Saving The Game (3 page)

Both of them were young. Both of them wanted this. It didn't take long before their mouths pressed together in a hard kiss to prevent their voices from carrying as Emmanuel came inside Karen and her own body tensed and shuddered at the same time with her own orgasm.

After the bliss, they both breathed heavily, still pressed against the wall. Karen's come, mixed with Emmanuel's dripped down from inside her as Emmanuel slowly softened.

"Oh, God, I needed that."Karen said, motioning to be let down.

Emmanuel lowered her to the ground. "
Si,
me too. I thought you would not come back."

"Oh, I'll be back again," she answered, reaching for a box of tissues that she had left there the last time. Karen wiped the insides of her thighs and tossed the box to Emmanuel. He pulled out a bunch of squares and cleaned his coveralls as best he could.

Smoothing her shirt and skirt, Karen walked out of the shed, not caring if anyone was passing by. Since no one was, Emmanuel followed soon after. Karen went to her suite in the mansion for a shower and Emmanuel got back to work.

******

Julian walked into the arrivals area and as he was about to step to one side to wait as instructed, a gruff voice from behind him said, "This way, sir."

Julian turned around and came face to face with a gorilla-like man dressed in a black suit. The man reached for Julian's duffel bag and turned towards the bank of glass doors. Julian followed and they made their way to the exit, the gorilla man walking speedily and Julian almost jogging to keep up.

Within seconds they had made their way through the exiting crowd and the gorilla man was holding the door of a limousine open for him. Julian stepped in and found himself seated across from Lucille.

"I see you didn't have
too
much to drink on the flight." Lucille spoke first.

"Personal pick-up service. A man could get used to this." Julian spoke with just the hint of a smile. Then, nodding his head in the direction of the driver, "I shot a silverback in Uganda once. Your bodyguard?"

"He is if he has to be," Lucile replied. She gave the driver the name of a hotel that Julian hadn't heard of and closed the pane separating the compartments. "Now listen carefully. This is your itinerary. Tomorrow, first thing, you'll be taken for a haircut--"

"What?! That wasn't part of the deal. I've been growing this mane for three years!"

Lucille continued as if she hadn't been interrupted, "You will be taken for a haircut and then to get some appropriate clothes. Besides casual wear, you will be fitted for a tux for the debut and a suit for the wedding. During Karen's debut, that is her name, you will be as charming as you have ever been in your life--I know you can be. Don't rush it, but you will court her into going on safari with you. The details of how you deal with her in Africa I leave up to your creativity."

Julian was silent. He still didn't like the idea of what he had to do. He wondered several times on the flight if Van Meer had finally gone off his rocker. "Leave it to me. She won't be able to resist the lure of the savannah and the bush--or me."

Lucille stared at Julian. "I have no choice but to leave it to you. I know of your own love of the bush as well. She is a beautiful girl. Fuck her if you want, but get the job done. Don't begin disappointing me now."

"She's a child. There will be none of that to worry about." Julian said without emotion.

"Good then." Retorted Lucille.

Julian stared back at the woman he loved who never showed any indication that she felt the same way.

The cotillion was over and the 500 guests present at Karen's debut had just finished dinner and were talking together in small groups. Karen, resplendent in a peach gown that cost almost as much as a small car, saw to it that she greeted each group, paying special attention to any important people that may be present in the knot of people. She was careful to talk slowly so as not to slur--James had let her have champagne tonight, and since she was already a drinker she'd already had six glasses--and either the guests didn't notice that she had been drinking or they didn't care. After making sure that she had greeted everyone and thanked the sponsors, she made her way to where her father was talking to two elderly people, Lucille on his arm.

"Ah, Karen," James saw her approach. "I want to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Van Meer, Lucille's parents. They've only just arrived from Amsterdam but made it a point to come tonight even if they had to miss the cotillion." At this, James turned to the couple and thanked them again. Then placing his free hand on the small of Karen's back, "Bram, Hilda, this is my daughter, Karen."

"Yes, yes, the star of the show," Van Meer smiled broadly at Karen. "Tell me, do you feel different? Society considers you a woman now, ready to participate in its affairs--to get married. Will you be following your father's example anytime soon?"

"As an only child, Mr. Van Meer, Daddy has been grooming me to take over Sine when he decides to take it easy," here she elbowed James. "As the only heir to my father's company, I have taken the role seriously and if I'm not ready at eighteen there's little hope that I ever will be." She hoped her joke would make them laugh, and since it didn't, she tried another one. "I
am
the only heir, right, Daddy? No children in the closet ready to jump out and take over?"

James looked over at his daughter with a fatherly smile, "You're cut off from the champagne, sweetheart; and, no, to the best of my knowledge I have no other children." The foursome laughed at this remark. Karen smiled.

"I made the joke first and they didn't laugh," she pouted inwardly.

"I too am the father of but one daughter, an only child herself," Van Meer looked at Lucille, then at James. "Being in the same shoes, as you Americans say, I trust you will take care of my only daughter, James?"

Karen excused herself and James was about to give a fitting answer but Van Meer spoke up again. "Karen, wait." He reached into his jacket pocket. "I did not want to leave this on the gift table for fear that it would be buried and swept away with the trash. Here, for your eighteenth birthday." He handed Karen an envelope.

Karen accepted it graciously. "Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Van Meer. I am glad you gave it to me personally. It just might have been swept away as you said." She excused herself again and wandered off.

Karen found herself walking in the general direction of the bar. She felt like something a bit stronger than champagne to cap the night. Her current boyfriend had come down with the flu and Emmanuel would not be here to fix her tonight. As she got closer she became aware of a loud voice booming above all the rest. The accent was strange. If she hadn't just spoken to Van Meer she wouldn't have been able to place it. Still it wasn't exactly the same. She walked closer.

Julian was surrounded by a small crowd of people of mixed ages. He was regaling them with stories of the hunt and the various game animals--mostly dangerous--that he had brought down. "One little known fact is that the most dangerous animal to hunt is not actually a member of the Big Five," Julian stated as he sipped his bloody mary and the various crowd members waited anxiously for what animal this was. "The leopard, at only 70 kilos for an adult male, is, pound for pound, the strongest land mammal on the planet." He nodded in appreciation as the crowd expressed their amazement at this revelation. "This cunning animal is not only difficult to track, it will probably be tracking you even as you search for it, a true case of the hunter becoming the hunted."

"Just fire into the bushes until you hit it!" Quipped one of the young men.

Julian put on a serious face, "Ah, my friend, then you risk hitting a bull water buffalo, a very large, easily angered and very dangerous member of the Big Five. Graze one of those beasts and he will charge at you in pain and just out of insolence and spite, and gore and trample you until you are nothing more than a smear on the ground."

"Aw, snap! Death by cow!" The young man held up his hand to a fellow beside him for a high five.

Julian continued, "And all this time, that leopard you thought you were hunting is high up in a tree, hidden well by its coat which merges perfectly with the background of sunlight filtering through the leaves overhead. It is probably guarding a kill, something four or five times its weight, that it has hauled up into the branches with its jaws. It waits until you pass, and then...springs down and attacks you from behind!" At this he lunged forward toward one of the younger, and prettier, girls in the crowd. Karen had just come up behind her to see who was making all this noise. The young girl held out her hands defensively, giggling the whole time, and one of them made contact with the tall glass of liquored tomato juice that Julian was holding, a large glut of it flying through the air and splattering on Karen's gown.

Shit. Karen wanted to scream, shit! But nothing came out. She stood there, hands in the air and mouth wide open, staring at this boisterous stranger. The crowd quickly dispersed and Karen and Julian found themselves face to face.

"Oh, God, I'm so sorry. Here, let me--" Julian took out his handkerchief and was about to swipe at the red blotch on Karen's gown but she cut him off.

"Stay away." She took a step back and surveyed the damage. "There's no getting this out. What the hell am I supposed to wear for the rest of the evening?!"

Julian persisted. "I'm sure a little soda water will--"

"You want me walking around in a wet dress?" Karen shouted.

"Look, I was just going to dab it with--"

"You've ruined my dress--my night. This was my one night before the damn wedding. And you ruined it!" Karen stormed off.

Julian sighed and watched her go. It wasn't supposed to turn out this way. They were supposed to go off into a corner and hide out until the club soda on her dress had dried. He would have had a chance to talk to her, to get to know her--to introduce her to the charms of Africa.

Lucille excused herself from the foursome and walked towards Karen, intercepting her.

"This way, dear. I have an instant fix." Karen walked with Lucille into ladies room, still fuming.

"Who was that?"

"My apologies, dear. He's a friend of the family. He happened to be in New York tonight and it would have been bad for business if I didn't invite him. I can assure you he didn't mean any harm." Lucille dabbed at the stain with soda water and adjusted Karen's corsage to cover the wet spot. "It's riding a bit low but you'll pull it off." Lucille smiled.

Karen had calmed down. He was kind of cute, in a boorish way--And he knew about shooting animals. She smiled at Lucille. "Thanks, um, Lucille. You're a lifesaver."

"Now," Lucille beamed at Karen, "Enjoy your party."

The pair returned to the ballroom, Karen veering off in search of friends and Lucille staring at Julian across the room with a fury that was so tangible he actually felt pain.

******

Julian woke early and immediately began thinking of how to salvage the situation. Karen, obviously, wasn't one to go for tales of bravado. He had never had to convince a target to go anywhere with him, much less a female--and a young brat at that. Usually he stalked his prey until he found an opportune moment to end their life without anyone seeing. Without witnesses, and with him returning to South Africa before the body was even found, he never had trouble before. He wondered why he couldn't just shoot her as she grazed in the gardens of the mansion. For whatever reason, Van Meer did not leave that to him as an option.

"What do girls like?" he thought out loud. He picked up the telephone on the nightstand and dialed 7 for the boutique downstairs. Flowers might be a good start. Lots and lots of flowers. A bright young female voice answered.

"Good morning, Mr. Apler. How may I assist you, sir?"