She patted my hand. “Yes, of course. It’s my way of apologizing.”
“Are you alright with this, Katrina?” I said.
She smiled weakly. “Oh, yeah. That’s fine. Of course. Yeah, go and get your mother her medication. I’ll keep her company.”
“There that’s settled then. Now, hurry back before it gets dark. It makes me nervous to think of you driving these terrible roads.” She hands me her car keys. “The prescription is in the glovebox. You might as well take my car and leave that wreck of yours here.”
My mother’s sincerity was difficult for me to read and near impossible for anyone new to her acquaintance. She was not all bad though. Her good to bad ratio was just in constant fluctuation. And often when it looked like she was doing something out of meanness it turned out to be coming from a good place. Unfortunately, the opposite was also true. In that moment all I could do was cross my fingers and hope she was not up to something bad.
I prepared to leave and Katrina caught my arm. She looked deep into my eyes and said, “Please hurry.” Under her breath, she said, “I had a great time with you today. The best.”
I frowned. “I’ll be back in less than two hours.”
She looked like she was blinking back tears.
“Do you want to come with me?” I asked.
She turned to look at my mother then back to me. “She doesn’t like me,” she whispered.
I turned to my mother. “Maybe I should take Katrina with me.”
“You will absolutely not leave me out here by myself. Katrina and I will stay. Go on now, Cade, it’s not like I’m going to carve her up into little bits and pieces! We girls will be fine, now go on!”
Katrina smiled. “Of course, she’s right. I’ll be fine.”
“She’s a bit of a dragon, but she won’t harm you.” I kissed Katrina’s cheek and whispered to her, “I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
“I’ll miss you,” she said. It didn’t seem like a joke. I think she really meant that she’d miss me while I was gone. It was the craziest thing, but hell, I would miss her too.
Katrina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvvAYd3X5kA
As soon as the door closed on Cade, Lynn stopped holding her temples and craned her neck to look out of the window. She waited until she saw Cade get into her car and drive away before she spoke. I guess she didn’t want to chance him coming back in and overhearing our chat.
“Why are you here?” I asked. “I thought I was supposed to let you know when the job was finished.”
She stood and examined the ends of her luxurious coat. “Isn’t the job done?”
I bit my lip. “Not really.”
She looked up, a mocking smile on her face. “That’s not what I heard. I heard my son was kissing you on the street yesterday. And if your little naked drive in the mountains is anything to go by, I think your job is done. In fact, you might have even gone too far. You’ll miss him? That’s laying it on a little thick. No wonder my son thinks you’re his girlfriend!”
“Well, I am his girlfriend. It’s not an act!”
Her eyes glittered. “That is not the deal we had, young lady. I hired you to bring him back to us. Would you like to look over your contract again to refresh your memory? I just happen to have a copy right here,” she said, pulling an envelope from inside her voluminous coat that looked very familiar, but I felt as if it was signed in another lifetime.
“God, no! I don’t need to look at it again. I remember what it says.”
“Oh really? Then why are you talking about being his girlfriend. I cannot believe how royally you’ve messed up. I told you to bring him back. You’ve done the opposite and tried to move into this shack with him. And you’ve got his mind turned around and warped out of all recognition. You have totally screwed this up.”
“I’m really sorry. I don’t know how this happened. When I agreed to do this, it was just … different to how I imagined it would be. I mean, it was a job, I definitely didn’t expect to fall for him, but I have.”
Her eyes narrowed and for an instant it reminded me of Cade. “Is it more money you’re looking for?”
“No, absolutely not,” I cried.
“Because it sounds very much as if you’re fishing for more.” Her voice was cold.
“No, Lynn, listen to me. Keep your money for all I care. I only did it to help my sister anyway.”
“Oh, spare me the sob story. This is an absolute disgrace, but I’m going to pay you in full because I always keep my end of the bargain and I expect you to do the same.”
“Listen, I just want out of this now. Forget the money. I don’t want Cade to ever know that I agreed to do this!”
“Well, I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”
Lynn went back to look out the window. She held our contract and thumbed through it. I felt disgusted at myself to think of what I had signed up to do.
The ‘job’, if one can even call it that now was enough money to pay for my sister’s surgery and care. I’ve been working two jobs, teaching and dancing in the club for two years now just to keep my sister in the facility she’s in. They take care of her, but she needs the surgeries to remove the lesions on her spine, and secondary surgeries to address the muscle injuries caused by her paraplegia. I would have done anything to give her that.
So, when Lynn’s agent presented me with the proposal to help get her son back among the civilized in exchange for enough money for me to help my sister and give up lap dancing, I couldn’t believe my luck, let alone pass the opportunity up. It seemed perfect at the time. I wouldn’t be harming anyone. In fact, I’d be helping a man who was lost to his family and the world.
“We don’t have much time. My driver is on the way,” Lynn said.
“What?”
“I need you to go back to where you came from. Next week the sum we agreed will be transferred into your account.”
“I can’t just go like that. What about Cade?”
“Cade is no longer your business. You have completely ruined everything and gotten him even further entrenched in this nonsensical idea of living in the mountains. When he comes I’ll tell him that you just couldn’t take another minute in this awful place with no Internet connection to post your little pouty pictures, or selfies, whatever you call them on social media. If you agree to go now, even with your colossal screw up of our contractual agreement, your payment will still stand.”
“Lynn, I don’t think you understand what I’ve been saying to you.” I crossed the room to face her by the window. For once, I felt confident in myself. My feelings for Cade overrode the feeling of intimidation I felt from women I perceived to be my betters. Like the mountain lion did to me, I looked right into her eyes so she could see my power. “Whether you like it or not I am Cade’s girlfriend. We’ve fallen for each other. Cade wants to be with me and I want to be with him.”
Katrina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FkdleIkFyo
“You might be able to trick my son, but not me. I saw you coming a mile off. You’re just after the money. Do you think I did not have you fully investigated? I looked into your family. You don’t have anything. Or anybody! You’re nothing.”
“Tricking him? It’s you who is tricking him. Using me to bait him out of the mountains. Did you ever take a moment to think of what he wanted? How can you do that to your own son?”
Her chin rose haughtily. “I did it because I love my son. Is this a life for a man of his talent, capability, and wealth? He is rotting away here. He has a family who loves him, beautiful homes, great wealth, important work, friends who care for him. His whole life was put on hold after the accident. It’s time he came back to where he belongs.”
I looked at her speechlessly, at how sure she was that she was making the right decision for her son.
“Have you even thought about what you’re doing? Were you planning to live out here with Cade, all alone in this tiny cabin, no jobs, no friends, not ever seei
ng your poor, sick sister?”
I hadn’t thought about how long we would be here. It did worry me to be so far away from my sister. Up here, we were too far away to make regular visits. I lifted my chin defiantly. “Cade and I haven’t exactly figured all the details out yet. We’re just at the beginning of our relationship.”
“Or is your plan, which is much more likely, to milk as much money out of this entanglement with my son as you can? Waving your tits and ass around for money just like you did with all these other men?” From that coat of dead animals Lynn brought out a stack of photos. She didn’t give them to me. Deliberately, she threw them all over the floor.