Night and Day

“Hello?” a rather gruff voice spoke on the other line.

“Uncle?” I reply softly.

“Mora how are you sweetheart?”

“I’m alright, I just need you to look into some stuff for me.”

“Some stuff huh?” he counters in a weary manner.

“Someone threatened me,” I state.

“Who threatened you?”

“I don’t want him dead, Uncle, I wouldn’t ask that of you, I simply want to know who he owes.”

“What’s the name?” he responds.

“Winston Delmont.”

“Oh honey you know how to pick them.”

“I’m sorry for asking this of you, I just didn’t want to give in to his requests especially after what he did,” I sigh.

“Did he touch you?” he demands angrily.

“I’m not doing this over sexual harassment, he’s getting personal with his attacks and I don’t appreciate it.”

“Do you know how to get to my winter home in Mailbu?”

“Yeah I guess,” I reply.

“Be there tonight 8 p.m. with your things.”

“You won’t tell my pop about this will you?”

“Course not sweetheart, I’ll take care of things just be that the house.”

“See you there,” I say just as he hung up. I let out an exhale and I looked up to see Rusty in the lobby of the hotel. Shit, get your things and start heading out before he sees you. Damn too late he saw me, maybe he doesn’t recognize me.

“Mora?”

“Yes?”

“Wasn’t expecting to see you,” he comments with a bright smile. I had to give it to that man, he had a fantastic smile.

“You know me, full of surprises,” I reply in a sardonic manner. Rusty chuckled lightly and I stood there awkwardly with my bag on my shoulder. I looked to the table and realized I had forgotten to put the letter away. Swiftly I took it up in my hand and slipped it into my bag. Keep it together Amora, you’ve got this shit on lock down.

“Just come from the beach?”

“Nah, I just don’t wear pants in public from time to time.”

“Come on, let me show you around the place,” Rusty smiles. I smiled back at him and nodded gently. “Didn’t realize how short you are until just now.”

“Always had a way with words Rusty,” I reply as we walked along. “So this is your hotel…”

“What do you think?”

“It’s very swanky.”

“Did you just straighten that frame?”

“No,” I say in an elongated manner. Rusty gave another smile.

“I take it you didn’t plan on coming here,” he states.

“No not really, Troy thinks he’s funny, he dropped me off here. Probably punishment for getting him out of the house during the day.”

“So he made you come here to see me?”

“Well if I were going to see you I’d rather I’d have pants on at the very least,” I smile. We reached what could only be described as one of the suites of the hotel and I took to looking around curious about his slightly tacky tastes. Somehow I appreciated his tastes; they were unabashed and held a humor to them that made me smile.

“How have you been?”

“I’ve been alright, what about you?”

“Same.”

“It’s good to see you doing well,” I spoke as my hand trailed across the couch. I could feel him staring as I more or less inspected the room. There was a need to leave but a want to stay in me that made it very hard for me focus.

“You’re making me feel like you are a hotel inspector right now,” Rusty comments with a hint of humor to his tone. I flicked my eyes up to meet his and I smiled. That want to stay was really eating away at the barrier of my needs and quickly becoming a need. There was an awkward tension in the room and the fact Rusty was watching my every move did not help the case. I began to think about how long it would possibly take to remove each piece of his suit, it would most definitely be like opening a present. Like any girl will tell you, a suit is a man’s version of lingerie for women, a well-dressed man was incredibly hard to resist.

“Are you worried that you wouldn’t pass inspection if I were?” I counter in a teasing manner. He took off his blazer and set it on the nearby chair. That’s one article of clothing down.

“Nah, I think I’d pass just fine.”

“You sure about that?”

“Positive,” he replies as he approached me with an arrogant smirk. I knew he was teasing me; the asshole was perceptive enough to know I was debating the whole situation and whether I should take advantage of our time alone together.

“I believe you tend to lose bets when it comes to knowing what I am going to do,” I comment. I was going to remain as calm as I possibly could. Rusty smiled and pulled me towards him by the waist. His lips pressed against my neck and I held in any need to gasp out in response. Soon I felt his teeth graze my skin sending a shiver down my spine. Steady breaths Amora, remain unaffected by his work. Rusty stopped briefly and I could feel him smirk into my neck. My hand rose from its place at my side and slipped into the open front of Rusty’s shirt. Two could play this game. I made sure my nails gazed his skin in an exaggerated manner before letting my hand rest behind his neck. Rusty seemed surprised by this action and I took advantage of his surprise by turning my head gently so that my lips were mere centimeters from his ear. “You aren’t playing fair.”

“Who said anything about playing fair?” Rusty counters as he pushed me up against the nearby wall, his hand firmly grasping my leg to bring it up to his hip. This time I couldn’t contain the gasp that escaped my mouth. His lips crashed onto mine and I closed my eyes, there was no leaving now. My heart was racing as I began to lose more control over the present situation, I just couldn’t help myself. He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around him while he kept hold of me. A groan came forth from him as I pressed my lips against his neck and my hand grabbed his short hair. I couldn’t help it, his cologne was intoxicating. Rusty wasted no time to get us to the bedroom and he carefully set me on the bed. He took off his shirt before bringing me into another heated kiss. His arm wrapped around me pulling me up towards him, god his arms were amazing. I kissed him back just as fiercely as he kissed me and as I nibbled on his bottom lip I began to unbutton my shirt. He seemed intent on remaining dominant as he assisted in unbuttoning the shirt. Our kiss broke and Rusty took a moment to look down at me, in his moment I used what strength I had left in my shaky body to switch the positions. I straddled his waist and slipped out of the shirt tossing it aside. Hovering over his body I looked down at him with a smile, his hands roamed my body whilst our lips met again. However while things were getting hot and heavy, I stopped when I thought I had heard my phone ringing in the other room where I had left my bag.

“What’s wrong?” Rusty mutters as he kissed along my neck to my shoulder. I could hear it, I know I could.

“My phone is ringing.”

“Leave it,” he says bringing his lips to mine. I pushed him away and got up quickly from the bed because that was simply something I could do, not anymore, not after what happened with Eli. Great I had a complex about phone calls now. I ran to extract the device and answered as soon as I got my hands on it.

“Hello?”

“You sound weird and out of breath,” my brother spoke on the other line.

“I rushed to answer the phone, is everything alright?” I ramble as I attempted to catch my breath.

“Yeah, everything is fine; you sound like shit what were you doing?”

“Running a fucking marathon, what is going on, I thought I told you guys not to call me for a while,” I state in a tired tone. My brother laughed, he always liked to be a pain in the ass. God damn cock block if I ever knew one.

“The kids want to talk to you,” he says after his laughing subsided. I could hear my nephew telling my brother to hand over the phone and I couldn’t help but smile.

“MORA! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!”

“No, be a little louder I don’t think the rest of the world heard you,” I reply as I took a seat on the couch. Charlie giggled lightly.

“You’re so weird Mora,” Charlie responds.

“That I am.”

“Mora guess what? I beat the last level of the game.”

“Good job buddy,” I chuckle.

“When are you coming home? I miss you,” he questions. At that moment my heart clenched and I felt it hard to speak.

“I just have to do some things before I can go home buddy.”

“I watched the new episode of Adventure Time without you,” Charlie states in a guilty tone.

“That’s alright Charlie.”

“Are you mad?”

“No of course I’m not mad, when I get home you can get me up to date with everything,” I reassure feeling like the worst person in the world.

“Okay! Tori wants to talk to you too, love you bye!”

“Hi Mora,” Tori says softly. She was always the quieter of the siblings. Then again the older siblings were always quieter.

“How are you?” I inquire.

“Is Eli really gone?”

“Yeah.”

“He was nice,” she replies.

“He was very nice,” I spoke quietly as I attempted to fight back the need to cry.

“Grandpa says he was crazy, I don’t like when grandpa says that.”

“He wasn’t crazy, he just was sick and he didn’t go to a doctor when he should have,” I reply.

“Why didn’t his mommy and daddy help him when he was sick?”

“Sometimes people don’t tell anyone that they aren’t feeling well, remember when you didn’t feel well but you really wanted to go to see the snow?”

“Yeah,” she responds.

“I let you go out for only a little while because I didn’t want you to get any sicker, Eli didn’t have someone to tell him to go back inside and get better because no one knew he wasn’t feeling well,” I say in a gentle manner as I choked back my tears.

“I wish he didn’t go.”

“I know honey; I wish he didn’t either. Just remember the nice times alright?”

“Like when we went to the zoo?”

“Like when we went to the zoo yes,” I smile sadly.

“Okay, well Daddy says we’re going to the store so I have to go,” she replies.

“That’s alright, just behave yourself and try to be nice to your little brother even if he’s a punk sometimes.”

“I will, love you Mora.”

“Love you too---bye,” I say before pressing the end key on my phone. I let out an exhale trying to compose myself. God how I missed the simpler days when this sort of thing was not common and I had my shit together. Tori was only ten years old and she was already so aware of things that it made me upset because I knew it took away from her being a kid. I had recalled that day she spoke of, when Eli and I were still together and we took them to the zoo. It was a really great day. I closed my eyes determined to not shed another tear. I needed to get my head on straight and leave so I can get ready for tonight. When I opened my eyes I saw Rusty had been standing nearby and likely had been there for some time but I hadn’t even noticed because I was so engrossed in my call. He sat down next to me on the couch but before he could reach out to console me I got back up from the couch. “I should to get going.”

“You don’t let a whole lot of people in do you?” Rusty comments.

“It’s not in my nature to self-disclose the tedious details of my life,” I state as headed back into the bedroom to grab the shirt I was wearing. As I took the shirt in my hands and headed back to the front room, I noticed Rusty was deep in thought. It was so hard for me to not stare and want to apologize because I knew I wasn’t easy to be around sometimes. I actually really liked Rusty, he wasn’t like anyone I’ve ever met but I wasn’t sure if that was basis for starting anything. Awkward was the proper term for this moment, leaving would be the best idea since it seemed I was incapable of saying the right thing. Quickly grabbing my bag I turned to look at Rusty. I gave a forced smile and began to head for the door. When I reached for the handle to open the door Rusty placed his hand above on the door to stop me from opening the door.

“Where’s the girl that dragged me by the tie in her car?”

“I lost my friend, he shot himself outside my apartment and I am just trying to function knowing that he needed me and I wasn’t there for him. I’m not going to apologize for not being that girl right now,” I retort a little angry with his question. He removed his hand from the door and I began to turn the handle to leave. I thought that he was going to let it go, let me leave as he should but he didn’t. Rusty’s arms wrapped around me and kissed my cheek. My hand remained on the door handle and my body was rigid. His hand pulled my arm in to rest on top of his other arm that was placed around my torso. Everything in me just shook; I was fighting so hard not to break down. “What are you trying to do Rusty?”

“Something no one seems to do for you and not let you leave,” he spoke. I felt the tears clouding my vision and I closed my eyes hoping that the tears would go away. He was right, everyone always just let me leave and I hadn’t even truly been hugged through all of this. My hand held onto his arm and I let out a sigh of defeat. Rusty turned me around but I kept my eyes closed as the tears still managed to escape.

“You’re such a pain Rusty,” I reply as I reached up to wipe the tears away.

“Yeah I know,” he says as his hand rested on the curve of my hip. I looked up at him and he placed his other hand on the side of my face.

“I appreciate what you are trying to do but I have dinner plans and I need to look proper for them.”

“Dinner plans?”

“I’m fine really Russ, feeling sad just sort of comes and goes for me,” I respond knowing the doubt in his eyes. I had places to go, people to see and being with Rusty wasn’t going to make all my problems disappear but if I fixed all those problems I would have time to actually try to be with him. Raising my hand I touched the side of his face and his eyes left mine. It wasn’t fair how good looking he was and I hated how I couldn’t stop staring at him. He wasn’t perfect, no, not at all, but the sheer fact I was a sucker for blue eyes and a great smile didn’t help my case. Focus, Amora, don’t get sucked in by lust. That’s what I’d call it if there wasn’t something else there for us, Christ I liked him, I liked him all too much. One kiss couldn’t do any harm could it? Not like I am playing by the rules anyways. Hmm, I probably shouldn’t that wouldn’t be the best of ideas. Although I had decided to remain aloof, Rusty had not. He pressed his lips onto mine but this time the kiss was different, it didn’t hold the lustful longing our previous kisses, this time it was gentle and caring. Raising my arms I slid my hands over his shoulders. Rusty pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. My hands slipped from his shoulders and I knew I had to go, this was getting to be a problem. “I’ll see you around.”

Rusty didn’t say anything as I pulled away. I didn’t look back because I could feel his stare on me. Leaving was what I had to do and so I opened the door sliding out the exit without another word. My heart gave a little twinge as I shut the door behind me. I had to keep going, get things settled or I wouldn’t be alive long enough to enjoy more than a few moments with Rusty or anyone for that matter. Looking down at my phone for the time I saw that it was roughly five thirty and since traffic was shit I’d get back to Troy’s around six then I’d have only an hour or so to get my things together. Troy wasn’t home but I had the extra key to his place. After getting cleaned up and dressed I placed all my things in my carry on suitcase. Calling a taxi I was quick to leave a nice note for Troy telling him I have gone to visit my uncle.

The taxi arrived and I took my bags out to leave. Once in the vehicle I told the cab driver the destination. However while he was driving I noticed a car was following us. It made me a little uneasy but I realized that it was Rusty. Apparently he knew something was up with my behavior. I had to think quickly in order to lose him so I told a lie.

“Could you lose the mustang that is following us? It’s my ex and I don’t want him knowing where I am going.”

“Bad break up?”

“The worst…I just managed to get a few of my things before leaving,” I say.

“Alright sweetheart, I won’t let him know where you’re at,” the driver spoke as he sped up a little to go through a yellow light. The light turned red as we were in the middle of the intersection and Rusty’s car was left behind with the other cars that would have to wait. Luck be have it my driver knew a thing or two about losing people and after a few back roads I reached my destination. My eyes went to look behind us and I saw no vintage mustangs in sight.

“Thank you, have a lovely evening,” I state as I handed him more than enough to cover the fare. I gave a smile and then headed to the intercom so that I could get someone to open the gate. The driver went off and when the gates began to open for me. Lights lit up the driveway as I walked down it and I soon found myself looking at two large men who worked for my uncle. They didn’t really talk just merely led me into the mansion to where my uncle was. It had been years since I had seen him and by years I mean since I was in high school. He got up from his seat and pulled me into a hug.

“Amora you have grown up,” he spoke with a bright smile.

“Well we both have grown older,” I comment in a teasing tone.

“We have. And you seem to have gotten involved with the Ocean’s Eleven, I’m impressed really, if you were going to get into the criminal world they are good ones to start you out. Do they know Delmont is going after you for this job?”

“Delmont didn’t threaten them, so I see no reason in getting them involved, as I see things, I was a little too convincing in my job and I hurt his ego. He needs to be put in his place and learn how to take a loss with stride.”

“You are very serious about this aren’t you?”

“I started it and I’ll finish it,” I state as I looked at him in a serious manner.

“He got under your skin didn’t he?” he replies.

“I had a friend that wasn’t right in the head, while I was on the job, that friend shot himself and he left a note for me. Delmont stole the letter from my home and read it to me before threatening to kill me. He wasn’t all too kind in his words and he made it personal.”

“I’m sorry about your friend sweetie.”

“It’s fine, Delmont is a snake and I want to scare him, not with guns or any kind of weapons.”

“A white crime,” he states.

“Paper work and contracts, a little bit of extortion and if need be a threat or two to never mess with me or anyone again,” I say with smile.

“I’ll get my guys; we’ll work it out but in the meantime let’s eat.”