The Night of Seven by Nadia Siddiqui (read a book TXT) 📕

nights ago, that woman likes to keep things interesting. Long ago were the days that he was simply impressed with the fact that she could put her foot right behind her head with ease. He supposed that growing up a dancer, and then becoming a professional dancer, that just came with the territory. It also keeps her lithe little body toned in all the right places. He has listened to her talk for hours about how she wishes that she was a front line actor or that she had any real singing talent so that she could be top-billed. Not that she minds being a dancer, of course, but she would like something more. Madden likes to think that he helps with something more in so much as he’s able to.

He buys most of her costumes, and he certainly pays for what does or doesn’t go underneath them. He buys her shoes and gets her hair done. She seems to like having somebody take care of her even in such small capacities. Normally, whenever he’s in town, she stays with him. Though this one night to himself was rather nice as well. A slow, happy smile comes over his face as he thinks back to two nights ago when she was in his arms, his hands running over her soft skin, the slope of her waist as it met her hips.

“Room service,” the voice at the door calls.

“Come in!” Madden groans, his voice still sleepy with disuse.

The door opens, and a man in a white coat comes into the room with a silver-plated tray and something that smells amazing.

“Did I call room service?” Madden asks, pushing himself upward in bed and looking in the direction of the food.

“No sir, I do believe Mrs. Callahan, your wife, did. Good morning, Mr. Callahan, by the way. Would you like me to get your coffee started? We have a nice Belgian roast this month, and I think that you will really enjoy it.”

“That would be amazing, Chris, thank you.”

Most of the people who work at this hotel have been working here for quite some time now, and Madden Callahan knows most of them by name. He likes to think that he can take care of them as much as possible as well. Truly, he is a very blessed person.

Madden turns his focus to the tray and picks up the little white card with the message that his wife had relayed for him, Thinking of you, wishing you were here with me. Madden grins and chucks the card into the bin before sitting up and lifting the silver dome away from his food with a smile. She knew just what he was craving, miracle woman. Picking up his cell phone, he sends her a quick text, ‘Can’t wait to see you next weekend, love you, give the kids a hug for me. Breakfast was amazing.’ and starts eating while the smell of roasted coffee beans starts to fill the room.

Chris leaves him to the silence of the room, and Madden finishes eating in peace while memories of the other night play over and over. Halfway to his morning shower, he stops and does a half little jog back to his private cell phone and wires her another fifty dollars with a message that says ‘For the panties I broke’ and heads back into the bathroom that’s slowly filling with steam. The private phone dings with an alert that only she is assigned to, and he cannot resist knowing what she said, heading directly back to the phone only to see that it’s a picture message….a naughty picture message. Chuckling darkly, he decides to take that same phone into the bathroom with him, now that he has a little inspiration, perhaps he will take an even longer, very relaxing shower.

Fuck, he can’t wait to see her dance tonight.

Chapter Three

N athan

The days are getting harder. There’s a pounding in his head that he can’t place at first. Something heavier than a normal headache but different than his usual migraines. The visions have been getting worse and worse lately. With every passing job that he does for the company, he finds himself closer and closer to retirement. At least what he thinks is retirement. He doesn’t even technically know how long he’s been working for the company at this point. He doesn’t know if he will be given his memories back whenever his contract is up. He doesn’t know if that’s even possible because he still doesn’t know what the company did to him in the first place. Was it surgical? Does he really want to dig into that too closely? Nathan has been battling with the fact that he’s not sure that he wants to know exactly who he was before. Perhaps he wasn’t a good person. Perhaps he didn’t make all the right choices or do the things that he was supposed to do. He might not have been the person that his mind's eye likes to think that he was.

He can’t remember the first vision that he got while working with the company. Was that his first vision ever? Was that the reason that he was chosen to be a part of the Doe collective? He doesn’t know for sure. It’s a slippery slope, and so far, they have been rather forgiving. Nathan just doesn’t know if that's going to be a good thing...or if they are attempting to lure him into a false sense of security and then have him terminated entirely. The jobs that they have been sending him out on are so varied. They are smaller jobs than he is used to doing. Normally, whenever the company contacts him, they have very specific things that they want accomplished. They give him coordinates and a victim profile; they report to him on the crime that happened and who he might need to get in contact with.