Steal My Life
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Red Eye!
Chapter Five
George King wandered into the Lux Atlantic by himself the next day. The hotel was spacious with a modern influence. It appeared to be exactly what Sofia had requested. She was currently preoccupied with ordering her wedding gown and the bridesmaid's dresses; otherwise, she would have been there in his stead. Since she had made the appointment, he was obligated to show-up since there was no time to reschedule, and she was stuck at a bridal shop an hour away with her girlfriends.
He headed over to the desk and removed the dark sunglasses that shielded his blinding blue eyes, flashing a smile at the desk clerk.
"May I help you?" the clerk asked politely, a thin bottle-blonde woman with extremely white teeth and red lipstick.
"Yes. My name is George King. My fiancée, Sofia Warren, has an appointment with your events and activities coordinator, Lisa Reisert? I'm here in her place."
"Okay, I'll get Miss Reisert," she said with a smile, pressing a few buttons on the phone and then pressing the receiver to her ear. "Miss Reisert? There's a George King here to see you. He says he has an appointment with you under the name Sofia Warren, his fiancée." She paused for a moment before speaking again. "Okay, I'll let him know."
She hung up the phone.
"Do I pass the test?" George teased and she laughed.
"Yes, you do. She asked if you would take a seat over in the lobby lounge. She'll be right with you."
"Sounds good. Thank you for your help."
"It was my pleasure."
With a false smile still plastered on his face, George wandered over to the lobby 'lounge'—a collection of couches situated away from the desk and the hustle-and-bustle of the hotel. Sitting down, he glanced in the direction of the carefully arranged magazines on the coffee tables, and settled with just twirling his sunglasses in his hand, imagining that it was a knife instead.
Since the near-failure of the last job, his manager had thought it would be wise to train him to use a knife. Besides, just because he was the computer 'geek' did not mean that his life was not in danger on a job. It never hurt to be prepared.
"Hello, Mr. King?" a pleasant voice called from behind him and he jumped up, startled.
"Miss Reisert, I presume?"
"Yes, I'm Lisa Reisert. I thought my meeting was with Sofia—" the pretty woman with auburn hair said pleasantly; clearly someone who had been working with people far too long and had developed excellent manners.
"She's stuck at the bridal shop. I'm guessing you know how that is, having this job and all..."
"Oh, I understand completely."
Lisa was intriguing. She had a pale complexion that was accented by her light make-up and sparkling green eyes. She was even more beautiful than Sofia in her own way and without any of the superficiality that he hated about most young women. She had the look of a mature professional, yet George could sense that she was about his age and he wondered if perhaps some tragedy had forced her to grow up too quickly.
Lovely Lisa…yes, that's what I'll call you. What rock were you hiding under when I was dating Sofia?
"Well, I'm very new at this whole wedding thing, so I was hoping you could help me out? Sofia really wants the reception here and I believe she already made a reservation? She wants me to go over plans with you and finalize all preparations."
"Oh, not a problem," Lisa said; gesturing to the hallway perpendicular from the lobby. "Shall we?"
George eagerly followed, hoping to learn more about the striking young woman. She reminded him of himself; eager to please, and a young rising star hard at work. Very few people could pull off any success like his at a young age, or even hers. She was in charge of a rather important part of hotel life and was younger, if not the same age, as some of the desk clerks.
Beauty and brains—what more could one ask for in a woman?
They chatted about various services the hotel could offer, wedding colors, and how to decorate the ballroom.
"You really seem to know your stuff. How long have you been working here?" George inquired after nearly an hour.
"Since the same time I started college. It was supposed to help pay for classes and I was majoring in business, so it seemed to go together."
"And you're what? Twenty?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Lisa asked, surprised at his correct guess.
"Lucky guess. You don't seem very young in looks, but intellectually, you are far beyond most people our age."
"So you're what? Twenty-one, twenty-two?"
"Twenty-one going on twenty-two."
"Ah, I see." She smiled warmly at him. "You work in business too?"
"Computers."
Lisa nodded, her lips pursed slightly. "That's a tricky line of work at times. Personally, I really hate computers."
"I don't blame you. It takes a certain…finesse to handle them. Kind of like people."
"Yeah, I bet. If only people could shut up when you pressed a button though," she remarked with a sigh, her green eyes meeting his briefly before glancing at the floor.
"Is something wrong?"
"No—nothing…"
"Are you sure?"
She chuckled softly. "You sound just like my dad. He's gotten worse since…"
"Since what?"
She regarded him questioningly. George mentally smacked himself.
Stupid, stupid, stupid! You need to learn to stop prying! You can't expect someone you just met to spill their life story to you!
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to pry."
"It's okay. I'm just going through a rough time right now. My parents are arguing a lot and it's kinda on my mind a lot."
"When I was younger, my parents fought all the time and over everything—no matter how insignificant or dumb it was. I was sure that they'd divorce eventually, but a car accident killed them both before they could ever file."
"Wow, how old were you?"
"Twelve," he said. "My father was drunk and lost control of the car. I don't miss them though."
"Why not? They're your parents." Lisa seemed shocked by his cool demeanor.
"They hated me. My father never missed an opportunity to yell at me, berate me, or beat me. It was no way to live. It sounds like your father cares a lot about you. You should be grateful. You're very lucky, Lisa."
"Thanks. I'm sorry about your life though…"
He waved it off. "It's in the past. Can't bring back the dead. Not that I would want to. Now, about the reception…"
A week later…
George was fiddling with his bow tie. He hated wearing a full monkey suit. He always thought it made him look remotely like a penguin and he especially loathed ties. He could never quite figure out how to tie the damn things so that they would not choke him. If it had not been for Sofia, then he would never have gone to all this trouble.
"Ready, Georgie boy?" His best man approached him. He was a relative of Sofia's that he had only just met at the rehearsal. Since George did not have any friends from work, he did not have an alternative choice in the matter. Instead, he had to make do with some strangely-named, jock of a cousin that liked to punch his arm.
I hate nicknames. The name is George—not 'Georgie' or 'Georgia'—I'm not a freaking girl! Damn, if I only had a knife…
His fingers actually ached for the weapon that he had recently been given. The past week he had spent every spare moment learning how to use it defensively and also how to torture and kill with a sharp blade. It had been presented to him for 'his own protection' according to his manager, but he knew that was just a front. Apparently, no one went around unarmed in his profession—one never knew when they might have to kill someone... Unfortunately, he could not wear it at the wedding and he was missing the comfort that it brought.
George entered the chapel and stood at the altar; waiting patiently for the ceremony to start.
The trio of bridesmaids clad in burgundy gowns made their way up the aisle and stood off to his right. He was vaguely reminded of the color of crimson blood, but that image fell out of his head as soon as Sofia appeared. She decided to forgo the tradition of wearing white and was clad instead in a pale pink dress with a flowing train and a white, pink, and red veil that covered her face and elegantly styled dark hair. Sofia carried a heavy bouquet of white and red flowers tied with gold and red ribbon.
She walked down the aisle alone, having no father alive to give her away as tradition dictated. Not that she appeared to mind. Sofia was enjoying the attention, smiling at each and every camera as it materialized and even posing at times for pictures.
George swallowed nervously as she drew closer. Suddenly she was beside him and he was lifting her veil. The words uttered by the priest flew into his mind.
As he was about to say 'I do', Sofia's face disappeared and was replaced with that of Lisa's. He was marrying Lisa, not Sofia. He pledged himself to the redhead in his mind, not the dark haired woman in front of him.
But when Sofia's red lips met his, reality sank in and his heart fell.
Damn, why didn't I meet Lisa first?
Author's Notes:
A lot of people seemed disturbed by George's abusive nature in the last chapter. The reason I put that in is because by the time he's stalking Lisa, he is always abusive and the behavior pattern is set in stone. Part of the reason he smacked her is that he was drunk (drunks are very thoughtless and nasty) and other part is that he observed his father doing the same thing, so in his warped mind it's okay.
Sorry about the long delay in posting. The ideas were there, but sadly I was not. I was sick all week and effectively out of commission. Now, I'm better, so hopefully the chapters will posted sooner. Enjoy and thanks for reading/reviewing!