The Cain Conspiracy (7 page)

“So you can cook too, huh?” Cain asked, smiling.

“I’ve been known to cook a few things,” she smiled back. “It’s only eggs and bacon. It’s kinda hard to mess that up.”

“I’ve known people that could mess up peanut butter and jelly.”

Heather let out a good laugh, “I’m sure you have.”

“Smells really good,” Cain admitted.

“Sit down. It’s almost ready.”

Cain sat down at the table and noticed that Heather seemed to be wearing a man’s shirt. Most likely his. He couldn’t complain too much since it did look pretty good on her. It only covered a third of her thigh, but he certainly had no qualms about looking at her nicely tanned legs.

“Nice shirt,” he blurted out. “Something looks familiar about it.”

“Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that,” she sheepishly smiled. “I wasn’t planning on being here more than a few hours last night so I had no other clothes. Hope you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t mind. Can’t say it doesn’t look good on you. Probably looks better on you than me,” he teased.

A wide smile overtook her face as she was pleased to hear him say something that sounded like he was attracted to her. She finished making breakfast and brought their plates over to the table.

“So how are you feeling?” Heather wondered.

“Pretty good right now.”

“You gave me a pretty good scare last night.”

“Probably gave myself a bigger one,” he laughed.

“So do you have many of them?”

“That was the first one. Hopefully it’s the last.”

“Do you know why it happened?”

“I was shot in the head,” Cain bluntly explained.

“Oh my God.”

“Yeah.”

“What happened?” she asked, putting her hand on his arm.

“I can’t really say. I don’t remember anything about it. One day I just woke up in an army hospital with a bandage on my head and people telling me how lucky I was to survive.”

“I can’t even imagine what it was like. You seem like everything is fine though.”

“For the most part it is. I feel healthy. My memory is gone though. I can’t remember anything about my past. Names, faces, dates…it’s all gone. I can’t tell you anything about where I’ve been or what I’ve done before I woke up in that hospital,” Cain explained, his eyes swelling up with tears. He wiped his eyes with the sleeves of his shirt to prevent him from crying.

“That’s terrible. I feel so bad for you,” Heather gushed. “Isn’t there anything you can do to get your memory back?”

“Not that I know of. They say it might just come back one day out of the blue,” he replied. “Or it might never come back again.”

“Can’t they bring in a family member or something? I’ve heard seeing a familiar face sometimes jogs people’s memories.”

“There isn’t anybody.”

“Nobody?”

“Well, I saw my file and it seems I’m all there is. Parents were killed and I have no other family to speak of.”

“I’m so sorry,” Heather expressed, rubbing his arm.

He gave her a warm smile that seemed to thank her for the comforting wishes without him saying a word. They continued talking as they ate, Heather feeling more connected to the man sitting next to her with each sentence he spoke. Even though she proclaimed she liked what she did, and the money was too good to pass up, she really yearned for a serious relationship. It was something she figured she’d never find in her line of work, at least not one really worth having. She’d had a few boyfriends, but she knew they were mostly interested in her for the sex, and they thought it was cool to have a stripper for a girlfriend. Not hardly the type of guys you brought home to mother. She could tell Cain was a different type of guy. One with standards and morals. That was obvious since he didn’t ravage her the night before.

“So what do you do for Sanders?” she asked.

“I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot. Are you gonna be in New York for a while?”

“I don’t know. I can live anywhere I want but I don’t know where else I would go.”

Cain got up from the table and put the dishes in the sink once the pair finished eating.

“That was really good, thank you. I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. It was nice,” Heather replied. “I enjoyed cooking for someone else for a change. Gets a little boring when you’re only cooking for one all the time.”

“That’s surprising.”

“Why is that surprising?”

“I dunno. I figured a girl like you would have guys banging down your door or begging at your feet to be with you,” Cain surmised.

“A girl like me. You mean a stripper?” she asked without a hint of anger.

“No. I meant a girl as pretty as you.”

“Oh. Well there are plenty of guys banging down my door every day. But it doesn’t mean anything. They’re only after one thing.”

“Sounds like you’re not as into your profession as you made it seem last night.”

“Well I don’t just go around talking about my feelings with everybody.”

“So why are you talking about it now?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I guess you’re pretty easy to talk to,” Heather admitted. “You’re not like most guys I run into.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“I meant it as one.”

“So how long are you planning on staying? I mean, when do you have to get back to work or whatever?”

“Well, I told Sanders I’d stay for a couple of days to make sure you were OK,” she told him. “But if you don’t want me to then I completely understand. I can leave whenever you want.”

“It’s fine.”

“I can just leave now. I’ll just get dressed,” she said as she got up from the table.

“Heather…”

“I mean, I really don’t wanna feel like I’m imposing.”

“Heather…”

“So I’ll just get dressed and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“Heather…”

“I’ll just tell Sanders you seem perfectly fine,” she nervously said, not hearing anything Cain was saying.

“Heather,” Cain yelled, finally succeeding in getting heard.

“What?”

“You can stay.”

“I can?” she asked, surprised.

“Well, you already told Sanders you’d stay a couple days so you might as well. Plus I’d like you to stay.”

“You would.”

“Yeah. I mean, I told you I have memory issues. I forget how to cook,” he joked.

A little sense of relief came over Heather as she never felt so comfortable and at ease with a man as she did with Cain. She was glad he wanted her to stay for a couple of days. She sauntered over to the couch in the living room, hoping to get a few lusty glances from him as she walked. Cain stood by the kitchen counter watching her every move. He couldn’t remember much, but he was certain he hadn’t seen legs that looked that nice in a long time. He sure didn’t see anything like that in the army. He didn’t feel right about having sex with her the minute he saw her but he felt no shame in undressing her with his eyes.

“I think you have one problem,” he told her.

“What’s that?” she anxiously wondered.

“If you’re gonna be here a couple days then I think you need your own clothes to wear. I mean, my shirt looks good on you but I don’t think you can walk around the whole day like that.”

“Don’t bet on it.”

Heather went to the bedroom and got dressed into her clothes from the night before. She came out about ten minutes later and told Cain she was going to her apartment to pack a few things.

“Want me to come with you?” Cain asked.

“Come with me? Why?” Heather asked, surprised at his request.

“Uhh..I dunno. I thought maybe you’d need help or something.”

“Umm I think I should be OK.”

She was a little reluctant at having Cain see her apartment. For the first time since she started stripping she seemed a little embarrassed about it. The only guys who’d been inside her apartment were guys she dated or paid for the privilege. For a few brief moments when they were talking at the table she felt like she was someone else. Like they were normal people just having a conversation and she kinda liked it. She’d hate for him to see her apartment and have the reality of her profession smack him in the face and change his opinion of her. She walked toward the door and she thought about what might happen if he had another seizure while she was gone. She’d only be gone an hour or two but what if he had one and she wasn’t there to help. What would Sanders say?

“I guess under the circumstances it’d be better off if you came with me,” she reluctantly agreed. “I mean, with your seizures and all, I probably shouldn’t leave you alone.”

“Oh, yeah, you’re probably right.”

They took the elevator to the ground floor and walked out of the building. Almost immediately a beautiful blonde woman walked past them. She was rather tall with long hair and a striking figure. She gave Cain a slight smile. He was mesmerized by her and watched her walk past him. Heather noticed Cain continuing to watch the woman as she kept walking.

“I wish I’d gotten that kind of response from you last night,” she deadpanned.

She expected some type of reply but he kept silent.

“I wasn’t really serious,” she told him. “Most men would be falling over themselves if she walked past. I couldn’t blame you.”

After a minute she realized she was basically talking to herself because he seemed like he was in another world. His head was still turned in that woman’s direction though she was fading from view and barely noticeable at that point. Heather put her hand on his arm and shook it a little to try and break him from his trance. She shook it gently without success before putting a little more weight into it. It worked as he finally turned his head back to her. Heather was a little alarmed by the blank look that overtook his face.

“Are you OK?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“What’s the matter? Don’t remember seeing a pretty woman before?” she kidded.

“No. I mean, I saw something.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was an image,” Cain admitted.

“An image of what?”

“A woman.”

“Well she just walked by you, it’s understandable. Most men would probably have the same image in their head.”

“No, it wasn’t of her. It was somebody else.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. I just saw her face. She had blonde hair, a little past her shoulders, and a pretty face.”

“What was she doing?”

“Nothing. It was just her face. Everything else around her was just white space. Like a picture of a face on the pages of a book and that’s all there is.”

Heather could tell he seemed troubled by this vision. He seemed genuinely disturbed by it.

“I feel like I should know who it is. Like she’s connected to me somehow,” he said.

“Maybe it was a high school girlfriend or something. Maybe a friend that you knew from before.”

“Maybe.”

Heather made sure that Cain was all right before they started walking toward her apartment. They could’ve taken a cab but they decided to walk the half hour to her place. It’d give them some time to talk along the way. With each step they took they seemed to grow a little closer to each other. In another time and place Heather thought about how things might be different. Maybe they’d be holding hands or exchanging playful glances with each other. But she knew that at this point in time there was no chance of anything ever developing further. After a half hour of walking, sidestepping bustling people who seemed to be charging at them, they arrived at a nice looking building that stretched up fifteen floors.

“I’m impressed,” Cain stated.

“I told you I was paid well.”

They went inside and went up to her apartment on the eleventh floor. Heather put the key in and unlocked it, taking a deep breath before opening the door, hoping he wouldn’t change his opinion of her after seeing it. There was nothing unordinary about the place, nothing that anyone would associate with her profession like poles attached to the ceiling, furry handcuffs on the couch or kinky fetishes. But to her, it was a stripper’s place, and she attached a stigma to it even if no one else did.

“Well, here it is,” she said, walking in.

“Very nice. I like it,” Cain responded, looking around the living room. “Not quite what I expected.”

“Which was?”

“Well, I, uhh, I was kind of half expecting some unflattering things to be out and about.”

“Most people do,” she dejectedly replied.

“Well, I’m gonna go pack a few things. Sit down and make yourself at home if you want. Kitchen’s over there if you want a drink or anything.”

Cain sat down on the black leather couch, shifting around to different positions to get a feel for it. It was so comfortable that he didn’t want to sit on it for too long or else he probably wouldn’t want to get up. He walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to see what was available. He poured a couple glasses of orange juice for the two of them. Just as he finished pouring there was a loud knock on the door.

“You want me to get that?” Cain asked.

“No, no,” Heather huffed, scurrying into the room. “I’ll get it.”

She turned him around and told him to wait in the kitchen. The loud knocking continued.

“Come on Heather, let’s go,” a deep voice yelled from the other side.

“Coming,” she replied.

Heather opened the door to reveal a large, bald man with a Fu Manchu. She took a deep sigh, obviously displeased to see the heavyset man before her.

“Hi Tommy,” she said.

“So what’s this about you not working tonight?” he asked as he pushed past her.

“Sure, come on in,” she sarcastically remarked.

“So why aren’t you working? You don’t look sick.”

“I just feel like taking a couple of days off, OK?”

“Boss doesn’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I don’t really care what he thinks. I’m taking a few days,” Heather insisted.