The Dead of Night

Dan remembered going to the old Nigerian doctor’s house. He gave me a shot and staples in my back. From that point, time broke into patches. What the hell was in that syringe? I can’t move my body. Where am I?

Someone carried him up the stairs in his building. He heard voices.

“Rocco, don’t drop him!”

“I got him, Boss. It's only three flights up, right?”

Dan blacked out again. But the thunderstorm woke him on his bed in his dark apartment. The crackle of lightning illuminated his room. He still couldn’t move but felt something. Euphoria, lovely. That quack doctor drugged me good. The bathroom. someone was in the shower. He blacked out and awoke again. Someone stood in his room, next to the bed naked. No, wearing panties and one of his t-shirts.

Reyna? “Ree..nnaaah,” Dan tried to speak. But he couldn’t form syllables in his mouth.

The person climbed on the bed next to him, and when he glanced at her, it was Rica.

“Sssh..don’t try to talk. Dr. Ola gave you a powerful tranquilizer at my request,” she whispered, pulling him close, placing his head on her breasts. Her hand stroked his hair and face.

What’s happening? “Ah, aah.” The words wouldn’t come out.

Rica hushed him again, “Don’t fight, Dan. You’re safe here. With me.”

What?

She smiled, “You know Dan. You spend a lot of time in denial of who you really are. But I know who you are. I always knew.”

His eyes rolled back as he drifted in and out of consciousness. But Rica’s words, they reached him. And he felt her weight, when she climbed on top of him, straddling him.

What are you doing?

“Dan, I know everything about you. I know that you beat your neighbor’s boyfriend up when you caught him hitting her when you were eighteen. Hmm, you put him in the hospital. Tell me, was that girl a childhood friend? Was she pretty? Did you love her?”

Rica raised his shirt and kissed his stomach, once, twice, then moved up to his chest.

No, not right. Dan tried to roll over, but barely raised his arms and blacked out again. But only for a moment. When his eyes opened, Rica’s hair draped over his face.

“N-No.”

She grinned and held him down. “Hm hm hm, Danny, Danny, Danny. Before you arrived at school I read about you. You had to join the infantry to avoid an assault charge in Pennsylvania, hm hmm. Then what did you do in Kunar Province, Afghanistan? Not one year in country and you ruthlessly killed those three insurgents. And oh yes, I know the details, it’s public information. You beat the last one with your rifle butt before shooting him in the face, hm hm hm hm!” A diabolical cackle, “What a bad boy you are, Mr. Capra.”

He gulped, trying to turn away from the truth.

Rica pulled his face back, “No, no, Dan. You see, you aren’t going to lie anymore, because I know who you are, and I know you want me!”

She kissed his neck, he tried to push her. Lord knows he tried, but his arms wouldn’t work.

“Hm-hm, I told you it’s a powerful sedative. Dr. Ola dabbles in chemistry on the side. He makes wonderful concoctions out of horse tranquilizers.” She softly bit his ear, whispering, “Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Aah.”

“Eh? Are you asking me how I know you want me?” she stroked his chest, his arms, his face, “Easy. I knew the day you came looking for me by the deli. What, did you think Nicky told you I was outside with two scary looking men out of thin air? Hm? And just as I expected, you came out to save me. And Bling and Ian, they were just doing what they always do when any man says anything to me. They were going to kill you! Hm hm hm hm, they’re so cute, so overprotective of me, yaaaa! It’s too bad they’re not mine.”

Dan turned his eyes away. The heavy rain outside splashed his window. And the crackle of thunder.

“Hey handsome, I’m still talking to you.” Rica’s eyes seemed to glow in the dark. Her thigh rest on his. “You see, the second you didn’t back down from my boys I knew.” She hovered over his lips, “I knew that you would never let anything happen to me. Because you wanted me, you wanted me the moment you saw me staring at you in class, didn’t you Dan?”

“No!” he muttered.

She smiled, “Sorry Dan. You can’t even lie to yourself anymore. But you proved it when you walked into that warehouse with me. You knew what would happen, you knew what I had planned and you went with me and you killed for me!” she growled with sadistic eyes. “Because you love me, don’t you Dan?”

"I..I"

She opened his mouth, and tongued him, deep.
“Mmm!” No! Please, Rica. Please no!

Rica didn’t stop. She kissed him long and hard.

“Mm, No!” With all of his strength, Dan tried to roll his body, and move his face and her hands away from him.

Rica entertained him until he ran out of steam and stopped moving, nearly blacking out again. Please no.

She finally stopped, “Aaah, Danny. It’s ok. I know that you’re only resisting me on your ‘principles.’ And that’s fine. You’ve long since proved what I said was true.”

She raised herself over him. “But I’ll behave myself Dan. I will. And in fact the real reason I’m here is to tell you a few secrets. Secrets that only you and I know. Are you interested in my secrets?”

His eyes tried to focus on her.

“Oh? So you are listening, good. Because what I am going to tell you is important.” She squeezed his nose, “Dan, the power of attorney. I told Frank to give that to you. No one knows I did that. Dan, make sure you see the lawyer on Monday.”

His eyes stopped moving.

“Yes, pay attention. The accounts Dan. The names on the accounts. I told you to ask my mother to find out. Dan, this is important! The accounts are your leverage, they’re your only leverage!”

Her raised voice cleared his mind. He heard her. He understood. The accounts lead to the ones stealing from Frank. The third variable wants them.

The third variable.

His eyes focused again. Is Rica the third variable? No? Then who is? Who does Rica work for?

“One last secret Dan, and then I let you sleep.” She gazed at him with sleepy eyes.

His mouth opened, “S..se..ret?”

“Eh?” she smiled with a chuckle, “Haha, I told you were into me, mmm.” She laid her head on his chest and cuddled with him tight, while thunder clapped in the outside storm. “My last secret Dan, and don’t laugh, but um. I’m still a virgin.” She pulled a blanket over both of them, and buried her face in his side, “Hm, hm hm, now go to sleep." She bit his tit.

Dan sighed with sadness. Unable to shake his head, unable to say a word. He glanced down at her, smelling her shampoo, his shampoo since she washed her hair in his shower.

I wanted to be a good man. But now I don’t know what I am anymore. No, stop your shit and take responsibility for your action Dan and fix this!

Goddammit, Daniel! You fix this you son of a bitch!

He clenched his fist as tight as he could and with Rica holding him, and the hard rain battering his windows, he blacked out. His final thought…

Fix this..

....