Chapter 6

Anthony brought her somewhere quite far from the city. The drive to the restaurant almost took an hour, and halfway throughout the drive, Lissa would not stop talking. Anthony was tempted to kick the noisy woman out of his car, but since this was his idea, he decided to move on and simply endure. It was a small place and the best thing about is that the restaurant had a garden like feel to it. The food was cheap, yet delicious.

They wined and dine, did the knick-knacks, ate and then sighed in satisfaction afterwards.

After finishing the satisfying meal, Lissa was picking and removing the food stuck in between her teeth with a toothpick. And as Lissa silently minds her own business, Anthony thinks its the most inelegant thing he has ever seen a woman do.

"You know..." Lissa started as she finishes picking off the things off her teeth. "...you've been staring at me for quite sometime now. Are you being mesmerized by my goddess like appearance?"

"Wow, it's either you're really confident... or you're just delusional." Anthony said as he laughs it off. "Your mouth is opened so wide as you pick your teeth, I think a group of flies can rest and even lay eggs inside."

Lissa decided to ignore his comment and continued to clean her teeth. She pulled the compact mirror from her bag, then checked if her teeth is sparkling white, and smiled brightly when she's satisfied.

"Lissa." Anthony called for her attention again. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

Lissa nodded her head then said "Sure, go for it."

Never minding the in-formalities, Anthony swallowed against his throat. This is one of those questions that he wanted to ask the woman for such a long time. It lingers and stays on the back of his head. He felt like he did not have enough courage to ask before. But since they're already here, he did not want to waste the opportunity.

"How did you discover... I mean, how do you know what's going on about Tess and I?"

Lissa froze and stopped from whatever she's doing. She's halfway from retouching her red lips when Anthony decided to ask such a question. She was momentarily frozen in place, and her nerves skyrocketed. She didn't see this coming, but good thing she's always prepare to bluff.

"There are some things in life that just comes to you unexpectedly. Like how Tess's mouth end up between your legs." Was Lissa's teasing reply to him.

"I'm serious." Anthony deadpanned.

"Well, I'm as serious as you are." Was her brave reply, as if she's ready to start a debate. "It just happened one day, and I happened to notice it. Imagine this... Tess has been the supervisor's cleaning lady for God knows how long. She loved her job at JD&A. she also has lots of friends there, then you came. She resigned weeks after you came, Mr. Lee."

Anthony let out a lingering sigh after hearing what Lissa had to say. If he felt bad before, he felt cynically evil now. His hand traveled up to his nape and he unconsciously bites on his lip. He wasn't able to say a word, nor did he do any effort to defend himself.

"Now, it's my time to ask you this, Anthony. What the hell were you thinking at the time? Why'd you do that?"

It was the question that Anthony was asking himself all along. "You won't believe me if I tell you."

"Try me."

Anthony had his doubts but there was something in him that was tempted to tell Lissa. He wanted a form of release. He wanted someone to know the root cause of his actions and why he decided to do it. He wanted someone to know at least, and maybe if he shared his thoughts... someone might be able to understand him. But there is also something inside him that fears if he told someone, then he'll probably judged. Or worse, end up in jail.

"As I've said, you'd be running away from me if you knew." Was his monotonous reply to Lissa. "There are things that are better off to remain a secret. It's better that way."

Lissa tilted her head to the right, then she gave Anthony another one of her double meaning smile. "Try me." Was her confident reply. "If ever I ran away from you screaming and calling out for help, then I'm lesser evil than you are..."

She stared down at the last piece of brownies that was sitting on the small plate. She took it shamelessly and ate it whole. "...but, if I didn't then that means my demons play well with yours."

Anthony was staring at Lissa while she talks, but now he can't seem to look at her in the eye. He took a last sip from his wine then said "Want to go for a drink?"

*****

It was just eight thirty in the evening when Lissa and Anthony arrived at his posh apartment. It was Saturday today, and during the weekends, bars and clubs are full of young people celebrating lives, and they don't want to be a part of that.

Plus, they've added up and agreed that a bar is not really a good place to talk. Specially if it's something serious, serious enough that you don't want strangers to hear. Though he was skeptical at first, Anthony thought of Lissa as harmless that's why he decided to bring her to his place.

"Someone is loaded. If only I knew you were rich I would've asked for sex then money." Lissa noted shamelessly while she gazed upon Anthony's whole apartment. Tiles were marbled, the furniture looks polished and well made. A 52 inch television was wired up on the walls. There was even a small kitchenette standing on the edge of the apartment. But what caught Lissa's attention was the black leather sofa.

Lissa particularly eyed and stared at it as she walks closer to the sofa. "This looks expensive." She notes as she runs her hand against the cold texture of the sofa. "Damn I wish I was this loaded. It's so unfair that God really has his favorites. I wish God would at least bless me with money.. if not then he can at least rain some good dick while I sleep." She whispered to herself as she watched the tall male walk towards the mini bar next to the kitchenette.

"So what do you want? Scotch on the rocks? Bourbon, rum or vodka?" Anthony asked as he shows Lissa the alcohol that's available for them to drink.

"I don't know... Do you have Castillo Rum there?" Lissa asked and her Mexican accent slipped out.

Anthony laughed at the unexpected accent, it was nice and new against his ears. "Seriously?" He asked with a smirk. "Are you kidding me right now?"

"Do you think I'm joking, fool? I said I want to drink Castillo Rum." Lissa answered honestly and for the first time had a tinge of innocence in her. "It's what my Dad and I drink all the time whenever he comes home. Well, you rich people probably don't know about it anyway..."

*****

They've had a few shots of Bacardi, and Lissa brands it as the "Non-Mexican" version of Castillo. The two of them were talking and laughing and just stupidly having fun.

'So he can be talkative and fun to talk to, well, at least when he's drunk.' Lissa silently told herself as she feels Anthony's hard slap against her arm. Since she's been used to drinking, her alcohol tolerance is higher than most. But this time, it's not because of her tolerance, she's not that dumb to see that Anthony is really trying to get himself drunk.

However, as much as she enjoys how loose Anthony is when drunk, she was promised with answers. And maybe it's a way for her to mend her broken ego. "Mr. Lee?"

"What is it, curly?"

'Curly? What the hell...' She thought after hearing the pet name Anthony just used to call her. "Isn't there something that you wanted to tell me?" Lissa insinuated with a smile. She pours a fair amount of alcohol on both of their shot glass and on cue, the two of them drank at the same time. They both made a face as the alcohol's strong flavor slides down their throat. "Care to share?"

Anthony scratched his head and looks a bit confused. "What? What is it about again?"

"You... you and Tess, remember?"

Upon hearing the name, Anthony winced and his face contorted, as if he's overly disgusted by something. "Yeah, I don't like that woman." He said distastefully. "She's a bad girl. A very, very, very bad girl."

"Oh? What did she do to you?"

Anthony closed his eyes, then tapped his two fingers against his forehead. As if he was trying to remember something important. "Well, when back at my high school days, she was my classmate." He began. "I was friends with a friend of hers... and then, you know, I started to feel things for the her friend. I think I fell in love. Yeah, she was my first love. Puppy love."

Lissa hummed and was listening. "Girl, or boy?"

"Girl." Was his boastful answer. He ran his fingers against his hair and looked at Lissa like he was a complete stud. "Of course, I was only interested with the opposite sex back then. I wanted to be her boyfriend, so I asked Deciree to go on a date with me." He said with a smile, as if he's reliving the memory. "She was kind, and sweet and so thoughtful. And then, when we were about to go on a date, Tess told Deciree to ditch me. She told Deciree to stood me up instead."

Intrigued by the story, she bombarded Anthony with more questions. "Well, why did she do that? Do you know why Tess did not like you?"

"To be honest, I don't know." Anthony answered with a frown. "It just so happened, one day Deciree was screaming at me, telling me that she doesn't want to see me. She doesn't even want to talk to me. At first, she did not want to tell me the reason. I thought she actually liked me back. Then one day." He stopped only to drink another shot of alcohol. "...fuck this taste bad." He whined like a kid. "...what part of the story am I at?"

"...Uhm, Deciree was going to tell you the reason why she stood you up on your date?"

"Right..." Anthony replied with a smile. "Well, apparently, Tess told everyone that I've raped her."

Lissa was drinking from her glass when she heard Anthony's confession. She practically spewed the liquor when she heard it. "What?!"

"She told everyone I raped her, are you even listening, Curly?" Was Anthony's calm reply, as if he was talking about yesterday's news. "But I did not rape her. But that's what Deciree said, and as far as I've known her, she is not a liar."

"Damn, who knew Theressa could be so cruel."

Anthony clapped slowly while nodding his head in agreement. "Exactly. She is cruel." He said with a wide smile on his face. "That's why... I took matters in my own hands and plotted for revenge."

Though Anthony is still drunk and says things without thinking, Lissa tried her best to be a little bit delicate. "Is that the reason why you did those things to her?"

Anthony scowled after hearing the question. "Not really, no." He retorted defensively. "I told you, I just took matters in my own hands."

Lissa's eyes widened. Shit, she was just lying about knowing what truly happened. Now that she's about to know the truth, she's actually not ready for it. Did he plan on killing Tess? Did he try to poison her? Lissa's drunken mind was seemingly playing tricks on her. "Well, what did you do?" She calmly asked.

She knows her Supervisor for months now. And as those days, weeks pass by she has never seen this type of aura around him before. It was so dark and scary that shivers run up her spine. Even through his drunken and half lidded eyes, she can see how much hate was in them.

"I turned her to my personal sex slave." Was Anthony's heated reply, and anger was evident in his eyes.