LATCH (7 page)

Holy fuck, is this what he does with other women?

His cock looks hard as she grinds against him.

“You okay?” Sasha asks me.

“Yeah.” But who am I kidding? I’m far from fucking okay! After a while longer he’ll be fucking her, and God, imagining that really hurts like hell. I’m not naïve to what he does for a living, but seeing it in front of my face puts things into a whole different perspective. Sasha links her arm through mine and I smile at her looking away from him. “You sure?” she asks as I try to act like everything is normal as we walk towards the VIP section. “I’m great,” I point to the girls and laugh at them.

But my eyes are pulled back to him and this time he looks up. I’m not sure how he saw me with the sea of women all around, including the one dry humping his cock. But he did. Looking across the room, we keep our eyes locked on one another, staring. I yearn for him, like nothing else that I’ve wanted. I can’t focus on anything, just him, his eyes, his lips, his everything.

“Here you ladies go,” the hostess says, stopping in front of a u-shaped booth. “My name is Natalie, if you need anything at all.”

Looking down at my empty glass, shocked that I drank it all already, I respond, “I think we’ll take another round of Long Islands.”

“You got it.”

The girls all sit down, still rowdy and laughing. “Do you mind if I use your name from now on?” Mandi asks jokingly. “I mean, look at where we’re sitting. This is the life.”

“Hey, it’s not mine – it’s Darrell’s. Use it all that you want.” She laughs and I do my best to push the thought of Latch away and keep the conversation off of me, so I ask Sasha. “How long are you guys in the city for anyways?”

“I have a job interview Friday, then we are going to fly out. I thought I told you?”

“I don’t think so.” I can’t recall her telling me at all. I’d remember something like that…wouldn’t I?

Looking up, I spot Latch, standing alone, watching me. He gives me that smile, the one that makes my heart skip a beat and nods me over to him. I freeze, glancing behind me like he is looking at someone else and when there isn’t anyone…I clench my thighs. Fuck, I need him. He chuckles at me shaking his head.

“I’ll be right back,” I tell Sasha with no other explanation and stand. I feel wobbly, but force myself to steady as I walk away towards Latch.

His eyes are all over me as he coolly sips on a beer. As I approach him, he leans down and kisses my cheek and then holds me in a tight hug. My insides break being this close to him again. Fuck, I missed him. “How are you doing?” he asks, concerned.

I shake my head, not able to answer him, I just hold on to him. “I’m sorry that we got caught, Abby. I want you to know that.”

“Me too,” I tell him, inhaling his scent as I’m wrapped in his closeness.

He pulls away and studies my expression with his adoring eyes, putting his hand on my face as I lean into his touch. “He hasn’t hurt you, has he?”

“No, but he won’t leave the house and he won’t let me either.”

“So you’re just going to stay there and be a prisoner?” There is a clear line of aggravation to Latch’s tone.

“What other choice do I have? I have nowhere to go.”

“You can come and stay with me.”

Hi suggestion shocks me. Would he really want that? “I wouldn’t inconvenience you like that.” I can’t even bring myself to look at him.

“Abby, I mean it, my place is always open to you.”

“What about your clients?” I ask with frustration.

“I never take them to my home.”

Just then, the woman Latch was dancing with comes up and pulls him away from me. Her hands are all over him as he stumbles over her to walk. My heart breaks, just when I thought that maybe I was different. That maybe since he welcomed me to his home, I was not like the rest. But, I’m no different than any of the other women that he keeps on speed dial. He’s probably gonna fuck her in his bed tonight.

Walking back to the girls, I sit dumbfounded and I’m not sure why. It’s not like I didn’t know what his job entails. The music is loud and as much as my insides are breaking, I wash it away with more alcohol. Fuck Latch and the goddamn pedestal he lives on.

Exiting the club, I’m not sure what time it is, but we closed the place down and I’ve drunk my fair share, enough to wash away the memory of Latch Teracino or whatever his last name is. “Oh my God, Abby, that was the best night ever,” Sasha says, hanging on to my arm.

I hold her back, both of us wobbly as we stumble along the way, laughing. “We should totally get a hotel,” I tell her, not wanting the night to end.

“Yes, we have to.”

“Abby?” I hear my name called from behind us, and I turn to see Latch leaning against the side of the building. His hands are in his pockets and his one foot is resting on the wall. All the color drains from my face as my blissful buzz washes away. I about lose my breath looking at him and again he nods me over. But this time I don’t move, I flip him off trying to act tough. He pushes himself away from the wall and comes to me. Sasha asks me, “Is that him?” letting go of me.

“Yup,” I respond and swallow hard.

Why is he waiting for me?

He walks towards me with that look, the one that made me give into him in the first place and she says, “We’ll wait for you.” I look behind me as she is getting into the car.

The other girls are all peering out the door and the second that Latch is close enough, he pulls my body against his. I take in a deep breath to try and calm my nerves. He kisses the top of my hair, and the warmth of his hold is so soothing that I could cry. I blink heavily, just wanting to let go. Then he looks down at me and smiles…my heart melts. Goddammit, he’s so fucking gorgeous.

“Hey,” he says in his deep, calm voice and I search for mine.

“Hi,” I respond.

“Can we talk?”

“Sure.” I’m on autopilot, letting him take me where he may, like he has so many times before. He wraps his arm around me leading me away from the club and I am stunned watching in slow motion as he hails a cab. The yellow car stops in front of us and Latch opens the door gesturing me inside. A few of the girls pop out of the sunroof and I look at them with a dazed expression, before climbing in. I’m not sure what to do, but when he touches my back, I enter the car. The smooth leather behind my legs reminds me of when he’d spank me with his riding crop. Calmly, he sits next to me and closes the door, then tells the driver, “To Brooklyn, please, Crown Heights.”

“Where are we going?” I ask, “I thought we were gonna talk?”

“We are, at my place.”

“Aren’t you working?”

“No, not anymore. I walked my clients home hours ago and have been waiting for you.”

“Clients?”

“Yes, I work with that woman and her husband.”

My eyebrows scrunch together as all sorts of nasty thoughts cross my mind. “Don’t worry, they hire me just for her.”

I don’t even want to know more. Just the sheer thought of him with someone else makes me sick. Shaking my head, I turn in my seat suddenly questioning everything. He grabs my thigh and I look down at his hand. As much as I love his fingers on me, I can’t do this. I’m just like the rest. I’m not special. “I don’t think I should go back to your place.”

“Why not?”

I let out an exasperated laugh. “Because, Latch, because of you and what you do for a living, I…I can’t look past it, I’m sorry. When it was just me and you alone, I could ignore all the rest of it, but seeing you with her tonight…” I blink a few times, sitting forward to brace myself on the seat. With alcohol coursing through my veins, I tell the driver, “Stop the car.”

He looks at me and then Latch in the rearview mirror. Latch passes him a hundred dollar bill and says, “Sorry, she’s drunk, just keep driving.”

With my eyebrows scrunched together, I look at him pissed off and push him away from me. Even though it hurts like hell to reject him, I’m not going to let him control me the way that Darrell has for so many years.

“Abby, don’t do that.”

“Why?”

“Because we need to talk about things.”

“We talked earlier and you got pulled away by some whore. What more is there to say? We don’t need to go to your place to do that.” I laugh to myself; calling that woman a whore is like calling myself one. Leaning my head back, I close my eyes, everything is spinning and ask him, “Please just take me home.”

“No, I have more to say,”

“Then say it!” I shout at him.

He blinks a few times and swallows. “Please don’t make me do it here. Just come to my house, please.”

Watching Abby inside of my apartment does something to me. I’m not sure how I convinced her to come here, but I did. I’ve never had a woman in my home, besides my grandma, so it’s strange. As she walks around looking at everything, so interested in my life, her beauty evokes me, and for the first time ever, I’m lost for words.

“Who is this?” she asks, picking up a framed photo.

“My grandma and I.”

“Are you close?” she asks.

“Yes, extremely.”

She sets it down, not asking anything else and looks out the windows that overlook the street. Taking a sip of water she asks me, “Had you not seen me tonight, would you have fucked that woman?” she asks, her question catching me off guard.

Nervously, I run my hand down the back of my neck, but I can’t lie. “Yes, I would have.”

“How much would she have paid you?”

“Five grand.”

She turns away from the window and looks at me shocked. “Is that your normal going rate?”

“Depends on the client.”

“Why didn’t you charge me that much? You know who my husband is.”

“I never wanted to take your money in the first place, Abby, but it’s really all I know. And since you are married, I thought it was the only way you’d keep seeing me.”

She looks a little stunned by this revelation, but recovers quickly. “Why leave that kind of money tonight then?”

“I figured it was my only chance to talk to you. You asked for space, which I gave you, but it was hard.”

“So are you saying that a conversation with me is worth five thousand dollars?”

I shrug my shoulders and walk to the fridge grabbing her another bottle of water. I hand it to her and then guide her to sit on the couch. “Your time is invaluable. Like I said, I never wanted to take your money.”

She takes a sip of the water and then looks at me.

“I’m worried about you, Abby. You don’t seem yourself.”

She laughs saying, “I’m not myself. This past week has been a nightmare.”

“What can I do to help? Just tell me and I’ll make it happen.” I fidget nervously in my seat, not even sure if the words I am saying are right.

“There’s nothing that you or anyone can do, Latch. This is my fuck-up; I have to fix it.”

“No, it’s our fuck-up. Let me help.”

“Help how? You wanna come and talk to my husband, to try and justify why we slept together?”

I shake my head and look over at her gorgeous body. God, I have missed her more than I ever knew was possible.

“I’m really sorry that we got caught, I shouldn’t have let it happen. I normally only sleep with couples or single women to keep the risk and the drama to a minimum. I’m not looking to ruin relationships. But I broke that rule for you, and I probably shouldn’t have.”

“So you regret it?” she asks.

“No! Not at all! Do you?”

“I don’t either. Please don’t say things like that, things you can’t take back if you don’t mean it, Latch. It’s not your fault that Darrell caught us. My marriage has been fucked up for years now.”

My phone rings and I look to see a client calling. I hit the ignore button, wishing right now that there were no clients, no work, nothing at all but Abby and I.

“Work?”

“Uh huh. Why do you think things got fucked up?”

“He told me the other day that he’s never really loved me.” Tears cover her eyes and I pull her against my chest, holding her close to me. We sit together in silence and I wish that I could make everything better. That I could take away all of the pain and the complications, that really, I’ve caused.

“Why did you break your rule for me?” she asks.

Running the backs of my fingers up and down her arm, I rest my chin on her soft hair and respond, “Because for once in my life, I was thinking with my heart. I’ve never done that, or this.” Closing my eyes, I relish this moment, in the honesty that exudes from me.