A Perfect Canvas

by Kevin Adkisson

  Chapter 20

  Wendy swapped out Eddie’s Coke for a pungent coffee-like sludge. He blew a long blast of air across the top of the hot coffee before cautiously taking a sip. Somehow the club looked even more crowded. People not only filled the chairs around tables but the spaces between the chairs.

  Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he glanced at the display. It was half past ten and Paige hadn’t showed, nor had he received any calls. He couldn’t blame her. He wouldn’t be able to face her if he had committed adultery.

  Still, he wanted to talk to her, to tell her that he was afraid. Afraid of what was happening to them. Afraid of ending up alone. Afraid of trying to live his life without her.

  He’d tell her they would work it out. He could change. That he’d been wrong. He’d try to be more supportive. But he didn’t know if there would be any point in telling her those things. If she was already seeing someone else, then she’d already made her decision regarding him, hadn’t she? It just seemed so unbelievable.

  Tabitha gave him a hug and stood up. “Maybe this is all for the best.”

  Eddie didn’t answer. He put his elbows on the table, his face in his hands, fought to repress his anguish. The way she wouldn’t look at him made it clear to him she knew he was having a hard time. He was afraid if he gave in to it he wouldn’t be able to regain control, and he wouldn’t allow himself to turn into a sobbing mound of flesh in the middle of her nightclub.

  “I’ve got to get back to the bar,” she said. “But we’ll talk more later. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  As much as Tabitha didn’t like him, she was trying to be a real sweetheart. She’d asked him about his family, his job, and generally kept the conversation steered away from Paige every time it started to go that way. She’d even made him smile a couple of times and ordered him the coffee.

  Eddie glanced at the bandage on his hand, remembered Nicholas saying, “I’m going to kill you.”

  Well, he had killed him. It just hadn’t been the way he’d expected.

  With no sign of Paige, Eddie began to doubt she was ever going to show. Part of him was relieved she hadn’t shown up, that there hadn't been a confrontation. It would only make it more real. And after all, what good would come from getting into it at Tabitha's place? It would have felt better to have at least had the chance to talk to her though. To tell her how hurt he was. Besides, where was he going to go now? Home? He wasn't sure he ever wanted to go back there without Paige.

  He still wanted her. He couldn't even imagine the possibility of Paige not being with him, not loving him. Sure, they’d had a few problems and sometimes they argued, but they always worked through it. Love was supposed to be bigger than problems. Love was supposed to last forever. He couldn’t believe that people really fell out of love. Either you loved someone and you always loved them, or you didn’t love them and you never had. So how did cheating apply to that?

  Paige had to be confused right now. He could think of no other rational explanation. In a few days, at the most in a couple of weeks, she’d realize this was a huge mistake, that she still loved him, had always loved him, and she’d change her mind. Or maybe she wouldn’t. Either way, he couldn’t give up on her. Not yet.

  Eddie didn’t want to go home, but suddenly he was tired of being here in this place with its loud music and crowd of strangers hitting on one another. His skin felt covered in a thin layer of slime. He wanted to take a shower, wash everything all away, then maybe he could come up with a plan and take some action. He stood up, looked for the best path through the crowd to the door.

  Then, through the smoke and strobes of the club, Eddie saw a figure coming toward him. It was him. It was Nicholas. Eddie knew it was him before he clearly saw the man’s face. A tree among bushes, the man had the pompous walk of someone who is used to getting what he wants.

  “Going somewhere, Eddie? Aren’t you expecting someone?”

  The prissy cologne he wore smelled as strong as ever.

  “How did you get in here?” Eddie asked.

  “Oh, I have friends.”

  Grabbing a chair, Nicholas turned it backwards and sat down across from Eddie in one fluid movement.

  “Sit back down. We’ll have a little chat.”

  Eddie sat back down, pointed at Nicholas. “You knew about the e-mail.”

  “Just now figuring that out? Aren’t you clever.”

  The metallic chant of Marilyn Manson's “Tainted Love” pounded through the club. Strobes played across Nicholas’s face making the irises of his eyes gleam. Eddie decided he’d never seen a man that looked more demonic. But regardless of how evil the man looked, he wanted to hear what his enemy had to say. This was war.

  Nicholas wiggled a finger at the air. “Sounds like they’re playing your song.”

  “What do you want?”

  “It’s not what I want. It’s what I have,” Nicholas said. He reached across the table.

  Eddie instinctively pulled back away from him wary of the razor he assumed Nicholas had on him, metal detectors or no metal detectors.

  Nicholas picked up Eddie’s coffee, sniffed it, and took a sip. When he sat the cup back down on the table, his eyes had hardened. “Let’s talk about Paige.”

  “If you hurt her...”

  Nicholas picked a nearly invisible white speck from the front of his shirt and flicked the offending particle to the floor.

  “If I hurt her what? What are you going to do? You’re a coward. You’ve been a coward all your life.”

  The muscles in Eddie’s bowels clenched, a damp sweat popped up on his arms, and the room grew noticeably warmer. “If you ever hurt her, I’ll kill you.”

  Nicholas snorted. “I would love to see that. You know she’s got a nice body, just my type. But she’s not very good in bed. How did you put up with it?”

  Eddie lunged across the table punching at Nicholas’s mouth. “You bastard!”

  He wanted to silence this man, wanted to hurt him. Nobody talked about Paige as if she was some whore. Nobody rained destruction on his life without paying a price.

  Nicholas lifted his forearm blocking Eddie’s wild punch, clamped his hand around Eddie’s wrist, pulled it down and squeezed. Pain blasted through Eddie’s forearm, and he swung his other fist at Nicholas’s face, hoping to make Nicholas let go, but the man swatted his hand away like a basketball player blocking a shot and grabbed him by the throat. Nicholas held him, looked at him as if he were contemplating what he wanted to do, and for one terrifying moment, Eddie thought Nicholas was going to break his neck with a simple flick of his wrist.

  Instead, Nicholas shoved Eddie back into his chair.

  Eddie and the chair slammed back into the wall and nearly toppled in a tangle to the floor.

  “That was asinine,” Nicholas said. “I could have easily broken your wrist... or your neck.”

  Eddie grabbed the frame of the chair, stabilized the seat beneath him. Tabitha meandered up to the table with a hand on her hip.

  His neck and wrist hurt, and he rubbed at one then the other, took a deep breath. His heart tried to beat through his ribcage. Fear for his own safety and loathing for this man strangled him like a garrote.

  Tabitha looked Nicholas up and down, tilted her chin toward Eddie. “Is everything okay? Or do I need to get Bob over here?”

  There were other bouncers in the club, so Eddie wasn’t sure why she mentioned going outside to get Bob. Surely someone else was closer.

  “Everything’s fine,” Nicholas said. Then he lowered his voice, said something to her. His lip curled up in a flirtatious smile. Eddie couldn’t make out what he said over the music. Tabitha looked Nicholas up and down again, returned his smile. Then she turned to Eddie. “You sure everything’s under control?”

  Eddie nodded. “We just got carried away.”

  She shifted from one foot to the other, doubtful. “I won
’t put up with any trouble in my club. I’ll throw you both out on your ass.”

  Eddie glanced over at Nicholas who was now sitting arms crossed with a fat smirk on his face. “There will be no trouble,” Nicholas said. “Will there, Eddie?”

  He shook his head.

  “All right,” Tabitha said. She narrowed her eyes, bounced an accusatory index finger from Nicholas to Eddie and back to Nicholas. “But if I see anymore of that, I’m going to get Bob.”

  Eddie nodded. Nicholas grinned. Tabitha glanced over their table. “Now you boys need anything else to drink?”

  Eddie plinked the rim of his mug. He would feel a lot better knowing someone was coming back. “Another coffee.”

  “Sure thing,” she said, winking at him. With a quick turn, she bounded back into the crowd towards the bar.

  “Got the ladies looking out for you, huh, Eddie?”

  Eddie turned back to Nicholas. “I don’t care what you think about me, but if you talk about Paige that way again, I swear I’ll kill you.”

  He realized his fists were clenched. He’d never been the physically aggressive type, but he wanted to hurt this man like no other he’d ever met. Wanted to teach him a lesson about messing with another man’s wife.

  “You don’t deserve a woman like Paige,” Nicholas said. “What did the cops say to you when you called them? Did Officer Tucker believe you? Did he think you were being the wimp that you are?”

  He didn’t know what to say. How did he know about Officer Tucker? What else did he know?

  Nicholas looked at him disdainfully, leaned forward. “Paige left you because you were cheating on her.”

  “You’re insane,” Eddie spit. “I’ve never cheated on Paige.”

  “But you will. It’s in your nature. It’s part of who you are, the kind of man you are.”

  “Screw you.”

  Nicholas leaned back. “You just have to admire a man with your communication skills.”

  Eddie stood up. He was tired of listening to this.

  Nicholas grabbed him by the arm. ”Where do you think you're going?”

  “To take a piss. You want to come hold it for me?”

  “I’m not done with you,” Nicholas said squeezing Eddie’s arm.

  Eddie tried to yank away from Nicholas, but the man’s grip was firm. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. We’ll see each other again.”

  Nicholas let go of Eddie. Then he said it.

  “Paige went home.”

  There was resignation in Nicholas’s tone that stopped Eddie from walking away. He wasn’t positive he’d heard him right. “What?”

  “She went home. She’s probably in your bed. Waiting for you.”

  Could it be? Eddie stood there wide-eyed and open mouthed. A belief born out of love and foolishness began to rise up in him.

  Nicholas dropped his eyes and hunched his shoulders.

  “After you called the cops, she called me. She told me that you’d been hurt. She said that at first she’d been angry, but then she started to worry about you, and the longer she sat there the more she worried. She said all the worrying made her realize how much she still cares about you.”

  Eddie wasn’t sure he believed this man, his enemy. A part of his mind screamed this was a deception. Nicholas was a liar. But even so, he couldn’t help believing him. He knew he was smiling, couldn’t help that either. He even fought against it. It took everything he could muster to keep from laughing. He wanted to dance, wanted to cry, wanted to jump up and shout that love had prevailed, but he knew he should be cautious.

  “I came down here to see if I could figure out what it was that made her pick you over me,” Nicholas said.

  As much as Eddie liked the sound of that, he didn’t believe him. More likely he’d come here to taunt him one last time.

  “If what you’re saying is true, why hasn’t she called me?”

  Nicholas gave Eddie a slick, one-sided smile. “Good question. I figured she had.”

  Standing up, Nicholas swung the chair around and back under the table. “Maybe it isn’t over after all.” He tossed a photo onto the table. “Either way, this will wipe that smug grin off your face and give you something to remember me by.”

  Nicholas strode away, the crowd parting for him.

  The photo captured Eddie’s eyes like a steel cage. It was Paige lying on her back in their bed, a pillow under her hips, the sheets messy around her. She was nude, and she was smiling.