- Chapter 25
ABBY
I thought Theo was going to get himself shot. He was so angry, so out of control, I honestly didn’t think he was going to leave like he did. I couldn’t believe the mess of a situation I had gotten myself into. Surely I had a way out, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what it was.
“I’m glad he’s gone, now we can finish our meal in peace,” Aldo said.
I certainly didn’t feel like eating anything. And I couldn’t figure out how they expected me to just sit there like nothing had happened. Nicole had literally just pointed a gun to my head and threatened me, now I was supposed to simply sit next to them and eat my meal like nothing had happened.
“Where is Briggs? I thought he was supposed to be here a half of an hour ago,” Nicole asked.
I just sat there in silence as the two of them talked, not having a thing to say to either one of them. I should have known right away when Aldo made me such an offer that he was going to have Theo there as the person I needed to convince. It was very clear to me that Aldo was some sort of sick man and his wife was too. Every desire I had once had for him was gone and had been replaced by hatred.
No longer did it matter to me if I had money at all. I would just send for my sisters to come stay with me. If the three of us were all working, we could certainly afford some sort of apartment. Or maybe even we could stay with Theo although I suspected he wasn’t going to want to have anything to do with me after what had just happened.
“Let’s just eat darlings; I know for a fact that Abigail is hungry,” Aldo said as he touched my hand.
It took every piece of willpower that I had not to yank my hand away from him in disgust. But I couldn’t show my true feelings. Not after what I just saw, not after knowing that Nicole had a gun, and she was willing to shoot people.
I was starving, so I decided to make good use of my time and eat the food that was out. I had gotten myself into quite the mess and wasn’t going to get out of it right away. Certainly, there was a way to figure this mess out; I just wasn’t seeing it just yet.
“Hey guys, what did I miss?” Briggs said as he came galloping up to the table out of breath.
“Well, Nicole almost shot Theo in the head,” Aldo said nonchalantly as he took a bite of chicken.
“Oh, man, nice! Wish I could have been here for that. Did he run away crying?”
“Not crying, but I think he got the point.”
“That guy, man you have given him his entire life. The nerve of him to piss you off enough that your wife wanted to shoot him.”
Briggs had no idea why Nicole had put a gun to Theo’s head, and he didn’t care at all either. It was clear that Briggs just sucked up to Aldo to get what he wanted. Probably some free sex with escorts and real estate deals. Briggs was even more disgusting than guys like Aldo because he was willing to do anything just to please the man.
The whole evening had changed for me when Aldo pulled me toward him and whispered in my ear that he was going to shoot Theo in the head if I didn’t laugh like something was funny. It took me a minute to understand he was serious, but then he squeezed my arm so hard I felt like he was going to break it. So of course, I did as he said.
How could I have been so wrong about him? I thought as I sat and watched Aldo, his wife and Briggs eat dinner and act as if nothing at all had happened. Clearly, I wasn’t as good a judge of character as I had thought I was. I should have listened to Theo. Really, I should have listened to my own damn heart.
This was my life on an even larger scale. I found peace, or happiness, and then I searched to destroy it. Theo and I had something. We had something that was different than I had with any other guy in the past, and I went and destroyed it in search of money. It was ridiculous. Theo even offered to give me whatever money I needed, but I still went off in search of the money from Aldo. My stubborn pride made me feel like I had to earn it, and I knew damn well how Aldo was going to have me earn it. Sure, I tried to think he really just wanted to spend time with me, but I knew better.
Why did I do this crap to myself? Surely, I was worth having happiness. But every time the opportunity for happiness presented itself in my life, I ran away. Or worse yet, when happiness was right there, I stomped on it and then ran away. I was a horrible person, and Theo would be better off without me in the long run.
Theo was a good guy, sure he owned an escort business, and if any normal girl was bringing him home to their mother that wouldn’t look good. But I didn’t have a mother to bring him home to and had pretty much been living the escort life the last few years in New York City. My fees were much cheaper than the women that worked for Theo. I simply required a meal, some drinks and a bed to sleep in; all in exchange for my company.
It was funny to me that I had judged Theo for the decisions he made to become successful when he came to New York, yet I had made some pretty horrible decisions myself.
“Briggs, tell Abby about your sexual fetishes. I think she would be enlightened to know my fetishes are not as weird as she might think,” Aldo demanded as he drank his wine.
“It’s alright, I’m sure they are plenty weird,” I said in as casual a tone as I could muster.
There was no way I wanted to hear about what Briggs liked to do in the bedroom. Briggs was a slightly balding older man with a bulging belly and slicked back hair. If there was a stereotype for what a used car salesman looked like, it would have fit Briggs exactly.
“I insist,” Aldo added.
“Sure thing Aldo,” Briggs said as he slapped his food in his mouth and began talking while he chewed. “I like to hear screaming. Any kind of screaming. I like when I ram myself into her ass and she screams. When I slap her around and she screams. Pretty much the scream of a woman turns me on so much I need to fuck her brains out until she stops screaming.”
I just sat there and stared at Briggs as I tried to hide the disgust on my face. I could only assume that it was some sort of warning that if I didn’t behave myself, they were going to make me go with Briggs. So I did my best to act the part that had gotten me invited to the dinner in the first place.
“Nicole, I don’t know about you, but I prefer a much gentler approach,” I said as I let my hand slide over to her leg.
“Yes, these men can be such Neanderthals sometimes,” she said as her face lit up.
I could see in her eyes that she liked me flirting with her, and since she was the one with the gun, I figured it was probably a pretty damn good time for me to start flirting with her. I needed to do absolutely anything I could to make it out of that damn dinner alive.
“I can still remember the moment I met you,” I said, looking at Nicole. “I remember thinking your life was so perfect, that you were so perfect.”
My gaze didn’t look away from Nicole as I tried to convince her that I believed she was as perfect as she clearly believed she was.
“You are so kind. I knew it when I saw you in that restaurant too. You looked at me and talked to me instead of to Aldo. Most of the young waitresses gravitate toward him, but you were respectful and sweet and just so perfect.”
“I wouldn’t have gone out with a married man, ever. Please know that I didn’t know he was married when I accepted his first invite,” I said with enthusiasm, even though it was clear that Nicole and Aldo didn’t really have the married and unattainable thing going for them.
“Oh, I know. I told him he would have to keep things platonic with you until he explained our situation.”
“Are you two ladies going to fuck because I would like to watch that,” Briggs said as he continued to slop his food around in his mouth.
“We are, it’s going to be romantic and hot and so amazing, but you’re not invited,” Nicole said.
Aldo laughed at the interaction but didn’t chime in. It was clear that although he was definitely in charge of all his business related matters, it was Nicole that was in charge of their sexual freakiness. I wondered if Aldo had always been into threesomes and group encounters or if it was his relationship with Nicole that had perpetuated it.
So my goal was no longer to concentrate on making Aldo happy; instead, I needed to make Nicole happy. If Nicole liked me and wanted to be with me, then I would be in the good graces of Aldo for sure.
“Aldo, how did you get so lucky to find such a beautiful and kind woman to marry you?” I asked in a light-hearted tone.
“Me, oh no, it’s Nicole that got lucky,” he joked.
We continued on with our meal and the absurd conversations that came with it. My mind was beyond baffled by the ease at which Aldo and Nicole could switch from wanting to kill someone to having a flirting romance with them. But I played along the best I could as we finally finished our meal and got ready to leave the restaurant.
My idea was that I could make an excuse that I couldn’t go home with them. Certainly, they didn’t expect me to give up everything and go live with them right away. But I had learned there was no real telling what Aldo and his wife were thinking, so I was prepared for almost anything.
“Let’s get you ladies home,” Aldo said as he pulled my chair out and then Nicole’s. “It was nice seeing you Briggs, I’ll let you know about the apartment, but I’m not really feeling it right now.”
“Yeah, I’ve got some other ideas for you if you’d like. Just give me a call when you’re ready.”
“Sure,” Aldo said as he shook hands with Briggs and then turned his attention back toward me.
“You did very well tonight. I think you deserve what I promised you.”
I really didn’t care about his stupid money any longer and wasn’t going to take it. There was no way in hell I would ever get away from him if I took that money. I knew that for a fact. But I couldn’t just deny him; I had to figure out a different way.
“Thank you, but there’s no big hurry. I like spending time with you, and I’m curious about your wife.”
“You’ve never been with a woman?” Nicole asked with eagerness in her eyes.
“No, I haven’t.”
“Oh, Aldo how could she be any more perfect?”
“I’m not sure she could be,” Aldo said as he grabbed me and pulled me toward him.
It was uncomfortable to have Aldo showing me attention when his wife was right there, but I decided to go with it and pretend that it didn’t bother me.
His lips pressed against mine, and it was the final confirmation that whatever lust I had once had toward him was gone. At that moment, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to be with Theo. How the simplicity of a real relationship seemed like heaven compared to whatever the hell was going on with Aldo and his wife at the moment.
I pressed my lips against Aldo’s and tried to hide my utter disgust with him. No longer did he look cool and hip. Instead, he had started to look like a desperate fifty something-year-old man who was doing whatever was necessary to hold onto his youth and his relationship with his wife. I couldn’t be part of such a weird relationship.
“Let’s get you home so I can play with you,” Nicole said as she grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Aldo while we were still kissing.
Although Nicole had been the one who held a gun to Theo and then toward me, I felt much less threatened by her than I did by Aldo. Perhaps the reason she carried a gun was because of Aldo. Or perhaps I should have been more afraid of her than him. But I didn’t get the vibe that she had ever murdered someone or even actually shot her gun. But from Aldo, I certainly felt like he had experience taking the life of people who crossed him.
“I’m exhausted,” I said as I wrapped my arm around Nicole’s and walked with her. “And I’m not sure that chicken is sitting all that well in my stomach.”
“You know, I was thinking the same thing. They really should have the health department check them out and make sure they are cooking their food thoroughly enough. I would hate for anyone to get sick from their chicken,” Nicole added.
It was like I was back in the olden days when I first arrived in New York. I had placed a small tidbit of information at Nicole’s foot, and she had run with it. I felt like it was a special talent that I had and hoped it would allow me to get out of the evening’s festivities that I was sure Nicole and Aldo were planning.
“So please don’t be mad at me for asking this, but what is the sleeping arrangement. I don’t want to be rude or do anything that is inappropriate.”
“You are just the sweetest thing,” Nicole said as she opened the car door and we both climbed in. “I’m sure we will figure it out as the night goes. Nothing to worry about. I promise I won’t be offended by anything you do.”
I seriously doubted she wouldn’t be offended by anything I did. I had the great ability of offending people, even when I didn’t think I was offending them. Sometimes, I just clearly didn’t understand what was going on, but other times I was just speaking from my heart and not thinking things through. But the fact that I was going home with Aldo and his wife who both wanted to ravage me in their own ways, I knew for a fact I was going to offend someone before the night was over. It was my only way out of the whole deal.
“Okay, just promise you will let me know if there is something I’m doing wrong. I really don’t want to offend anyone,” I said in a childlike quiet voice. “Could you tell me where the restroom is? I’m not feeling well,” I said when we walked into their house.
As I rushed into the bathroom and locked the door, I quickly pulled my phone out and sent a text to Theo. “I’m at Aldo’s house. I’m trying to get free. Please forgive me.”
I didn’t know if Theo was going to understand at all what I had done or why I had done it, but I had to hope that he would. There was no way I was staying with Aldo and Nicole, and certainly I couldn’t go back to the way things were before Theo had come into my life.
I grabbed a cup from the counter and filled it with water as I went to the toilet and started to make heaving sounds.
“Oh, man, this chicken sure isn’t sitting well,” I said loudly.
“Are you alright?” Nicole asked.
I splashed the water on my face and then made a horrible vomiting noise as I dumped the cup of water into the toilet.
“Oh, God, nope … that does not look as good going out as it did going in,” I said.
As I flushed the toilet, I looked in the mirror to make sure my face looked sweaty and my makeup had smeared a little. I was surprisingly good at faking being ill. It had been what had saved me from sleeping with dozens of men over the years. Certainly, it could save me from one woman and her plans for me that evening.