Chapter 3 Chocolate Lady

A lady in denim jacket and blue pants was leaning against the Chevy as I exited the hospital building. Her chocolate complexioned face did not look familiar. I approached hesitantly.

She smiled when she saw me.

"Hullo. It's Sally, isn't it?"

I nodded, tense. She wore her hair in a bob and looked really beautiful. The brilliant white of her teeth against the dark of her skin stirred a bit of jealousy I didn't even know I had in my guts.

"Who are you?"

"It doesn't matter who I am, Sally. All that matters is that you are about to become a very rich woman. You are to be married to one Torsney Bernhardt soon, are you not?"

I hesitated in responding. Who the hell was this woman? What was it to her?

"What is it to you?" I asked.

"Now, I am not your enemy, Sally. I have a proposal for you. I need you to jilt Torsney. Do not get married to him. I'll give you twenty thousand dollars if you can do that. If you can leave the city before the wedding, I'll make it forty."

Was this some sort of test? I stared at her. Cold, unexpressive eyes stared back. I did not like her one bit. She scared me. Her lips smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes. Her eyes were the darkest I had ever seen. This was probably some sort of test. To see if I could be trusted.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I cannot abandon the love of my life. I love him very much. And he loves me too. Now, if you'll excuse me."

For ten tense, frosty seconds, we both stood and stared down at each other. Then she smiled again, moving away from the Chevy's door she had been leaning against.

"Of course Sally. I shouldn't keep you. You have a wedding to prepare for after all. Good luck." Nothing had ever given me the creeps like those words. I tried a shrug and got into the car.

As I pulled out the gate, I glanced at my rear view mirror and she still stood there, watching my exit. I shuddered involuntarily.

Soon, I was on the main road and only then did I start to relax. Dad would be free to leave in a day or two. I had done my part in saving his life. Now, it was up to him to preserve it. I was never showing myself to him again. He could go toss himself at a moving train for all I cared. He had cost me a lot already.

I had nothing planned for the day, and since I was no longer a waiter, Torsney having seen to it, I had much time on my hands. I pulled over at a grocery store, and got chocolate before driving to my best girl's home at Hardee's drive.

Laia Maynard's flat was at the very top of the ten-storey apartment building, and I had come to loathe the long climb through the stairs anytime I had to visit and the elevator was down. Luckily, today it wasn't.

I never knocked, and when I pushed her door open, she was sprawled out on the carpet, with her crayons and sketchbook. She screamed excitedly when she looked up and saw me, but she did not stand.

"Oh. So that's how it is? No hugs." I pouted and pretended to be upset. She stood up, laughing and leapt at me. She held my hands and looked me over.

"How many days has it been? Three, four days since you meet your handsome man, and you've already started with the weight." She chuckled.

I aimed a weak punch at her cheeks, but she ducked under my clumsy attempt all the same, laughing. She grabbed the bag with the chocolates and ran. I pursued her.

Minutes later, with the chocolate gone, I was curled up comfortably on one of the settees watching her draw. She had an enviable talent, Laia. She had what looked like a cowboy in a top hat daintily painted on one of the many sheets she had lying around. I stared at it, intrigued.

"So, what about André? What you gon' tell him now, babes?" She asked.

"There's nothing to say to him, Laia babes. I never promised him a thing. He should be smart and get the sign that I am not just interested."

"Ice cold, babes!" She whooped. "About your man, tell me about him. What's he like? "

"Girl, I told you! He is not my man. It's a contract thingy."

"Yeah. That is what we all think at the beginning. Before falling heads over heels." She started to tease me. "My girl's soon gonna be in love. And with a filthy rich hotness. Dang!"

"Laia, stop!"

"Tell me about him then."

"Alright, fine. I do not know what he's like, since yunno, I haven't been with him long. But he could be a jerk at times. And a bit arrogant." I began to wad deeper in without even knowing.

"But he can be a baby at times, and it's really cute how he does it. And he is really tall, with his perfect shoulders and biceps and abs. And his eyes are really blue. So blue. And his lips are so pink and soft."

The memories of that kiss flooded back. There was a sudden heat and in between my thighs, I got flooded as was the usual anytime I let myself remember that moment. Oh man.

"Heads over heels in love, darling. Heads over heels," Laia said.