Nearly naked beneath my Burberry trench coat, I feel the spurned fool in my pearls and silver stilettos. The taxi driver ignores the tears clogging my throat as I stammer the name of my hotel and slide onto the back seat. Once inside the cab, my coat flips up as I reach to close the door, and my naked buttocks press against the plastic seat for a moment, jarring me out of my self-pity. Ten minutes ago, I wouldn't have thought twice about being fucked hard up against one of the scarred walls in any room of the St. Alexis Hotel, and now the thought of my bare flesh touching the worn seat of this cab sends a shiver up my spine and I tug the coat down like a useless cocoon over my thigh-high stockings.
I know my mascara must be dripping ink from the fringes of my lashes but I can't be bothered to wipe the smudges from beneath my eyes. I probably look like some high-class hooker who cares that she lost her first trick. My hair is still disheveled where he grabbed it in his fist as he took my mouth and shoved his tongue against mine. I can still taste his breath on my bruised lips, my heartbeat still jolts erratically.
My plan had so much potential. I would arrive at the door of his hotel and surprise him wearing almost nothing but a necklace and high heels. I had pictured the slow smile that would light his face as he tilted his head toward mine. I could imagine him pulling me into his arms to anoint me with a slow sensual kiss, his lips gently touching mine before caressing my tongue with his.
I hiccup into the silent cab. My plan didn't work that way at all.
The driver pulls over, but I don't recognize my hotel. And then I see that he's stopped for another fare. Tiny glass beads of rain pelt the windshield and I feel sorry for anyone standing outside in this miserable weather without an umbrella or an REI jacket. Quickly the door opens and someone slides in next to me. The door slams shut and the woman who is suddenly at my side says throatily, "The Barrister, please." The cabbie nods and pulls out into the traffic again, which by this time has become a stagnant pool of crawling insects. In this weather, everyone wants a cab. And at this rate, it's going to take a long time to get anywhere.
"Cassandra, " she says and holds out her hand. I forgot she was there for a second. I can't even really comprehend her. I'm thinking - "Why didn't he want me?" and it doesn't jive with introducing myself to a stranger.
I finally shake off my cloud of rejection to say, "Uh, nice to meet you," and shake her hand in a firm grip. She stares at me with huge brown eyes. I notice that her mascara is not smudgy. Her hair is long and curls slightly like the rain has set it free. I notice she has a full mouth, but it's not very smiley. In fact, she looks perturbed.
"And you are?" She says curtly because I'm not speaking - only staring. I'm wondering how long I stood at his closed hotel door after he leaned against me with his mouth pressed at my neck.
"I can't be with you," he groaned quietly while he held onto my ass. I could feel his hard-on bite into me like a slap across the face. "I just can't." And then he kissed me hard and deep, so that my legs shook with the force of it.
"Oh - sorry. I'm Eve. And sort of distracted." I lean back in the seat and when I do, my coat gapes open. I was too fractured to button it all the way up when I left the St. Alexis. Belatedly, I noticed that my cleavage is very visible, the rounded tops of each breast exposed nearly to the dark pinkness of my nipples, and all of a sudden I'm uncomfortable in this enclosed space. Cassandra feels too close and I feel too naked under my trench. But I don't want to pull the coat collar up to my neck like cold nun, or old maid third grade teacher. So I just look over at her. What she's wearing can't be any sluttier than what I have on.
Her legs are stretched out toward me and I can't help but admire the knee-high black boots that compliment her very short black skirt. No tights or hose - must be nice. It looks like she has a white t-shirt on under her leather jacket, tiny rain droplets stick to the faded brown surface. Maybe she was out on a date as well. Maybe we can share sob stories.
"Distracted?" She asks, in a softer voice this time. She leans toward me and I can smell her spicy floral perfume. Jasmine? I sit up a bit and now there's a gape at the bottom of my coat, and I don't want Cassandra to see that even though I'm wearing a garter belt with my thigh-high stockings, I'm pantiless.