4
4. One Chance
I just needed to get away from everything for a night. There's only one place to go when you want to forget it all by the glow of a lit cigar, the whiskey down your throat and smooth jazz dripping into your ears like warm honey.
The Third Rail.
I was on my own but I can never stay solitary for long. The music finished and I saw the glimmer of red sequins in my peripheral vision.
"I'm glad you managed to find Emogene. That girl needs looking after."
"Yeah. You'd think she'd have had plenty o' time to learn to look after herself. I guess some folks never learn. You know about the Cabots, right?"
"Oh handsome, you'd be surprised what I know."
Vin didn't really feel like exploring the quirks of the Commonwealth in conversation. "I came here for a strong whiskey."
"Charlie will be happy to hear that," Magnolia purred. Vin bought an extra drink and pushed it toward the singer. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine."
"We are?"
"Now there's something special about you isn't there? Don't tell me. Let me guess...Ah, of course. It's those powerful muscles of yours. My... I could get used to looking at those."
"There's more to me than muscle, doll."
"So I hear…you're rather resourceful, aren't you, handsome."
"And you're the Mistress of Mystery."
Magnolia laughed languidly. "So, it's my turn to answer questions, right? What can I do for you?"
Vin felt his caution fly to the wind, taking with it his need for solitude. "A moonlit walk, under the stars?"
"Let me get my coat."
The pair strolled out of the Third Rail toward the glow of the Memory Den. They ambled around Scollay Square a couple of times, Magnolia ladling out flattery, admiring his moustache, his broad shoulders, his voice. She even persuaded him to sing a couple of bars, despite him telling her he was somewhat tone deaf.
"Oh, honey, that is a shame. You've got the most wonderful timbre to your voice but if you can't sing in tune, it's a waste. Let's find another way to make some beautiful music together, shall we?"
The room was in a private section of The Rexford. In sharp contrast to the room I usually rented, this one had no holes in the walls, heck they were even papered in burgundy flock. Rich, only slightly moth-eaten velvet drapes hung at the window and around the four-poster bed. The floor boasted a deep-piled rug, its pattern currently obscured by the red dress and most of my various layers.
Her kisses along my jaw and down my throat should have elicited warm, tingling sensations but I felt… frozen.
"Magnolia, stop. I can't."
She withdrew, stretching fluidly, frowning slightly. "Do I not set you afloat, dreamboat?"
"You're gorgeous, Magnolia. I just…"
The singer gathered the soft bedclothes about her. "You lost your wife. You're not over her yet."
"Not sure I ever will be."
"Oh, honey, you'll move on, someday. Maybe not by roads you've travelled, yet," she added, looking at him askew in the most sibylline fashion.
" 'It's all over but the crying', huh?"
"C'mere, sugar. Just cuddle up and sleep now, alright?"
"Thanks, Mags. Goodnight."
That's prompts 1, 4, 7, 14 and 16 done! Plenty more drabble fic prompts to choose from here!
