12

 

         Vincent’s cab drove up to the hotel and he got out, he adjusted his jacket and tipped the cab driver, he also told the man to wait for him he’ll be right back. Hopefully the stupid cabby will listen; he reeked of reefer and looked about as bright as a 15-watt light bulb. He walked into the entry way and made his way to the front desk, he put on his mega watt smile and made the girl behind the desk gasp and smile shyly back at him. Oh this was going to be easier than shooting fish in a barrel.  He propped himself in front of the girl and stared into her eyes, she blushed profusely and he smiled even more.

            “Hello darling aren’t you a sweet little piece of eye candy.” He winked at her then decides he was going to sit on the front desk and have a look down her uniform. He hoisted himself up on to the desk and she looked shocked.

            “Sir you can’t be up there you need to get off.” She blushed even harder when she said those last five words. Vincent’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline in mock horror and then he let out a low chuckle, which sounded like a seductive growl. The girl shivered and started playing with her nametag. He looked at the tag and smiled at her, then made a mock sigh and stared at her.

            “Well Melody that is a lovely proposition that you suggest but I’m actually here looking for my dear old aunt and she told me what room she was staying in but,” he sighed and rolled his eyes then put on a face of mock horror, “but I kind of forgot and well now I won’t be able to visit with my dear old aunt because she doesn’t even know I’m in Canada.” She started turning bright red and fiddled with her nametag some more. Vincent was starting to grow impatient with the little idiot but kept the smile plastered on his face.

            “What’s her name maybe I can accidentally pull the information up, you know accidents happen you type in the wrong name and you get the wrong information.” She giggled and stared at him. He hopped off the desk and stretched, then smiled and she felt her legs turn to water.

            “Vivian Brecken is her name.” he twirled a pen between his fingers and he was growing more and more impatient. He wanted to get back to his place pick up the dog and work on seducing. He felt himself grow hard with just the thought of her catching him in the shower soaping himself up and then wrapping his hands around her pale skinned throat, biting and sucking on things.

            “Sir there seems to be a problem with the computer do you know what this means when it pops up on the computer screen?” he turned his attention to the girl behind the desk and realized she actually had the information he needed; he looked at the screen and remembered the room number.

            “I think you may want to call the technical guys and have them check it out for you I had a computer do that to me once and then I ended up having my whole hard drive erased.” He winked at her and then made his way over to the elevators. He pushed the button and waited, this was going so slow he wanted to get this done and over with. Hopefully the old bat wasn’t in her room and it would make it easier for him to do what he needs to do. The doors opened and he climbed in the elevator pushed the button for the fifth floor and hummed to himself as the door snapped shut in front of him.

            Vivian sat at the bar and lit another cigarette; the room was full of young people, middle-aged couples, and men trolling for women to take home. She stared at the mindless dribble that was plastered across the television and looked at her phone. Still no call from Biesel, no call from Tripp and she knew she wouldn’t get a call from Lee. Vivian sighed again and took a long drag on her cigarette.

            “I haven’t seen a face that long since I went to the race track, but they were horses.” She looked at the middle-aged man behind the counter her was cleaning a beer mug and smiling at her. Vivian tried to smile but she just couldn’t, she downed the rest of her bourbon and took another drag on her cigarette.

            “Clever, sorry I have just had a really bad night and it goes from bad to worse to well I am not sure what comes after worse.” She stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray, lit another one, and looked at the bottles lining the wall. She eyed the half full bottle of Johnnie Walker Gold and pointed at it with her lit cigarette. “I’ll have bourbon and that bottle of Walker Gold.” The bartender looked at her and put the glass down.

            “M’am you do realize that it’s half a bottle and just that half a bottle of scotch will run you about $75.00. You already drank five bourbons and that is running you a hefty bill.” She put her fingers to her lips and shushed him.

            “I have a tab put it on my tab and I can pay for it, I’m already staying in a room that runs me nearly $500.00 a night, a $75.00 bottle of booze is not going to make a difference, now give me the bourbon and another glass for my Johnnie Walker.” She ruffled around in her purse and took out her wallet; she peered into it and cursed at the dim lighting. Vivian yanked out a $100.00 bill and slapped it on the counter. “Sorry I didn’t get it converted to your currency but here’s your tip if you keep the bourbon coming and you don’t talk to me anymore.” She inhaled deeply on her cigarette and tapped the ashes in the tray.

            The bartender’s eyes widened and then grabbed the bottle and a glass; he refilled her bourbon and set it down in front of her. She dismissed the bartender and went back to drowning in a sea of liquor.  The phone started moving and she squinted at the number on the display, it was Biesel’s private line, she snorted in disgust and let voicemail pick up. Right now she didn’t care and she really could care less what was going on.

            Lee dragged Tripp across the entrance way and was panting heavily and grunting, she lay him up against the wall and went to grab the first aid kit and some towels. She was sweaty and had blood on her and now she was wet from the rain. She cursed under her breath and slammed the bathroom door, she nearly tripped over the cat on her way back to Tripp and she cursed even more. Now she’ll never get to see if Brandon comes home or not or even walk along the beach to see who might be out and about at night.

            Tripp was trying to lift his shirt over his head and shrug out of his jacket and she started laughing. He grunted something and a piece of paper fell out of his pocket, she picked it up and looked at it. There was a number scribbled on it and some chick’s name, Lee felt herself grow even angrier and kicked Tripp in the foot but he barely responded.

            “You’re a jerk I should just let you lay here and bleed but that means I will have to clean all that blood up later so why bother.” She removed the bandage and felt him flinch and she smiled, the wound wasn’t healing as well as it should be, but at least it wasn’t infected if the big dumb a*s would just relax and take it easy it may give the wound time to stitch back together.

            “I’m sorry she means nothing, I just took her number because I knew it would make you mad.” He tried grabbing her hand but she slapped it away. “Come on Lee don’t be too mad I still came back to you and you were all I could think about at the bar.” She slapped the new bandage on him and he flinched again.

            “I am not dragging you to the bedroom you’re heavy and frankly I don’t feel like having to remove splinters from your a*s if I drag you. So can you at least put your arm around me and try to walk?” she put his arm around her neck and heaved him up he was still heavy but at least he was making an effort.

            “I’m all wet and I smell like wet dog.”

            “Yes you’re wet but its me that smells like wet dog because I was standing out in the rain trying to haul you inside.” She stumbled and then smacked her knee on the corner of the table in the hall. “Son of a b***h! That hurt and that is going to leave a bruise quite frankly you owe me and that damn table is not going to stay in the hall.” She opened the door and led him into her room since it was closer the cat disregarded them with a bored expression on her face and went back to sleeping.                     

            “This is your room I thought we were going to my room.” She let him fall on the bed and the cat took off with an evil look in her eyes. “Sorry Clarice I didn’t mean to lay on you, Lee I don’t think your cat likes me.” Lee was taking his shoes off and then sighed again; this would mean she would have to sleep on the couch or in his bed.

            “Well she is like her mommy and I feel the same way now, but hold tight I’m going to grab some PJ bottoms for you and then get you tucked in.” she tossed the shoes over in a corner and then began to work on taking his pants off, she stared at him laying on her bed and felt herself flush. He was nice to look at and that tattoo on his hip was absolutely divine, she shook her head and finished taking his pants off and then stared. “Umm Tripp, yeah we have a problem I hope you packed boxers because I’m not quite sure if I am comfortable enough putting pj bottoms on you if your, ummmm.” She looked away and crossed her arms, her mind was racing with dirty thoughts and it was distracting her. “OK yeah I’m just going to grab some pants now.” She left the room and walked down the hall towards his room. She opened the door and looked around. It was like looking at a room in a military barracks everything was orderly and clean, she found a pair of pj bottoms laying on a chair, she opened a few drawers and looked through them but couldn’t find any boxers, she cursed and went through his suitcase and stopped short. There was a picture of Tripp and her standing in front of a haunted house and they were dressed up as a pair of vampires, she remembered that night and giggled. She examined the picture closer and held her breath, the look on Tripp’s face in that picture said more than any words could say. She smiled and sighed; maybe I am being too hard on him she thought.

            “Ok I didn’t find any boxers and when you come around I am going to find out why you insist on going commando but I did find some pj bottoms for you and I need you to try and sit up so I can dry your hair.” She looked up to find him sitting on the edge of her bed looking at her books that were lying on the nightstand. “Well ok you’re up so I can dry your hair,” she looked and saw that he was still naked and she handed him the pants and averted her eyes, “you can put these on yourself ok.” The pants were grabbed and she heard him grunting and she started humming to herself to distract her from the thoughts running in her head.

            “I’m dressed you can look now.” He was smiling weakly at her and she walked around the bed and climbed up behind him. She reached in front of him and grabbed the towel and he held her hand.

            “If you do that I can’t dry your hair and if your hair doesn’t get dried off a little bit then you’ll catch cold, and if you catch cold then you’ll cough and sneeze and then your wound will never heal.” He let go of her hand and she started drying his hair, she looked at the wound on his shoulder and touched it, he winced but she continued to stare at it.

            “I never did thank you for saving my life did I?” she could feel her eyes grow moist with unshed tears and then leaned her head against the top of his head.

            “You have, and I am glad I saved your life, but don’t be mad at me I am trying to change I really am it’s hard for me.” She wrapped her arms around him and sighed this was going to be harder than she thought.

            “I know we’ll somehow manage to get through this, we always manage to land on our feet and end up coming out winners in the end.” She closed her eyes and let herself wander, of course this time there was more on the line than there was before and decisions are going to be made and things are going to change.

            Vincent let himself into the penthouse suite, he needed one of those plastic keycards but he swiped one when the desk clerk was making eyes at him. He looked around and smiled, Vivian certainly knew how to travel in style. He was quite pleased that she had most of the floor to herself although there was a family in the suite above hers, he honestly didn’t want to kill more people than necessary but he has to do what he was ordered to do and that was take out Vivian Brecken if there were a few casualties along the way so be it. He took out a small package from under his jacket and placed it in the middle of the room and then set the timer, it will go off by itself or with a detonator, he left the room and walked back down the hall whistling, it was time to lure Vivian to her room so she can meet death. He stepped into the elevator and found a bellhop, then handed him a hundred dollar bill and a letter, the bellhop looked very confused.

            “That is for you to deliver to a Miss Vivian Brecken, she is the lady sitting at the bar, very distinguished, deliver it to her and you can keep the tip.” Vincent patted the man on the shoulder and walked out of the hotel flashing the desk clerk a smile and wink as he left.

            Vincent saw that the cab driver did in fact wait for him and was surprised at that, well I guess I will have to give him a really big tip, he thought. He climbed into the cab and decided he needed some flowers to bring to his new conquest.

            “My good man where at this hour can I get some flowers to take to a very special young lady?” the cab driver looked confused and Vincent produced a $50.00 bill the cabby nodded and drove off. Like shooting fish in a barrel this was turning out to be a nice night indeed.

Reviews

[Marie]

Vivian is pretty cool. Like her.