by Lauren Wood
“I am so sorry Keenan.”
“Really, it’s fine. We all have to take care of things from time to time.”
“So did he call you?”
He grinned and told me that he had. “Said he passed out in the bar you worked at last night and you had to get him up to close up. I guess I should apologize for introducing you. Chris has changed a lot in the last year, or maybe it is just the way I look at things now and I used to be just as bad.”
“There is no need to apologize. You aren’t his keeper.”
“I have never seen him act this way with a woman before. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that he was in love.” My heart was beating hard in my ears, roaring so loudly that I couldn’t hear much else.
What did he mean by that?
“Stacy?”
“Huh?”
“So did everything work out okay?”
“Yeah, I think so. I locked up and he got into his car and left.”
“Well thank you for being so helpful. I don’t know what has gotten into him lately.”
“We all go through fazes.” Why was I acting like it was no big deal? It was a huge deal and the more I was around Chris, the harder it was to pretend that it wasn’t a big deal at all.
“You handled it very well and I thank you for that. Chris is a very old and very good friend. He has went off the rails a couple of times before and gotten into trouble, but he has a good heart. He needs to be grounded a little though and the best thing for him was to sleep it off. I hope he has a crick in his neck for a week to remind him to stop being an idiot.”
“How do you guys know each other?” I was still convinced that all of the rich people met together once and a while secretly.
“We met in college. It seems like it was a lifetime ago, over a decade ago.” Keenan smiled and looked down, aware that he had just disclosed his age. I didn’t really care either way, though I wouldn’t have guessed he was that old.
“You said he has gone off the rails before?”
Keenan nodded and I was thankful that he didn’t seem to want to know why I was so interested. I knew that it would be wondered about and I was thankful that he wasn’t giving me a hard time about it. He seemed too into the conversation and his own memories to realize anything else.
“Yeah. He has no base. No family to tell him to cool out. So he goes off and has a few benders, gets in fights. He is in his thirties now and he needs to be more careful. He has a lot of money and someone would love to sue him for as much as they could. I don’t think Chris would care too much, but I know that I hate to see him that way.”
Keenan gave me a lot to think about and a lot of paperwork to bundle and send to several businesses. It was good to have work to do to keep me busy, Keenan paid far better than the bar did, but I wished for something that would take my mind off of what Keenan had told me. I had a family to keep me grounded and I started to wonder what would be different in my life if I hadn’t.
My mind kept going back and forth from Chris now and a Chris then. He told me that he had worked all through college and now it made more sense. Chris was self-made and he most likely understood me more than I had first given him credit for. I had most likely been the one that was way off in my assessment of him. I thought that I knew what he was about, but after talking to Keenan I wasn’t so sure. He talked about Chris a lot and I had a feeling that he was closer to what his friend was then I did.
I went home confused and again thinking about Chris. It was becoming a routine that was hard to shake. He was hard to shake. I asked him this morning if that would be our last meeting, but I really hoped it wasn’t. I wanted to see him again. I really did, even if I knew that it was going to be trouble.
***
I didn’t see Chris again for another week and I feared that he was going to take my word for it and I wouldn’t see him again. He said the bar was a coincidence, but he said the same about coming to the hotel. Was he really going to stay away? And if he was, why was I so upset with the idea of it all? I knew that it was for the best, so why did I feel like I had lost something of great value that I wasn’t going to get back?
That was my dilemma and the problem was that I didn’t even know where Chris was. I certainly couldn’t ask my employer about him. If Keenan didn’t bring him up, neither did I. I just couldn’t. I didn’t want Keenan to know that I had fallen for his friend.
Wait, was that what this was? Had I fallen for the man that I could never have? I just shook my head. It was about my luck if I was honest. I never had good luck with of it and I knew that I had to change my feelings towards him. If I didn’t, I was never going to get my heart back. I wasn’t ready to throw it away, not like that.
But then Chris just popped up like he seemed to always do. This time it was at a store that I went to for shopping right down the road from my house. I had the night off and I was grabbing something to make for dinner.
“Fancy meeting you here Stacy.”
I rolled my eyes. “So what are you doing here Chris? Do you even do your own shopping?” I imagined that he had a person that he paid to do all of that mundane stuff for him.
“Of course I do my own shopping.”
“So where is it?”
He had an empty cart and he looked over at the fruit in front of him and grabbed a bag of lemons up.
“You needed lemons?”
“Yep.”
“For what?”
He paused and didn’t answer. “Well for lemonade.”
He was full of it and I told him so. “What are you making with all of this?”
“Bulgogi.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a Korean dish. It is really good and I never have time to cook with both jobs and everything.”
“You work too hard. How do you do it all and go to school?”
“The same as you I suppose.”
“I don’t like to see you struggle Stacy.”
The only thing I was struggling with was the handful of things in my hands. I put my things in his cart and told him that he could help me stop struggling by pushing the cart and helping me shop. There was a silence between us, but I didn’t take it badly. It was a comfortable one that I was okay with. He was here and everything felt right with the world, even if my insides shook from his presence.
“So are you going to invite me over for dinner Stacy?”
I sighed and asked him if he was going to be good.
“Of course Stacy, I am always good.”
He had a grin on his face and I was afraid he was right about that. I bet he was good at many things.
“Fine, come over for dinner, but you really need to just stop popping up like this Chris.”
“Can I help it that fate seems to be thrusting us back together again? I can’t stop fate Stacy. It is just meant to be, me and you.”
“Meant to be?”
“I know, sounds cheesy, but it is the way it is. If I would have heard someone saying that before, I would have told them they were an idiot. You have made me into an idiot Stacy and the worst part is that I don’t really care.”
I didn’t know what to say, but I did like when he called himself an idiot. “You were an idiot before I met you Chris. I don’t want to take credit for that.”
He growled at me and I made my way to the register. I put his lemons up on the conveyor belt and I told him that he could make me some lemonade for dinner. Chris didn’t look that sure and I was going to most likely find it hilarious when he didn’t even know how to make that. He may have had to grow up and do things on his own when he was younger, but Chris was now a man that was very accustomed to getting everything that he wanted.
We left the store and his driver followed me to my house. He told the man to leave, but I am sure he was a block or two away, awaiting his call to pick him up. I found it weird to have a man driving me around, but for Chris I guess it was normal. It is funny what normal can be sometimes for some people.
There was
a moment before I opened my door that I was nervous of what he would think. My mind was on a million things, but I didn’t want him to think less of me. My residence was assuredly far less classy than his. I had a feeling that my whole apartment would fit in one of his rooms. I knew that Chris had a huge mansion, but I just wasn’t sure where. A guy like him most likely had several huge houses to call his own.
But this apartment was mine and we couldn’t all be rich. I tried to push the worry aside. What else could I do? This is where I lived and for some reason Chris seemed into me. I don’t know why, but I was going to enjoy it while it lasted. An evening with Chris was a little nerve racking, but at the same time I was excited to be with him.
Chapter 13
Chris
I was getting shameless now. This was the second time I had sought her out in as many weeks as it had been since I met her. Was this what Keenan had told me about? Now all I could think about was Stacy and now I was here, right where I wanted to be. I should have been confident, as I was every time before, but with Stacy I didn’t have the same assurance that I had with other women. I had to stop myself from wondering if she was sent into my life to wreck it. Stacy had come in with a soft whisper, but now she was a roaring storm that took over everything.
“Do you want something to drink?”
“I thought you didn’t drink?”
“I don’t really. Once and a while I will have some sake with my dinner, especially if it is some kind of Asian food. It’s really strong to me, so I don’t need that much at all.”
I agreed to her plan. She instructed me to pour us a couple of small glasses full while she got dinner going. I wasn’t used to being put to work and I felt almost clumsy. How long had it been since I had poured my own drinks? I can’t say for certain, but I knew that it had been too long. I had lost something along the way with all of the money that I had. Somehow I had forgotten how to do some of the more basic things. I didn’t particularly like the reminder of that, at all.
“Do you need me to do something else?”
“What else do you know how to do in the kitchen?”
I thought for a minute and I have to say that I didn’t like how hard such a simple question turned out to be. There was just something about the way she looked at me as well, even if I did know anything else to say to impress her, every time she smiled at me like I was hopeless, my brain turned a little foggy. I wasn’t running with all of my engines, another side effect that I had learned to live with since meeting Stacy for the first time.
“Not much, but I am a quick study.”
Stacy wasn’t convinced. She finally gave me the duty of cutting the lettuce for the salad. I didn’t think that it would be that hard, but I wasn’t even halfway through the small task when I had cut my finger and had to stop everything. The only good thing that came from my impromptu cooking lesson was the fact that Stacy was determined to fix me up.
“Just don’t move Chris. I have to clean it out.”
I was taking a drink of the sake I’d poured and I had to say that I was more than a little tipsy. Stacy was right, this stuff was strong and my body wasn’t used to the rice liquor.
“It will be fine Stacy. You don’t have to do anything.”
She moved in behind me and held my hand under the cold water. I didn’t even feel the cool water on my finger, all I could feel was the woman behind me, pressing against me in a way that drove me crazy. Her large breasts jiggled against my back, smashing against me as she held my hand under the faucet. I never wanted to move, but soon Stacy turned the water off and told me to take a seat.
Stacy came back with a first aid kit from her bathroom.
“It’s not that bad, really.”
“Well you don’t need stitches or anything like that, but it wouldn’t hurt to cover it so you don’t bleed out all over the apartment, don’t you think?”
I suppose so. I took another drink of the clear fire water and she finally took the glass from me. “I think you have had enough Chris.”
“I’ve heard that before.’
“I bet you have. Maybe Ronald is right. You really need to think about not drinking. This can’t be healthy for you.”
“Why do you care?”
“Because I do.”
“Then why do you ignore my advances?”
“I am not ready for those kinds of advances. Did you ever think of that?”
“What do we have to, date officially or something? What do you want?”
She looked at me like she didn’t know what I was talking about, but I had to wonder how could she not?
“What do you mean Chris?”
“I mean what do you want from me Stacy? Everyone wants something.”
“I don’t want anything from you Chris. I just want to fix your hand so that you will feel better. It doesn’t help that you are thinning out your blood with all of that alcohol.”
“I’ll be fine. I have drunk way more than this at one time.”
“I am sure you have.”
My hand was bandaged before I knew it and she had me sit on the couch to settle down. I think she was afraid I was going to fall, though I wasn’t as bad off as she thought I was. I was just a little tired.
“I am going to make you some dinner Chris. You just sit there while I make some coffee.”
I thanked her, but I don’t remember much after that. I hadn’t slept in days and I don’t know if it was a combination of finally seeing her and the relief that came with it, or the sake, but I don’t remember much past that.
When I woke up, it was dark and my eyes adjusted to the room. It took my mind a minute to remind me where I was and why I was there. I groaned out loud to realize that I had done it again. Maybe Ronald was right…
Making my way to the back bedroom that I knew was where Stacy was, I saw that she was sleeping under the covers. I wanted to sleep with her, so I got in bed next to her. I wasn’t going to do anything, but if nothing else I was going to blame it on the liquor in the morning. I felt horrible, but my body had long since metabolized the alcohol. I had passed out from exhaustion more than anything else.
Now I was able to lie next to Stacy. It wasn’t at all what I wanted, not by a long shot, but as she had said before, she was not ready for what I wanted. How long could I wait though? It felt like things were moving at a snail pace.
I went to bed thinking about the woman lying next to me. She moved about several times before settling against me like she was coming to me for warmth. It was one moment that I didn’t want to ravage her because I felt a feeling of protection run through me. I wanted her to be safe in my arms, not just underneath me for our beneficial pleasure.
***
“What are you doing in here?”
Her voice woke me up. The tone of it threw me off. I didn’t know what to say. I was in her bed and Stacy was holding the sheet up against her like she was naked underneath. Her shoulders were bare and I started to realize that maybe she was naked. I had been lying next to her with not a stitch on and done nothing? This may have been the first time for that, ever.
“Sorry, I think I came in here last night. I was kind of out of it.”
“Yes you were. For a man that drinks, you really can’t handle sake.”
I grinned at her. “For someone that doesn’t drink, you seem to be doing a lot better than I am.”
Stacy looked worried and I didn’t like that look on her face. I certainly didn’t like her looking at me like that. It was as if she pitied me. What did I have to be pitied for? My life was perfect.
“I kind of worry about you, Chris. The last couple of times that I have seen you, you have been in this condition. Is this normal for you?”
Normal? I don’t even know what normal is anymore. She had me so damn twisted up I was starting to think that I would never know what normal was and if I did, it would be defined in two different ways. The normal before Stacy and the normal after, yet I didn’t know if there was going to be a normal after her.
“I wouldn’t say normal. The last couple of weeks haven’t been too normal for me.”
Stacy wrapped the sheet around herself, but it did little to nothing to cover up things that I started to notice. Her rosy red tip was seen through the thin fabric of the sheet and I could see where the nipple pressed out because it was so hard. I liked to think that it was because of me, yet I knew that it could have been the air conditioner that kicked on instead. I could think what I wanted though, couldn’t I?
The curve of her hip was pronounced, which helped me to imagine what I had seen before. Stacy was still chewing her bottom lip nervously. “It hasn’t been too normal for me either. You, this, certainly isn’t normal for me.”
“I would hope not.”
“What are you doing Chris? I mean, why do you keep showing up everywhere I am?”
“I want you Stacy and I am not going to take no for an answer. I will wear you down eventually if I have to.”
“That is your strategy, whittle me down?”
The way she said it made me laugh. “Well I don’t like how that sounds, but yeah if that is what I have to do. I want this to work Stacy.”
“It doesn’t seem very effective. I had the impression that you were a lady’s man. Is that what you always do?”
“No, this is not my usual style. Most of the time I have women begging for it in just a few minutes. You are different and don’t seem to be affected by me.”
“I wouldn’t say that I am not affected by you Chris. I think you know that isn’t true.”
“Yeah but you are not ready for this yet, are you?”
I have pulled her to me and she had to make a choice to hold the sheet up or to push me away. She kept her modesty intact, but that meant that I was able to pull her hard to my chest and kiss her. It wasn’t a long one and I didn’t linger. I just wanted to show her what it was I was waiting for. From her surprised reaction she was closer than she had been a week or two before. She could call it bad strategy or not, but it was working, even if it was far too slow for my taste. At least we were moving in the right direction.