LAYLA
May 17th 2018.
I lay back on the bonnet of the car in the carpark to CLUBROOMs. I observe as the horizon gradually begins to shift. The flock of birds disperses over the sky just before dusk.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Layla?"
I sigh, knowing this isn't going to be easy but it needs to be done.
I jump off the bonnet of his car and hold out the backpack full of money. "I came to return this and to say I'm sorry."
He rips the backpack from my grasp, opening it up to check how much is inside.
"Most of it's there. I spent three hundred on a room, food and a change of clothes." I offer him an explanation.
He roughly closes the bag up again and glares at me. "Do you know the amount of chaos you have caused me?" He mutters.
"No, but I'm pretty sure I have a fair idea." I look past him.
My eyes look out into the distance to where the big bins sit. My heart races in my chest and the sound of it pounding echoes in my ears. "I'm sorry."
I mean, what else can I say to him?
It's not like anything I say will change his point of view about me and I've returned the money I've stolen. He was always such a fucking prick anyway.
I remember when I showed up for the job interview and he told me he wanted me to suck him off before I bounced on his cock.
"I like to test the merchandise before I put it on my shelf for purchase." He winked at me.
He knew I was desperate for a job.
He also soon realized that I was not 'that' desperate when I instructed him to sit on my finger and rotate as I picked up a pen and held it against the jugular of his neck.
Through the air screams the screeching sound of car tyres coming to a halt. We both gaze out into the parking as we hear the slam of a car door and the shouting of my name.
"Layla, you fucking whore! What have you done with my Jimmy?"
"Shit!" Chad mumbles. "I'll handle this."
He drops the bag full of money, steps in front of me and he holds his hands up, indicating for Nikki to stop. "Don't come any closer." He states firmly.
I'm truly taken aback that he is willing to put himself in the line of fire after everything I have done. I stand behind him, allowing him to step up and act like a man for me.
Something I'm not used to.
"How can you stand here and protect this bitch?" She asks with astonishment. "I know she's involved in my husband's disappearance!" She raises her voice as she points her finger at me.
"Do you have evidence? You cannot come to my place of business and accuse my employees of committing a crime solely based on an assumption you have made." He sneers as he takes a step closer towards her. "I suggest you get into your beat-up little truck and return home to your kids before I do something I might regret. Like strangling you with my bare hands!"
Her demeanour changes from a worried wife to a full-blown crazy bitch in a heartbeat. She raises her hand and slaps Chad across the face.
"Fuck you! I'm not afraid of you or that whore you're protecting. He didn't want you! Why couldn't you just accept his decision and leave us alone?" She cried out.
"Me!" I scoff, stepping around Chad with my claws out. "Your fucking husband showed up here on Ryders first anniversary and demanded that I! ME! Fuck his brains out."
"Your lying!" Nikki screams, shaking her head violently.
"He wanted to know if Ryder fucked me better than him-"
"No!"
"I told him it was wrong, that he had a wife and children. He didn't want to hear any of it." I tell her truthfully, "He came to see me," I bang my open hand against my chest. "paid me to fuck him and he enjoyed every. fucking. second. of it."
"Why are you lying? Is it not bad enough that you drove your husband to suicide?" Her bloodshot eyes glare at me with a fierce kind of hatred that makes me shiver with dismay.
"You ignorant bitch, I did not drive my husband to shoot himself in the head. Jimmy is to blame. He compelled Ryder to start a side business because YOUR husband is a sick twisted bastard." My body shakes with outrage that she can say such a thing to me knowing full well that I was not the one who held the gun to Ryder's head or squeezed the trigger.
"You know what?" She gives us one last glance as she walks away.
I turn around and face Chad who continues to stare after her. "Thanks," I say awkwardly.
"I didn't do it for you." He mutters as he looks back at me, picking the bag up.
"I know you didn't."
And it's true.
I know he didn't do it on my behalf but I still felt the urge to thank him regardless.
"You didn't tell her the truth."
"And say what, Layla, that you stole my money?" He scowls at me.
"No, the truth about Jimmy."
"Oh, are you talking about Lisa accidentally murdering him and you forcing her to help you get rid of his body?" He replies bluntly.
"Both of you in the club now!!"
Chad and I turn around at the sound of a shotgun being cocked. "Move, now!!" She yells hysterically with the gun raised and pointing straight at us.
We raise our hands in mid-air and slowly walk towards the entrance of the club. I stumble forward when the crazy bitch uses the gun to shove me forward and I look at her over my shoulder. "Keep moving if you want to survive, slut." She snarls.
"How come it is always the insane bastards that wield firearms?" Chad hisses as he extracts the keys from his pocket and unlocks the door.
He leads us to the bar, turning on the lights.
"Turn off the lights." She demands. "Unless, of course, my eyes are the last pair you wish to look into." She cackles with delight.