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Flor
Looking over my shoulder to make sure nobody is following me, I push the door to the Starbucks open and make my way to the back booth, where, as expected, sits...Benjamin, Officer Braxton's son.
He gives me a knowing wink and I slide into the plush seating on the opposite side of the table.
Before I can even let go of my purse he's wrapping his hands around mine, giving me doe eyes like a little girl. Reminding myself that this is a means to an end, I allow it, although I can't help thinking how Frank would never act like this.
Benjamin might have a set of balls between his legs, but he comes across as more of the woman in this relationship than the man. It's good that I'm in control because I can get what I want out of him, but it leaves me questioning the future for other girls my age when this is the type of 'man' they have to choose from.
And Benjamin isn't a one-off case. He seems to be more the norm, than the exception to the rule.
Women are the new men anyway, so I embrace it and run with it.
"So. Heard you got away scot-free."
"You heard right then," I smirk. "Did you even doubt me?"
"No, but you never know with things like this."
"Things? Sounds like you're speaking from experience. This isn't your first time?"
I try to keep my arms from shaking as he takes my hands up to his mouth and kisses them. I want to puke, but I also want to hear what he has to say next. Seems like he's ready to brag and if so then I've got him.
"Not exactly. I mean it's not every day you fake a break-in and then make off with a bunch of designer Italian shit. I mean...it was more than an inside job than The Inside Job. You ever see that movie? Pretty good."
"I missed it, and I also missed the part where you didn't answer me if this was your first time," I press, trying to keep the conversation on track, but realizing I might be pressing too hard, too fast.
"You know," he begins releasing my hands and then making a fist which he puts under one side of his chin and violently cracks his neck to one side and then repeats the process on the other before he interlocks his fingers and turns his palms toward me, cracking his knuckles as well. "You wanted to roll with a stud like me because I'm experienced."
Clearly...at being a douche. I taste bile in my mouth watching his sophomoric behavior, but I have to stay on course. This is about mom, not me.
"So?"
He leans in and places his forearms on the table, his elbows out in each direction. "Dad's got some big-time shit for me coming up. Gonna be a big, big payday. You and me can take a holiday."
"Where?" I gasp, feigning excitement but he buys it like a cheap suit at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.
He looks over each shoulder and then says with all the pride in the world written all over his face. "The Bahamas." He nods. "That's right. Me and you, babe. Private beach. Nude. Imagine all the fun we can have."
Just as he reaches for my hands I pull them off the table and unconsciously sit on them so he can't have access. "Won't that be expensive?"
"Dad's got the cash coming in."
"That much? On a police chief's salary?"
Shaking his head no he rolls his eyes. "Wake up, woman. The point of being a police chief isn't to serve and protect. It's to extort and profit. How do you think we live in the house we live in...by the way dad's working tonight so it's empty, if you know what I mean. Maybe we could jumpstart this celebration. Kick off our Caribbean holiday a little early here in the Biscayne Bay. We're on the waterfront you know."
"I know. You've told me more than once."
"So. Whaddya say?"
"I...I just don't want to get in trouble. That's all."
"Don't wooooory," he says, dragging out the word for effect. "Dad's got some Judge Judy chick he works with. She's a freaking judge. What is anyone going to do, even if they do get caught."
My palms sweat in anticipation as I uncross and recross my legs under the table, becoming fidgety that I'm almost where I want to be, almost have the information that I want.
My toe bounces in the air, invisible to Benjamin as I go for it.
