I blacked out for a minute, consciousness waned. When I arrived back to a cognizant state, I felt cold firmness against my back. I looked around me and realized at some point, I’d reclined against the cobblestone wall of whirlpool with my naked body squatting on the cool floor. I’d lost my towel somewhere along the way to the bathroom.
I wanted so badly to cry, but I couldn’t. The tears remained at bay. It furthered bewildered my confused state. Azmir cheated on me with Dawn Taylor. The woman who I’d sensed was a threat turned out to be my worst nightmare. After a run through the shower and washing out my mouth, I found myself out in the living room at the bar, deciding on which poison I’d choose to help numb the pain of my heart. The heart that I thought was well-protected and wasn’t accessible to hurt.
Azmir had so many decanters of varying shapes, sizes and colors, I was out of my realm of knowledge. I decided on pouring Azmir’s Armagnac, that I only knew because he drank it most frequently and I’d asked him about it. The tumblers were just as varied, but I grabbed the one with the shortest distance of my reach.
The first swig was hard to get down. It burned my esophagus so brutally, but the numbing that came from the subsequent sips made the venture to amber juice worthwhile. After pouring my fourth glass, I sauntered over to the mammoth sofa, finally able to release the dam of my tears. They would harbor no longer. The croak that lodged from my throat was so unrecognizable that it scared the crap out of me. Once again, for the millionth time in my life, I found myself in the throes of pain.
Chapter 3
Rayna
I jumped up to a startle. My heart was beating out of my chest. I heard the THUMP-THUMP again, but this time in a conscious tense. Someone was pounding the front door.
Afraid out of my mind, I walked slowly over to the door and as I got closer I heard, “Ms. Brimm…Ms. Brimm!”
My stride sped up and I looked into the peephole to find Roberto on the other side of the door.
BANG-BANG!
The sound of him punching the door was more alarming up close.
I swung the door open. “Ay Dios mío, Se?orita Brimm!” Roberto cried out as he took a deep exhale. He looked petrified.
“What is it, Roberto?” A damn fire?
“Se?or Jacobs called. He’s been trying to contact you for hours. He is on his way to the airport. He thought something happened to you!”
Crap! What in the world happened?
I grabbed my head, trying to stop the spinning of my cranium. “What time is it?” I asked in my post-inebriated condition.
“Two twelve in the morning, senorita.” Roberto’s face was ashen in despair.
Double crap! “I’ll call him now. I fell asleep in the living room. I didn’t hear the phone.” I blurted out the first plausible excuse that came to mind.
“Si, I’ll go call him, too!” Roberto turned on his heels for the elevator.
I went down the hall to the bedroom to locate my cell and saw that the was ringer was off. When did I do that? I had thirty-two missed calls and seventeen texts, all from Azmir. At that moment, I realized that I must have passed out in the living room and had been out for quite a few hours. I figured I had no time to waste and didn’t want him returning early from his trip, so I sent a text to Azmir.
All is well. I fell asleep in the living room. Chat tomorrow.
I didn’t wait for a response and kept the phone on silent. When I checked, I saw the house phone was muted as well. When did I do that? Memories of my discoveries had begun to flash through my mind, taking me back to my iPad. I logged in again as my time had expired from earlier and sat up for the next three hours reading and investigating texts. I didn’t fall back asleep again until after five in the morning.
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