Deadbeat Mother

In The Room

~Steven~

To say I was angry when I walked out of that room is a vast understatement, to say the least. I wanted to punch the wall. I wanted to run into that room and snatch my wife out of there. I wanted to repeatedly punch him until he was a bloody heap. I did none of those things because, in this setting, I can’t do any of that. I can only stand in this hallway, looking dumb as f**k. And I look dumb as F**K!

Who the f**k does this piece of s**t think he is?! The fact that he thinks it’s okay to speak to my wife without me….. I’m not just her husband, but I’m also her manager. What professional tries to speak to someone of her status without first approaching their manager? He’s lucky I let her sit in there as long as I did.

I grab Neela’s arm and pull her with me. We walk through the hallways, around a few corners. I have the car waiting for us in the back of the building. I’m over all of this media bulls**t, and I just want to get back to the room.

I open the back door, and the limo is waiting. The driver has the back door open, and I push Neela in. I lean in close to the driver. “I want you to drive around for a while before going back to the house. Give me about an hour.” I slip a bill to him and get into the car. I push the button to make the partition rise, and the driver starts moving.

We sit quietly for a while, Neela looking out the window. I’m watching her face to see if I need to be aware of anything. Neela sucks at keeping her feelings off her face, so I’m looking for any indication of what took place with that man.

I keep waiting for her to say something, but nothing is coming out of her mouth. I’m starting to get frustrated, but I try to keep that in check…….for now. I’ve had enough of waiting for her to take the lead, so I decide it’s time for me to do what needs to be done. “Do you have something to tell me?” Neela turns and looks at me, but I read nothing on her face.

“What do you mean, babe?” I sigh internally. She’s really trying my patience, and I know she knows that.

“What went on in that room?” Neela shakes her head.

“Nothing.” I grab her wrist and pull her toward me. A yelp escapes her lips. I use my free hand and pull her chin so she can look at me.

“Do. Not. Lie. To. Me.” I search her eyes for anything that would tell me what the hell they talked about. I let her chin go and loosen my grip on her wrist. “What went on in that room?” I put my finger up quickly before she could give me her bulls**t answer. “You better think long and hard before you lie to me. You know I will know when you’re lying.” I lean back against the door and wait for her to answer.

~Neela~

I can feel my heart pounding practically out of my chest. What am I going to do? I can’t tell him what we discussed. I mean, I can, but I will surely die, and Nokio will too. I don’t want to get him caught up in my mess, and that’s what I was trying to get him to understand. My life, as is, is on borrowed time. It’s one that isn’t guaranteed from one moment to the next. I don’t want to pull anyone else into that; it’s my burden.

I usually try not to lie to him, but I have to be the best actress I can be. I need him to not think anything is amiss if I want to survive this. I take a deep breath, and I turn to Steven. “He wanted to know more about me.” His gaze burns a hole through me, and I just want to run and hide. I know he’s waiting for me to continue, so I do. “He asked me about my life. I told him that I had the best life. I’m a working model, doing what I enjoy doing. I have a loving husband. I told him about some of the trips we had taken. He asked how it was to work with your spouse, and I told him how we make things work.” I internally hold my breath, hoping that I made it sound good. I hope he believes my words and we can put this issue to bed.

“If that was all you talked about, why couldn’t I be in the room?” Usually, this is how Steven would get me. I got to the point where I realized that lying to him would be useless. He asks these questions that you wouldn’t consider and wouldn’t imagine having an answer to. As much as I suck at thinking on my feet, I really need to step my game up tonight. It isn’t just my life hanging in the balance.

“He said that he has found models speak more freely without their managers around. I don’t know about that, but who am I to argue? I told him he could bring you in, and he’d get the same answer, but he insisted.” I held my breath again, just hoping this is over. Steven looks me up and down. The seconds feel like hours, and I’m scared s**tless about what may happen next.

To my delight, Steven turns his head and looks out the window. This tells me nothing, so I focus on his jaw. Steven’s telltale sign, a ticking jaw means I’m f**ked in some way. I secretly watch his face, focusing on his jaw. Nothing…… there’s no ticking, no nothing. I turn my head to look out the window and silently let my breath out. I think I may survive tonight by the skin of my teeth. I will take a win any way I can get one.