Dinner at Maxine was quiet. He wouldn’t have been there if Maxine didn’t insist that he came back with her and Deeta after the funeral. Her eulogy about how wonderful her relationship was with Amber, both personally and professionally, had diminished any appetite he had left for food.
He hadn’t told anyone what Charlie said to him. He played with his food with his fork. He glanced at Maxine and Deeta who were quiet with their own thoughts. Amber’s funeral felt like the end of a chapter that nobody wanted to talk about.
“How’s it going with Charlie?” Maxine broke the silence.
“It’s fine,” he said.
“Is she doing well at school? I hardly see her at work, I’ve been busy with the funeral arrangements and … other stuff.”
“Yeah … she’s doing great … she’ll be very busy soon, exams are coming up … is there any way she can take some time off work?”
Maxine didn’t respond immediately, she kept eating. “I don’t know … I was thinking, I need her to come with me to meetings … some partners are asking for the new girl.”
Brad let go of his fork, it clanked on his plate.
Deeta noticed the tension, she looked at Brad’s hardened expression.
“Sorry … you’re gonna have to get yourself another girl, Brad,” Maxine said.
“We had a deal,” his voice still calmed.
Maxine shrugged, “Deal’s off … besides, you have plenty of girls to choose from on campus, all young, nice and perky … Charlie’s mine … since the first time I laid eyes on her, I knew she was the one.”
“No! We had a deal … you keep the tape, I get the girl.”
“Who cares about the tape? … what’s the matter, Brad? What are you going to do with her anyway?” she wiped her mouth with a cloth.
“It’s none of your goddamn business, I want her at school and stay out of your office … you are not gonna feed her to your pervert friends!”
Maxine furrowed her eyebrows, “Do you actually have feelings for this girl?” She laughed, “You do, don’t you? So you’re going to exhaust her for your own personal pleasure? A teacher student thing with a promise of a scholarship? … I don’t know, Brad, that boyfriend of hers is really good in bed … I saw her came more than twice in one photo shoot … she’s …”
Brad grunted, stood up, “You’re disgusting … you’re not taking her anywhere, I’ll make sure of that, she won’t be coming to your office again.”
Maxine slammed her hands on the table, “I lost 7 contracts today! Seven!! Thanks to your dead-whore ex-girlfriend! I have to make up for that loss … do you understand?”
She stood up with fire in her eyes, “Change of plans, Brad, you are not taking her away from me … this is after all still my business you are in on.”
“Okay … settle down … can we talk this through without shouting? People can hear you,” Deeta reminded them of the staff that might be listening.
“You’re right sweetheart, … would you mind dismissing the staff? Tell them all to go back to their compound, I would like to teach my nephew a few things here.”
Deeta stood slowly and walked to the kitchen.
“Now you listen to me … you don’t have the luxury to feel anything for these girls, you won’t get far if you let your emotions get in the way … look what happened the last time you ‘thought’ you fell in love? It’s money, Brad, it’s always money! If you have enough of it, they’ll come flocking to you.”
She wasn’t entirely wrong, but Charlie wasn’t like that, and that was not what he intended to do with her.
“You corrupted her, you manipulated her into doing all those things until she turned into a monster just like you,” he was talking about Amber.
“You believe that? Why do you think she was with you in the first place? Because you’re rich! I just offered her someone richer and she said ‘yes’! Is that so hard to believe? Does that wound your ego?”
“You’re not doing that to Charlie … she won’t agree to something like that … they’ll rape her, she won’t comply,” his thoughts went wild in horror.
Maxine folded her arms, “So be it … I can’t afford to lose her now, I lost 7 contracts, she will have to do,” she said calmly.
Brad looked down, his hands rested on his waist, “You’re gonna have to fight me on this one … I won’t let you have her, I’ll go to the police if I have to.”
“How dare you!” her blood shot to her head.
“I’m not having this conversation with you again, I’m taking Charlie off your company … you can do whatever the hell you want with your life,” Brad said his final words and left the room.
Deeta was leaning on the kitchen doorway for the entire argument, she wasn’t going to stay either. Maxine was not a good company when she’s like that.
Maxine rummaged through her bag to look for the pills she’d been taking for the past week. Something to calm her nerves and help her sleep. She was at the end of the rope, she wasn’t going bankrupt or anything, it was just the end of her game that she enjoyed so much. She couldn’t accept it.
“I’m gonna leave with Brad,” Deeta said and took her purse from the dining chair. “You need to sleep on that for the night, I think.”
Maxine glared at her, “Fine! Go ahead! Leave me the hell alone! That’s what they all do eventually! I don’t need any of you!” she took her pills, washed them down with her wine.
She took an extra two after she heard the door slammed shut.
She sat down, steadied her breathing, she was getting old and her system went chaotic on her. Especially after everything that’s been happening lately. She needed to re-strategize, no one was going to help her, not even her closest people. She needed to calm herself down first, the solitude was actually helping.
Maxine went to her room and put on her bathing suit. She walked out to her balcony, put on some music. She poured herself another glass of wine, and got into her bubbling Jacuzzi. The hot water pressure relaxed her stiff muscles. She looked up at the sky and saw the stars. She remembered the days when everything was a lot simpler.
She reminisced about her younger days, her hardships and toil, she smiled recalling her successes. Her smile faded when she thought of the bad things she had to do to preserve it, the people she hurt, but there were those who hurt her too. Life is not fair, not to her, not to anyone. Some are tough enough to play their bad cards well. She was glad she was one of them.
When the pills started to kick in, she felt peaceful, as if all the tangled knot in her head and her body was loosened. Her eyes felt heavy. The last thing that crossed her mind before she went to sleep was Amber’s terrified face as she screamed her lungs out falling away from her to the ground.