Buyer’s Market(322)

“Lester, he… Austin, he was forcing me to spy on you,” I finally tell him, the words tumbling out of my lips and blowing up in the air of his apartment. “He wanted me to tell him about what was going on in Python.”

Austin has nothing on his face. He’s quiet.

“Shit,” he whispers, looking away from me and turning his gaze outward, to the New York skyline outlooking his wall-to-ceiling window panes. Even though it’s still night, the city keeps on glowing, its bright lights cutting through the darkness. “I should've known.”

“He threatened he’d close my club if I didn’t keep tabs on you,” I say. “And he wanted me to find someone… The woman you were talking to. Mistress Strokes, you called her, I think.”

“That fucking bastard,” he whispers again, balling his hands into fists, anger dripping out of his words. Oh, he wants to choke Lester, alright. “Destiny, why didn’t you trust me?”

He finally turns to me, his words making my heart feel smaller and smaller. Right now, I just wish I could vanish into the ether.

“I… I don’t know, Austin,” I start, that sadness inside of me turning into desperation.

What if he tells me to get out of his apartment?

What if he tells me that he never wants to see me again?

It’s in this exact moment that I finally realize something: I’m in love with Austin Price.

That’s right. I’m in love with Python.

I felt it in the way my heart beat every time our gaze met, and I felt it every time I thought of him, that soothing warmness blanketing my mind and taking over my dreams. I’m in love with Austin, I think to myself, the words echoing inside my head.

“I’m sorry,” I repeat, “I really am.” I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I said these three words, I’m sorry, but they never sounded so real as they do now. If only I could turn time back.

“Don’t,” he says, turning his body to me. Don’t say you’re sorry! You lied to me! I trusted you! My imagination starts putting words into his mouth, a deep-seated fear making my fingers shake. “Don’t say you’re sorry, Destiny,” he tells me, just like I imagined, and I feel my fears creeping into the real world. But then he continues to speak. “It’s not your fault. It’s all on him, that fucking prick.”

He gets up from the couch and I just look in silence as he walks toward the kitchen counter and grabs a bottle of aged whisky sitting there. He uncorks the bottle and fills two glasses with the amber liquid.

Throwing his head back, he drinks one of the glasses in one single gulp and then refills it. Only then does he come back to the couch, pushing one of the glasses into my hand.

“Lester has been trying to close down Python since the moment it opened its doors. I just never thought he’d go this far,” he says to me.

I’m quiet, letting him continue.

I mean, a part of me is wanting to hear this, you know?

Whatever secret Austin has, whatever drama he’s got with NYPD, it just fucked up my club.

So yeah, I may be sorry, but I’m also going to need answers. If not now, then soon.

“You see, Destiny,” Austin says as he turns to me, a serious look on his face and I can tell I might just be getting those answers now. “Python is much more than just a bar or a strip club. We do something important there, and I guess we ended up being more than a nuisance to Lester and his cronies.”

My mind is buzzing with questions, but I can’t press Austin any further, not now. I want to.

God damn, I so want to.

But I can tell now isn’t the best time.

But soon, like I said, I’m going to need to know.

For now, I can trust him.

Still, I can’t help but wonder about the we he keeps talking about.

And what exactly is going on at Python?

Is he talking about his haven for women philosophy, or is it something more than just that? Either way, it doesn’t matter. Because I trust him and, whatever the conflict is between him and Lester, it won’t change a thing.

I trust Austin’s judgment more than anything right now, and I won’t let all the things Lester told me about him cloud my mind. That bastard tried to poison me with lies, but that stops now.

“Austin, I…” I start saying, but I stop, not finding the right words. I sided with Lester, and I worked with him to spy on Python and Austin… And, God, that’s making me feel horrible. He presses one finger over my lips and hushes me with a smile.

“You don’t need to say anything,” he whispers, smiling gently. Leaning into me, he brushes his lips tenderly against my own. “I promise you: we’re going to get through this. We’ll find a way.”