50 Shades of Drake 1 and 2

50SOD II: Chapter Seventy-Three

    "Can I come in?" Harry Palmer asked.

    Aubrey stared at him. He glanced at his watch again.

    "Are you expecting company?" Palmer questioned with an amused look on his face.

    "Uh...no, of course not," Aubrey answered, stepping back and allowing the heavyset politician in. Please do not come home while he's here, Destiny. Wherever you are, please stay there. "What brings you to Toronto?"

    "I wanted to check the sights, check out some of the eats, experience the place for myself since I've heard such good things," Palmer said, sliding off his suit jacket and folding it across his arm.

    Aubrey led him into the living room, where he chose to sit in an armchair. "Is that so?"

    Palmer seated himself on the couch. "No. No, it's not so, Aubrey." He glanced around the condo. "You've done well for yourself here, I see."

    "This place pales in comparison to my estate in California," Aubrey said, not taking his eyes off of the politician. "Why are you here?"

    "I figured I could come here so you and I could talk like men," Palmer said, lowering his eyes back to Aubrey. "It has come to my attention that someone has been looking into my past. Disturbing dust that has long since settled. After looking into who that could possibly be, my investigator found that it was you, Aubrey, who are looking into my past."

    Aubrey's eyebrows rose.

    Palmer grinned. "Are you going to pretend it wasn't you? I was hoping you would."

    He thinks that I was the one looking into him, Aubrey thought while looking back at the other man. And he asked if I had company. Which means...he doesn't even know about Destiny. "I'm not going to pretend like anything," Aubrey said finally.

    "Good. I sent you a message asking for you to stop looking into my past. But messages like that can get misconstrued, misunderstood. A sense of urgency can get lost in something as impersonal as an instant message." Palmer smoothed down his white dress shirt and picked off a piece of invisible lint from it. "Technology these days. Overrated, if you ask me. There's nothing like a real, face-to-face conversation. Lucky me, I have a jet at my disposal, so I decided to make a quick trip up here to visit."

    "So you came up here to emphasize that you don't want me to look into your past," Aubrey stated.

    "Correct."

    "What would be worth you coming all the way up here?" Aubrey asked, leaning back in his seat. "Whatever you're hiding must be big."

    Palmer chuckled and shook a big, meaty fist at him. "You see there? Questions like that are what will get you in trouble, my friend."

    "We're not friends," Aubrey reminded him, and he wasn't smiling.

    Palmer's chuckles stopped and his expression turned serious. "You don't want to know what it is I'm hiding. Anything you could possibly find out would only be the tip of the iceberg, my friend."

    Aubrey glared at him.

    Palmer laughed again and rubbed the side of his nose. "You know, it's funny. You used to be a rapper, right? You were one of those...unique rappers who didn't rap about being from the streets. You rapped about feelings, and women. Women breaking your heart and shit, right?"

    "I'm surprised that you followed my music," Aubrey remarked.

    Palmer shrugged. "I had a niece who listened to it. Caught a few tunes. Your stuff was pretty catchy. I find it ironic that you are the former rapper, and yet between the two of us, I am the one with the shady past."

    "Glad one of us finds it amusing," Aubrey muttered.

    "I take it that I can trust you to stop digging into matters that don't concern you," Palmer said.

    "Are you going to retract the attack you've made on my company?" Aubrey countered.

    Palmer stared at him for a moment. "You know...I could lie to you and say that I would. But you called out my name and the name of some of my colleagues. While I could let bygones be bygones, some of my other colleagues aren't as understanding as I am."

    "Then I can't promise that I will stop digging," Aubrey said smoothly.

    A dangerous glint shone in Palmer's ruddy-colored eyes. "I see."

    "Is that all?" Aubrey asked, standing.

    Palmer reached into his pocket and withdrew his cell phone. "Not quite. I have something I want to show you."

    Aubrey's brows furrowed.

    Palmer ran his chubby fingers across the cell phone screen, then extended the phone towards Aubrey. "Here. Take it."

    Aubrey stared down at the phone warily.

    Palmer laughed so hard, his face turned red. "It's not a bomb. It's not going to explode in your hands, man. I'm still sitting here. I'm not on a suicide mission. Take it. All you have to do is press Play."

    Aubrey accepted the phone from him and sat back down on the couch. What could Palmer possibly have to show him? He took a deep breath and pressed the Play button. He heard sounds, it sounded like the chatter of people, but the image was dark. He squinted his eyes while peering at the image. The video was too dark to make anything out. He raised his eyes over the top of the phone and looked at Palmer. "I can't see anything."

    "Oh, it gets better, trust me," Palmer said, then turned his head and glanced around the condo again.

    Aubrey lowered his eyes back to the phone, and the picture started to come into focus. The person holding the phone or camera was moving towards an area that was better lit. I need to hurry up and get this man out of the house before Destiny gets here, he thought to himself. I should have just told him I would stop digging and let that be that. But Palmer was a prick. It was impossible not to talk shit to him whenever he was around. People came into view on the video. Scantily-clad people. Scantily-clad people who were walking around, kissing each other, making out. Aubrey's hand shook around the slim gadget, but he continued to watch as a light-skinned man seated on a couch came into view, and as his partner lowered down to the floor between his knees. He was looking at himself. Himself and Destiny in Decadence, the sex club.

    Blood rushed to his face as he continued to watch the video. There was no disputing the fact that he was the man in the video, no disputing the fact that Destiny was the woman in the video. For such a low lit place, the video quality had gone from terrible to an unbelievably high quality.

    Palmer watched him with cold eyes. "Are you as entertained as I was when I got my hands on that video?"

    Aubrey's mouth went dry. The fact that Palmer had his hands on this video was most definitely a nightmare, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from the image.

    "Hey man, I didn't mean for you to get off to it," Palmer exclaimed jokingly. "Can I have my phone back?"

    Aubrey handed the phone back to Palmer and blinked his eyes rapidly. "How did you get that?"

    "Is that really the question you want to ask me?" Palmer questioned, pocketing his cell phone.

    No. What I really want to know is...

    "What you really want to know is what I'm going to do with this video," Palmer said with a satisfied smirk. "And the answer is nothing - as long as you do what I want you to do."