“Well,” she said as she hastily rinsed off and stepped outside of the shower, just in case she needed to run, “I signed us up for dance lessons.”
She took off running for the bedroom, still naked, wet, and giggling like a schoolgirl. In her laughter, she did not hear the water turn off and when she looked back, he was on her heels. She let out a squeal of delight as his arms went round her waist, lifting her off her feet and dumping her slick body onto the bed.
“Saxton Blakemore and dancing don’t go together,” he told her as he shifted his weight on the bed so as not to crush his wife.
Odessa was feeling naughty, so she stared him in the eyes, “If you can move on the dance floor as well as you...” she pulled his head down and whispered the rest into his ear, causing a low growl to emit from the back of his throat.
“Let’s see about that,” he said in a husky voice as he nibbled on her ear, “try to keep up Mrs. Blakemore. Here we go.”
Chapter Three- Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Dora Trodat sat in the kitchen at the table listening to, but not really hearing, the women on the morning talk show. As she folded towels, the teacup sat there mocking her while she eyed her youngest sitting the table, rolling an apple in his hands, oblivious to his mother watching him.
“Jr.,” she said softly, “what is troubling you on such a lovely Saturday afternoon?”
Kevin Jr. looked at his mother and voiced the words he had mentioned to his sister earlier, “It’s ‘Dessa. She’s changed so much, and I know it’s because of him!”
“She is a married woman now. Of course things are going to change, but it doesn’t affect her love for you, son.”
He shook his head in some dismay, “I don’t know Ma, it’s like going away to the Army and coming home to find your sister is hooked with the local drug dealer or something!”
Dora nearly choked on her cup of tea. Her son was always one for exaggeration, but his analogy was way off. “Jr., you do know that with Ryanne’s getting married next month and all, that she is going to change some as well?”
“No ma, it’s not that. I don’t like Saxton. Something about him is off. The way he looks at me is off. I know he doesn’t like me and I don’t really care for him either, and I think he is a bad influence on ‘Dessa.”
She watched him bite into the apple, “Have you tried talking to Saxton, man to man, voicing your feelings?”
“Ma, each time I try to talk to him, he gets up and walks away, like I am wasting his time or something or he can’t be bothered to talk to the likes of me.”
Dora’s brow was furrowed, “Do you think maybe you calling him the Grinch who stole your sister could be a factor?’
A wry smile crept across his face, but Dora was not amused by his antics and she knew her daughter wasn’t either. “If you are hoping to make her choose between you and her husband, you may be surprised at who she lets go,” Dora told him as she loaded her arms with the folded monogrammed towels. “Try to get along, Jr.”
Saxton was irritated at being hornswoggled into going to dance lessons. The situation was only exacerbated when he arrived to find Kevin Jr. there. “Why is he here? I thought you said it was a married couple’s dance routine? He is not a couple. He doesn’t even have a girlfriend.”
The wound was rubbed even rawer when the music started and Kevin Jr. decided to mock the way he imagined Saxton was going to move to the music. “Hey, Big Man, you going to do the Elvis, with your leg wiggling like you have a snake crawling up your pants?” He cracked up laughing but was brought to heel by Big Sarge who snatched him by the collar and pulled him out the back door.
“What is wrong with you boy? You are acting like some kind of jackass. Did you see anyone in there laughing at what you were saying?”
He dropped his head in shame as he stood facing his father, upset that he had disappointed the man whom he highly respected and the man that had raised him to be better, but there was something about Saxton that he just did not take to. Moreover, he didn’t take kindly to that man being married to his sister. “I’m sorry Dad, but he never even makes eye contact with me when I try talking to him.”
Big Sarge punched his son in the arm, “Maybe if you stopped calling him Honky Kong, he would respond more favorably to you. Now seriously, you were not raised this way. I have taught you to treat a man as he treats you; his skin tone is not relevant, only his character.”
“I know what you are saying Dad, but did you research him, his background, who his people are?”
“Son, you know good and well I do a background check on anyone involved with my children,” Big Sarge said, “He is good man. You should stop being childish and get to know him.”
Kevin Jr. acquiesced only a little, but Big Sarge added, “Now the one your sister Ryanne is marrying, that joker, I don’t even trust in my kitchen.”
As father and son reentered the dance studio, there was no sign of Saxton. Odessa sat on the bench watching the other couples practice, but the light that had shone in her eyes earlier now gone.
This is my fault.
Kevin Jr. walked over to his big sister and asked, “May I have this dance?” Although she smiled and agreed, after he scooped her into his arms and maneuvered her about the floor, Kevin Jr. watched the other couples gazing into each other’s eyes and understood Odessa had wanted this time with her husband. He had ruined it.
Each time Odessa broached the subject of her brother, Saxton would shut down. “I don’t know what you want me to do or say, Saxton. He is my brother and you are my husband. I hate this.”
The look on her face nearly brought him to his knees. He never liked seeing his wife unhappy, especially if he was the cause of it. Truth be told, he did not need her to run interference between him and her brother; he would handle it. It was a convenience that Junior Asshole had been there tonight, which gave him a reason to escape. I hate to dance. But it was going to have to be one or the other. If he was going to get out of dancing, then he had to find a common ground with Junior Buttsmudge.
“I’m sorry, Baby. I don’t want to see you unhappy. What can I do to make this better?” Even as he spoke the words, he saw the glimmer in her eye.
Hornswoggled.
“I was thinking since we have to be in Puerto Rico four days before the cruise, maybe we could take Kev with us and give you two some time together before the family arrives.”
Hornswoggled.
His cheeks felt cramped as he held onto the smile that was hurting his face. Odessa had somehow convinced Agent Roget, of the Special Division of the CIA, which the Blakemores needed to continue the investigation of the human trafficking lines through the Caribbean. Rentería had convinced them both that the best means to investigate was to take a cruise to identify the shipping routes the smugglers were using to get products into the US and nubile flesh into other countries. His wife thought the cruise was a good idea and somehow, at the end of the conversation, Agent Roget had agreed to gifting Odessa’s sister with a free cruise as a cover for them to be on the boat. Odessa, filled with piss and vinegar, decided she would pay for her parents to come along, making it officially the honeymoon cruise to Hell with the gun-toting Brady Bunch. Dread crept upwards around Saxton’s neck, squeezing at his throat and reminding him how much he hated the whole idea. Not only was the concern about his wife’s safety hovering around his ears like bees making honey in his ear canal, but the trip also included his trigger-happy father-in-law and a woman obsessed with towels who carried a .22 in her sock. It didn’t matter if she had on a dress, skirt, or pedal-pushers, she still carried the gun in her sock. His throat was beginning to close up at the thought of spending four days with his brother-in-law in Puerto Rico before the cruise even left. His heart thudded against his chest at the thought of a seven additional days cruising with his in-laws.
Eleven, almost twelve, mollywhopping days with her brother and Odessa’s parents. He looked around the room for his gun. I could just shoot myself now and
call it a day. It has been a good life. Instead, he held his smile. “I think that would be a great idea.” The words rolled out smoothly across his well-formed, perfectly kissable lips, as his wife called them, but to him, they hovered on the edge of his bottom lip like a bad roach joint about to burn down.
Tonight, for the first time since he had met Odessa, he went to bed without thinking of having her for breakfast. His appetite had been crushed. It was the perfect companion to what was happening to his spirit.
Saxton Blakemore was having a panic attack.
Four days. Next week he and Odessa would head to Puerto Rico for four days to follow up on information provided by Rentería, the leader of a Mexican drug cartel. How they ended up working with the man was beyond his reason, but Saxton did not like this idea either. He did not like the idea of going on the cruise, he did not like the idea of them scouting potential warehouses in Puerto Rico, and he definitely didn’t like the idea of having his brother-in-law tag along with them.
He rose from the bed before the alarm clock went off. It was Saturday morning, and he felt as if he had spent the last week digging fence posts by hand. The water bounced off his back while he stood under the shower head, trying to get a grip on his emotions. Odessa filled him with all sorts of sensations, some he couldn’t reconcile. His marriage to her, although a circumstance of necessity, had blossomed into something beautiful. He maintained the marriage, not only because he loved her, but also because he craved a normal life. A life with happy children who played with the local little league, a daughter’s dance recital, and pony rides at the state fair. Life with Odessa was anything but normal. What scared him was that he loved it, the danger of it all, shooting people, beating the crap out of bad guys, and bringing home goodies. Moreover, he loved his wife so much that each thought of putting her life in jeopardy nearly robbed him of his dream for normalcy. These last two assignments were going to be it for them. After the cruise, he wanted to start a family. He would let her know his decision over a breakfast.
He was tired of this dance with danger.
Odessa woke to find her husband not in bed. It was Saturday morning and he wasn’t waiting for her to awaken, yet she could hear the sound of the shower and she tiptoed into the bathroom. Quickly stripping down to join him, the disappointment on her face was evident when he stepped out of the shower, telling her, “The water should be fine. I will start breakfast.”
There was no denying it, her husband was not happy. Maybe she had pushed a bit too much, and it was time to give it up and settle down and start a family. Saxton wanted a normal life and she was giving him everything but. After the cruise, she would talk to him about planning to bring their first child into the world. She smiled as she washed and dressed quickly, bounding down the stairs to join her husband for breakfast.
Over scrambled egg whites, sweet potato hash, and venison sausage, husband and wife looked at each and in unison, and both said, “I think I’m ready to start our family.”
Chapter Four- Tripping the Light Fantastic
The funny thing about starting a family, you first had to deal with the one you currently possessed. Sometimes, she felt as if hers was haunted by some random demons that pushed each member into a corner of craziness. However, as her mother had told her, the main people who are nuts are the ones who sit about pointing out the craziness of everyone else. All of it was surreal.
Her parents, now in their late sixties, were showing signs of aging. Big Sarge, whom she always thought was invincible, was in dire need of a hip replacement. Her mother, bless her sweet soul, had an unnatural fixation for towels. It was uncertain if in her childhood, there were never enough, or if during her life as a military wife, she had been embarrassed by ones that did not pass scrutiny of forever-judgmental eyes. The difficulty in sharing a life with others is seeing the obvious without making someone else feel stupid by pointing it out.
It was apparent that her brother was jealous. Before the trip to Mexico, Odessa led a very mundane existence. Her schedule was regimental, her job was boring, and the life she led, if one could call it such, centered on and around her family. Free time was spent with her mother or her sister Ryanne, who had just finished law school and was taking a job with the Justice Department. Saxton had pulled some strings to get her a meeting nine months ago, and she landed the job as well as the young man who did the interview.
Dwight Darryl Dobbins was a standup kind of guy who was exciting as a flat tube of toothpaste. He reminded Odessa of a young David Allen Grier sans the wit and comedic timing. Dwight worked as an attorney for the Trustee Division of the DOJ, handling bankruptcy cases out of Corpus Christie. The job offer for Ryanne was there as well. After the wedding, she would be moving to be with her husband.
Maybe this is what Kevin was feeling, that his family was breaking up. Before her marriage to Saxton, the two of them were like peas in a pod. In her free time, she would ride down to the campus to hang out with her little brother or take him and his roommates out for pizza. Since her marriage, all of that had stopped.
It appeared as if Kevin’s heart had stopped as well the day he let himself into the back door of her house and shouted up the stairs only to face a large white man pointing a gun in his face. It was not as if she didn’t want to spend time with him anymore, there just were not enough hours in the day. Between her jobs, the fake company she and Saxton owned that was actually making real money, her husband, and covert missions, Odessa Blakemore was tired and wanted off the dance floor.
Ryanne Trodat was a rare gem among diamonds. She possessed her father’s no-nonsense approach to life, but she also had her mother’s heart, a heart that was strong, yet filled with fancy. As a gigantic fan of Dancing with the Stars, she got it in her head that at the wedding reception, along with all of the traditional dances, she wanted a couple’s tango.
“Why would she want that?” Saxton, her father, and most of the cousins wanted to know.
“It’s her wedding, and at a wedding, it is the mental fantasy of every young girl to have that one defining moment. This is hers,” Odessa told her husband with a bit of melancholy in her voice, prompting Saxton to pull her in and hold her close.
“Do you feel like you missed out on that part Baby, you know, the pomp and circumstance of a reception, the gown, friends and family gathered to gawk in awe at the hunk you married?”
She turned in his arms to face him, planting a kiss on his lips, “People are going to gawk at the hunk I am married to either way.” She told him with a smile, “Besides, my wedding was special. We were surrounded by passionate men holding weapons, children danced at our feet and I had the pleasure of selecting my wedding ring from so many beautiful choices.” Although she made light of the basket of rings the children held, it never left her mind that each of those rings represented a life that had been taken.
Saxton lowered his head to plant an adoring kiss on his wife’s lips, but was interrupted by banging on the glass door. He didn’t even need to look over to know who it was. “If you two keep that up, somebody is going to get pregnant!”
“Not likely with you around,” Saxton mumbled as he released his wife and walked away. “I won’t be out too late,” he told her as he slid out the side door of the dance studio.
Twice.
Twice her brother had given him an excuse and chance to escape. For that reason alone, Saxton would maybe not shoot him with real bullets, but some rubber ones.
“Where is he going?” Kevin asked with more than a feigned interest. At the same time, Dora made her way across the room to stand next to her daughter.
“As long as I live, I will never understand these new-fangled marriages you young people have,” she said with a shake of her silver haired head.
“It’s no big deal Ma. Friday nights are his time, so I give him some space.” Kevin listened intently, trying to understand what was happening.
“I don’t care what you two call it, cheating is cheating,” Dora said emphatically.
Odessa placed her arm around her mother’s shoulder, “Yes, but it sure makes Saturday morning magical.” The two ladies laughed as Kevin donned his hoodie and slipped out the door as well. His sister deserved better than some cheater, and he was going to catch Mr. Two Left Feet in the act.
The only thing Kevin was capable of catching was a bus headed across town. He arrived at Patsy’s Roadhouse and parked on the furthest side of the lot away from Saxton’s truck. Honky Tonk music blared out the door as Kevin made an attempt to slide inside the establishment unnoticed. He tripped over his feet and fell headfirst into a waitress carrying a whole tray of drinks, which flew in the air and crash- landed on a very large man who was not too happy.
A gigantic meaty arm drew back to flatten Kevin’s face, but the punch was halted in midair by Saxton’s hand. The room grew quiet as the pissed-off big man who owned the rather large arm attached to an extra-large fist turned his big red face to see who had stopped him from pummeling tonight’s victim. “Lil John, the kid’s with me. He’s clumsy, and can’t help himself,” Saxton apologized.
They didn’t seem to be the right words since Lil’ John, who weighed nearly 400 lbs, still drew back an arm that was the size of two quarterback’s thighs to knock the lights out in Kevin’s head. He would have, but Saxton said, “I’m sure you wouldn’t want Odessa to know you beat up her little brother over a misunderstanding.” Lil’ John hesitated, but Saxton continued speaking.
“Then, when my wife gets upset, I would have to come back and shoot you, then there is the paper work, the headache, the therapy...” he paused adding a terse smile.
Lil’ John backed away with his hands in the air. “Just don’t shoot me again, okay Saxton?”
“Just don’t make me Lil’ John,” Saxton gave the big man a steely-eyed stare.
A waitress in an ill-fitting tube skirt came out of nowhere to help clean up the mess, giving Saxton an opportunity to grab Kevin by his hood and yank him off the floor. In the far corner of the restaurant, as Saxton made his way over, the table that had been occupied was suddenly cleared by the inhabitants. The two couples mumbled, “Sorry Mr. Blakemore, we didn’t know you were coming in tonight.”
Dancing with Mr. Blakemore Page 2