Authors: S. W. Frank
Her arms were around his waist
and her wet
bikini
top saturated
the front of his shirt as she kissed him on the mouth in
friendly
exhilaration.
She’d kissed him like this
before
and he tried to hide its effect on his body. He hated he liked
her greeting much better than his wife’s.
S
elange
held
onto his
waist
and h
e
adjusted the kid to
put an arm around
Selange’s
shoulder.
One big happy family.
“
Wow,
it’s
great having you around but
I always hate when you leave.
You never say good-bye to me.
”
“I missed you
kid
–and
the family
.
” He
added the
‘and’ hurriedly
in an attempt to
disguis
e
the
more than friendly tone.
“How long are you
here
this time?”
“Not long
. The
wife and kids want me to hurry home.”
He didn’t mention Alfonzo sent him to check the security.
Her eyes were sad, or maybe he imagined it, “They’re lucky
. They have a dad
.”
Was she tearing up? “Hey kid, what’s wrong?”
“I was thinking about my parents and
its
crazy because then you show up.” She shook her head as if she could shake off the sadness, “I’m just so happy you’re here.”
“Is it nearing the anniversary?”
Her eyes
ran tears and she had this little tremble to her bottom lip he found alluring. “
I forget and then it
sneaks up on me and…” she wiped at her eyes with her wrist and
he
pulled her close
r
. Sexual thoughts wiped clean. He understood
. His
role
was the surrogate parent or wise uncle.
“And it’
s normal to have those feelings, love.”
“Yeah, I guess.
Are y
ou hungry?”
He rubbed his flat stomach, “Heck yeah. You have beer?”
“All these guys around,
we
sure do.”
Long after dinner
when Anita
retired
to
bed after preparing the
spare
bedroom, Selange and her guest
chatted
late into the night
. Selange filled him in on what he already heard and some things he didn’t. She told him about the mess with Jessica and he frowned.
Apparently, the young
couple
dealt with
quite a bit.
Of course, she had stress.
Alfonzo called
on her cell and she quickly blurted out
Nico
was there, which of course
Alfonzo
already knew.
Nico
tossed his arm over the side of the sofa
,
watching her animatedly describe Allie’s latest milestone and found himself smiling at how excited parents got when their child finally learn
ed
to poop on their own. Sort of the same excitement when you teach a dog to shit in a designated spot and when it does, hot
diggedy
-dog!
After their conversation she
passed
Nico
the phone.
“How’s everything looking?” Alfonzo asked immediately.
“Stellar.”
“Okay,
t
hanks.”
“Not a problem.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Their brief exchange ended and he handed her back the blinged-out device.
That night, Nico
lay
naked beneath the thin covers w
atching the shadows from trees
as they
dance
d
across the window
. He
listen
ed
to the quiet, thinking of
Ariana
and the boys
until h
is eyelids grew heavy and he
began to doze. In limbo
, somewhere between sleep and wakefulness
he heard the bedroom door quietly open. He distinguished the weight and gait of his visitor
was that of a
woman. His eyes followed the figure
,
his hand
fe
eling
along the
edge of the
mattress,
and
gripping the pistol secreted there. His
arm
went slack
, the whiff of a familiar floral scent
and the loose shimmery curls were the subject of his dreams.
H
e became immobile
as the figure s
ettled
beside him. Nico
didn’t breathe, paralyzed by the sheer force of seeing such a lovely vision coming to hi
m in this late hour.
T
he woman’s head rested on his bare
-
chest
and h
e inhaled the floral fragrance of her hair, felt the warm suppleness of her skin and closed his eyes.
Perhaps, this was
merely a
night fantas
y
of a
horny
forty
year old
man.
T
he
n came the
soft sobbing
and wetness absorbed by his skin
which
told him
otherwise. His head shifted,
he wanted certainty,
to see
without sleep the woman whose hand scorched his abdomen
through the cover
was
indeed a
waking
fantasy. The mane of long black hair; high cheekbones
and
heart-shaped
mouth
were not
Ariana
’s
, but the fantasy.
His voice was husky, “Selange, what are you doing
in
here
?”
“I
’m sorry but I
can’t…” she hiccupped through the tears, “I can’t sleep. The nightmares…” another hiccup, “I
don’t want to
sleep alone…I’m sorry…
there’s
so much blood when I close my eyes. Help chase them away
.”
Nico’s
hands sought to
soothe or so he told himself,
a
simpl
e gesture of
comfort but his body’s reaction hijacked his resolve. He caressed her arms, then her hair and soon he
rolled over
the woman
,
pinning her beneath him
, h
oping
s
he stopped him because he didn’t have the strength to fight against what he secretly wanted.
‘
Dammit Selange, don’t you know
better? Never climb in a man’s bed, you’re simply asking for trouble!
His mind
chastised
for the
naivete
.
Was she thinking or had she gone mad for tempting him like this, Nico wondered?
“Selange…go back to your bed,
please
.” He stressed
as he stared down at his fantasy
, his voice husky at the feel of her skin and the innocence of her eyes
.
“Make me forget Nico. I don’t want to remember anymore.”
“It’ll pass, you’ll see –this isn’t the way.”
Her mouth opened, her lip vibrated as she spoke and she showed him her hands. They
were
trembl
ing
,
“Freddie
…
shot
her
…he shot her….
I saw her brain
….
and
…and….Nico….
I tried to save her
…
Nico
…
I tried…” her entire body
convulsed under the intense grief,
“Nico,
I
don’t want to close my eyes
anymore
and see the blood
,
please
…hold me…
take
it away!”
“D
ammit Selange
,” his chest heaved. Alfonzo should’ve been here, not
him, not on this day when Selange was extremely vulnerable
.
In the moonlight,
her
teary
eyes
plead
ed
.
She was lost in
the carnage
. Many
people were
unable to
withstand the sight of seeing such horror
, this did not make her weak,
it
merely showed her humanity
. The
grotesque
images were fierce and traumatic when they came
, he had similar ones, i
n the beginning
–but grew desens
itized
. As death’s agent he saw the worst up close, touched it
, smelled
decay
and
over time
he
and death
were
intimate friends.
One day it’d come for him, violently, mercilessly and he’d smile at it
, relieved
his end
came through the hand of a friend.
–But killing was not Selange’s vocation
, she was an innocent, the kind evil
was determined
to consume
.