Maxine sat alone in her office, Amber’s file was on her desk. She didn’t had the chance to hand it over to Amber, because the stupid girl decided to jump on her at the last minute.
She contemplated on the idea to report the accident, but it was too late, she had to make sure that they ruled it as a suicide.
Charlie’s absence was convenient. She spent the whole day alone in her office, cancelled all her meetings, everyone thought she was grieving. Amber was one of her darlings, she generated her the most income than any of her other artists.
It was an accident. She had gone through the incident over and over again in her head. Went over other possible scenarios the night could’ve been different, it couldn’t. It was fate, she had to die, it was better that way for everyone. Amber didn’t have anything to look forward to anyways. She would’ve had a miserable life after the contract ended. If anything, her death had spared her the agony of living a life she’d hate.
Maxine drew a long breath. Shit happens. Pick up where she left off, and move on. She’ll give her a proper burial as her last gift for the poor girl, afterwards, life will get back to normal.
Everyone is replaceable, that’s what she always says to her recruits. They’ll mourn her death for a few months, they’ll fall in love with a new face, and Amber will be just a face in the past.
She walked out of her office to go home early. Everyone was quiet, they looked at Maxine with sympathy. It was a sad day for Arch Enterprise. She was going straight for the elevator and got a dip in her Jacuzzi with a bottle of wine. She felt those eyes were following her, they were expecting a few words from her on Amber’s death.
Of course. How could she be so cold and not address the elephant in the room. She put on her sorrowful face, cleared her throat, “It’s a tragedy … what happened to our sweet beloved Amber … I’m shocked, I had no idea she was going through something so dark that she had thought there was no way out … I wish she had come to me and shared some of those thoughts with me … maybe I could’ve helped her … I wish we weren’t so occupied with our own lives that we forget to ask a friend if everything was alright.”
Some of the employees shed some tears, they were not merely workers, but also some of Amber’s biggest fans.
“I think we should all go home early today … it’s a sad day for us all … I want to arrange a funeral for her, a beautiful one, she deserves it … we will discuss this another day … I’m still overwhelmed with this news.”
**********
Pink champagne in one hand, a sensual lover in another, submerged in a bubbling hot water. Her mind wandered to the same place again. Did the police found anything that would indicate her death as something other than a suicide? Deeta’s long soft fingers moved her closer to her peak. She tilted her head back and sighed. She caressed her lover’s cheek, leaned over to kiss her as she moaned in pleasure of her cumming around her fingers.
“You like that?” Deeta asked.
“Mm … hmm …,” she grimaced, still contracting to her touch.
“Let’s take it to the gallery,” Deeta’s eyes invited her to a more fun game in the gallery.
Deeta knew what she liked, she’s not one to shy away from what her lover needed in the bedroom. It was a hard day, a little massage on her back to relax her muscles would help.
Maxine flexed her neck to the left and right while Deeta massaged her shoulders down to her back and unhook her bra. She slowly slid her hands to Maxine’s front, cupped her breasts, and continued to massage them.
Maxine closed her eyes and smiled, she laid back on Deeta’s stomach as her body relaxed.
“There you go … just relax … it’s been a long and winding day … I want you to enjoy yourself,” Deeta whispered in her ear. “I know just the thing you need,” she added. Then she pushed a button on the wall just above the side table beside the sofa.
A young woman in a lingerie came in through the sliding door. Maxine took a peek, a wide smile spread across her face. “This is why I love you … you know exactly what I need.”
Deeta hunched over to kiss her, thrust her tongue into her mouth, “I know, baby, just spread your legs … we’ll take turns.”
It was a perfect ending of an awful day. “Wait …” she remembered something. “Could you put this tape in? I want to watch it while we do this.”
Deeta gave a nod to the girl to play the tape. It was re-winded to the beginning, and the girl played it on the big screen TV in front of them. Afterwards, the girl pulled Maxine’s panties as if on cue.
She didn’t notice it at first. It was just another sex tape Maxine brought home like many others before. This one had more people in it, still it was just another fun lover’s night with Maxine.
Then she recognized the faces, she was distracted. Deeta glanced more than twice to the TV screen, she couldn’t believe her eyes. She knew Maxine was a little out there when it came to sex, but what she saw was distasteful. She’d like to believe that there were still some boundaries for their sexploration, no matter how much she loved it.
The video was the boundary. Deeta stopped at her track and pulled away. She had lost interest. She could not go on with the night when Amber’s face was staring right at them from the screen. She stood up.
“Where are you going?” Maxine asked.
“Never thought something can put me off like this … then you played the tape …” Deeta put on her sheer robe over her and tied a knot. “You can go on without me, darling … I think I’d rather get myself a drink.” She didn’t even wait for a response. Deeta trotted out of the room and didn’t look back.
**********
“Don’t tell me you’re still upset about the video,” Maxine said when she went to her study to find Deeta with a frown.
Deeta blew a smoke from her naked lips, no make-up, just an attitude to match her reputation. “I know you went to see her yesterday … did you do it?”
Maxine gasped, “You think I did that? She jumped off that building because of what she did to herself … she wanted out, she gave me the tape to cancel the contract … so I did, then she probably realized she had nothing left to live for,” she took a cigarette and lit it up.
Deeta watched her with eagle eyes. She loved this woman, she also knew what she was capable of. “You swear on your life … you have nothing to do with her being dead?”
Maxine put one hand on her chest, “I swear … on my life … I’m hurt that you don’t believe me … but I was there … you’re right, and I didn’t tell anybody because they wouldn’t believe me that I don’t have anything to do with that.”
Deeta took a drag from her cigarette, arms folded in front of her, still studying her lover’s gestures, she wanted to believe her. “So I guess now Tom is taking her place? That’s why you wanted the video?”
Maxine’s eyes hardened, this is the part where she didn’t like to mix business with pleasures. She hated it when Deeta checked on her morals. There’s no right or wrong in business, there’s only money, most people don’t get that. That’s why most people were not as successful as she was. “Maybe … I don’t know … the tape should come in handy whenever needed, I don’t really need the tape to get Tom to do what I want him to do … I already have his girlfriend,” she raised an eyebrow and took a drag.
“You can keep the tape … but the girlfriend is mine,” a male voice came from the dark corridor of the room’s entrance.
They both looked for the source, a figure stepped out to the light. He had arrived to hear the last part of the conversation.
Deeta put out her cigarette and stood up, she didn’t want to be there for a family discussion. “I’m gonna leave you two for business negotiation … I guess it’s true what they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” she walked away in her swag and gave Brad a look.
“Well … you finally understand how the game works? She’s a goldmine, isn’t she? Too bad she doesn’t want to be on the screen, she could make us a ton of money,” Maxine told her nephew.
Brad took the seat where Deeta had left vacant, “Exactly … she wants the school … the school is my territory … so Charlie’s mine, I don’t want some old geezer nibbling on my asset.”
Maxine smiled widely, “You really like this girl … I didn’t realize that,” she took a deep breath and thought for a moment. “You’re lucky I haven’t introduced her to my colleagues … otherwise they would be on my ass everyday … fine … you can have her, I need to lay low for awhile anyway … this Amber thing needs to die down before anything could go back to normal.”
“I need you to promise that she won’t be touched or she’ll never trust me … I need her to trust me.”
Maxine extended her pinky, “Pinky promise,” she bit her lower lip. “I like how possessive you are … I hope you don’t mind sharing her once in awhile.”
Brad’s face was unreadable, “We’ll see.” He was silent for a moment. “Did you kill her?”
Maxine shook her head, “I trade people … I don’t kill them.”