Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 16
—
[Natty Steakhouse, 10:30pm]
The concert took thirty more minutes to end cos of Stacy’s appearance on stage, so it ended at 10pm.
Immediately it ended, Stacy took Trevor out on dinner as promised.
Trevor wanted lobster thermidor, and the best spot is this steakhouse.
The young boy is stuffing his face on a side of the large glass table.
Stacy sat on the other side, but she’s not alone. Dorian is right beside her.
He followed them here, privately.
As they both watched Trevor eat his lobster, Dorian clicked his tongue. “Weird craving you’ve got, kiddo,”
“Can you just…shut up and let him have his fill?” Stacy said beside him.
Dorian faced her, his face squeezing a little bit. “Did you just support someone other than yourself? Mama Mia, I think the moon rose from the wrong side of the sky tonight.”
“Shut it,” she faced him, and he chuckled, his eyes thinning.
“You know your apology wasn’t exactly an apology, right?” He suddenly said.
“And what’s that supposed to mean?” She raised her left brow, resting her elbow on the table.
“Sorry is sorry, but wh@tëver sarry means, you’re the only one who knows. You said sarry on stage earlier. I caught it.” He said seriously.
“So…” She shifted closer. “Are you gonna drag me back to stage to do a proper apology?”
“Don’t push your luck,” Dorian drew closer too, their faces only two inches apart. “If I make a post on the official fan website right now that DIAMONDS should reassemble for another apology, the Dome would be refilled within ten minutes.”
Stacy smirked, then shifted back from him. “Whenever you brag about your fandom, I get the ick. I can’t stand your braggadocio.”
“Brat, is there anything that doesn’t even give you the ick?” Dorian smiled, still looking at her.
“It’s Stacy, not Brat.” She replied without giving him another glance.
Trevor got done with his meal in ten more minutes, and Stacy cleared the bill, then they stepped out.
In front of the steakhouse, Cove stood, his back rested on a wall, and a thin cigar is between his lips, faint smokes surrounded him.
He followed them here, but he refused to enter, so he stayed out.
Stacy stopped walking, stunned when she saw the cigar on his lips like that.
“Fabio, you smoke?” Dorian gasped, hanging his arm on Cove’s neck. “Geez, now I like you more. Guys who smoke live longer.”
Cove pushed his arm off, glancing at Trevor.
Trevor got beside him then waved to Stacy with a smile.
“Thank you, Stacy. I hope you stop bullying people though.” He said.
Stacy rolled eyes.
Their Uber arrived, and they were about to enter when Stacy went closer, pulling Cove’s arm.
He looked back.
“I dress like a whore doesn’t mean you have the right to compare me to a prostitute, so get that into that thick skull of yours,” she breathed on him.
Cove’s eyes shifted ominously, hinting darkness, then he roughly took his arm from her hold.
He got in the Uber with Trevor.
“I’ve got the rudest friend in the whole of America, but I love it,” Dorian laughed as the Uber moved.
Stacy’s eyes followed the Uber.
From a blue Ferrari on the road, Angela came out, and immediately Dorian saw her, he nodded.
But he stared at Stacy, his eyes going to her navel and waist.
“You look good, specially the navel ring and the waist chain. I h@të not giving compliments when I see sëxiness. You’re that girl.” He told her candidly, and Stacy blinked.
Then he began rushing to Angela.
On the other side of the road, he was recognized immediately by a girl.
“Riri!”
That single holler called several other crowd on that road, and they began rushing to him.
“Rian!!!”
“Your concert tonight was the sweetest ever!!”
“I love you Riri!!!”
Angela and the guards were fast.
They guided Dorian, rushing to the car with him so he won’t get swooned.
Dorian climbed into the safety of the car with Angela, and even as the car drove off, the crazy fans ran after it, screaming and calling.
Stacy stood where she stood in front of that steakhouse, giving herself a closer look again.
She’s sèxy. Dorian just confirmed it.
He complimented her.
She’s not new to compliments cos even her dad compliments her, but Dorian? It feels golden.
She’s Fuçkin hot, and her dress sense is peng, so Cove can go to hell if he doesn’t find it appealing.
She carried herself to her pink McLaren, and her guards flew the car door open for her.
She got in, and as the car moved, she checked her phone.
The girls have been bombarding her with messages cos her stage appearance video trended.
She was about to reply Zendaya first when she saw something pop up on her Major group.
The golf field yesterday. How the golf coach was talking down on Zendaya.
Her bones burned, and the phone turned enemy in the middle of her palm as she squeezed.
“Navigate the routes,” she ordered her driver. “And find the golf coach house. Drive there.”
—
Dorian groaned in the car when it moved far enough from the crazy fans, and Angela gave him his cigar.
He took one and sparked, dragging it satisfactorily.
“Why weren’t you wearing your mask? If I and the guards didn’t act fast, those fans would have swooned you.” Angela said softly.
“I don’t wanna take your scolding tonight, Angel. I’m too tired.” Dorian replied, trying to take off his jacket.
Angela helped him with it, and immediately she took it off, she secretly brought it to her nose to sniff before dropping it on her lap.
Dorian rested on his seat, closing his eyes and smoking silently.
Angela went online.
The concert is just everywhere, the stage, and the praises about his stage presence and swag is just so sweet.
DIAMONDS are everything.
Even his IG followers increased by half a million in just tonight.
DIAMONDS worshipped everything up to the shoes he wore for every stage and his smile. They’ve always been obsessed with that boxy smile.
Angela gave the window a stare, seeing that billboards and city LEDs are displaying him too.
It’s like he’s the only celebrity in this city at this rate, so she understands h@tërs who h@të him.
Who wouldn’t?
She looked at him.
He’s still smoking with his eyes closed, so d@mn handsome.
She secretly sniffed his jacket, again.
—
[Studio Apartment]
Trevor didn’t last. Immediately he arrived home with Cove, he fell in bed and just slept off.
Cove isn’t in sleeping mood yet, so he got a hold of his laptop and went outside, sitting on the small staircase.
He began coding and programming.
His plan is to work himself to sleep, but it doesn’t seem like it’s gonna work cos his eyes aren’t blinking.
He was on the third code when he received a message on Whatsapp.
He picked it up, swiped and saw colourful picture of waist chains.
An unsaved number sent it, and he was already wondering who sent that when a text popped up.
• Another secret of mine? Fabio, I love waist chains on females.
Cove’s eyes lowered immediately. It’s definitely Dorian.
He didn’t ebother wondering how he got his number cos Dorian is just impossible.
He clicked his profile and nearly blocked him, but seeing it’s a private profile, he stopped.
Private.
Meaning he’s really serious with this stupid friendship, enough to message him with his private line?
He stared at the line again, for two more minutes before saving it.
He saved as ‘Wesley’
Then he went to the text again, clicking the waist chain.
For a little too long, he stared. This exact one was on the waist of that annoying attention seeker earlier.
He pressed delete.
—
[Golf Coach House]
The coach just finished Fuçkin’ an hired slût, so he entered his bathroom for a tub time.
He unwrapped his towel from his waist and was humming as he raised a leg, but then he felt something.
There are two bulbs in here—one bright and one green.
The two are supposed to be on. Why is it just the green one now?
He dropped that leg, turning around to go check the switch, but he screamed out loud, falling in the tub with a violent thud when he saw who’s standing behind him.
Stacy!
Her guards are beside her, supportively.
The coach struggled to sit up on the tub, keeping his lower body in the water shamefully.
Panic filled his orbs. His chest clenched on zero.
“Stacy? Stacy what are you doing… No, how did you enter my….”
“I don’t need keys to enter any house in this city, coach,” Stacy’s features went cold. “But you look like you need a padlock for your mouth! How dare you talk down on Zen? You called her fat?” She glared.
“Wait…” The coach blinked. “It’s about what happened on the field? No…you got it wrong! I only told her to hit the gym to reduce her fat—”
Stacy’s heel met his face before he could finish it, and one of his front teeth flew off.
He fell back in the water, struggling to stay afloat again.
“Reduce what fat? She told you she’s uncomfortable with her body? Zen is hot! That body is a ten! P E R F E C T!” She spelled clearly.
She sat on the edge of the tub, and before the coach could raise his head, she pushed it inside the water, making him drink.
He struggled, threw his arms up, tried to surface, but she increased the pressure of her arm.
She pushed again, and his head drowned deeper.
The guards behind her are the only audience. They didn’t try to stop her.
The coach drank water till his stomach reached bursting point before she let go of him.
Then… just as stealthily as she entered the house, she left.
—
[Sunday, Montana Mansion, 5pm]
Charcuterie board, truffle fries, wagyu beef, loaded nachos and soft pretzels with cheese dip.
The dinning table is full of all delicacy you could think of, but they’re are all untouched.
Anita made everything.
Stacy has been awaiting Albert’s homecoming since he promised to come home today, but he’s nowhere.
Since daybreak, he hasn’t been picking their calls.
Neither Anita nor Stacy’s.
Like a drenched puppy, Stacy sat on the couch, staring at the dinning. The meals are definitely cold now.
All the excitement she had in the morning is gone from her body.
She looks dead.
“Maybe I should have suggested flying to Manhattan with him for the Broadway show. Maybe he’d have liked that better,” she muttered.
“No don’t think far. Homemade meals are the best option for father and daughter bonding,” Anita replied beside her, stroking her hair.
“Then why is he not coming? This is 5:30. We’ve been waiting till daybreak.” Stacy muttered, weak.
“Shall we try his line one more time?” Anita consoled.
Stacy nodded, taking her beautiful phone. The jewels at the back of the pink pouch were dangling as she dialled his line.
Anita dialled too.
But it’s even off this time.
Albert’s line is off.
“I knew he’d never come! He has never fulfilled any promise. He’s a Fuçkin deceiver!” Stacy threw her phone at the TV.
“Stacy!” Anita cautioned, but she wasn’t hearing anything.
Stacy dashed out of the house, and Anita rushed after her, but before she could get outside, Stacy already got in her car and drove out of the mansion with a rough screech.
She drove herself!
The guards didn’t wait for Anita’s order. They packed themselves in their cars and followed her out.
But Stacy knew it’d happen, so when she drove out of that estate and saw a boy riding a bicycle, she stopped her car, dashed out and went to him.
She pushed him down from his bicycle, and the boy opened his mouth to cry out, but she threw her purse containing dollar notes at him.
He went quiet immediately, and she got on his bicycle, pedalling away.
Without her car, they won’t be able to track her, and she’s not planning to go to any of her girls house.
So her father will have a hard time finding her.
That’d be his punishment.
—
[No Sleep Garage, 6pm]
The sky is already bruising purple, meaning it’s gonna rain any moment from now.
Cove has been working on a car since 3—his longest work today, and that’s because the car parts are hard to get back together after dissemblance.
Even Trevor who’s always playing games helped tonight, but the last part of the car is so rare to get.
A Bosch immobilizer module—a tiny rectangular brain that controlled the entire system of the car. Without it, the engine wouldn’t even breathe.
All the car parts shop down in that street are out out it, and he has to get it done tonight cos the owner of the car is coming to pick it early tommorow morning.
Matteo made a quick call to a warehouse downtown, confirming that they have the module.
“Wizard, the Kovacs warehouse downtown still has it,” Matteo said, voice tight. “We need it now, or that car stays dead.”
Cove didn’t ask questions, he took Matteo’s car despite his hatred for driving. He drove out of the garage.
It’s a twenty minutes drive, and before he arrived at the warehouse, the rain already started, slamming the city unapologetically.
The warehouse squatted between abandoned factories, but easy to spot
Inside it, the air smelled like stale cigarettes, and there are car parts stacked around.
Neon lights bled across the wet pavement as Cove stepped into the warehouse—his hood dripping, boots tracking mud across concrete.
He didn’t greet anyone.
He walked straight to the counter and slapped a wad of cash down.
“Bosch immobilizer module. Porsche nine-eleven Turbo S. Now.” He said.
His voice was devoid.
The men behind the counter went still, eyes rolling.
A broad guy with gold teeth arched a brow. “You walk in here like that and think we’re your servants?”
Another guy leaned back, folding his arms. “Where I’m from, you greet before you talk.”
Cove didn’t even look impressed.
Rainwater slid down his jaw as he leaned against the counter like the world bored him.
“Where I’m from, I pay. That’s the greeting.” He muttered.
The guy with the gold teeth scoffed.
“You’re rude.”
Cove smirked faintly.
“You’re slow.”
And that was when the warehouse shifted. Chairs scraped, boots moved.
Ten of them stepped forward, closing in like dogs smelling blood.
“You think you’re special?” one asked, cracking his knuckles.
Cove sighed, like they were wasting his evening.
Then it happened fast.
He moved first—surgically. His fist caught a wrist. He twisted and slammed a body into a metal shelf.
Another guy came from behind, and Cove ducked, hie elbow snapping back, knocking the breath out of him.
A car battery fell.
Cove swept up the legs of two of them, sending them skidding across the slick concrete.
The remaining men came in messily with angry bursts like they were sent to kill him this night.
They held knives, blades. Looks like they’ve been waiting for him to com
Cove moved ruthlessly like he had done this before.
In seconds, the warehouse was unrecognizable. In a minute, they were all on the floor.
Cove stood in the middle of it, chest barely rising.
Rain is still dripping off his hood.
The gold teeth guy groaned from the ground, pushing himself up on one elbow painfully.
His face is bleeding.
“You’re insane.” He spat blood.
Cove walked back to the counter and looked at the clerk who had frozen behind the register.
“Module,” he repeated, voice calm.
The clerk swallowed and disappeared into the back to get the module.
Thunder rolled outside.
—
[Montana Mansion, 7pm]
Despite the rain, all the girls are here.
They all came immediately they were called by Anita, and they all confirmed Stacy isn’t with them.
The guards who went after her just saw her car outside the estate. She wasn’t not inside, and without the car, it’s impossible to track her.
She’s not with her phone too, and it’s also raining.
They’re panicking, awaiting the arrival of Albert, and when Albert arrived in a rush and saw the girls by the door with Anita and the guards, he knew something was up.
He alighted from the car slowly, his eyes widening.
“Where’s my daughter?”
—
[Rainy Streets]
Stacy chose her location carefully. She came to a subway station, and she sat there alone.
The pitty-patter of the rain didn’t bother her. Being here alone is bliss.
She pedalled the bicycle for an hour before arriving here, and she has no idea what side of the city it is, but anywhere is fine.
Her head rested on the pole beside her, and she let out a sigh, looking at her long nails.
Her late mom always said she wanted to be Stacy’s personal nail tach when she grew up cos Stacy has always loved flashy long nails, but too bad…
The mom didn’t even wait till she grew up. The mom died.
And now she’s stuck with her dad who only has time for work.
Albert wasn’t always like this, but her mom’s death changed him he became a clock—always working.
She can’t even see him anytime she desires. He won’t come see her unless she does something extreme.
Only thing he does is tell her to always go everywhere with guards cos he’s got too many enemies who’d target her as his weakness.
And maybe he’s right, cos right now she’s suspecting a black car at the other side of the road.
It has been there for ten minutes now. Other cars are driving past in the rain, but it’s just there.
The sting of cold bit into Stacy’s skin as she’s only wearing bum shorts and a tiny singlet. Luckily, it’s not cropped, but it’s see-through.
She’s shaking a bit already, and the moment she stood from the bench she sat on, the black door car opened, and a man in black came out.
Her eyes widened.
She turned around, running into the smartest route she could think of in that heavy rain—an alley.
He’s definitely chasing her, cos she heard footsteps, and she ran faster.
But maybe the footsteps she heard was just her mind cos when she got further in the alleyway, the man in black blocked her in the front
She froze, stepping back.
One step, two step.
Then she turned around and ran!
He followed her.
Her short legs didn’t help her.
He caught up shortly, his arms grabbing her tummy from behind.
“Don’t touch me! Who the hell are…. ahhh!!!!” She screamed, slipping off him thanks to the rainwater.
She made to run again, but for the second time, he grabbed her.
Tighter this time.
He pushed a powdery substance in a paper to her nose, and Stacy used her only defence.
Pepper spray.
She pulled the bottle out of her pocket and sprayed on his eyes with a mad press on the atomizer.
He let go of her, and she didn’t look back as she ran out of the alleyway.
Gawd…hope he’s not following her.
.
She actually took the spray earlier before she left the car, thankfully, and now it saved her, but it already fell from her after she sprayed the man with it, so now if he follows her again, she’d be caught and helpless.
She could feel her P@ntiës getting soaked inside her bum shorts cos the rain is heavier now.
But why is she getting weak? Why is her eyes trying to force-shut?
Why is she…
She stumbled and fell on that road, and her knees peeled.
She shook her head, trying to get the effects away.
Must be the white power he brought close to her nose.
She can’t even feel her senses.
But she needs to run.
She has to. Else…the man in black is gonna catch…
Her sight caught the tall figure of someone coming in front of her.
He carried a red umbrella, his steps looking familiar.
Stacy tried hard to keep herself awake with half-lidded eyes till he walked past her.
She recognized the walking steps.
“Cove….” She breathed shakily, her voice trembling.
The person stopped, and the umbrella lifted a bit from his head.
It’s indeed Cove.
He was on his way back from the warehouse when Matteo’s car felt too too stuffy for him.
He had drove himself to the the warehouse in that same car, so driving back felt too much.
Spending too much time in the car is enough to drive him insane, so he left Matteo’s car on the roadside and decided to walk the remaining distance back to the garage.
He recognized her even before she called, he just chose to ignore.
But Cove? From her mouth?
That’s inappropriate.
“Please…” She sounded weak and drugged. “Please help…me…I’m being…chas….”
She didn’t finish before he turned around and walked off.
He left!
She gasped, trying to talk again, but her voice failed her.
What powder did she inhale? Is it some fetish? Is she gonna die?
She tried with her last ounce of strength to stand, but she fell back.
Her elbows and knees gave out.
She was about falling flat when she was grabbed suddenly.
She kept her eyes open, but she’s not functioning anymore.
He came back!
He did a squat in front of her, the rain drenching both cos he’s not with his umbrella anymore.
“Get on,” he said, monotonously.
She didn’t wait, but she was only able to put her arms on his shoulders before she lost consciousness.
Cove was fast to hook her legs with his hands, adjusting her body on his back before he stood.
He began walking down the lane with her, but at his seventh step, the sensation of something warm crawled over the skin of his neck.
He stopped instantly.
His nose picked the smell of something familiar.
Vomit.
Milk.
She vomited milk on him!
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