“I don’t want to do that again,” she said quietly. Jon had untied her, his hands gentle and
almost… apologetic when soothing the red marks left behind by the stockings. She was sitting on the edge of the bed with
the sheet wrapped around her, and he was zipping his jeans on the other side of
the bed. “Don’t get me wrong. I achieved…
satisfaction, but I also felt a little bit like a piece of meat.” Petey tucked her arms in a little more
tightly to her body. “I didn’t expect that.”
She could tell he wasn’t feeling any better about this
encounter than she was, and he hesitated before fastening the waistband of his
jeans. “It won’t happen again,” he
assured her gruffly, not meeting her eyes.
“I don’t regret the experience,” she clarified, put off
by the tension he was emanating. She was
by no means assigning blame, and wanted to make sure he knew that. “I just don’t care to repeat it.”
Jon bent to retrieve his shirt. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?”
She wrinkled her forehead in confusion.
“I asked for this. You did nothing wrong.”
“I’m sorry for a lot of things,” he mumbled, not
bothering to tuck in the shirt before looking for his socks. “I’m sorry that I made you feel like a piece
of meat instead of a woman. I’m sorry that I’m a prick. I’m sorry that I agreed to this in the first place." His voice grew quieter. "I think I’m sorry I met you.”
She clutched at the sheet more tightly. He wasn’t angry, but he still managed to say
the most hurtful things. Why did he
always try and slice her to ribbons when he was frustrated?
“You fuck with my head, Petey.” He stuffed his feet into his shoes, glancing
over his shoulder. “I know exactly who I
am and what I’m trying to achieve in this world. Or I did until you came along with your fucking
combat boots, historical library and no-strings sex. Now I don’t know what the hell I’m doing –
only that it doesn’t feel right anymore.”
He stood, scooping up his jacket and jamming his arms
into the sleeves. “I can’t do this. I can’t give you your kinky sex and walk away
without a second thought." His bitter laugh sent chills down her spine. "Shocking,
right? It should suit an egomaniacal rock star to a tee.”
Jon paused in the doorway, turning to study her with an unidentifiable
emotion glazing his eyes, as though he were committing her to memory. “Just goes to show you shouldn’t believe
everything you read on Google.”
And then he was gone, leaving her to stare after him with
her heart in her throat, and disbelief clouding her imp-colored eyes.
What the hell was
that?
☠ ☢ ☠
“Let me tell him,” Tony cajoled, kicked back in a swivel
chair, his feet on the desk. “I’m the
one he’s going to be pissed at, so you shouldn’t have to bear the brunt of it.”
It had been a long-ass Tuesday without Petey here to keep
things on an even keel. Candace had no
one to talk to except Bill and Randy, who managed to studiously avoid her all
day. That left him. And, oh my God, could the woman talk. He had finally resorted to plugging his ears
with headphones when she got onto the subject of her Chihuahua’s worms.
Now, the day was blissfully over, and it was just him in
the studio. He used the opportunity to
steal a rare secret moment.
“After Christmas,” Dorothea insisted. “He will ruin the holiday for everyone if
this hits him the wrong way. You know he
will.”
“I know, I know, but I hate this sneaking around
shit. We’re two single adults and we're entitled
to go out with anybody we want.”
She chuckled quietly, unperturbed by his pouting. She was always unperturbed. A sea of calm in the middle of fucking chaos
was Dorothea. Everything that happened
around her, she handled with dignity and grace.
She was the classiest woman he’d ever known.
“It doesn’t work that way when a hot tempered Italian
family is involved, and your family is classic hot-tempered-Italian. That’s why I should be the one to talk to
him. He does actually listen to me once
in a while.”
He hadn’t meant to get involved with his
ex-sister-in-law. Seriously. Who plans that kind of thing? It’s a notoriously bad idea all the way around. Ask anyone.
It had started out innocently enough.
Dorothea didn’t need anyone to connect the new gaming
system the kids got for Christmas last year.
She was smart enough to do anything she set her mind to. However, at the end of a long Christmas day filled
with rambunctious children and endless family it was the last thing she wanted
to deal with.
So he offered to stay behind and hook it up for her.
It had been a relatively simple task, and in no time
cartoon characters were racing across the screen in an effort to collect the
most tokens while periodically beating the crap out of each other. He watched for a while and then indulged
Romey and Jake by playing a couple of rounds with them.
After he’d made them promise not to play too long and
ruffled both blonde heads, Tony wandered downstairs to let Dorothea know it was
done. She wasn’t in the kitchen, but
everything there was spotless and orderly, letting him know that she had
been. He moved on toward the family room
and found her sitting alone with a glass of wine, looking lost in her thoughts
as she stared blindly at the Christmas lights while Frank Sinatra crooned softly
in the background.
She looked lonely.
“Hey, Babes,” he beckoned softly as he entered the room,
so as not to startle her.
“Hey.” She lolled
her head toward him in the cushiness of her armchair and gave him an
affectionate smile. “Everything working?”
It was a smile just like a hundred others she had given
him through the years. Maybe it was the
firelight, the music, or the fact that they were alone, but that smile warmed
his belly like a shot of good whiskey.
“Yeah.” Unsure of what to do with himself, he rubbed a
quick hand over his goatee then let his palm drop to the center of his
chest. “Jake and Romeo are collecting
pieces to a spaceship as we speak. Steph
and Jess went to hole up in their rooms.”
“Mm. Thank you, Tony.
I’ve always been able to count on you when it comes to the kids.” She lethargically turned her attention back
to the tree. Its branches were heavy
with dozens and dozens of ornaments, all of which he knew held sentimental
meaning. They’d either been made by the
kids or purchased to commemorate various milestones in their lives.
“You know I love them,” he carelessly allowed her appreciation
to roll off of his back, but she was again lost in her thoughts, nostalgia tugging
at her. Tony decided that being alone
was the last thing she needed right now.
“Mind if I have a
drink with you before I go?”
“Sure.”
The Dorothea before him was so unlike the strong woman
who fearlessly faced the world every day.
Over the last umpteen years, she had done such a remarkable job of
raising her family and dealing with Jon’s shit by herself that… Well, it was the first time he’d allowed
himself to think of her as anything less than invincible. Tonight though, she looked almost fragile. Wistful, even.
“I think there’s some of the beer you like in the fridge. Help yourself.”
That was another thing about her. Even with four kids and a crazy life, she had
always made a point of knowing what visitors to her home drank, and kept it
stocked. He could count the times she’d
been without his favorite beer on one hand.
One finger, actually.
“Bring the wine back with you?” she called after him when
he loped down the hallway toward the kitchen.
“Sure thing, Babes.”
When he returned with a beer in one hand and her wine in
the other, it was to find that she was no longer in the chair, but curled up in
the corner of the sofa. With her feet
tucked under her, hair in a messy ponytail and wearing glasses, she should have
looked plain and boring, but he still thought she was beautiful. She always had been.
“Sit with me?”
To say he was stunned would have been the biggest
understatement of the year, but he did his best to hide it as he circled the coffee
table and claimed the far end of the couch as his seat. There was one wide, cream cushion still
separating them, so everything was more than proper. As it should be.
“Here.” Tony set
both bottles on the table and gestured for her to give him the empty wineglass. “I’ll pour you some more.”
She obliged by leaning forward and passing the cut
crystal stemware into his grasp. “You
know, I think that’s what I miss more than anything.”
“What’s that?” The
red wine slid gracefully into the crystal and he offered it back to her. After it was safely back in her delicate
grasp, he grabbed his beer and took a healthy swallow.
“Not having to do every damn thing for myself.” She touched the rim of the glass to her lips
and brought it back down again without drinking any of the burgundy beverage. “He may have never been home, but I always
knew I could call him if I needed to. Granted,
I didn’t do it often, but the option was there.
He’d make sure whatever it was got taken care of.” She finally took her sip of wine, saying
thoughtfully, “He was good about that.”
Tony nodded slowly and pushed his glasses up on his
face. His brother knew how to take care
of business. There was no doubt about
that.
“You know you could still call him. Jon’s always going to care about you, and you’re
the mother of his kids.”
She snorted softly, burrowing her back into the cushions. “That’s not how divorce is supposed to
go. I mean, come on, I asked him to
leave. I can’t very well expect him to
come running when I don’t feel like dealing with the plumber.”
“Then call me.”
The soft brown eyes he’d seen a thousand times were
hidden in the glare of her eyeglasses, but he thought they got bigger.
“I couldn’t do that.”
Dorothea unfurled her legs, putting her socked feet on the floor,
leaning toward the table to deposit her glass.
“Why not?”
He didn’t know why he’d offered, but he was astonished by
how much he wanted to be the one she called.
The irony was that he didn’t even keep a girlfriend most of the time,
because they were too much responsibility.
Then again, girlfriends expected things in a
relationship. Dorothea didn’t expect
anything from anyone. That was twice as
much reason that she deserved to know someone would be there.
“You’ll always be family, Babes. Nobody thinks to worry about you because you’re
so damn capable. We should have offered
to help sooner.”
“I don’t need help,” she protested, standing, and he
stood right alongside her. “I’ve raised
these kids practically by myself while keeping the wholesome family image
intact. I can do this on my own.”
“Yeah, you can.”
Tony side-stepped and put his arm around her shoulders. “Better than anybody else can, and nobody
doubts it for a minute, but… If you find
that you don’t want to always do it on your own? Call me.
I’ll take care of whatever shit you don’t want to.”
And, miraculously, she had. The first time about the car, then another
time about the tree that fell in the yard.
Then there was the time that Jesse and his hormones were just driving
her crazy.
And Tony stepped up and handled everything without
batting an eye. They best part was
that, during the course of it all, they talked and got to know each other as
more than family. After a few months,
they realized how much they liked one another – as more than family.
Now he was ready to go public with that, but his damn
brother was standing center stage and demanding foremost consideration. As usual.
“Right after
Christmas,” he finally relented, on a sigh.
“And we’ll tell him together.
Okay?”
There was a pounding at the studio door that masked her
reply and he frowned in annoyance. Who
the hell was banging on his door at seven in the evening?
“Babes, lemme call you back. Some asshole is pounding down the door. I hafta go see what’s going on.” Tapping the screen, he hung up the call and
strode toward the all-glass door in the front of the studio.
It was dark outside, but the lights in the parking lot
allowed him to make out the silhouette of the man who had so rudely interrupted his
phone call. He was tall – at least as
tall as Matt – and anorexically skinny, crowded close to the door and trying to peer
inside. Tony thought him suspicious if for no
other reason than the ugly beige trench coat and tweed golf hat. Who wore those?
The man turned a bit to the side, and his silhouette was highlighted in the light - a face that was as long and angular as his body, sporting an oversized bird’s beak for a nose. Definitely nobody Tony knew, or likely wanted to know.
The man turned a bit to the side, and his silhouette was highlighted in the light - a face that was as long and angular as his body, sporting an oversized bird’s beak for a nose. Definitely nobody Tony knew, or likely wanted to know.
He flipped the lock and pulled the door partway
open. “We’re closed, buddy.”
“Yes, of course you are, my fine man.
I can certainly see that. However, I have a bit of a time-sensitive
matter on my hands that could not wait. I
was hoping that you might be able to assist me.”
Big Bird’s smile was creepy and fake. Tony couldn’t make out his eyes under the
shadowy brim of the hat, but he’d bet they were just as creepy. Or shifty.
The hair on his neck bristled. Something was distinctly un-cool here.
“I don’t think so.”
He pushed the door, intending to shut it in the guy’s face, but the
pneumatic closer made it too slow. The
man had crammed his very large, black wingtip shoe between the door and the
frame, and gave him that damn creepy smile again.
Tony had no choice but to leave the door open, unless he
wanted the bloody stump of the guy’s amputated foot in his studio.
“It will only take but a moment of your valuable time, I
assure you.”
The chilling formality didn’t sit any better with Tony
than the fake-ass smile, and he battled with the overwhelming urge to knock Big Bird here on his ass.
Before he could lose that particular battle with himself, Big Bird cleared his
throat delicately and launched into his spiel.
“I am on a desperate search for a woman whom I’ve been led to believe is
currently under your employ. Her last
name is… Diehl. It’s really quite urgent that I speak with her. So urgent, in fact, that it’s a matter of
life and death.”
Oh oh!! Now the shit will hit the fan.... And it will be ugly! Intense chapter Blush!!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing!! NOW the shit will really going to hit the fan. Wait until Jon hears about Tony and Dorothea!!
DeleteI loved the vulnerable side to Petey and Jon in this chapter. You can see that it's not a game anymore to them, even when they both like to pretend it is.
I like the humour your write too. The only trouble with your chapters, is that when I read one, I want another one right now!
Please continue as soon as you can, what a great chapter all around. I love this story so much.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see the outcome to this!!
I seriously hope this guy doesn't hurt Tony. Wow this was an extremely tense but fact filled chapter. Interested to see how Tony and Dorothea tell Jon about their relationship and how Jon reacts.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Petey felt like a piece of meat... when all Jon did was exactly what she asked for. And can I shake Petey for telling him "Sex." Even a "I don't know" would have been better than falling back on their old standby when clearly neither of them is happy about it.
ReplyDeleteI really wish he'd stuck around long enough for her to process & respond to his "I can’t give you your kinky sex and walk away without a second thought" cause at least that got it out in the open - but I have a feeling she'll shy away from that since he didn't push the issue right then & there.
Interesting to see how Tony & Dorothea got together... Really hating that Petey's stalker found Tony & hoping the guy doesn't hurt him, although I have a bad feeling something's going to happen, causing his & Dorothea's secret to be revealed a bit sooner than planned.
OK.......
ReplyDeleteAnd here I thought that the last chapter was intence!
Holy SHIT Blush!
I expected anything and everything from you.... but NOT Dorothea and Tony hook up! LOL!
And btw, hope Tony is Jersey smart and not give the stalker any information on Petey!!!!
Wow, where do I start? I think this moment was a game changer for Jon and Petey. It seems like Petey needs to make the next move and be honest with herself and Jon about what she wants. She has a lot to think about.
ReplyDeleteTony & Dot?! What the...WHAT? Man Blush, your twists and turns are unreal. Jon is not going to take this news well. And, how strange will this be for the kids? Tony is right, they need to wait until after Christmas to tell him. And, then watch out! LOL
So, the creepy guy found Petey. I was hoping he would reveal her real first name. I am glad that Tony will now be aware of this situation. Something is up with this wacko and I'm dying to find out more.
Another great chapter Blush! So, since Tuesday's chapters were posted yesterday, do we still get a chapter today? Cause I really want to know what happens next and there is no freakin way I can wait! ;)
~C
I have only three - count them THREE - chapters written. That's it, and I have to go out of town again for a few days with no opportunity to write. If you get one today, you're cutting yourself off for later in the week, and I'll already tell you that there won't be any posts this weekend. So there you have it. Your choice. Just know that at some point in the VERY near future, the story is only in my head. :)
DeleteYIKES! You're scaring me! I'm feeling withdrawals already. We need to send you inspiration so you can fill up your cupboard again. I have confidence in you! Amazingly talented writers like yourself always come through...no pressure, only support. :)
Delete~C
lol... so that's a no on today then?? And I don't need inspiration, I need TIME! :)
DeleteNo, that's a "YES PLEASE, HURRY UP" on posting today!!
Delete~C
I second Anonymous!! Please post a new chapter. I could get a new chapter everyday and it still would not be enough. I love your writing and this story so much.
DeleteI hope everything is OK with Tony and this guy doesn't hurt him but then again, after Jon finds out about him and Dorothea, this guy will be the least of Tony's problems!!
Crap! You really threw me with the Tony/Dorothea thing. Was NOT expecting that. Lets just hope Tony has the sense not to tell the stalker where Petey is or than he even knows her.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten about Dot and Tony!!!!
ReplyDeleteLove...Big Bird! Hahahaha!