Sink or Swim
My life was a mess! It’s the best you could describe it right now. Once, the world was my oyster, and I was a beaming starlet. “Football’s next prodigy,” they said.... The kid with the sky as his limit, they proclaimed, but now, I was here standing still in the middle of a gala that I did not need to attend, wondering when and how fast all that hype sank.
The entire place reeked of money. From the high-rising ceilings that held an array of chandeliers, all spilling a mellow flush of yellow... to the posh whispers hovering across the room, each one slipping from every guest donning their Sunday’s best.
Golden liquor caught my eye once or twice. Meanwhile, calls for my attention tugged at me too. Its source came from the far side, where a few of my teammates gathered... and yet, it was this mysterious man I saw leaning against a doorframe ahead, staring in my direction that had me shook.
He was wearing a full-on mask. The kind that the main characters from Money Heist wore. The only difference was that his fit, and the fabric was snug like a second skin, covering every bit except his eyes and mouth.
In a setting like this, that weird choice of accessory should have been flagged as extremely weird, and any other time, I would have walked out of his view.
But today, I was kinda tipsy, a little frustrated, and a whole lot of horny. Plus, the guy had these clear, piercing emerald eyes that had me weak on the knees. So basically, it was a foregone conclusion. My legs moved before any thought willed them to. I didn’t even twitch whenever any word vaguely resembling my name sounded from either side.
It was merely his presence holding my focus, and as soon as we were face-to-face with each other, the rhythm of my heartbeat ramped up immediately.
He had a couple of inches on me, and he was deliciously ripped – muscles so cut, I could spot every outline of them beneath the tailored, plain shirt he had on. Then, add to the fact that one of his buttons was left unhooked, and voila, the perfect cocktail of trouble.
“Hey man, what’s your deal?” I broke the ice, my arms spreading slightly, elbows bent beside my ribs.
“What’s your name?”. He replied, deflecting the question I threw at him, but that wasn’t what caught my attention. For one, his accent didn’t sound from here. Not completely. It almost had this Spanish “zing” to it. Still, his intonation was clear and deliberate, almost as if he had grown up with money.
I cocked my head slightly, preparing my response, but he beat me to it, his arm outstretched, drawing my attention to how delicate his fingers looked. That and the golden ring looping around his middle finger.
“Don’t worry, I already know. How could I forget? It’s something Miki Adeb...”
“Let’s just leave it at that, shall we. I don’t want to reveal that much to someone dressed so ... suspiciously to an event like this”, I cut in, a little annoyed that his voice trailed off, which he seemed to notice, prompting him to ask again.
“What does my appearance have to do with us bonding?”
“You call this bonding??” I scoffed, but it came out wrong and sounded more like laughter.
“I call this being a start to a wonderful relationship.”
“Okay ... Okay, you my friend are, are crazy. I don’t even know you. Heck, you are wearing a freaking mask”. I started, wearing a smile for the first line, then a straight face for the next two. He didn’t budge after I stopped. He just stood there, still staring through me.
A thought flashed my mind about calling security on him, then another urged me to walk over to my teammates and have fun at his expense. However, the obscurity of it all left me second-guessing, and that was enough of a window to let him lean in, the smell of his cologne muddying with the part of my brain responsible for logical thinking.
“And yet, you’re here.”
Wow. The confidence of this guy. I tried to fight it, but the warmth inside my belly grew stronger.
“Let’s get out of here.” He beckoned softly, tightening the knot in my stomach.
I wanted to speak; however, the sound of the microphone began to crackle from the stage, soaking up the voices already thinning out.
Then, the room echoed with shuffling feet, all stepping towards the far right.
My legs moved to follow, but then, he yanked me back against a pillar, forcing an angry gust out of my mouth.
“What the fuck are you doing?¡”
“Making this experience less boring for both of us,” he spoke, that smirk of his still fixed on his face. “You know what?”
“What?”
“Let’s play a game. Rock, paper, scissors. If you win, I’ll let you go. However, if you win... Let’s just say there’s a room with our names on it.”
I should have never agreed, and yet, I found myself raising one fist over the other.
We played for longer than I’d liked it. Our fingers were dropping and morphing so much, I let God keep score of my bobbing eyes and the beats my heart skipped whenever we landed the same shape.
Midway through the game, I even started to think to myself
“This was mine to win. This was mine to win.”
And yet, another inner voice would linger behind, whispering glimpses of an alternate ending. One where he’d won and we... He lost. Yeah, he drew paper while two fingers splayed in front of him. The one time, I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted the victory.
“Ouchhh... I guess. Hey, on the bright side, you got what you wanted, right? He spoke lowly, his back nearly to me, before my arms shot out for him.
“Wait!” I stopped him in his tracks, fingers soft against the hard contour of his biceps. My mind, suddenly at war with my heart as we stared in silence.
Time froze for a second until I threw out a “what the hell” and yanked him in, claiming his lips with my own, our hands touring each other with vicious need.
I didn’t even know when we both pulled away, the heat of the kiss still fresh in my breath, but once my eyes opened, everything became clear. A new side of me had taken over, damning all stipulations as I stared him down and said.
“You’re right. Let’s get out of here.”
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