The Fight Within (26 page)

“I’m supposed to what? Beg for it? Already done that! Pretend we both don’t want it? You played that game, too. Sit here and act like I haven’t been wanting to kiss you, hug you longer and stronger than I ever have before? Nah, that’s not what I’m about. I’m not on this bullshit anymore.” He tossed a napkin onto the table in a huff. “I love you, Treasure, and that’s what people in love do. We make love, we fuck…and that’s what I want. That’s what I need.”

“I love you too, Sean.”

He looked at her a long while then turned away. Not dismissively, but as if he needed a moment to collect his thoughts.

She didn’t know what else to say. Why didn’t he understand how much she yearned for him?! It wasn’t as simple as he imagined… it was complicated, so very problematic should she do what she truly desired.

“I want to take you down.” Steel coated the syllables of his words as he looked at her indignantly. Was he pissed at the whole damn world?

Take. Me. Down.

“Look, Treasure. Here’s the deal.” He clasped his hands together. “It’s just this pretend shit with how things are ‘supposed to be’,” he gestured as if writing quotes with his hands, “is crazy to me. So, are you ready to go?” He readjusted his hat and looked around the place, his eyes searching for no one in particular.

Was he raised by wolves?! How could he think this is the okay way to handle things?

“Hold up. Here she comes,” he said, as if she’d been waiting for the waitress to come over and assist her in her time of bewildered need. “Hey, yeah, thanks for doubling back. Question for ya…”

The waitress stood before them, waiting for him to make his request.

“Can we get the check? We’re done here,” she stated with a smile, then reached into her purse for her cell phone, snapped a quick photo of the bastard, and slid it back inside the damn thing. Meanwhile, the waitress left, promising to return as soon as possible and address his pending concern.

“Why’d ya take my photo?” He opened up his wallet and removed a credit card to lay it on the table just as cool as he pleased.

“So I can remember this crap in case I get the crazy idea that I dreamt the whole shit up.”

At this, he burst out laughing.

“I’m serious, Sean. You are out of your mind.” She chuckled. “Anyway, so I figure we can go for a walk or something after this.” She switched gears, feeling a bit uncomfortable as the joke played out a bit too long.

“A walk where? To a hotel?”

“Sean, stop it. Seriously.” She rolled her eyes as she took the final sip from her glass. “Enough already.”

He smirked. “I was serious…you thought this was some put-on, huh?”

She said nothing, only glared at the man sitting before her. After a while, she turned her attention to digging into her purse again, this time for her Ruby Woo red lipstick to reapply. He watched her intensely, as if needing pointers.

“I’m not a bullshitter.”

“I never said that you were.” She placed the lipstick back inside of her purse and ran her tongue along her upper teeth, ensuring none smeared along the way.

“But you act like you’re afraid that I’ve been playing games with you so I can screw you and then run off. You act like I’m a bullshitter.”

“I think we’re all bullshitters, Sean. Sometimes it’s unintentional.”

“Ahhh,” he growled, slapping the table in annoyance. “Don’t give me that. The real question is what does us fucking have to do with bullshitting, anyway?”

“Sean, you are making me so very tired.” She clasped her hands together, shutting him off.

Before he could respond, the waitress returned with the check, giving him the receipt to sign.

“Thanks. A, I had a question for ya but my girlfriend here scared you off. Let me ask you somethin’.” He handed the woman his award-winning smile, no doubt gearing up to embarrass Treasure to the utmost. “You see this lady right here?” He pointed over at her. She tried to slide down further into her chair, covering her forehead with her hand like a visor, but it was no use; she was still visible and wearing the Emperor’s new clothes.

“Yes, I see her.” The woman grinned in a polite sort of way. “She’s very pretty.”

“Yeah, so pretty that I want to have sex with her.”

The waitress’ complexion immediately turned from light beige to beet red in a matter of seconds. She ran her hand nervously over her dark blond hair with auburn highlights and angled her body a bit toward Treasure, a silly grin on her face as she certainly shopped around for the right words.

“Uh, okay…well, I, uh…”

“Nah, nah,” Sean gripped his baseball cap with one hand, bringing it further down onto his forehead, then lifted up a bit from his seat to slide his wallet in his back pocket. “You don’t have to be embarrassed or say much. I just wanted to ask you, an impartial person with no dog in this fight, a hypothetical question.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“Let’s say you were against dating, right?”

“Right.” The waitress seemed to simmer down a bit. She put her hand on her hip as she fell into the conversation, ingratiating herself into Sean’s warped little world.

“But you took a chance, and you knew in some ways, the person you took a chance with, to many outsiders, would seem out of your league…”

“Yeah…”

“But you did it anyway, and you put yourself out there.” He waved his arms around, talking with his hands in big, sweeping gestures. “… And then you wine and dine the lady, right?”

“Yeah…”

“But you don’t think because you took her out for steak ’nd shit that she’s gonna give up the goods, but you know, you’re investing in her because you feel like she might be worth it. Because you two click, have a good vibe ’nd shit.”

“Right, you like her, I get it.” The waitress shot Treasure an approving grin, making her want to hang her face of shame on a coat rack as this all played out in front of her, the captive audience she was.

“Right, I love ’er actually, I love her a whole fucking lot. So anyway, I’m doing this shit and even though she’s a prize, she got her own shit, too, you know? Like, no one is perfect, right?”

“Right, no one is.” The waitress leaned forward, resting her palms on the table as if she and Sean went way back, were old school chums, and had just ran into each other after a long ass time.

“And you two are together now, committed. That’s your girl, right?”

“Right.”

“One thing though, she got baggage, although it ain’t like I didn’t have a chance. Add to that, she’s divorced and the split was pretty fucked up. You’ve never been married though, right? You don’t have that sort of thing going on.”

…This son of a bitch.

Treasure crossed her arms and grimaced, but kept her lips sealed until he finished subjecting her to this ridiculous spectacle.

“She got kids, you have none, right? Adding more aspects to the mix. But that doesn’t bother you, matter of fact, it makes her even more appealing ’cause you dig kids.”

“Yeah, some guys are like that. I have a daughter. Some guys are okay with it.”

“Right, and you tell ’er you want to bang her, but not like in a disrespectful way. You just say, ‘Hey,’” he shrugged his shoulders, “‘Let’s not turn this into a silly song ’nd dance,’ ya know? It’s been fuckin’ forever. We’ve had phone sex like a million times, I’ve seen her goodies, ya know? Let’s go ahead and
do
this!” He cocked his head to the side, winked at Treasure, then turned back to the waitress who was obviously stifling a full throttle outburst of laughter.

“Like, I’d tell her, let’s take care of business, ’cause I love you ’nd shit, I wanna
feel
you…
do
some things to you…and you just might like it. I have good dick,
real
good dick.” His voice deepened as he shot Treasure an almost menacing glance. “And if she’d let me give it to her versus just seeing the shit on a fucking camera, she’d soon know it, too.” His second wink to her proved to be not one of amusement, it was one of ‘promise’.

Oh.My.God! He did not just say that to this woman! He did NOT tell this stranger all of our damn business!

“Sean, you really need to stop it,” Treasure said sternly but she was met with ‘the hand’ in quick order. He didn’t even give her the courtesy of looking in her damn direction. He simply put up the ‘Stop’ sign, and kept it moving.

“Would you be offended by that?” he asked the waitress, looking up at the woman from his slumped posture like an emaciated orphan begging for a bowl of hot porridge.

The waitress stood back up and thoughtfully tapped her chin for a moment or two, like the crap coming out of this man’s mouth was pure poetry or worse yet, a Jeopardy game show question she’d bet every damn dollar on.

“You know what? No. If you did it
just
how you spoke to me right now, I wouldn’t.”

“Why not?” Treasure chimed in, refusing to be the sitting duck any damn longer.

“Because he’s being real, you know?” the waitress declared sincerely. She stared down at Treasure, but pointed to her left toward Sean. “He’s not being slick or slimy like a lot of these guys out here. He’s saying he loves you and wants to make love. I’d like for more guys to be upfront like that actually, instead of playing games.”

“You’re getting a bigger tip!” Sean laughed as he removed his wallet once more and slapped a ten dollar bill down on the table as if placing a dire bet.

“Thanks!” The waitress giggled, quickly scooping it up. “Are we done here? Any more opinions needed about dating and good penis?” she joked.

“Nah.” He popped a piece of gum in his mouth and chewed noisily, his big satisfied smile fixed on Treasure. “We’re good.”

“Alright, thanks for the extra cash.” The waitress waved it in the air and sauntered off, no doubt pleased with how she’d thrown Treasure under the bus.

“Sean.” Treasure blew out her frustration in the form of a sigh. The warm air from her nostrils heated her upper lip as she looked around the place, not sure where to set her sights and thoughts. “I’m finished with you. This little stunt of yours has left me
completely
embarrassed.”

“Liiiiiieeee-eeeerrrr!” he barked, following it up with an outburst of guffaws. “Don’t say things like that when you don’t mean them. We both know you’re having a good time and besides, I was just telling the truth. Everything I said is just how it happened, isn’t it?”

She said nothing, but her lower lip quivered, giving her away.

“That’s what I thought.”

She shook her head and burst out laughing while looking down at her lap, wishing she had the resolve to stick to her guns and close the door on this man’s craziness.

I love this man, I truly do, but he was dead wrong for doing that to me just now.

“Well, I’m going to have to find another way to punish you then.”

“Punish me, baby. Make it hurt so… damn… good.” He winked at her, causing her cheeks to heat up for the one-hundredth time in his presence. “Alright,” he said, tossing his napkin aside and giving his gum a few more dedicated chews. “Let’s go.”

They got to their feet and made their way out into the open. A soft gust of cool wind moseyed past them, blowing their hair ever so gently.

“So, what do you want to do now?”

“I already answered that.” He gave her a flirty wink, cleared his throat then offered, “Nah.” He stretched and yawned. “It’s up to you.”

They stood outside the place as cars herded past, and she simply tried to get her bearings, make a decision. All they’d discussed was brunch, no afterward ‘refreshments’. However, as was bound to happen in Sean’s typical way, nothing with the man seemed to go as planned. Before she could offer a suggestion for him to weigh in on, the man grasped her in his arms and pressed his lips firmly against hers. She could barely breathe with his arms wrapped tightly around her, an air of possessiveness about him. She lay cradle of his grip, her system shocked at his gesture, but she calmed while tasting the slight saltiness of his slowly moving lips that brushed hers, over and over… His green eyes slowly hooded until they completely closed, and she soon followed suit, falling deep into the moment. Grabbing onto her ass, he pressed along the soft flesh of the cheek and squeezed a little, as if trying it out for size. He squelched her protests with the thrust of his thick tongue, pushing and probing inside of her mouth in the most beautifully obscene ways. She hated that her panties were getting soaked…

After a few moments, he released her, stepped back and observed her dizzy stance. She stumbled back despite trying to play it off, eliciting a light laugh from the man.

“Come ’ere.” Getting close again, he curled her arm around his own and marched up the street as if they had big plans, skipping along to see some Wizard of Oz as they journeyed up the yellow cab-covered New York road.

“Where are we going?”

Ahhhh, there is my voice. Nice to hear you again…

“Let’s just walk, look around like you recommended earlier.” Releasing her arm, he intertwined their fingers…making their bond visible as a real, live couple.

And she was convinced of it.

Because they were.

“Is that fine?”

“Yes, that’s cool with me.”

“I’ve always loved the feel of your hands. They’re so soft,” he said with a brief pause in their step as they approached a crosswalk.

“Thank you.”

“Your lips are real soft, too,” he added looking ahead, his back straight, as is if he were on a mission.

“So are yours.”

And then he halted, again. They’d come upon a pawn shop, its front glittering in gaudy flashiness with golden wares, a flickering sign and a window chock full of medallions. It looked ill-placed in the otherwise upscale environment.

“Some people have to go in there probably every month to conduct their business, just to keep the lights on.”

Treasure placed her palm against the cool glass of the place and viewed her reflection. In the face of a nearby clock, she could see half of her own, as well as her body mirrored in a polished sable brown guitar. Time had been good to her, blessing her, and her flesh played a melody to the mere whisper of his words…