“Thank you.” I didn’t mean to say that and it brought to mind the very last words that he had said to me after we had supplied each other with enough incentive to drive each other up the wall.
I waited for him to say something, but instead he stopped momentarily at the threshold to my bedroom. I could hear him breathing and then the door slowly closed. I couldn’t believe the odds of having him, as my new stepfather. It didn’t seem possible that god would be that cruel to dangle him in front of me and then to have him here underneath the same roof was only asking for problems.
He came back about ½ hour later and placed a cool cloth over my forehead. He helped me to lift my head, so that I could have some tomato soup. This was not the normal kind that you would find in a can. This was absolutely delicious with a bit of spice to sweat the infection out of my body. I had a fever and in my delirium, I reached out and grabbed him inappropriately.
He took my hand away from his crotch with my fingers moving with this need to complete that connection. “You don’t know what you’re doing and I’m not going to take advantage of you in your current condition. Try to refrain from throwing yourself at me the best way that you can.” He was wearing the same pants that he had on when I first met him and I wondered how many of those pairs that he might have in his closet. A guy is a little bit sparse with his collection of clothing, unless you’re counting ties and shirts of different motifs and styles. Pants and shoes would not be as plentiful, as the ones that were currently in a garbage bag behind my truck seat.
“I don’t even know why you are with her. She doesn’t deserve you and she will hurt you. I think that you should be forewarned that she gets bored quickly.” My hand once again rested on the bulge that was now pushing up against my hand. He pulled away and placed it back across my chest. He grazed my nipples through the shirt that I had undone. There was nothing preventing me from throwing back the covers and showing him the peaks of a 20 year old woman. I still couldn’t believe that I was a virgin and the way that my body was reacting had nothing to do with purity of the heart.
“Yes…well…I’m…going to take a shower. Get some sleep and I’ll be back later to check on you.” He was gone no more than 10 minutes. When I heard the shower, I felt compelled to see him in more than the visions in my head.
I was feeling a lot better and this flu must’ve been something that came and went at a moment’s notice. I found myself standing at the bathroom door with that very door open a crack. I could see the reflection of his chiseled body through the thin layer of a bathroom curtain. I had to believe that my mother had something to do with that and I actually had something to thank her for.
I couldn’t stop staring and he opened the curtain himself like he had an inkling that I might be there. The rest his body was covered and we had this moment of eye contact before I took a step backward and went back to my room.
Chapter five
I stayed there for a month and I did take him up on his offer to shadow the producer and creative writer at a radio station in town. I called my other job and told them that they would need to find somebody else. I was actually happy and hearing that the producer was about to retire put me at the front line courtesy of Angel’s influence.
I’d just had a very productive day and having somebody tell me that my work was appreciated had gone a long way to stroke by ego.
It had been an effort in futility to try to keep him away from me. We would have lunch every afternoon at a different restaurant of his choosing. The culinary delights that were offered whet my appetite and gave me the feeling that I might be a food snob.
I arrived back home to see that my mother was standing with her arm around a young man that could’ve been my younger brother. Angel was standing in front of the double doors leading into the house with his own arms crossed and showing his distaste by the way that he was tapping his foot incessantly.
“I’m telling you that I want a divorce. If you don’t want things to get ugly, I would suggest that you offer me a monthly stipend to stay out of your life. If not, then I will gladly take you to court for everything that I can get from you.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and yet it made me happy at the same time.
“I’ll give you $5000 a month and that will be the end of it. You will sign a contract that states that that is all you are entitled to. If you insist on threatening me, then you can be assured that I have the money and the lawyers to bury you in court. I don’t need that kind of publicity. Greed is a funny mistress and one that you should be very careful about listening to. Leave now before I forget my manners. I’ll have one of my lawyers drop off the forms. The one thing that I want you to take from this is that this isn’t charity. I am not knuckling under and I just want this over with, so that I never have to see you again.” The guy with her didn’t say a thing. He was the strong silent hunky blue eyed blonde surfer boy type.