Page 64 of All Out of Love

He took a sip of his water and then looked at the glass. “On second thought,” he said, “I think I prefer something stronger than water.”

Toya was about to stand up, but he stood up instead. “Stay where you are. I’ll get us both something stronger. Like a good old glass of gin.” Then he smiled that smile again. “Dealing with that son of mine, we both need it.”

Toya smiled, too, and then Seb made his way into the kitchen.

“Are you staying here fulltime now?” he asked as he poured up two glasses of gin.

“No sir. I’m just here temporarily until I get my own place.”

“That’s wise. No ring, no shacking up is my motto.” Seb pulled a clear bag filled with a white substance from his pocket and poured it into one of the drinks.

“I like my independence,” Toya said as she made her way to the kitchen too. Seb had just put the now-empty bag back into his pocket by the time Toya walked up. “That’s why I prefer my own place. I like gin on the rocks,” she said. “What about you?”

He was stirring her drink. “No, I’m good. But here,” he said as he handed her the spiked drink. Then he made his way back into the living room. “I don’t like my spirits watered down.”

“I’m the opposite,” Toya said as she put her glass underneath the refrigerator’s icemaker and allowed a few cubes to drop in.

“When I was governor,” Seb continued, “I had so many decisions to make every single hour that a heavy drink always hit the spot for me. And it’s still true now,” he added as she made her way back into the living room with her drink.

“But back to this endorsement,” he said as she sat back on the sofa beside him. “I don’t want to do it at the press conference.”

“Why not?”

“Because it could backfire. I’m supposed to be there to endorse one guy, but I endorse that gal instead? That won’t be a good look for me.”

Toya thought about it. “You got a point there,” she said.

Then Seb lifted his glass. “Cheers,” he said, they clicked glasses, and then both of them began drinking.

Seb watched as Toya took a nice long drink. Then he sat his glass down and smiled. “In less than a minute,” he said, “you’ll be dead.”

Toya looked at him. “What?”

“You’ve been poisoned with deadly poison. Fast-acting poison.”

Toya’s eyes began to water and she placed her hand on her throat.

“It’s burning, isn’t it?” Seb had a grin on his twisted face. “That’s the beginning.”

“What have you done?” Toya asked hysterically as she threw her glass down.

“Then you’ll start choking,” Seb said.

She began coughing as if she was choking.

“Then you won’t be able to breathe.”

She began gasping for breath. “Oh no. Oh no!”

“Then the final step: foaming at the mouth,” he said deliciously. “And then you’ll be dead,” he said with spite.

As soon as she said those words, Toya pulled out that big fat butcher’s knife she held in her opposite hand and slung it under his throat. “You’ll be dead before I will, motherfucker!” she yelled.

Seb was so floored he dropped his own drink. “But your drink?” he said with a confused voice.

“You think I was stupid enough to let your ass fix me a drink after the way you treated me?” Toya said. “That’s a glass of water I was drinking.”

Seb was still confused. “But how did you know?”