; my body retired and everything went black.

I slowly came to with a hangover that made me feel like my brain was pulsating inside of my skull. A single light bulb swung over a table that I was at and the light from it made my eyes squint in pain as I noticed being zip tied at the wrists and ankles to a chair and I knew she was sitting across from me before I looked up. Camille with the same red hair and green eyes with the touch of blue steel; but her smile was replaced with the sight of a chrome forty-five with both of her hands wrapped around it. If my feet were free I would’ve kicked my own self in the a*s by what I had allowed to happen; she got further than the rest and I really couldn’t be mad at her. I’d done it myself a couple of times in my career but never did I take so much time; she dedicated her all to getting to me, using my weakness like a professional; I was now just impressed. Once I gained a little more composure I began to laugh and it began to intrigue her. I began to annoy her with words from my sharp tongue and I could tell when I pushed a button when she first struck me with the pistol; I’d been there before it didn’t deter me from finishing what I’d started as I spat blood tonguing a little droplet that hung from my bottom lip. In no way did I ever get scared or angry; I already thought that the Lord let me live way past what I had been given the privilege. She put the metal to my forehead and what force she didn’t push forward I offered with a little of my own. The girl had earned it; she studied, stalked, and not only got to me, but got inside of my mind. I told her to do it; hell I begged her to but she procrastinated. I wanted it; wanted to see what the other side I had been flirting with for the past eighteen years looked like. I wouldn’t be seeing my daughters because they were in heaven but my ex-wife took her own life so maybe she would be my escort into the burning abyss. Bang and it would over with then I’d be worry free right; but that’s bullshit. I had a little boy to look after and if she was to kill me he would be a b*****d. But something wasn’t right, she had taken the time to get me here but the contract was already collected on. She laid the gun down and stared at me without saying a word, I was getting tired of being bound beginning to intentionally roughly call her names as if we never shared a moment of tranquility. She knew better though; she knew I was enamored by her style and grace but what I hid was that even in this situation I was still aroused at that new part of her that I was witnessing. F**k it; if anyone was going to kill me at that moment I’d rather it be her, call me insane but I’ve never claimed to be the opposite. She began to tell me a little about her past that was not the fabrication she first told me, tales of lies and deceit that ended in the death of her contractor while she was on my resume. Collecting on me would have had her set even if her contact had still gotten killed but the same colleague that helped me settle the price and it left her broke. She now needed money and with some thinking she came up with the idea of not only making some for herself but giving me an out from my own financial issues that was on the horizon. The plan was doable and I could tell the girl had put some time into it from desperation, I asked her why she had to do all of this for a business proposal though. My demeanor stayed calm as I began to relate with her showing that I was not a threat, I even got her to laugh at the situation joking on how still woozy I still felt from whatever she put into one of my drinks. It took a little more of my gift of gab before she popped open a knife and cut my legs free first. I sat patiently giving her kudos on what she had accomplished; it was after my last wrist had been freed when with a smile I swiftly took the knife. I without hesitation slammed her to the table roughly, grabbing a handful of that fire red hair with my forearm pressing into the back of her neck with the blade to her jugular in the other. There were no smiles from her this time replaced with a full teeth gritty bracing look on her face. She told me to do it and I could see the sincerity just like when I had told her to. She had nothing to lose and inside that voice came back to me saying to take the girl out of her misery. I imagined the slit and watched her body drop limply as more blood poured from the laceration, felt the warm feeling in my stomach with the touch of butterflies fluttering, massaging my internal organs; I loved the sensation. But the fact is that I once again I had to use common sense; her plan was brilliant and honestly she was too cute for me to kill. Women were never my thing, I became her contact and with my knowledge and connections it was a profitable venture and got me out from under the thumb of my living situation. Plus I had been stressing the issue of money, case in point; the bar.

I never would have thought that I would be the one that was sending out the resumes with her on my team plus I got the one I originally trained and they have made a good pair along with being able to do their own when the time occurs. I guess I’ll take the longevity route and when it comes down to it I won’t ever admit it to her but I am thankful for what Camille did, even if she would’ve squeezed that trigger I would have still known that I was just like everyone else; susceptible to the tribulations of life.                     

Author's Note

I was plagued with writers block before i got this one done. It felt like a breath of fresh air once i finished.

Reviews

[Warrior]

Great story telling. This did justice in the realm of getting the message across. Great message. There's lot of times where a story can have a great message to aim for, and have a lot of under lining things but then no one gets it, and if no one gets it, then the point has failed. But in my opinion this did well to get the message across. You made it clear, which is why I think it's good. Keep up the good work. What was also great was that I could imagine the story as I read it, and that is also a strong point of stories. The ability to have the reader imagine it because after all we're reading not watching it, but it was as if I was there as I read this, and that is great. Great visuals and great story telling. It had plot and substance. When you add substance to writing it gets that much better. It gets the reader hooked on it and make them feel as if they are part of it. As long as their is that emotional connection between the reader and the story then it's good. The connection you were able to established in the writing gives the reader a sense of comfortably that they are in tune with the writing. So that way when the writing is over, the reader wants more, and wishes it didn't end. I feel the same way when I watched a movie or tv series that I get so attached to, I never want it to end. And for this writing, I didn't want it to end. You had me hooked, and I am sure everyone else who read it was hooked as well. That is good, that is what you want for people to keep wanting more. The way you put the story together makes me feel like my life is different for that moment in which I read your story. I love it, and it was beautiful. Just keep posting stories like this, and you'll have a good following.

[A. H. Pinley]

Camille? Who's Camille? I'm unsure if this is a finished work, but it would serve your story some good to get rid of the word "I". In your 3685 word story ten times the word "I" was used in the first paragraph and the trend almost continued on throughout the reading. Experiment with starting off with other words to get across the same effect. You have a great skill, stick with it.

[Dez H.]

Thanks for checking out my story. Camille is my main characters female hitter, check out the story called Camille or Halo over a fallen angel they both have her in it. As far as it being an unfinished story; it's just shorts that I do that give some of my other characters some background instead of just writing always about my main dude. You thought I used "I" too much, duly noted. I'll take your advice on that in the future. But really, thanks again for checking out my works and giving me your honest opinion, i always need that. Right on homey.