Pleasure and Pain

Chapter 4

[10 months ago]

After excusing himself to his Chairmen, Benny headed towards the elevators. Meanwhile, he was trying to puzzle the pieces together of the appearance from the courier; he'd fucking shot her in the temple, and yet here she was, like a tauntering ghost from the past that kept haunting him.

Perhaps he had to accept the fact that karma was real, and therefore she'd become immortal; because he'd fucked her up.

The elevator trip was shorter than expected; before he knew it, he already reached the 13th floor.

Only a few seconds passed, when he reached the familiar doors leading to his private suite. Or atleast, it'd felt like a few seconds.

He cleared his throat, trying to burn a hole through the door by simply glaring at it. It would've been a hell of a lot easier if he knew what was going on behind those damn doors. For all he knew, she was right there at the other side, her gun cocked and ready to shoot his temple.

Well, suppose there's only one way to find out, he said to himself as some sad encouragement

Quickly and quietly, he put his hand on the doorknob and turned it around. The familiar creeks betrayed his presence, and Benny wanted to curse out loud.

Calm and collected Benny, he thought, this is what she came for.

As soon as he opened the door, he internally stated the obvious fact; the room was abandoned. Noone was here—atleast from the very first looks of it.

When he closed the door and was thrown against the hard surface behind him however, he knew he'd been dead wrong about that.

Wanting to know what the heck was going on, he parted his lips, ready to pop the question.

A quick, solid punch to the face caught him off guard. He grasped the sore spot in shock, moaning as it started to throb. When he looked up to see the ambusher, he saw that damn pretty familiar fucking face. She looked even more gorgeous when she was angry; he liked his cat with claws.

"What the fuck?!" he cursed loudly, still clinging to the painful spot, his head oozing slightly.

"What, forgot my name asshole?!" she spat back, turning around with a heavy angered glare. Benny used the moment to his advantage, as he reached for Maria in his inside pocket. He was ready to clean up his mistakes; that mistake being too messy with his tracks. The fact that she managed to trace them so easily proved that point.

She was quicker.

When she turned around, a silenced weapon was aimed at his forehead. Anger was still drained on her face. "Remember my name yet, you fucking prick?!" she tried again, her lower lip trembling from adrenaline. Benny looked, just looked, relaxed and trying his best to hide his fear of dying. Of losing everything he's worked so hard for.

"What the fuck are you talking about, you crazy broad? I've never seen you in my entire life!" he replied, with his best impression of a genuinely confused person.

She didn't buy it. Ofcourse not, he snorted.

The courier switched off the security on her weapon. "You.. you disease of a fuck.. How the fuck do you live with yourself, Benny? Tell me!" she screamed louder, her face twitching as she allowed the anger to take over. "You.. you murdered my fucking parents! You betrayed me, you humiliated me, you left me.. And then you shot me. You fucking shot me. You looked me straight in the eye and pulled that goddamn trigger. Like I was nothing. Like you've never seen me before!"

Her face broke.

Tears started to pour down. She thought he wouldn't notice, but he clearly saw the line of wetness running down her cheak. She was beautiful.

Even broken, she was still beautiful.

"I'm sorry, Lucinda." Benny heard himself say. He didn't mean it. He never meant it. And she knew he didn't mean it.

Seeing her cry didn't do shit to him. Always been that way, always has.

She snorted. "Bullshit, Benny. Asshole. I should kill you. I should fucking kill you."

Benny smiled. "You ain't got the guts, sweetheart. You and I both know that. Would've been dead a long time ago if that were the case."

He was right. Always was.

She read his mind. A laugh escaped her lips.

"You're wrong Benny. Not this time. I will kill you. One day, you're gonna see me show up, and you're gonna know it's time. I will put a clean bullet between those treacherous eyes of yours. I won't make you suffer like I had to, because unlike you, I know how to work my shit. And I'm not as evil as you." she said, never taking his eyes off his."Today is not that day." she added.

Benny smirked. "And I won't fight back. You get to end it all and walk away victoriously. Eye for an eye, right? It's the least I can do, girlie."

She smiled too. "It's the least you can do." she agreed.

Slowly dropping her weapon, her face went blank again. "I fucking hate you, Benny. I fucking hate you with every inche of my body. With every breath I take."

A normal person would've been shocked, but not him. Hell, he wasn't even normal anymore. He'd isolated his soul a long time ago. For a moment, when she came in the picture however, he knew it was starting to melt. Starting to care.

That's why he'd fucked her up.

Because the great Benny from Vegas had been too scared of caring for someone other than himself.

"I know." he breathed. "I hate you too."