Mr. & Mrs. Dincht
Chapter 4 – Separate Lives
Zell came into the bathroom just as Selphie finished putting her coat on, and he looked at her questioningly. "Why are you getting ready to go out, we don't have dinner with the Walters' until 6." Selphie tied her knee length pea coat tighter around her waist.
"There was a problem at the office, I have to go in. Someone blew up a drive or something, but don't worry," she assured him giving him a quick kiss on his cheek, "I'll be home before then. Real quick; in and out." With that she walked to the front were her taxi was waiting for her. Zell wondered for a minute why she was taking a taxi since they both had two perfectly good cars in the garage but he shrugged it off and headed for his own car; he didn't want to be late.
Once he got to his destination, a small hole in the wall bar located in the center of town, Zell parked outside the building and locked his car before heading inside. Upon entering all eyes were on him, he didn't exactly fit in with the crowd. Everyone was dressed in torn jeans and dirty t-shirts, and he was wearing a grey suit over a light-blue button down. He smiled awkwardly and headed to the bar.
"Gin please, very dry," he ordered. The bartender, a young girl barely the legal drinking age, nodded her head and got a glass from under the counter and filled it with the clear liquid. She placed it in front of him and popped her chewing gum loudly. "Thanks," he said when he noticed her staring at him. She tucked a lock of chin length black hair behind her ear, revealing several piercings in her ear, and popped her gum again. Zell nodded and turned his stool around to examine the rest of the bar. Everyone was immensely intoxicated, and was playing pool, or dominoes, or some other party game, most likely gabling some small wager on the game. But he wasn't interested in these people; Zell knew he found what he was looking for when a tall man in a dark suit walked into the bar. His black hair was slicked back with more gel then there was in a department store.
The man walked past the bar towards the bathrooms and then went through a door marked 'employees only'. Zell took another sip from his drink before getting up from his stool and walking to the bathroom. He looked at the door of the bathroom and then headed through the restricted door fumbling through the hallway drunkenly. He eventually found a room near the very back of the building, and when her entered it there were three people seated at a table gambling with cards. The gelled hair man got up from his table and said with a thick accent, "What are you doing in here?"
"Sorry," replied Zell slurring his words slightly, "I was just looking for the bathroom." He turned to leave and the spun around quickly, "What are you guys playing? Are you playing poker?"
"Private game," responded the man next to the guy in the black suit, a balding man who looked like he was in his mid-to-late 30s.
"Aww come on!" exclaimed Zell, "How about you just let me play?"
"Get out of here," warned the dark haired man, standing from his chair.
"But there's this empty chair right there,"
"That chair is for Dominic," said the man growing more irritated.
"I don't see Dominic anywhere... I mean come on look," he reached into his inner suit pocket and spilled his drink a little on the floor, before pulling out a handful of bills, "I got the money for it... come on! Let me play!" The three men looked at each other and then the pudgy man who had yet to speak motioned Zell over to the seat.
"Texas hold em'," stated the pudgy guy, "Thousand dollar entry." Zell took his seat and through some money in the center of the table grinning ear to ear.
"Sweet!"
The yellow taxi pulled up to a tall apartment complex with what seemed like glass everything, and a doorman dressed in black with the stereotypical front brimmed doorman hat opened the door for Selphie to exit. She thanked the man and entered the lobby of the building.
The front had marble pillars and the floor was tiled with black and white. Selphie's heeled boots clicked against the floor as she walked toward the elevators. No one seemed to question her presence there, since nobody even looked up from what they were doing to look at her. Even the man at the front desk was on the phone with someone and too entranced in the conversation to even ask her if she needed to buzz someone down. Selphie waited for the elevator to come and once it arrived, she let an old woman holding her white poodle exit before entering the steel box and pressing the button for the penthouse.
The elevator opened in a small hallway lined with two chairs, a few paintings, and a fake tree in the corner. There was a door at the end of the hallway so she walked up to it and knocked two times quickly on the oak door. A tall bulky man opened the door and looked down at Selphie's short frame. He looked at her stoically as if asking what she was doing there.
"I'm here for Rick," she said calmly, "He's expecting me." The man said something into his headset, and a few seconds later the man moved aside and motioned for Selphie to enter. She strode into the apartment and took a brief look around. The place had a strong Asian theme, with sliding doors and red and gold décor. Selphie passed two guys playing video games and entered the master bedroom at the rear of the apartment, sliding the doors closed behind her. A man exited the bathroom wearing only his boxers as he dried his hair with a towel.
He took one look at Selphie and a grin came to his face, "Maria?" he asked walking towards her.
"The one and only," Selphie replied in a low voice. Rick smirked as Selphie undid her jacket and revealed her gladiatrix-like outfit underneath.
She pulled a whip from her bag and cracked it in the air, "On your knees then..."
Zell laughed stupidly as he watched his winnings his winnings being taken away from him. The table was abuzz with drunken laughter as the four men gambled all their money and belongings.
"You are so bad at this game Mark," said the blonde man referring to Zell. "You have a million tells! I can tell what you're going to do just being in the same room as you!" Zell laughed awkwardly and a sip from a beer that had appeared in front of him. He was careful to not really drink the alcohol, so as not to cloud his mind.
The guy with the severely-gelled hair, who Zell had begun to call Rocco, had just finished dealing another hand when a man in navy sweatpants and a white button down entered the room and immediately got mad when he saw Zell.
"Who the hell is this? What's going on here?" he asked looking at Zell angrily.
"Relax Dominic!" said Rocco as he took a look at his cards. "This guy is just losing all his money to us." Dominic looked at the amount of money in front of Zell; there were dozens of bills with double digits marked on them.
"You got a lot of money man," he commented pulling a seat up to the table, "What's your job?"
"You are the job," Zell answered pulling two silenced pistols from his suit. The men had no time to react as Zell took them each out quickly and quietly. He took a moment to make sure the men were dead, and then he got up from the table and looked at his cards, and then the cards of the other men. He groaned when he saw that he would have lost the game.
"This is just not my day..."
Rick groaned as Selphie cracked the whip firmly against his bare back. "You like that?" she asked in his ear. He smiled and gave a laugh that sounded more like heavy breathing mixed with a snort.
"I just wish I could see you," he responded.
"I told you," she started walking around him slowly, her heels clicking against the hardwood floors, "it makes the senses more reactive."
"And the handcuffs" he asked.
"Precaution," she answered to his back.
"Precautions for what?" Selphie gave a small laugh and placed her delicate hands on either side of his head. She slowly massaged his temples and then moved her hands down to his neck and massaged him there. He let out a low moan, and then Selphie suddenly snapped his neck letting his body fall to the floor. She shook her hair out of her face, and went to put on her jacket. She had just finished tying it back up when there was a knock on the door.
"Are you alright sir?" Selphie cursed under her breath and picked up her purse on her way to the balcony attached to the room. The bodyguard tried to open the door when he didn't receive a response but they were jammed. He pulled harder and caught a glimpse of Rick's body lying on the floor.
"Guys, he's down!" he shouted to the people in the apartment as he un-holstered his pistol. He shot three rounds at the lock breaking it and slid the door open. Selphie looked back at the apartment and saw the imprints of the guards coming to the balcony. She quickly took apart her purse and hooked one side to the ledge and held the other end tightly.
"She's on the balcony!" called a man in the room. Selphie took a deep breath and hopped off the building to the street below. The hook began to unravel and Selphie glided slowly down to the floor. She landed and walked to a taxi that the doorman had called.
"Thank you," she said breezily as she entered the taxi. The car drove down the street and the doorman just watched it go in awe.
"You're... welcome..."
Selphie was just entering the bathroom when she heard the front door open and close. "Babe you home?" came Zell's voice from the front hall.
"Yeah," she answered, "Just changing into something more party appropriate."
"Why what are you wearing now?" he asked as he entered the bedroom. Selphie prayed that he wouldn't come into the bathroom; no way she could explain this get-up.
"Just you, know... I don't feel like I could eat dinner wearing... you know... business clothes." The phone rang and Zell went to answer it. She released her breath and got changed.
"How was your night?" he asked when she entered the foyer.
"Good, fine. You?"
"Fine, good," he responded hastily. He got his coat and ushered Selphie out the door.
"Well I guess we should get going."