Page 3 of Beginning at the End
That had irritated Likon, but he was astonished when Eudora said, “Go ahead, fuck his brains out.It won’t take long.It’s not a big target.”
Nessa suddenly looked unsure.
Eudora had sailed out of his home, and he hadn’t seen her since.
“I broke our contract.”
His buddy sighed.“Then hope she doesn’t realize that.She didn’t seem too smart.”
Likon paused.“You didn’t actually meet her, did you?”
His lawyer remained silent, and Likon slowly hung up with the feeling that Nessa had been the biggest mistake of his life.
* * * *
She missed her hometime, but for the first time in three years, there wasn’t anyone waiting.The apartment that Arwell had rented for her was modest and close to work.She could walk it.Eudora stretched, sent the last of her files for Steffie to check in the morning, and grabbed her purse to head home.
The funny thing about working in media and advertising was that she had to dress like she was going to be seen, even if it was only at a distance, through a window.
It would be two weeks before she had another payday and could start rebuilding her workstation at home.She had to leave everything.That was the deal.That was the contract.She got food and lodging and had to go around the social circuit as his wife.She was polite, engaging, and just charming enough for his purposes.
It had been three years since she had said yes to the strange proposition while she was volunteering at an afterschool program for children whose parents couldn’t leave work early.She was teaching storyboarding as a means to get a grip on an idea, and he was there to pick up his nephew, Tyler.
Likon took a look at her and nodded.He had proposed the marriage of convenience immediately, as if he had been looking for someone to fit an outline in his head.She fit.The rest had been a whirlwind of getting her wardrobe up to snuff, and then the endless dinner parties and charity events began.That had been her evenings for the last three years.Now, she was free again, and there was nothing like being broke but responsible for herself alone.Restarting wasn’t horrible when you had made friends along the way.
Arwell Breaker had helped her get a modest apartment and kept it off Eudora’s books.Likon’s lawyer had been merciless in drafting the contract.She should have had her own representation, but she couldn’t afford it at the time.Now she could just call a friend.
She grabbed her exercise bag and went to hit the gym.She would spring for some takeout on the way home.
She was holding a weight plate and doing crunches with her legs wedged into the brace of the padded structure designed for this purpose.
The gym membership had been a gift from another friend, and she worked out like a demon.She ran, jumped, pressed, grunted, sweated, and groaned.She tried to be ladylike, but that was difficult when she was pulling herself up with her own bodyweight strapped to her legs.
Her body was humming and warm when she finally hit the shower and got back into her office attire.She walked down the street, watching a woman lifting her groceries on one hip and a toddler on the other.An idea streaked through her, and she let it develop as she stood in line at the noodle shop for her usual fast meal for takeout.
She felt the gaze following her and looped back to lean down so she could speak to the driver.“Nelson.You might be a lawyer, but now you are stalking.This is noted.I have a photo of you in your car, and I just want to know why you are here?”
“He’s worried.”
“Why?He broke the contract.”
Nelson frowned.“What?”
“Sexual contact within the house was expressly forbidden.She was riding him in the living room with their lower clothing missing.He wasn’t swatting a mosquito with his dick, Nelson.I am gone; he can have Nessa any way he wants her.I don’t give a fuck what he is feeling; he certainly didn’t give a rat’s ass about my feelings.”She looked at him.“Don’t follow me.Next report goes to the police.”
He blinked and started his car.
Eudora headed back toward her new apartment, opening the noodles and starting to slurp as she walked.
She finished her ramen and disposed of the container, walking to the apartment without any sense that she was still being watched.She checked her cheap little phone and hoped that two weeks would come quickly so she could get paid.
Eudora began making notes for the idea she had.It would be perfect for International Women’s Day.Her space was silent, so she worked with pen and paper before heading to bed.Thirteen days to go.
Eudora stretched after roughing out the campaign for Women’s Day.She was targeting the ads at gyms that ran early and later hours but were women-inclusive.She had nagged another friend into studio time, had created a rough draft of the song to back the video, and had spliced a lot of stock images together to the soundtrack.
She knocked on her boss’s door and said, “Are you still taking pitches for Women’s Day?”
He frowned and nodded.“Yeah.”
