"No way!"
He said, for the millionth time in two hours comfortably seated on his black high back PU leather office chair rotating in semi circles.
His right hand decorated the chair's arm as he pinched his nose bridge in annoyance.
"Dude, listen, you need to chill a little...I mean look at you, working your ass out twenty-four, seven and almost three hundred and sixty-five, twelve Sundays exclusive. You are no different from a slave you know."
Josh, his childhood best friend recited in one breathe, seated on the other side of the large perfectly polished U-shaped mahogany office desk. He was in a grey suit and his jet black hair in a little mess which kept Marley wondering what he had been up to lately with the receptionist.
"I totally concur with Josh. You haven't been hanging out with us like before. It's closed to a year. We miss you, man."
Kennedy--Ken preferably, butted in. Just like Marley he had coffee brown hair and unlike Marley he had a pretty broad chest. Ken had both hands of his pastel blue shirt folded to the elbows on black pants. He was the most composed and Josh the craziest.
"No way, for the millionth and one time." he deadpanned as he sighted his desk for distraction.
He totally appreciated their tricky efforts in getting his old life back for the past ten months and one week to be precise; drinking to stupor, buzzing around any goddess who flicked him 'hi' until he obtained what he wanted and much more. He had forgotten about such reckless way of existence since Amanda came into his life.
They were so much in love...or rather, he was so much in love. Now what didn't he give her?
A trip around the world? Eyeballing celebrities of her choice? jewellery, designers and car bargain had become his hobby. Not just that, he gave her all the care and attention that a lady could ever dream of for a year and eight months yet, she wasn't gratified! Where did he go wrong?
That day finally showed up, the day she almost killed him, the day she deserted him. He was no better than a walking dead and was thankful to his family and friends for keeping him alive although for some reasons, he really did want to die.
She had wormed herself so deep that he couldn't see himself living a day without her.
"Look at you dude, killing and starving yourself from life's marvels just because of a girl who I bet is in Peru right now with her one-year-old son and fucking her 'oh so perfect' husband every single hour of the dayy without your sorry ass in mind."
Josh's voice rose making Marley flinch at his choice of words. He was right. He created an embargo between sociality and himself since he lost Amanda.
He spent less time with friends and more time at work, the only thing he believed could divert his thoughts from Amanda.
Young, rich and handsome was a brief description of Marley Woods before he decided to become old, miserable and ugly.
He sighed and shut his laptop, kept his pen in its case and stood up, he straightened his coal black suit, glanced at his conspicuous Rolex watch on his cuffs until his brows creased.
Twenty minutes to six.
Time really waited for no one. If not of these crazy fellas of he's, he would've been home probably doing some more work in his office. Marley walked to the door, before his right hand reached the knob he heard ken mumble,
"Man, you are lifeless."
He chuckled, "Now, hurry up you idiots, before I change my mind."
**
A club? Well, he hadn't seen that coming. He thought they'll just walk to a local bar, grab some two or three bottles of beer before heading back home--He had planned on drinking less in order to reach home in one piece--but how wrong...how very wrong.
Marley detested clubs, he hadn't truly been to one before but what he saw and heard about it was satisfying. He left his coat and tie in his car and decided to follow Ken's dressing code; rolled up shirt sleeves to elbow level. Josh did same and together they walked in.
The first thing which hit him was the pungent smell of cigarettes, sweat, and alcohol and boy, he didn't like that. He swiped his finger below his nose at the awful tickling sensation it caused beneath it and to make it get used to the new air he'll be holding on for dear life as long as possible.
The crowd and crazy light mixtures too were things he didn't like: the lights made it hard for one to make out another's face...a little mixture of blue, red and yellow.
A bar stood on his right with a couple of men surrounding it, sending puffs of smoke into the already contaminated air while emptying their glasses. At some end was a VIP section which contained mostly men and a dotted number of women buzzing around them. Based on his observations, the club was one for men.
A stage was positioned on his left and below it were a couple of chairs and tables with--men...wait, a stage? It never knocked upon his knowledge of a stage in a club.
He turned to Ken who just finished discussing with a slender lady, he couldn't make out her face and was rather confused on the color of her hair and dress. Damn lights.
"Are there usually stages with poles in clubs?" Marley demanded in his ear through the deafening music.
"Special ones." ken smiled and nodded his head to the rhythm of the song currently playing.
Everyone in there had the wealthy look on their faces--he knew that because he mostly mingled with such people almost all his life and that made him guess the club was a private one and to confirm it were the pricey drinks. Unlike the local bars, the less privileged couldn't afford for a can of beer which appeared to be the cheapest beverage in there.
The more he drank the less sober he got, he promised himself not to consume so much but Josh and Ken weren't helping him stick to it so he decided to push the damn promise at the back of his mind, besides the day was a special one. The day he would break the walls of loneliness and madness over Amanda once and for all.
After what seemed like an hour, three girls appeared on stage half-naked; fancy lacy bras and pants with just nipple pads shading their tits, the one in the middle had blonde hair and cat-eared hairband above it while the other two had butterfly antenna hairbands.
They began dancing and taking off their clothes. Well now, he expected a crazy going crowd but to his surprise, they weren't really smitten by the girls striptease. He could tell they were just watching them to feed their eyes.
Marley on the other hand, well, they weren't very much sexy even when they weren't in clothes. Hadn't seen any of those in over a year since Ama...
Jesus! Snap out of even her name.
Since his ex deprived him of nudes two months before their end. He thought the little boy was going to be awake on seeing the girls demonstrating on stage, to his greatest surprise it didn't budge.
I hope it's alive.
Marley sighed and glanced at his watch with squinted eyes. Damn lights! They were straining his eyes yet again but he managed to figure out the digits anyway.
Thirty minutes into midnight. It read.
Drinking had gotten boring, the entertainment wasn't helping matters either. All in all, he crowned the club a no go zone.
"I ought to get out of here," he whispered to Josh who was being entertained with a bimbo on his legs.
"Man, chill, we haven't even dropped into the real thing,"
Again, Marley sunk into his chair and gulped more glasses of vodka. His head had begun to throb and his eyes droopy. Some seconds or so after the strippers departure, came this lady in a lilac overcoat, extremely high red heels and pastel pink hair. Unlike the prior girls, she had a rabbit-eared hairband and in hand a pair of handcuffs.
He was taken aback by the sudden outburst from the crowd, some cheered while others whistled.
She removed her overcoat when the music began, exposing a black pair of bra and pants.
Shapy.
She smiled back to the crowd after cuffing her pants with a pair of fluffy cuffs before holding the pole. She did some mind-blowing flips and turns on the pole. Truth be told he was aghast.
Acrobatic.
She did it with passion like her life depended on it and he liked that. The worth melting smile she revealed was dashing. Damn, she's sexy. Now he could see why she was loved.
She got down the stage into the crowd, her waist gently swirling to the rhythm of the song. She walked past a young a man slightly older than he was caressing his chin, still with the same gracious moves, she stood before a huge man, grabbed his hand,s and rested them on her hips. He watched her intently as she bent over him whispering god knows what into his ear.
Teasing.
He swore, his heart stopped beating for a split second when she graciously walked towards him, his body went numb and he began to quiver. He supposed he died when she put her heels on the little chair space between his legs, her slender index finger traveled from his forehead down to his lips. He probably resurrected when she walked behind him and slipped her hands down his chest straight to his groin.
His heart began beating frantically.
No girl ever made him hard since Ama... Well, since his ex left, probably because he didn't mingle and never let any girl get an inch closer to him...but this one? Damn! She just blew off his boy.
The next thing he realized was her pink fluffy handcuffs circling his left hand and a melodious voice whispering into his ear,
"Get the keys in room 95."
With that, she winked and retreated.
Lord Huron-- The night we met.Zaphrina stared at her reflection in the giant restroom mirror, eyes focused on a completely different image the mirror reflected of her. What she saw was a depressed and frustrated version. She realized the unwanted masks showed up from the latter event.That wasn't a life she was living anymore, it was more of a hellhole. Her eyes slowly teared up both as a result of an unblinking stare and reminiscence of her life.Zaphrina fought to stop herself from breaking down but her emotions got the best of her and her lips convulsed resulting in a pair of colorless warm liquid run down her chestnut cheeks.She sniffed a couple of times, dabbed the almost dried and cold tears off her face only to give more room to fresh and warmer teardrops.As time elapsed, Zaphrina knew more than just sulk in a restroom all day.What more could make her feel better on an awful Saturday morning but a h
Zaphrina did the everyday routine; Walked straight to the kitchen after a sleepless night, where her mum secondarily resided considering that time of the day. She hung her purse on a chair next to the one she plopped on."Good morning mama."The mid-thirty coal-black haired gentlewoman who was backing her at the moment pivoted her head to her daughter with a smile. "How was work?"Usually, the question won't bother her as it was usual for her to just give it a casual answer but this time the question to her sounded like intolerable screeches into the ears as a flash of awful images came jogging in and out of her mind.A cup of hot coffee was deposited in front of her followed by a plate consisting of two slices of peanut butter sandwich."Are you ok?" her mum questioned again this time pulling a chair adjacent to her."Yeah, I'm good, work was fine," she said as she sipped into her cup of hot coffee. "How's your leg by the way?" she as
He had been there, not once, not twice but no sign of this mystery lady. He questioned those he thought might help unfortunately they claimed not to know her, those who manage to, won't tell him a thing. Use what you got to get what you want. That certainly didn't cross his senses all that time. But was this lady some sort of illusion? No, she wasn't, she couldn't be, for he felt her that night; every tender part of her body against his. He felt those soft and juicy lips of hers against his where he thought they belonged, her big brown eyes so charming yet stained with a worrying flicker of sorrow and a pain that had him persistently intrigued. He returned to reality at the sound of his office door creaking revealing to him a slender lady in her late forties who adorned a beige designer satin dress on a pair of black three inches stiletto. A thick white vintage designer fur coat over her shoulders complimented her elegant togetherness. To crown it all were a pair of sapphire earrin
Zaphrina was getting all comfortable with the silent ride so far until the barfly sitting next to her peforatated her inner peace with, "What's...your name?" He managed to ask despite his too far from sober state. His breath diffused in the car and stunk of a smooth amalgamated mixture of alcohol and puke. For crying out loud is the name really necessary right there and then? She shot a glance at his limp body on the passenger's seat before returning her full attention to the road. He hadn't even strength to break open his eye lids. What a mess of a man. "Zaphrina." She quickly answered praying it will be the first and last question of the ride but boy, she was wrong. "That's a nice name for a boorish lady." The fuck! That spoil button he just broke got her legs abruptly landing on the breaks, almost causing him to fly through the windscreen. "Holy crap!!!" he exclaimed, bracing himself against the dashboard. His sights partly washed off of half his somnolence. "What did yo
Twenty more minutes. Just twenty little minutes and I'm out of here. Liza thought as her body twisted in different acrobatic styles. It certainly wasn't helping her stomach the least bit especially after her encounter with Dean. He threatened to fire her yet again when next she went awry. Now, the population in the room had suddenly doubled from a couple of minutes ago, she knew too well that it wasn't as a result of more customers filing in--well if at all more really did come in what about the double tables and drinks, did they come in too? Liza's belly gurgled more and louder with time as a huge lump slowly began to build up to her buccal cavity. Her throat lurched, ready to empty it's suffocating contents but she managed to out smart it by posing into an erect pole stance. Delightfulness tickled her lips but that was just for as short a while as she could remember because nature could really not be cheated. Damn it
"God's a wonderful man, All of you will agree with me this God of ours doesn't take something good without something better in return," he beamed one of those contagious smiles he ever owned, "he is the way, the truth and the light. He keeps not a record of our sins. Can somebody say a big Amen to that?" "Amen," Came the congregational chorus. "You know, he knows the moves you have taken and the ones yet to come. He is waiting on you with arms wide open saying 'come onto me and have rest', he doesn't care about your past; abortions, fornications, drug abuse, just to name a few. Whatever it is, repentance is your key to him. God..." he trailed and closed his eyes for a moment. "Jesus! This man is just wonderful," Pastor Jones he was called. The altar was his home and the Bible he fed on. Zaphrina looked up at him with admiration and a little guilt blending as his words sipped into her soul; for a moment, she felt like he was referring to her all through.
"Mira called yesterday, she said she'd been trying to reach you all day to no avail," Kate said, keeping some leftover food into the refrigerator. "I told her you were probably too busy to pick up." "Yeah, I was. Messaged her immediately I saw her missed calls," she confirmed, wiping the last plate in hand. Mirabelle was the closest relative she was in touch with all the way from her paternal home town--Cameroon. Unlike her, Mira as she was preferably called, was married with two kids. A girl who was just a year older than she was. Zaphrina was just nine years old when her parents took her there. Immediately, she and Mira became inseparable. The only problem she had was communication. She knew nothing about french back then same was Mira with English, but as children are; quick to learn, eight months three weeks spent was more than enough to know every secret of the french language. The doorbell rang just in time, Zaphrina wiped her hands on a k
'Earliest hours of Monday' were his exact words to his dad on Saturday, so there he was in his private jet to France as early as seven. France wasn't much of a distance, But the approximated seven hours flight was enough to think about his encounter with this merging company. He hoped and rehoped his absent-mindedness wouldn't lead to a bigger mess in his company. The Renault company was one of the most reliable and strongest French car brand and working in partnership with them wasn't much of a bad idea though this case couldn't have idea classified under it but rather mistake. He turned to his P.A who had been standing beside him for the past eight minutes since he called him. "I'll be in France for just a couple of days, say two or three. I want my home tidy before my arrival, you know, butler, maids and all those. A maximum of sixteen maids will do. Do not recruit any from my parents home be it former or present neither should you let my mum chose t