Chapter 44: Good Men Are Rare

Once Nathan and Crystal were dressed, he pulled her out of the fitting room. Ignoring his aunt, he handed the clothes she’d brought in with her to a salesgirl and told her to ring it up for them. After paying for these items, Nathan dragged Crystal out of the store, across the mall, and into an elevator. Once the doors had closed behind them, Crystal glared at Nathan and said, “What did you mean when you said that I wasn’t qualified to seduce you?”

Nathan smiled, and instead of answering her, he pressed her against the wall. After a moment, he cupped her left breast in his right hand, gave it a gentle squeeze, and said, “Your tits are too small.”

Crystal frowned, and her cheeks turned pink. “They are as big as they were ten minutes ago,” she said, “and they seemed to suit you just fine when you were sucking at my nipples!”

The elevator reached the first floor, and Nathan let go of Crystal’s breast as the door opened. Some people boarded, and Nathan leaned into Crystal so that he could whisper into her ear without being overheard. “When I said that your tits are too small,” he said, “I meant that you are too young. Don’t you know that I could go to jail for having sex with a minor?”

The elevator stopped again, and Nathan stepped away from Crystal. Then he walked out of the elevator, and she followed him into the parking lot. He had long legs, so she almost had to run to keep up with him.

In the car, neither of them said a word at first. Crystal was ashamed of what had happened in the fitting room, and she wanted nothing more than to put it behind her. And as soon as the car stopped at the villa’s courtyard, she couldn’t wait to unfasten her seat belt, unlock the door, and rush into the house.

When Susie heard that they’d returned, she rushed out of the kitchen and shouted Crystal’s name. Crystal turned and asked, “What’s up?”

Susie sighed and said, “Miss Tiffany Ford was waiting here almost all afternoon. She just left!”

Crystal stopped, thought for a moment, and said, “I wonder why she came here without telling me first. She must have come for an update on her father’s affair. Well, it must not have been that important if she didn’t leave a message.”

Crystal went straight to her room, and Susie watched her with a scowl on her face. Susie wasn’t sure whether Crystal had understood her words. She stood still and thought about what she should do. A moment later, Nathan walked through the door.

Susie walked quickly to the door and took the bags from his hands. She wanted to repeat what she had just told Crystal, but unexpectedly, Nathan was one step ahead of her. He asked, “Has Miss Ford gone?”

Susie: “Yes, sir.”

Nathan made a “Hmm” sound, and then he went into his study.

Susie noticed some tension between Nathan and Crystal, but she couldn’t tell what was wrong. After a moment, she went back into the kitchen to continue the dinner preparations. The main dish would be a hamburger. She took out a piece of meat from the fridge, put it on a cutting board on the counter, and began to chop it up with a Henckel 8” Chef Knife.

By now, Crystal had changed into a set of sweats. She walked into the kitchen, reached out to take the knife out of Susie’s hand, and said, “Susie, let me try.”

Susie: “No, I’ll do it. You don’t want to dirty your clean clothes.”

“It’s fine,” Crystal said. “Let me try.” And she grabbed the knife and started to chop the meat. With each slice, she chopped harder and harder until the meat was flying all over the table and floor.

Susie was a little frightened by this. To her, Crystal did not look like she was chopping pork. Instead, she looked like she was carving out the guts of a mortal enemy.

Finally, Crystal put down the knife and spread out her arms. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, and with a hint of mischief in her voice, she asked, “How do you like my cutting skills?”

Susie helped her clean up the meat, smiled, and said, “Maybe You should stick to your day job.”

Crystal stuck out her tongue playfully. In truth, it wasn’t that she wasn’t good at cooking, it’s just that she hadn’t taken the task seriously and had been more interested in venting anger, and now she felt a lot better.

As Crystal washed her hands carefully with liquid soap, she turned to Susie and asked her if her mom and Nathan had lived together. At the time of her Mother’s death, Crystal had been living on campus, and she hadn’t gone home very often. In retrospect, she felt guilty about that. If she had known that her mother would die, she would have made more of an effort.

Her mother hadn’t allowed her to be with Carlos. She had said that Crystal would eventually be betrayed and hurt by someone as ambitious and heartless as Carlos. Crystal had been rebellious, and she never listened to her Mother.

To be with Carlos, Crystal had been willing to give up everything, and that included her life with her Mother. Time had proved her Mother right, but now it was too late to apologize.

Susie put the minced meat into a bowl, and then she said, “No. I never saw him until after your Mother’s funeral. He moved here on the same day that you did.”

Crystal: “Oh...”

Susie: “Your Mother spoke highly of him, though. I remember she mentioned once that Mr. Davis was a rare and good man.”

“Good men are rare,” Crystal murmured. “He must have been good, though. Otherwise, my mother wouldn’t have left him my inheritance. Don’t you think so? He wouldn’t be my guardian after all,”

Susie: “Indeed, but let’s change the subject…