Then Kiss Me (36 page)

I stood and steeled myself, trying to
will
myself to sobriety.  “Barry, you’re a fucking idiot.  And I am
not
your wife.  I’m your
ex
-wife.”
  I took him in.  He was still good-looking but also just as slick.

“Says you.
  You’re coming with me.”

He snatched my purse up off the floor.  Then he grabbed my arm and started dragging me to the door while I screamed, “No!”

“Come on.”  He thought he could still order me around.  I dug my heels in, fighting him.

Scott was still standing by the door.  I think he was shocked that this stranger
had
just barged in.  He found his voice, though.  “I don’t think she wants to go with you.”

Barry sneered as he got closer, in spite of my resistance.  “You the guy she’s been boning?”  He got to the doorway and stopped long enough to say, “You’re lucky I don’t kill you.”  He held up his left hand to Scott’s face.  He was still wearing his wedding ring.  “
That mean
anything to you?  If you’re smart, you’ll stop fucking other guys’ wives.”  He shoved his way past Scott, still dragging me by the wrist.

“Barry, you asshole.
  Stop it.  That hurts!”

He growled.  “Shut up, bitch.  You’re coming with me, and you’re going to explain all this to your parents.”

“All
what
?”

“What a whore you are.”

I could feel the muscles in my neck and
jaw tighten
. 
“You dick.
  You’ve been with women since we divorced.  I know because I heard at least on
e over the phone
.  And, besides, I know you couldn’t go long without—”

“Shut the fuck up, Casey.”  He had dragged me out the door, down the sidewalk, and we were nearing his car,
a black Lamborghini that I knew he loved more than he’d ever loved me
, just because I knew how Barry was
.  He still hadn’t released his grip on my wrist.  “Why are you even here?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Scott start to walk out the door toward us.

Barry’s voice was lower now.  “Casey, you’ve had your freedom, but enough’s enough.  It’s time to be the good little wife again.”  He looked me in the eyes.  “I need you.”

No, he didn’t need me, no matter what he
believed
.  “I don’t want to be your wife, Barry.  That’s why I left.”

He raised his voice again.  “Well, we’re going to see the Justice of the Peace right now, and you
will
be my wife again.”

“Why are you so desperate to have me back?  We don’t love each other anymore.”

The way we were shouting at each other, we were probably waking up the whole neighborhood.  I wasn’t even sure what time it was.  I heard a dog start to bark somewhere in the distance.

“I don’t like to lose anything that belongs to me.”  He opened the passenger door.  “Get in.”

Scott was now standing a couple of feet away from the car.  His voice was firm when he said, “I don’t think she wants to go with you.”

“I warned you.”  Barry, quite a bit taller than Scott, stormed over to where Scott stood
.  Scott just stood there, chest out, daring Barry to do something.  Barry faked a punch to Scott’s stomach
and
then
laid a heavy chop on Scott’s jaw.  I grimaced,
hoping he hadn’t broken any bones
. 
As
Scott
was
f
a
ll
ing
over backwards,
Barry kicked him so hard in the gut that Scott
hit the back of his head on the sidewalk.  I heard him groan and saw him grab his head as he started to sit up.  I ran over and knelt beside him.

“Don’t you dare touch him again, Barry.”  I held Scott’s shoulders, looking at his face to see how badly Barry had hit him.

He looked at me and said, “I’m okay.  Don’t worry about it.”  He swallowed.  “What about you? 
Did
he hurt you?”

Jesus…Scott was fucked up.  “
No, I’m fine
.” 
I
didn’t know for sure
if it would stay that way
, but I didn’t want him to worry while I was off…getting married again?

Barry leaned over and grabbed me again.  “If you don’t come with me right now, I’ll beat the shit out of your little boyfriend.”

I mouthed to Scott, “I’m so sorry.”  Then, reluctantly, I got up and got in Barry’s over-the-top car while Scott tried to stand up, still holding his head.

Chapter
Eighteen

BARRY DROVE DOWN
the highway that went through
Winchester
and kept on driving, far out of town, heading toward Colorado Springs.  Not to my parents’ house,
not to the Justice of the Peace
like he’d threatened.  I started growing nervous.  “Barry, where the hell are you going?”

“Well, at first, I’d thought about taking you back to Denver with me, but I think we’ll go to Vegas instead.”

“You’re fucking crazy.”  I reached in my purse to find my cell phone.

“Don’t smoke in here.”

I looked over at him.  “I
quit
, dumbass.”

He gave me a confused look, as though I’d told him I’d become a lesbian since he’d last seen me.  And, for one of few times since I’d known Barry, he was at a loss for words.  “I’m going to call mom and dad.”

“N
o.  Fuck
no.  Give me your goddamned phone.”

“No.”  I took a deep breath.  “Fine, I won’t call them.”  I put the phone back in my purse.  But now I knew I could push some
of his
buttons.  I turned on the radio and searc
hed for the local metal station and then turned the volume up.

“Turn that shit off.”

I glared at him, raising my voice to be heard over the commercial on the radio.  “Try to stop me.  Either let me out or let me listen to the radio.  Choice is yours.”  It on
ly bothered him because the car
was new.  The speakers hadn’t been broken in…till now.  I pierced him with a
n icy
stare.

He growled but didn’t say anything.  A Corrosion of Conformity song started playing and I felt myself relax a little.  I looked out the window and saw the black landscape whizzing by.  I had no idea how fast Barry was driving, but I was certain it was well above the speed limit.
  I thought about saying something and then decided against it.  I knew how Barry would react if I said a word—he’d just go faster.  So I’d
just try to
get under h
is skin, make him realize I wasn’t worth his time anymore
.  I reached over and turned the volume up a little more.  Besides, they were playing Papa Roach’s “Burn,” a song that deserved to be a little louder.

He didn’t say a word, but I could tell I was irritating him.  That was my plan.  Feeling smug, I folded my arms and rested my head back on the headrest.  I could feel myself becoming quite sober.  Same old Barry—here I am and not a word to say to me.

We were almost to Colorado Springs when Barry reached over and turned the radio down…but not off. 
Smart move.
  He asked, “So…how long have you been fucking that guy?”

I reached over and—just a
titch
to assert my wishful dominance—turned up the radio again. 
“None of your business.”
  I inhaled.  “Besides, I wasn’t over there seeing
him
anyway.  I was visiting David, a good friend of mine.”

Barry rolled down his window.  “And do you get drunk all the time now too?”

“I did today.”  I looked out the side window again but couldn’t see much of anything.  I turned back to face him.  “How’d you find me over there anyway?”

How he could maintain his hard expression for so long, I’d never know, but he was still like stone when he said, “I was in Winchester a couple weeks ago, so I’d kind of figured out where everything was.  When I got to your parents’ house earlier today, they said they didn’t know where you were.  They said maybe Bob’s Southern BBQ—
yee
-haw
—or Main Street Art Gallery. 
So I went over to the BBQ place and spoke to the manager who told me he couldn’t say a word
about what he did or didn’t know
.  But then I found another guy there who, for a couple of twenties, was happy to tell me you were having lunch with your friend David.  That the friend you said you were drinking with?”  I nodded.  “And this other guy’s name is Scott.”  I nodded again, unsure where he was going.  And somebody at Bob’s sold me out…I had an inkling of whom it
might have been.  Forty bucks…could
n’t really blame him,
scumbag or not,
especially if Barry had him convinced I was still married.

Barry continued.  “I drove around looking for your car.”

“Obsess much?”

He rolled his eyes but kept looking ahead.  “Your car’s kind of generic but the
Korn
decal on the back window gives you away.  You were parked right off Main Street, so I thought maybe the art gallery, but I couldn’t find you anywhere.
  So I drove back to Bob’s and the guy I’d given cash to
wasn’t
there anymore.  But I talked to a waitress who was willing to give me all kinds of info for free.  I told her I was your husband and said I really needed to find you.  She told me where David lived and gave me directions.
  She happened to mention that the guy you were fucking lived here
too,
and s
he also said you were sleeping with every guy in the place.”

I started laughing.  It had to be Wendy.  She’d never forgiven me for Scott.
  “Come on, Barry.  You know me better than that.”

He reached over and punched the radio off.  Hmmm…being a little rough with one of his beloved possessions.  “Do I?  I never thought I’d see you starving yourself to death either, but look at you.  You’ve always been small, Casey, but you look like you’re ninety-five pounds soaking wet.”

Did he actually give a shit?  I didn’t reply right away, letting his words sink in.  He was right.  I’d been pretty hard on my body.  But I was trying to fix that.  I just needed an appetite.  He wasn’t helping that at all.  “Barry, take me back to Winchester, please.  We don’t belong together.  You’re not helping anything.”

Fuck. 
Me and my big mouth.
  He started driving even faster.  “Shut up.”

“Barry, why are you doing this?”

His jaw was still
tight. 
“Because you’re
mine
.”

“I’m
not
yours.”

“Nobody else’s.”

“Barry, I’m
not
your possession.  I never
was
.  I was married to you.  We got a divorce.  It’s over.”

“I said
shut up
.”

This tactic wasn’t working.  I saw the lights of Colorado Springs just minutes ahead, and then I knew he’d have to decide where he was taking his car—south on I-25 so he could hit Highway 50 and head to Vegas or north on the interstate to go back to Denver.  That is, if he was in his right mind and really meant what he’d said earlier.  “Look, Barry, what are you going to do when we get there?”  I decided to be vague, not knowing what his plan really was.

“We’re going to remarry.”

I couldn’t believe the messes I got myself into…although I really hadn’t directly done this, had I?  I needed to appeal to his rational side.  “Do you love me?”

He paused, silent, as he slowed the car now that we were near civilization.  When he decided to answer, he said, “Shut up.”

Was it working?  “Don’t you think my parents will start looking for me?  Will wonder where I am?  They’ll figure out what happened.  Scott will tell them.”  I paused for emphasis.  “This is kidnapping.”

He pulled the car over to the side of the road.  The engine was running, but he put the car in park.  “Don’t you know when to shut the fuck up, Casey?”

It wasn’t time to let up.  “Do you still love me, Barry?”

He looked through the windshield.  He rubbed his fingers over his forehead
,
then
ran his fingers through his dark, wavy hair.  He kept his eyes forward when he said, “No.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

He just sat
there,
staring off into space, like he’d snapped…completely lost it. 
Like he had no idea about anything anymore.
  Without saying another word, he pulled the car around and started driving in the direction we’d come from.