Chapter Six

Sitting in a private suite of the City’s famous ‘elite’ nightclub, Lance emptied a glass of John Barleycorn and replenished his glass. The slow love song playing in the background riled up Lance’s sorrows as Gabriella crossed his mind, tormenting him and making him lovesick. He was about to gulp this one down too when a feminine hand grabbed hold of the glass, taking it away from him.

“Drinking alone, honey?” A beautiful tall lady said to him as he looked up at her. She smiled brightly at him, weakening his resolve to send her packing. Lance smiled back and gestured her to take a sit beside him but she sat on his lap instead and winked at him smilingly.  Her smile was dazzling, revealing a nice order of white teeth and dark gums which made Lance lose his mind, leering at her.

“Do you want to kill me with your beauty?” Lance asked her smilingly.

“It depends on the kind of death you want.” The woman replied with a laugh, making Lance chuckle. She gulped down his drink and moved closer to him, pressing her body on his seductively.

“I just want to talk.” Lance told her smilingly, making her slide to the other side; a little dejected that she had been rejected. Lance turned to her; taking her by surprise with an affectionate kiss on her hand.

“What are you doing?” she asked, giggling.

“Will you talk to me?” Lance asked as he eyed her up beamingly. The woman shyly looked away, avoiding his penetrating cat-like eyes but he tilted her head back, caressing her face gently.

“I don’t do talks.” She said, trying to leave but Lance pulled her back.

“There is always a first time for everything.” He said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

“How much?” She asked smilingly.

“As much as you want.” Lance replied with a wink.

“Deal.” the woman chirped as she wrapped her hands around his waist, resting her head on his chest while he replenished the empty glass. Lance let the woman drink from the glass first before he gulped all the liquor down his throat hurriedly, coughing a little.

“Easy…” The woman said in a concerned tone as she caressed his chest.

“I am missing my woman terribly.” Lance remarked as he poured some more liquor into the glass and this time, the woman picked it up first, drinking half of the booze in it.

“She is very special.” the woman commented before handing Lance the glass.

“Why do you say that? You haven't met her” Lance asked smilingly

“Because she is tight competition. She is not here yet she managed to beat me. No man has ever been able to resist me like you have.” The woman replied disappointedly.

“I love truly her. I can’t help but miss and worry about her at the moment.” Lance explained with a faint smile on his face.

“What’s her name?”

“I see you are working hard for your money.” Lance said; laughing profusely.

“Well, you can’t blame me for trying. Your offer is too good to be true.” the woman gave him wry smile. Lance reached into his pocket and fumbled for his wallet, taking out a blank cheque.

“Fill it in.” Lance said smilingly taking another drink.

“This is my lucky night.” The woman said as she took a pen and wrote down the digits. To his surprise, she just asked for a little as ZMK1000.

“That’s it?” Lance was shocked. The woman smiled at him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

“You're a special man, Mister.” She said beamingly.

“Call me Daniel and thank you for the compliment.” Lance told her happily.

“Are we friends now?” The woman asked, hinting towards his request to use first names.

“I guess so.” Lance said, chuckling.

“I'm Amanda...” the woman said happily.

You are a good woman too, Amanda.” Lance told her, kissing her hand afterwards. It was clear that he was now extremely drunk. “I need another drink.”

“You have had enough now, Daniel. We should find you a cab to take you home.” Amanda said; worriedly taking the glass of alcohol away from him.

“But I'm not done yet and I have my car.” Lance protested.

“Not on my watch.” Amanda said, laughing as she helped him stand up. She was about to call the bar attendant to come and give her a hand when Katrina patted her shoulder.

“It’s alright. I will take it from here.” She said with a fake smile.

“…and who are you?” Amanda asked; clearly astounded by Katrina’s appearance, and when she didn’t get her answer, she helped Lance back to the seat and confronted Katrina. “Look, miss. I don’t trust you so I won’t let Daniel come with you.”

“Relax, missy. You just met him today and you think you own him. Daniel is mine.” Katrina countered her.

“I still don’t trust you.” Amanda said confidently.

“Should I talk to your boss instead? We both know how this issue will end.” Katrina asked Amanda, immediately pushing her into a corner.

“Fine. You can take him.” Amanda said, walking away immediately. Being jobless, Amanda made a living outs of the gigs she got from the club and there was no way she was going to risk her job because of a stranger. Katrina helped Lance up and walked him to the car.  She fumbled into the pocket of his jacket for the key and opened the car. It seemed she had made up her mind to drive him home herself. Unlocking the door, Katrina flung the door to Lance’s house open as she fumbled to help him get into the house. She helped him to a nearby couch and turned on the lights before removing her heels; groaning because of painful ankles.

“Gabriella…Water.” Lance muttered; clearly lost in reverie of his beloved with eyes shut. Katrina snorted as she walked to the refrigerator where she grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses from the shelf, taking them to Lance’s room. She came back soon after that and helped Lance up to his room where she struggled to get him in bed. Lance opened his drowsy eyes and looked at Katrina, leering at her.

“Gabriella.” He said, caressing Katrina’s face. He was drunk to a stupor that he could not tell that the woman in his house was not Gabriella but Katrina who clearly was ready to take advantage of this opportunity. She smiled at her; leaning in to kiss him, and unable to control himself, Lance pulled Katrina on his lap and kissed her; his lips meeting hers hungrily and making her grasp with desire. Moving from her mouth, he planted several kisses on her neck; groaning with pleasure each moment he sank his lips onto her skin yet, all this love was for the woman who truly had his heart. He was physically with Katrina but his mind was definitely far away, lost in reveries that took him into the deep loving arms of Gabriella with her glistening image overshadowing every bit of affection that Katrina showered on him. Katrina unbuttoned Lance’s shirt and took it off for him; leaning in to kiss every bit of his chest pleasurably and without warning, Lance rolled on top of her and too off her blouse. She received his kisses wholeheartedly, rendering this day the best day of her life and soon they were making love, taking their time to feel each other’s warmth for the night was still young.

***

Katrina woke up to the warm feeling of the sun’s rays on her face. Recalling her night with Lance, she blushed as she opened her drowsy eyes only to find Lance glaring at her expressionlessly.

“Good morning.” She beamingly said as she sat up.

“Good morning, Katrina.” Lance said, making her heart skip as this was the first time he had called her by her first name but her happiness was suddenly snatched away by the grave expression on Lance’s face when he turned to look her in the eye.

“We need to talk.” he said, making Katrina worry the more.

“What about?” Katrina asked, swallowing hard.

“Looking at you, it is clear that we had sex yesterday and I would like to apologize for that. We were drunk and clearly not thinking right. Please forgive me for taking advantage of you.” Lance said with an apologetic expression. Katrina chuckled and took his hand in hers, caressing it affectionately.

“What are you talking about? I was in my right senses.” Katrina thought before responding to Lance.

“Don’t apologize; I wanted it to happen.” Katrina admitted.

“Regardless, I am sorry for everything because whatever happened here doesn’t change the relationship that we share. You are my colleague at work and that is all.” Lance said; withdrawing his hand vigorously. Katrina was flustered and she could not help but gawk at Lance while he spoke.

“But Daniel…” She tried to reason with him but his interruption came in between, shutting her up immediately.

“Don’t call me Daniel, Boyaze. Gabriella is the only one who has the right to...” Lance told her.

“What about that hooker you blurted out your name to?” Katrina asked, pouting.

“What hooker?” Lance asked in a confused tone. “You had better stop joking around and anyway, I was too drunk to notice anything yesterday. Also, the club probably has a thousand women like her; i will probably never see her again. On that note, I would like us to forget about yesterday and today like it never happened. Please Katrina. ”

“But we had something special going on last night.” Katrina asked as she resorted to weeping.

“We were intoxicated.” Lance disputed.

“Still, we made love to each other.” Katrina retorted, trying hard to persuade him.

“We had sex, Katrina. I am really sorry about but I can’t call it anything else other than that.” Lance said; getting off the bed. “Work will start in an hour. I have prepared your bath and I have a few clothes that belonged to my sister. You can try them on and see what fits.”

“Thank you.” Katrina said. “You can say no all you want but this is the beginning of our relationship Daniel.”

“I will be waiting for you in the lounge.” Lance said before walking out. Katrina was surprised to see him all dressed up; ready for work but she didn’t say a word about it because she didn’t want to know what he thought and felt when he first woke up and found her next to him. After breakfast, Lance and Katrina quietly walked to the car park where Lance opened his car and got in immediately; unfazed about Katrina who got into the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt without a word. The trip to NBCI was quiet awkward for Lance as he kept avoiding conversations with Katrina and when he had arrived at the office, he pulled up in the car Park and alighted instantaneously.

“Lance!” Katrina called him as she hurriedly got of the car.

“What?” He asked, turning to her uninterestedly.

“I left my car at the club. Can you take me home after work?” She asked politely.

“Whatever you want, Boyaze.” Lance answered hastily in the bid to get rid of her.

“Thank you.” Katrina beamingly said before leaving. Soon the whole NBCI was chatting about the two of them dating and instead of dismissing the claims; Katrina added fuel to the rumors by hinting that she and Lance were in a romantic relationship. Soon, the news reached the Chief Agent who was more than happy to give his daughter to his most trusted Agent at the subdivision.

“Send word to Lance that I need to see him at my house tonight.” The Chief Agent excitedly charged his PA.