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3053 Words
Lance sat at the island with a cup of coffee and the morning newspaper. He was engrossed in an article about the rising crime rate in LA when he heard the door to his bedroom open. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw Cassia coming out. She was wearing the silk robe he usually offered the models he shot. She was tying the belt around her tiny waist as she came his way. Her hair was unbrushed, and she had slept in her makeup, but she looked beautiful.
Lance smiled at her as she came his way. “Good morning.” He said as she reached the island. She stood behind him and wrapped her arms around his bare shoulders and nuzzled his cheek. He had taken a shower when he got up that morning but had just dressed in a pair of cotton pyjama pants, with the drawstring pulled tight around his waist. He was the most relaxed he’d been in months. It turned out he just needed a romp in the sack to brighten his mood.
“It is a good morning.” She giggled and kissed his cheek. “I slept like a rock.”
“You’re a bed hog too.” He teased as she let go and walked around the island to the coffee pot.
“Sorry, I’m used to sleeping alone.” She said pouring herself a cup of coffee. “Cream?” She asked.
“In the fridge on the door.” He watched as she added cream and sugar to her coffee and then took a sip and sighed.
“This is the best coffee I’ve ever had.”
“It better be I get it from Columbia. Lucas brought me back a pound when he got back last month.” He said returning his attention to the newspaper.
“Does Lucas live in LA too?” She asked.
“No, he lives in Sana Monica… when he’s not trying to kill himself that is.”
“You don’t approve of his career choice?”
“I think he’s insane. He’s making our mother grey before her time. For two men that look identical, we couldn’t be more different. He’s a good-natured, happy fellow, unlike me.” He said with a smile that made her smile.
“You’re not so bad once you get past that gruff nasty exterior.” She said reaching for the Frootloops cereal box on the island.
“No.” He slapped her hand away and got up. Lance put down his coffee and newspaper then walked around the island to open the pantry door. “Do you know how many calories are in those?” He asked taking out a box of Special-K. “Here eat this. It’s better for you.”
“Why do you get Frootloops and I get this? I want Frootloops.” She complained.
“Do you want Frootloops or do you want to be a model?” He asked looking down at her. “If you want to be a model you have to watch your weight.”
Cassia glared at him. “Are you saying I’m fat?”
“No, but this stuff will make you fat.” He said putting the Frootloops away.
“So, are you just going to follow behind me taking everything out of my mouth?” She asked as he handed her a clean bowl.
“If I have too. I would rather you do it yourself.” He said taking the milk from the fridge and handing it to her. “When you’re a supermodel you’ll thank me.” He promised.
Cassia sat down at the island and started in on her breakfast. “So, what’s the plan today?” She asked.
He just shrugged. “I don’t have one.”
“No lunch date with editors? No runway shows with top designers? No photoshoots?”
“My day is completely free.” He had all the time in the world, and he intended to enjoy it. He liked the way she looked in that robe the way it draped her body. She wasn’t wearing anything beneath it.
The events of the previous night were still running through his mind. He had been fairly drunk last night. Had he been sober, he wouldn’t have slept with her, but what was done was done. He couldn’t take it back now, and he didn’t want too. He liked Cassia, more than just professionally. He supposed as long as he didn’t get so wrapped up in her like he had with Cindy things would be ok. He just had to be smart enough to guard his heart. He was always falling for women, and it never ended well for him.
He should have learnt his lesson after Missy Darcy, but he hadn’t he’d fallen for four other women including Cindy. What could he say he was in love with love. He saw the love between his parents and deep down he wanted what they had. What he didn’t realize as a child was that that sort of love was rare. That kind of devotion didn’t happen often.
No, he had to come to terms with the fact that the best he would ever be able to do was quiet contentment with whomever he happened to be sleeping with at the time, and when things ended not to let it get to him. Cassia would be no different. Still, as it was right now, he could do whatever he wanted. She was still star struck when it came to him. He could probably get her to do anything he asked. His lips curved in an evil smile. He could think of so many naughty things.
“What would you like to do today?” He asked reaching for his coffee.
She thought for a moment. “Can we do anything?”
“Anything you like.” He said sipping his coffee.
“Well I’ve been in LA for six months, and I still haven’t been to Disney World.”
“Land.” He corrected.
“What?”
“Disney Land.” He said. “Disney World is in Florida.”
“You know what I meant. I want to go to the park. I’ve wanted to go for years. I just haven’t had the money.”
“You still don’t have the money.” He pointed out. She had made three thousand dollars but there was no way the cheque had cleared yet, and she wasn’t working.
“Well let’s go anyway, and I’ll reimburse you when my cheque clears.” She suggested.
“So, it starts.” He said with a playful sigh. “I have money so you figure I should pay for everything. First your makeover, then all the drinks last night, now Disney Land.”
Cassia looked unsure of what to say. “No, I just-”
Lance just laughed. “Relax I’m just kidding. I’m more than happy to pay. Let’s get dressed and go to the park.” He said finishing off his coffee.
“I have to go home and change.” She said putting her empty bowl into the sink.
“No, you don’t.” He said opening a closet door full of dresses and women’s clothes. He selected a pair of jeans and a tank top then handed them to her. “You will wear this.” He instructed.
Cassia took the clothes and looked at him. “For a single man, you sure have a lot of women’s clothes.”
“The designers I shoot let me keep the clothes. I give them to the women in my life; you know my Mom, my cousins, and girlfriends. Its great publicity for them to have big stars be seen in public wearing their designs. They get the promotion, and I get a free wardrobe. I get a lot of my wardrobe from designers as well. I keep some and give the rest to my brothers and cousins. The perks of the business.”
Cassia draped the clothes on the back of the couch and removed the robe letting the silk fall to the floor. Lance felt his body react to the sight of her. Only now he didn’t have to resist.
Lance pulled his drawstring free and pushed his pants off. “Let’s not dress too quickly.” He said coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist pulling her back against him. “I can think of something we can do to kill some time.”
***
Cindy screamed and threw a lamp against the wall beside Marcus' head. It shattered, and Marcus ducked the fly shards. “You said you knew what you were doing!” She shrieked. “You said you would make me famous! How can I be losing all my bookings? First the Creek shoot and now the Venus spread. What am I paying you for?”
“How was I supposed to know Lance Sanchez would start managing? He’s got more connections than I do.” Marcus tried to explain.
“Excuses!” She yelled. “I don’t want excuses. I want to work. Get rid of this girl.”
Marcus just shrugged. “And how do you suppose I do that?”
Cindy grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and gave him a shake. “I don’t care. Make her go away because if she gets even one more of my bookings, I will take a knife and I will cut your throat.” She warned. She was serious too; she had worked too hard to get to where she was; she would kill to stay on top. “This is LA and if you can’t find a way to prevent her from going to the Venus shoot it will be your ass in the fire.”
***
They spent the day at the park, went on all the rides and played the games. She was having a blast with Lance. He was smiling all day which was nice. She liked him much better when he was smiling. Usually, she found him to be uptight, but today he was relaxed and almost childlike. When the sun went down, they stopped at a diner for dinner. She was sort of surprised that he chose a little unknown diner. She would have expected him to choose an upscale fine dining restaurant.
Instead of a fru-fru meal, he ordered a burger and a Budweiser. When she ordered a burger, he cleared his throat and just looked at her. She sighed and changed her order to a salad. She liked him, but man he was a killjoy when it came to food.
Cassia sat at the table poking her salad with her fork and watching him enjoy his burger. She frowned it was torment. She was from Texas she liked meat. She wanted a hamburger. “Are you enjoying your burger?” She asked with annoyance. He just smiled and nodded. “This is killing me. Let me have a bite. I’m starving.” She said reaching for his burger.
Lance slapped her hand away. “No, it’s full of carbs, calories, and fat. It will go straight to your hips.”
“You eat it, and you stay thin.”
“I got a high metabolism. Do you know how long you would have to run to burn this off?”
“I want meat.” She snapped.
Lance chewed what was in his mouth and then swallowed as he considered her request. “Ok, you can have the rest.” He said holding it out to her and pulling it away when she reached for it. He had a mocking smile on his handsome face. Then he offered it to her again and pulled it away at the last minute.
“Lance.”
“Ok.” He said giving the rest of his burger to Cassia. “But you got to run on my treadmill for an hour when we get back.”
Cassia paused and looked at him questioningly. “Are you serious?”
“Yep, you still want that burger?” He asked. She took a big bite and smiled. It was worth it. He just laughed and took her salad for himself. He ate the salad and drank his beer while she packed back the burger and fries and washed it down with a soda.
“You know I would have expected you would want to go to some fine dining establishment. Why did you pick this place?” She asked staring in on her fries.
“They got the best burgers in town. Fine dining is overrated. It’s a lot of money for not a lot of food. Caviar is nice, but sometimes you want some down-home cooking.” He said lifting the beer to his lips.
“Did your mom cook a lot?”
“No, she never cooked, we usually went out, and when we didn’t, we had a personal chef. My parents were too busy to cook.”
“Did you have a nanny too?” She teased.
“No, not really. My parents took us everywhere with them. They were very hands on.” That was nice to hear. She would have expected he grew up with servants. “We’re all very close.”
“I’d love to meet your brothers.” She said. She could imagine they were quite the characters. “Your dad too… he’s hot for sixty.” She teased.
Lance chuckled. “He’s taken.”
“Then I will have to settle for you.” She said playfully.
“If it’s any consolation people say I’m just like him.” Then he grinned. “But I’m not sure that’s a good thing.” He paused and watched her finish the last of the burger. “Good, aren’t they?”
“Very good.” She agreed. “How’s your salad?” She teased.
“Slimming.” He said running his hand over his firm flat belly. “I feel skinnier just sitting here.” They both laughed and had another beer before paying the bill.
After dinner, they had to walk down the street and around the corner to where Lance had to park. It was dark, and the streetlights were dim. The street was empty, and they were both wrapped up in each other they hadn’t noticed the guy coming up behind them.
Without warning the stranger hit Lance in the back of the head, and he stumbled into the wall of the building. Cassia screamed when Lance went down. “Hello, pretty lady.” The stranger smiled at her. He was a tall white man dressed in baggy clothes and wearing a cap. In his hand, he held a knife. “Come here.” He growled and grabbed her by the arm to drag her into a nearby alley.
Cassia tried to hit him and fend him off, but he was twice her size and stronger than her. He forced her up against the wall and pressed the knife to her throat. He reached down with his free hand to unzip his pants. “I like you. I’m going to make you beg.” Cassia grew up with four boys; she wasn’t going down without a fight. She balled up her fist and slugged him in the jaw. He recovered quickly and forced the blade against the corners of her mouth. “Just for that, I’m going to give you a permanent smile.”
Suddenly he grunted and backed away. Lance had recovered and attacked him from behind. Lance laid into the man like a professional fighter. A right to the head, a left to the gut, and another right to the ribs. He had the attacker up against the wall as he just relentlessly punched him.
The man fought back, and they were flailing all over the place. Then Lance’s eyes widened, and he dropped to his knees while the attacker ran off. Cassia looked down and saw the knife protruding out of Lance’s side. Cassia dropped to her knees in front of him. She didn’t know what to do. Lance leaned back against the wall, his hand on the knife handle. He was going to pull it out.
“Don’t touch it.” She said pushing his hand away. She took out her cell phone and called for an ambulance. She had to swat his hand away a number of times before the ambulance arrived. Lance was strapped to a stretcher and loaded into the back of the ambulance. They wouldn’t let Cassia ride with him because she wasn’t family. So, she took his keys and drove Lance’s car to the hospital they said they were taking him to.
Reaching the hospital, she asked around for information, but no one would tell her where he was. It took her hours to locate him. When she found him, he was seated in a private room. The knife was removed from his belly, and his wound was stitched up. She sat by his side all night asking the nursing staff if he was going to be ok, but they wouldn’t tell her anything. She was just happy they didn’t kick her out because visiting hours were over. That night Cassia slept in a hospital chair next to Lance’s bed.
- Writer
