Meeting the Ante

Simon picked me up from home to take me to work for the second time as when I awoke I discovered my car had a flat I was glad for the lift as the sky was black and ready to storm. He told me he would fix the tire for me when Caspar came out and told him to get off the premises. I told Caspar he was my ride and to stop being silly but Caspar got all bitchy and said he didn’t care Simon was to stay off the grounds. Simon only grinned, winked at me and took off his tires spinning the gravel on the drive.

I spent the entire day glaring at Caspar who skulked about in the strangest fashion. then made me go out with him where he took me out to lunch at LaSonse one of the more fashionable places in town. During the entire lunch Caspar kept referring back to Simon but never completed a sentence and he gave me the impression that he was trying to tell me something important but didn’t have the guts to cross Gervais. The gist of the conversation was that it was better for me to not have Simon in my life at least I thought it was what he was saying but in the end I just sat glowering and he gave up even the pretence of speaking to me.

We returned to work and I stared aimlessly at my computer not inclined to do a thing for if he was in a firing mood he could fire me too but I knew that would never happen without Gervais to ok it and Gervais liked to have me where he could keep an eye on me through Caspar and Claudia. Tim spent the rest of the afternoon hissing curses at me in the over reaction of the century. He told me all my faults then expressed the opinion that I was not worth all this trouble and Simon was being forced to pay for my stupidity and I would have told him to shut up except that in my heart I felt he was right.

As the day went on the sky darkened into another one of those thunderstorms our area was famous for and my mood managed to sink as bleak as the weather outside. Unwilling to face another spat from Caspar I decided to wait until everyone was gone before calling Simon for a ride home but when I picked up the phone all I got was a huge crackling noise. I tried my own phone but the reception as so poor that I could not get it to ring enough before it dropped out so I stepped outside to try and at that minute the sky opened up in an impressive storm of thunder and lightning. I turned to get back inside only to discover that my key did not work in the lock it seemed Caspar for some stupid reason had changed the lock on the front door.

I tried calling Simon again but could not get through to him in the storm then the sky cracked up and I was left standing exposed in the doorway in a storm that was scaring me but not as much as what was coming up the driveway. Gervais had decided to finally show his face, no doubt to see his handiwork for the day and as he pulled his car up to me the door opened expectantly. I wanted to refuse to get in but when the hail started I had no choice as the rock hard pellets started to sting my skin so I got into the car and he started back down the drive. I told him maybe we should just stay put but he pointed into the town where the sky was clearer and said it was not hailing there.

Hating to admit he was right I sat quiet while sitting next to my worst enemy and Gervais was quite cheerful trying to make small talk which stopped when I gave him a pointed glare of hate. Gervais might have been right about the storm not being in town but it followed behind and soon overtook us to hit Southside just as we had reached it. I wondered why storms and Gervais always seemed to appear together for it was as if he inspired a negative reaction in nature itself.

He quickly pulled into a side lane and we sat there listening to the hail hurl down onto the car and I hoped it was banging big dents into his sleek Jaguar. Gervais drove a big long black jag that was black outside and black inside, it was luxurious and forbidding all at once. I didn’t like it and wanted to leave but I had no idea where in town we were and there was enough hail to keep me still. I wanted to call Simon but I doubted I could get through and it would be hard to explain I was sitting here with Gervais.

I sat staring out the window pretending I could actually see something, which I couldn’t as Gervais had turned off the engine and was staring at me in his creepy fashion while I did my best to ignore him. It was so noisy I don’t think we could have had a conversation if we tried and we sat there both doing nothing but just watching the rain turn the windscreen into a block of solid silver. After a while I started to relax as it seemed all my worry was for nothing, Gervais just liked to creep me out for fun, and that was when he pounced.

This was not like the kiss at the Vanderhaven’s where he was enjoying a little dalliance, where he was restrained by the presence of others, this was Gervais in earnest. He pulled me into his arms roughly-- his mouth imprisoning mine while his hands moved up the back of my shirt. I went to push him away the way I pushed him away before but this time Gervais was not moving for he had me where he wanted me and I was not going anywhere. I fought his roving hands and turned my face away from his kisses but he pulled me back over and over his tongue raking mine, one hand holding me still while the other slipped inside my bra to hold my breast. I could not let him be the first person to touch me like this and in a last surge of fury I pulled my hand free and hit him in the balls as hard as I could. I felt his gasp of pain inside my mouth and took advantage of the moment pulling myself away and leaping out of the car.

The sting of the hail was a far better fate than being mauled by Gervais and putting my purse on my head to guard it I ran into the first door I could find. I ran inside gasping for life, my heart pounding to burst, and found myself face to face with Jojo Sedero. Of all the doors to find I chose the only one I had subconsciously known-- Northside Sedero’s. I grabbed the front of my ripped shirt and ran into the ladies room where I collapsed crying on a sink unable to stop my shivering. I looked up to find that Jojo had followed me in and was looking at me so coldly the air between us had become as icy as the heart of the man I had just run away from. He asked what had happened and not wanting him to see me like this I turned away to straighten myself up but only managed made myself look worse.

He folded his arms as if I was deliberately ruining his day and asked me again what was going on. I should have told him to shut up or go away or not to speak to me like this but I was in no position to make any rational decisions. Instead I told him everything; from the first deal with Gervais to the last one where I saved his business and Jojo stood impassively throughout my entire speech until I finished then asked what did I expect him to do, did I expect him to dump his girlfriend—a person who wanted to be with him? I had nothing to say to him, I was amazed at his bitterness after I had saved his business for him and I told him I did what I did for him and he just shrugged and said “Don’t expect me to be grateful. I wanted more than a business I wanted you.” Then he added bitterly “Anyway you have Simon now to amuse you.” I didn’t know how he had found out so fast about Simon but I wasn’t going to allow him to give me that crap. I said that Simon was here while he was gone off with some bimbo and Jojo’s face went black the way it did the day I sent him away, he turned on his heels and left me there wet, torn clothes and miserable. I could not call Simon as I didn’t want him to see me like this and I could not call Jazz because of what Jojo just said so I called someone who had no reason to help me but did anyway, I called Zizi.

Zizi arrived glowing like some avenging angel, she took one look at me huddling in the toilet and swooped down and dragged me back to her home. She had a little flat near the studios and she got me to take a shower and gave me some clothes after ensuring that Gervais had done no more than grope me. After leaving me stuttering incoherently about Jojo and Simon she left to make a phone call, and Simon turned up looking concerned but calm. I guessed that Zizi had not exactly told him the truth and I was planning to keep it that way. However I chose to deal with Gervais was something I needed to work out because now the ante was raised and so far I couldn’t pay the price.

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