Page 20 of His Smile
(Last night as I was coming backstage, I saw a tall guyin a suit standing off to the side handing a porter a bouquet of orangesunflowers wrapped in black paper. They looked expensive, he looked scary, andthose are your favorite flowers. I assumed it had to be him. Was I right? Didyou get those flowers?)
She did, when the porter delivered them to her dressingroom, her first thought was of Roman. But the sudden relief she felt died awaywhen she found no card or anything indicating it was from him. Doubt tarnishedthe elation she felt.
“Yes, I got them, but there was no card, so I wasn’t sure.”
(Well you shouldn’t be thinking of him anyways. Forget Imentioned him. You should be focused on getting principal anyways. Last night’sperformance was amazing.)
“For a minute there, I thought I was talking to mom until Iread the compliment.”
(LOL. Get some sleep. Forget about him, and I will seeyou at your birthday party.)
Letting out a loud sigh, Rahina lowered herself further intothe water until her knees were forced to bend, exposing the tops of herkneecaps above the now lukewarm water. It was time to get out, she needed todry her hair, start a load of clothes in the washing machine, and get to bedearly. Tomorrow, she had rehearsals and a final meeting with Nico to go overthe details of her party.
Stepping out of the bath, she grabbed her robe just as her phonechimed. Tying the belt around her waist, she released the clip holding her hairup, letting it tumble down her back as she turned and picked up her phone.
She froze in the middle of her bathroom as she read themessage.
(Did you get my flowers?)
The throbbing feeling that had resided in her chest for aweek now spread out to her arms and legs. Making it to the edge of her bed, shesat down heavily as she stared at Roman’s text. That meant he saw herperformance last night, and that the entire time she was dancing, his gray eyeswere following her moves. The realization made her feel weak.
Another message came through.(Respond to me Rahina, or Iwill do something drastic. Your choice)
A lump of excited fear formed in her throat as she shakilytapped out a reply. “Why should I? You banished me from your life. I’m justdoing what you told me to do and leaving you alone. Now kindly return thefavor.”
(No.)
No?! What did he mean, no? Did he know the emotional rollercoaster this was putting her through? The pain in her chest tightenedunbearably. Laying down, she stared at her phone. She wanted to forgive him sobad that it actually hurt. She wanted to feel the relief of just letting himback into her heart with all forgiven, but she couldn’t. Despite the pain, itcaused she simply couldn’t allow it, her pride wouldn’t let her.
She tried another tactic. “How did you know I love orangesunflowers?”
(You post nearly every aspect of your life on socialmedia.)
That was fair, she realized. “Well, you wasted your time andmoney. You were right when you said you are not the man, I thought you were.You hurt me, and I learned my lesson, and now it’s over. I wish you well, Mr.Mashir.”
Rahina had intended to put the phone down. To throw it onthe bed and walk away with her head held high. Instead, she watched with herbreath held, knowing Roman would never let that be the last word. Thedisgusting part was, she more than hoped he wouldn’t let it be.
(It’s far from over between us. It’s only just begun.)
~*~
The club was packed. Vital was a large two-story industrialbuilding that sat at the end of a dead-end street surrounded by empty parkinglots. Tonight, the parking lots were filled to capacity, and there was a steadyriver of ride shares flowing down the street to drop guest off in front of theclub where the double spotlights sat. A line of people covered the exteriorwall as they were checked into the club, the ones turned away were politelyescorted off the premises by a group of Mikhail’s enforcers. Standing in aprivate room, used mostly by management, Mosca stood next to Roman near theone-way window. Nearly as long as the room, the narrow window gave them nearlya bird’s eye view of the congested club. Every now and then he spotted some ofMikhail’s men, including Nico, talking into their headsets to one anotheramongst the sea of people. Looking down at the laughing and drinking people,Mosca felt inexplicably old. Deafening music thumped through the soundproofwalls and vibrated their feet through the floor. Young women with irresistibledancers’ bodies pulsed against equally fit men. Mosca felt tired, just lookingat the endless ocean of energy.
Flicking a glance at his boss, Mosca watched as Roman stoodvery still with his hands in his suit pocket staring out the window. Followinghis line of sight, Mosca looked to the other side of the club towards the stagethat took up the back wall. Directly in front of the stage was a largerectangular dance floor that led back to the bar and the viewing window above locatedabove it. On either side of the club were two VIP balconies accessed by stairsthat curved down towards the stage. Above the stage were rows of flat-screenTVs all joined together to create one colossal screen. On the screens was amontage video for the birthday girl. Roman’s eyes never left the screen. Clipsof old videos showing Rahina laughing and smiling as a little girl flickeredabove the crowd. In one clip she looked to be eight or nine, her long blackhair was wild and loose billowing behind her like a cape as she chased a dog.Eventually, the video progressed to what looked like her high-school years,wearing a pleated plaid skirt and white button-down shirt while she was dancingin a sad but comical attempt at provocative around the school’s flagpole. Therewas something so energizing about the girl, so full of bright shining vitalitythat made a man want to look her way and smile, Mosca noted.
Roman, however, was not smiling.
Mosca wasn’t sure what the man was thinking lately. Eversince the night he watched her perform, Roman’s mood had shifted. Thankfully,the volatile anger seemed to dissipate, but he certainly wasn’t back to his oldself. If anything, Roman seemed focused—calculative. Mosca only wished he knewwhat the boss had planned so he could help. Hell, him and the other men,Mikhail and Alexei included, would do just about anything at this point toattempt the psychotic version of Roman back in his cage.
The door to his office opened, and Dimitri walked in with asly grin as he tried to straighten his slightly ruffled blonde hair. “Firstly,some of the women here are quite something.” Mosca watched with expressionlesseyes as Dimitri wiped off the smeared lipstick off the corner of his mouth. “Ijust had two girls offer some very appealing activities. Just know that itpains me on a moral level to have had to turn them down. Also, Mikhail iscurrently offering the local fire chief a handsome offer to turn a blind eye onthe obvious code violation we have here.”
Both Mosca and Dimitri looked to Roman for any kind ofreaction. Nothing. A flash of annoyance passed through Dimitri’s bright eyes,despite the captain’s unflappable appearance and constant jovial nature, Moscaknew that Roman’s recent mood was wearing thin with Dimitri.
Straitening his jacket with a jerk, Dimitri sat down on oneof the couches facing the long viewing window. Above the window was a long lineof mounted monitors showing various security feeds of the club at differentangles. “And lastly, Rahina is here,” Dimitri added with sarcasticcheerfulness.
Turning his head slightly towards his shoulder, one ofRoman’s eyes caught Dimitri’s, fixing the captain with a silent, powerful lookthat told the captain to tread very carefully. Annoyed, Dimitri went to thebar-cart to make a drink.
The lights in the club dimmed at the music lowered as the DJexcitedly announced the focal point of the evening. Escorted by four enforcersthrough the wildly cheering crowd, Rahina walked in with the radiance of a starand the presence of a Queen. Without meaning to, both Mosca and Dimitri let outa tired groan when they got a good look at her outfit. The theme of the partywas gold, everyone was either wearing or covered in some sort of gold. Wearinga crown fit for an Egyptian Queen, the large sun-like headpiece sparkled on topof Rahina’s loose wavy black hair that trailed down to her hips. Her naturallybronzed skin seemed to glow as she walked slowly through the path the enforcersmade for her, occasionally stopping to hug and say hi to people. The gold satinshorts and matching top might as well have been lingerie. The loose materialsat off her shoulders and draped provocatively over her full breasts, andthough Mosca wasn’t completely sure, he could have sworn he saw the outline ofher nipples against the satiny fabric. The matching shorts were criminallysmall, sitting low on her waist exposing a generous portion of her sculpted absand brief flashes of the bottom of her rounded ass cheeks. And of course, tomake the outfit truly Rahina’s she wore a pair of gold studded sneakers thatsomehow made her long toned legs even more gorgeous. Mosca couldn’t take hiseyes off of her and nor could any other man in the club.
