~~~
Natalie Acker lived in a rich apartment, more of a condo. Her house was on the topmost floor, 35th and as the lift moved upwards, I mentally prayed for it to not have any short circuit or get stuck suddenly. I had claustrophobia since I got locked in the bathroom in third grade, don’t even ask how that happened.
I sighed in relief as the bell dinged on the 35th floor and we got out. On the right was a huge brown door with a fish made of thick threads hanging at the side.
Colton rang the green-colored bell and stepped back. We heard some shuffling from the other side, a loud cuss, and then locks moving before the door finally opened. There stood a woman with blonde highlighted hair tied up in a messy bun and green eyes that squinted at Colton. Though that’s not what anyone would see first, her main assets were her breasts, one look and there was no way that the garments Colton had found at Raul’s pace weren’t hers. Breast implants at their best!
Right now they were merely clad in a see-through white crop top which enabled anyone from 10 feet distance to see the bright neon pink bra. The crop top showed off her flat stomach and the silver stomach ring. Her denim shorts barely covered the long legs. I could bet she was about 6′ which was a giant in front of my tiny 5’4”
“I don’t do kids.” She snorted, staring at Colton and starting to shut the door.
I swear my jaw dropped till the ground floor, Colton on the other hand turned pink and blinked rapidly, clearing his throat. “Uh no, w-we uh just came here to ask some questions not that um yeah.”
Her eyes squinted at ‘we’, glancing behind Colton to glance at me. Her eyes turned disapproving. I could basically hear her thoughts, what was a hot guy like Colton doing with a plain girl like me. I stood my ground, not letting her drilling gaze put holes on me.
“Hi, I am Racheal Smith and this is Colton Hastings, my boyfriend.” Unintentionally I focused on the word boyfriend, making Colton smirk beside me.
Natalie’s eyes turned disinterested. “So?”
“We wanted to ask a few questions about the Raul case.”
Her reaction was amusing, the bored stance changed to stiff and her eyes hardened, lips forming a straight fuck offline. “Why did the guard not intercom me?”
I shrugged, not caring to explain that we had managed to slip past him which he was busy eating a burrito.
“I am going to make sure he is fired.” Natalie swore, gritting her teeth.
“Can we come in?” Colton inquired politely, giving her his best smile.
I mentally rolled my eyes as I saw Natalie’s face soften. “Yes of course.” She shifted, letting us enter.
The insides were just as elegant as the building. The walls were painted white and a large chandelier hung at the center. There was a grey and black couch and three matching love seats with a glass table in between. Looked like she entertained a lot of people.
I sat on a love seat, making sure Colton sat beside me. Natalie sat on the arm of the opposite couch. “Would you like something to drink?”
We shook our heads.
“Good because I wasn’t going to give.” She sassed, falling back on the couch facing the ceiling. “Go on shoot. The police have already investigated me twice and the third time they came I had to flip them off.”
“So you were Raul’s girlfriend.” Colton started.
Natalie snorted, rolling her eyes. “No, I was his grandmother.”
Colton pressed his lips together, fighting a retort, and continued. “You stayed there quite a lot?”
“Hardly.”
“Can I use the washroom?” I politely asked.
Natalie turned to me. “Pay a dollar.”
That was the second time my jaw dropped to the ground floor and my eyes grew larger than her breasts. She chuckled at my reaction, waving me. “Go use it for free, but just once. Next time a dollar. Straight to the right” She turned back to examine her chandelier.
I nodded at Colton and walked into the washroom. As soon as I entered, I shut the door, starting my investigation. It was huge, there was even a Jacuzzi with glass walls around. A full-length mirror in the shower and two huge cabinets next to the basin. An intercom connected beside the bathtub. What did she do to earn so much?
I opened the cabinet, grinning when I found an open Venus razor, the same one that was there in Raul’s cabinet. I probed more and found the exact shampoos and body lotions. Even a bleaching box from the same company. Hardly staying there huh? I snapped a few pics, and slowly opened the door.
I stepped outside, keeping the door open. I vaguely heard Colton asking her about her relation with Raul and her sarcastic answer of asking Raul himself.
Rolling my eyes, I twisted a doorknob slowly and entered the bedroom. Fortunately, it was the master bedroom and it was definitely hers judging by the mess there. I stared widely at the handcuffs in the middle of the bed, next to a red thong. Suddenly glad Colton wasn’t investigating here.
I carefully stepped on the floor, missing the thrown clothes, there was even a guy shirt in the mess. I froze wondering if there was a guy hiding here somewhere. My heartbeat rose and I barely breathed, eyeing every corner of the room, even bending to see under the bed and feeling glad when there was no human hidden beneath.
As I stepped towards the large brown cupboards, my anxiety increased. What if he was hiding in there? Grabbing a nearby comb as my weapon, I slowly opened the doors, cringing when they creaked a bit. I blinked, fretfully moving the clothes. I scoffed when I found no one, throwing my weapon back on the bed, I opened a drawer.
Least surprised to see the whole of 50 Shades of Grey shop in it. I snapped a pic and closed it, opening the next. It consisted of lacy and ridiculously expensive lingerie, the same size which was at Raul’s place. I closed that too and opened the last one, sighing when I found out it was locked. I went through the thousands of dresses, drooling over each one. Would she notice if I sneaked one out?
I took a few more pics, more of the dresses so that I could tell my family and friends what I exactly wanted for my birthday. I closed the cupboard and scanned the bedroom one last time before exiting it.
I went back to the washroom, flushing and washing my hands. I returned back to the living room where Natalie was now seating with her hands under her chest, making the breasts seem bigger.
“Takes you so long to take a dump? Some disease or taking selfies?”
I scowled at her question. “I actually have diarrhea.”
Her nose wrinkled in disgust. “Eww, I need to spray air freshener. Shove yourselves out, I have entertained you two enough.” She stood up, looking around for the bottle.
“Hey Natalie, what happened to you and Layla?”
She shrugged. “We fought a month back, haven’t talked since then. Good riddance.”
I bit my lip before asking. “Is that why you still have a photo frame of you two in Paris right next to your bed?”
Her head snapped towards me faster than Zayn Malik left One Direction. “You went into my bedroom.” She accused furiously.
I shook my head. “I could see it when I exited the washroom.”
“The door was shut!”
“No, it wasn’t.” I lied, fortunately, I had forgotten to shut the door.
She glared at me. “Don’t sneak around.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. “Answer the question.”
“We had fought. She wasn’t too happy with my choice of boyfriend. But a week before Raul died, she came to me apologizing. We had been friends for 6 years, I wasn’t going let all that go waste over some rich asshole, so we went to a nearby club, partied hard, and had enormous hangovers.” Natalie replied.
“Where were you when Raul died?”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you accusing me of murder?”
“No, it was just a simple curious question.” I answered, shrugging casually.
She snorted. “What are you, Dora? Should I say Dora’s questions were really hard today?”
I bit my lip from snapping at her and laughing at the same time. “How about just answering honestly?”
“Fine I was at NexGen 5, the club next to signal, I work as a sophisticated stripper. I and Raul had a row about my occupation and I slapped him, going to work. I never cheated on him in the seven months we dated, just so you know.” She pressed her lips. “When he died I was probably in my black garters shaking my butt to Rihanna’s Work.”
I slowly nodded, not surprised Raul didn’t approve of his girlfriend’s stripper ways. Who would? “Do you suspect anyone?”
Natalie shrugged carelessly. “Don’t care. My only regret is I won’t get money from him now. I heard he made his stupid sister and niece his inheritor.”
“Have you ever met her?”
“Unfortunately. And now that reminds me. Just a sec.” She went into her room and came back after a minute with a huge pink teddy. “Give this to her, Raul had given it to me when we had gone to Germany, he bought it from a roadside shop and then forgot to take it from me.”
Colton took the teddy from her and I didn’t miss the way her hands brushed seductively against him. Rolling my eyes, I repeated the question. “But you must be at least suspecting someone?”
Natalie sent me a glare. “I would suspect Nick, Raul and Nick never got on well but he’s already dead so, tough luck kid.”
I wanted to punch her for calling me kid, bloody cougar. “Any idea why they didn’t get on well?”
“Something about their business, Nick cheated on Raul, I think. Never asked about it, not my problem.” She responded, staring at long red nails.
“What business?” Colton inquired.
“You two ask so many questions. I don’t know.” She spat. “Now I have to take a bath and then soften my skin for my act today at the club.” She winked at Colton. “You can always come if you want. Of course, it’s a 21 over club but I can always arrange something for you. Something special.” Her voice dripped and became huskier, a deaf person could hear the meaning behind it.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “No thanks. You have fun opening your legs repeatedly like a Starbucks door.”
Natalie surprisingly let out a laugh. “You got a jealous one there.” She declared, winking at Colton. “And I am a stripper not a slut. I dance on a pole not ride it.”
I bit my lip, not caring to reply.
She continued. “As I said, I am very busy, so out you two get the hell off my property. I would say it was nice meeting you two but then I would be lying. So adios.” She opened the door, waving us out.
As soon as we stepped out, she banged the door shut making us flinch.
“Well, that was fun.” I snorted, walking towards the elevator.
Colton didn’t reply, he seemed deep in thought. Unconsciously I wondered what they had talked about when I was peeking through her room and if he was actually thinking of going to see her dance on a pole.
I started my mom’s real Lamborghini which had magically appeared in the garage Monday morning. Mom kept saying that her Julie had been possessed for that week and now it was back to her original state. I of course knew better.
As we got out of the building, Colton spoke, expressing his deep thoughts. “What the hell does a sophisticated stripper mean?”
~’~
I was bored out of mind as our Physics sir droned on and on about how opposite poles attract, and similar ones repel and the history and theory between them. I doodled on my book, shutting off his annoying voice.
I felt so dumb not understanding what he was saying and I wanted the cemented floor to open up and swallow me.
Unfortunately for me, Colton and Simone were both not there in this class. Eva and Ira went in the back hidden behind their bags and probably in a lengthy dream by now. The only one active was Drew who was sitting a few desks ahead, texting away on his phone.
I tore a piece of page, ‘Hey sup?’ I crumbled the paper into a ball and threw it at him, grinning when it landed right on his desk.
Drew stared at the paper and then turned back to see who threw it, I was going to wave my hand but just then the professor turned to us and I had to look down acting like I was taking notes.
After a few seconds, a crumpled paper landed on the floor and I picked it up. It was in Drew’s sloppy handwriting. ‘Hey 😉 Meet me at my locker after class, 1256 😉 we can have some fun! Xoxo. PS. Tell me your size so I can identify you.’
I could have burned the paper with my eyes. What an idiot! And to think both my best friends like him. ‘You idiot I am Racheal!’
‘Oh, hey! The offers open for you too 😉 on second thoughts, it’s not. Colton would kill me, cut me into pieces and then kill me again. So don’t, I repeat DON’T come to 1256, unless of course, you have food, then you are always welcome! ;)’
I rolled my eyes at the text on paper, sighing when the bell finally rang. Everyone was up before the professor even finished his sentence. I crumbled the paper and threw it at Drew. “You are such a flirt!”
He winked, cackling. “In my genes babe, in my genes.”
“Don’t let them spread in your jeans!”
Drew laughed, putting his heavy arm around my shoulder as we walked out. “You know you want me. If Colton wasn’t in the picture you would be begging for some Drew drops.”
I wrinkled my nose with disgust. “Eww. Get off me.” I pushed him away as he went into a laughing fit. I scowled at me before I caught sight of Ira. “Hey, Ira!”
Drew’s reaction was more than hilarious. He immediately straightened up, taking a good foot away from me and brushing his hair nervously. “H-hi.”
This time I went into a laughing fit, it increased when Ira turned to us and smiled cheerfully at Drew who turned pink muttering, “OMG she smiled.” Under his breath.
I patted Drew’s back. “Dude you are whipped more than a Disney Prince.”
He scowled at me. “Shut up.” He grinned at Ira, walking towards her. Eva raised her eyebrows and then shook her head, walking at me. “He is so whipped.”
I laughed, wiping a tear from my eye. “That’s exactly what I said.”
“What is so funny?” Colton eyed us as he exited his Mechanics class.
I pointed at Drew and Ira who were blushing more than talking. Colton chuckled softly. “He is whipped.”
“That’s what we said!” Eva and I exclaimed together, guffawing.
Colton rolled his eyes. “We have Calculus next, let’s go.” He reminded me and I groaned. “No! I am so tired.”
“That was the first lecture, Smith.”
I scowled. “Just the word school tires me out, Hastings.”
He rolled his eyes. “Bad luck, let’s go now.”
I waved at Eva who had Art with Simone next. They were painting animals this time. Simone had painted a penguin who looked like a black and white version of a fat pole. The teacher has given her a flat look and told her to start over again. Simone in return was going to draw the teacher’s face as her animal. Yep, detention was on her way.
School finally ended after what seemed like years. “Hey, I got that teddy, want it back?” Colton asked, jogging towards me.
I nodded. “Yeah it isn’t too bad, maybe I’ll keep it for myself.” I joked, not really.
He opened his car, grabbing the soft toy. But unfortunately, the chain behind it seemed to have got stuck somewhere and when Colton pulled it aggressively, the teddy tore open. And instead of the stuffing material, what fell out were white packets, too many white packets.
We stared at the packets suddenly spread out in his backseat. “Holy fuck!” Colton swore, staring at the packets with his jaw hanging. “Those are drugs.”
My breath hitched and my heartbeat rose at a lethal speed as I stared at a white packet that fell off the seat and the teddy who grinned at us wickedly. “Fuck! We are so screwed.”
~~~