I had been upset after my conversation with Eddie, and I had called Sylvia after going home to take my medication. She had invited me over, and now I am really glad that I had called her. I’m not normally a bath kind of guy, but Sylvia had decided she wanted to play nurse. She had drawn me a bath and filled it with coconut scented bubble bath. I’m leaning back and relaxing, and she’s on her knees behind the tub rubbing my back and occasionally leaning down to kiss my neck. I’m not going to lie; it’s really great. I will knock her over the head if she ever tells anyone that I took a bubble bath, though.

“At least, your face doesn’t look bruised anymore.” She says as though this should make everything better. She leans down and gives me a peck on the cheek. Her hands move from my neck forward to my chest and down.

“You know what would really make me feel better?” I ask.

“What?”

“If you got in here with me,” I say.

She laughs and strips down. I smile. This makes the bubble bath seem a lot more masculine now. The bathroom is really fancy for an apartment; it sort of reminds me of Éclair’s home with all the pink and silver décor, but it’s not like I’m going to make that a topic of conversation with Sylvia. She dips down into the tub, leaning her back on the opposing side. I feel her little toes go up in the water, and one of her feet lands between my legs and starts to toy with me.

I am still leaning back and relaxing, letting my sore limbs and chest soak in the warm water, but it’s not like I won’t try to sleep with her if she’s in the mood. After a few minutes, she makes a move. She comes towards me and sits right in my lap; I’m still leaned back with a towel wrapped under my head; she had rolled it up for me earlier. I start to sit up, but she stops me. “Relax.” She says with that cute smile of hers. “You just let me handle this.”

Sylvia slides up and down on my cock and wraps her arms around me. Apparently having sex anywhere but a bed is our thing, and I’m okay with that. I reach up and touch her breasts, and she giggles slightly. I’m not going to lie; I don’t hold out for too long. Something about the water, her soaking wet breasts in my face, and her willingness to take charge is really turning me on. After our amazing night at the theater, I’m almost embarrassed at how quickly I finished. “Um…” I can’t look her in the eye, “Sorry.”

She just laughs at me and kisses my lips, “Don’t apologize. It’s all about you today, hon.”

Holy hell –where has this woman been all my life? She gets out of the tub and tells me to stay put; she says she is going to fix me something to eat. Sex, a bath, a massage, and now food? I think I struck gold. After a few minutes, she enters into the bathroom, “Hey, James, your lawyer is on the phone.” She holds up my cell and gives it to me.

I frown, “Hello?” I say, and Lillian starts spouting out a long list of paperwork she wants me to get to her as soon as possible, “All right, all right, easy.” I say, “Half of that has already been gathered up by the police, but I can get the rest to you. I have to go back to the factory, though.” I hang up and sigh.

“Do we need to go?” Sylvia asks, sounding disappointed.

I look at her and sigh, “Yeah. The sooner I take care of this the better.” I then smile, “How about you go with me, and I treat you to a nice date tonight?”

She smiles, “That sounds like a plan.”

The two of us dry off and get dressed, and I have my driver take us back to the factory. It looks like the media and the police have cleared out for the night. Sylvia looks around curiously, “I have never been to your factory before.” She says.

“You want a tour?” I ask.

She laughs, “Just get the paperwork you need. I’d rather go on our date.”

I smile, “Awe, come one; this is my baby here. Let me give you a tour.” I say, and she shrugs. We grab the necessary paperwork from my office first before heading down to the factory. She is doing her best to pretend to be interested, I can tell. It’s really nothing special, but the factory itself has some interested quirks.

On one side of the factory, there is a line of offices you can see into through glass walls; I can see one, Eddie’s office has not been cleared out. Good; he knows I was not serious about him being fired. We walk along the walkway by the offices when I suddenly notice something. “Is that blood?” I point to a few drops of a red substance.

Sylvia frowns, “Geeze.” Suddenly a bit of blood drips down, and we both look up. Sylvia screams, and it’s ear-splitting. She backs away and almost collapses, grabbing onto a nearby railing to keep herself up.

“Damn!” I cry out and abandon her to soak up the scene by herself. I don’t have time to make sure she is not too upset; this is beyond serious.

Up above our heads, I spot a man lying on the catwalk, so I don’t have time to stop and think. I hurry up the metal stairs and run down the metal bridge that overlooks the heavy machinery, and I make a frightening discovery. “Eddie!” I scream when I see my brother lying before me, his head and arms covered in blood. I look down at Sylvia, “Call an ambulance!”

She nods, still a bit shaky, and she whips out her cellphone, “There’s no service!” she shouts.

I nod off towards the offices, “There are phones in there. Hurry!” I watch her run off towards the offices, and then I turn my attention back towards Eddie. I’m afraid to move him. He is so perfectly still. “Eddie, can you hear me?” I ask, and I hear a slight mumble. Blood pours out of his mouth. “Damn it, Eddie!”

What happened? Did he fall and hit his head? I frown, knowing that is not true. His face is bruised, and his clothes seemed tattered as though he had suffered some sort of beating. I gently tap his cheek, “Eddie, can you hear me?”

His eyes open slowly, “James!” his voice is hoarse, but I can hear the relief in his tone.

“Helps on the way,” I say, my heart racing. He coughs, and more blood pours out of his mouth. He closes his eyes, and I gently shake him, “No, man, you need to wake up. Eddie, wake up!”

I hear Sylvia shout, “They’re sending an ambulance!”

I nod, but my attention is on Eddie, “Eddie, can you tell me who did this?” He does not speak. He is perfectly still. Who would do something like this? If I find out who did this, I’m going to fucking kill him. There is so much blood that the smell of it is making me sick to my stomach; the weird mixture of coconut off me and Eddie’s blood and sweat are making me light headed. “Eddie, I’m so sorry.” I say, “If you can hear me, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

It takes way too long before I start to hear sirens in the distance. Every passing second grows more and more unbearable. “Just hang on, Eddie,” I say, “You’re going to be all right.”

I’ve never felt such a horrid mix of emotions. Sylvia is looking up at me from down below; her hands shaky, “I’m going to go out front and wait for the ambulance so I can bring them straight here.” She says and then adds, “He’s going to be okay, James.” She hurries off to meet the paramedics.

I don’t know if he is going to be okay, and nothing has ever terrified me more in my life than this moment.