Interest

She stepped toward me and I took her in my arms and we started swaying to the slow ballad that had gained popularity ten years ago when we were seniors in high school. I felt her hand shift up my arm. Then she stepped closer to me as we continued to slowly pivot around among our classmates on the crowded darkened dance floor.

I could smell her shampoo and her soap and her perfume. It overloaded my olfactory sense. All those intoxicating desirable scents pushing me closer and closer to a point of no return.

I closed my eyes and relished the fantasy in my head as we continued our dance. I was lost within my singular world of fulfillment. These few minutes made it bearable. Made me believe--

Suddenly, I realized that the music had stopped and the lights were brightly primed for a fast dance and still I had taken dance steps with Staci while lost in reverie. In full view of everyone, including David. Out of place, once again, in public.

I heard a large peal of laughter to the side. Fred Carter was down on one knee pantomiming a proposal, his arm outstretched holding an imaginary ring as the people around him guffawed. I broke quickly from Staci and rushed toward him.

He got up quickly from the defenseless position and looked concerned as I walked to him. The laughter quieted as I got closer. The DJ must have wanted to see what was going to happen because no song took up after the slow song.

Fred Carter, now in business with his father owning the Ford dealership in town, my classmate, a guy I played with on the high school football team now paled as he anticipated me beating the shit out of him in front of his wife and our friends and classmates. He actually flinched as I stopped short of him.

I looked at the pudgy balding man and compared him to ten years ago. The future did not bode well for Fred Carter. I spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

"During our sophomore year, Fred, do you remember the night you and your mother and your older sister came by my house?"

Fred's eyes widened and I could tell that he wanted to beg me to keep quiet.

"Your mother was bawling her eyes out, and you and your sister were doing so as well. You remember what she told my father, Fred? You remember how she told him about your father's drinking problem? You remember how she told my father how he pissed away every penny your family had getting drunk? You remember how she begged my father to help y'all?"

"Do you remember what my father did? Do you remember how he went to your house and collected your drunk father and drove him to a rehab facility 150 miles away that night? Do you remember how my mother insisted that your family stay with us that week? Do you remember crying yourself to sleep in my room that night, Fred?"

"Do you remember my father establishing a line of credit for your mother so your family could survive while your father was drying out? Do you remember my parents coming over to your house with groceries so you would have something to eat? That is after he got the utilities turned back on for y'all."

" Do you remember how my father restructured your father's business loan so he wouldn't go into default and have my father repossess the business? Do you remember how my father made sure your father attended AA once he was released from the program?"

"Do you remember how you and your father came back one night and swore that y'all would do anything for us in everlasting gratitude? Do you remember the day, your gutless father sent you over to withdraw your accounts over to the Buckmans? Do you remember how embarrassed you were at the treachery? Do you remember how my father treated you with dignity and respect?"

"Well, remember that the next time you decide to insult me, you son of a bitch!" I said bitterly.

I looked over the crowd.

"I see at least eight more here tonight that I could relate a similar story. But, I'll let y'all off the hook because frankly there's not a damn one of you worth the trouble." I dared them, with eyes blazing.

No one would catch my gaze. I turned and started walking toward the exit. At least no one would ever forget our 10th reunion.

As I walked quickly through the parking lot, I heard the tempo of high heels sounding three times to each of my stride in an effort to catch up. I didn't need to be told who was chasing me.

I swerved into a circle recognizing the futility of trying to escape. I ran my hands through my hair. And kept them on my head as she approached. All I could do was watch her come closer.

I could only stare at her, helpless, miserable in my pain.

"What?" she asked me to explain my silence.

"I was just wondering if you have any idea of how beautiful you are," I said sadly, "and I was just wondering how in the hell I'm ever going to get over you."

"...You don't have to," she quietly responded.

"Yeah, I really do," I said. "And it's going to take some time, Staci, but I'll be fine in the end."

"Please don't do this!" she begged, "I've lived that scene over and over every day as well, Troy. I don't know why I did what I did. I panicked and I ran away. For God's sakes, Troy, I was only twenty-one and I felt trapped!" She gripped my arms to prevent me from walking away.

"When I went out with you on that first date you knew my history with David," she said. "You knew it and you still came after me. How does that make you any different than David?"

"I didn't ever lie to you. I always told you I cared for him. Every God damned time that you asked me why I was with him when he treated me like he did. Don't you remember that Troy? I told you that I was with him because I loved him. I told you that every God damned time."

"But you kept coming back to me anyway. And every time you looked at me...The way your eyes lit up when I was around, Troy... Do you have any idea how that made me feel?

"And you treated me like I was a queen and I realized that I was falling in love with you. I hated the way David treated me, but I was conflicted. You would spend every second with me that you could. You'd come over and help me do my homework, or wash my car, or just hang around."

You'd go spend time with my dad to get on his good side. I wish I had a dollar for every chess game I watched you lose to him, or listen to him talk about his business.

"David kept cheating on me and the next thing I knew, I felt I was cheating on him with you. You kept asking me out and I began to accept that we were a couple and David was history. But, it still pissed me off seeing him date other girls.

One of the reasons, David and I had trouble was he kept wanting my cherry. When I kept resisting he threw me away for girls that would drop their panties. I was livid about that!

You never gave me an ultimatum and I was able to relax knowing I could go at my pace and I fell in love with you. Sure we didn't have sex, we just kissed a lot. But if you had ever pushed me, just a little bit, we would have and you knew it. But you also knew that I wanted it to mean something when I wore white at my wedding."

"But always in the back of my mind I couldn't understand why David let me go. Why didn't he fight for me? How could he let me go to you?"

"Then you and I were in college and we had our lives all mapped out. How we were going to get married and have kids. But while you continued to focus, I was still caught by my questions. And unknown to you, David came around to me and asked me to take him back. And I was trapped between the two of you."

"On one hand, I had Mr. Serious; hardworking, dependable, and devoted to me. On the other I had Mr. Fun; dangerous, carefree, and unreliable. I know it sounds like a cliche, but the two of you made me feel complete."

"When we had that train wreck of an evening, I panicked and I ran and I hurt you like I shouldn't have. I was so embarrassed by what I did that I kept running. I ran to Europe, I ran to California after I got married because my father banished me. It made no difference, Troy. Wherever I ran, you were still there in my mind."

"So I decided to come home and face you. I owe you that. My life isn't going the way I wanted. I hate my life with David. I hate that he never stopped cheating on me, Troy. But it's not like high school when he cheated on me, like he always did, I had you to make me feel better back then. Now he cheats on me and I'm all alone, Troy."

"The reality is that I belong with you. I made a bad mistake and I'm going to take care of that, Troy."

"Yeah, but there's one big fucking difference, Staci, between our realities. The next day after you ruined me, you were still with David...and the next day...and the next. You didn't come back to me. I'm still locked into a hell not of my choosing. I wake up every day knowing the woman I love is with another man. Don't you see Staci? You've made your choice... and the circumstances afterwards will never allow us to be together, so please let me go."

The heartbreaking pitiful begging I was reduced to caused her eyes to well up in unshed tears. I was breaking her hold she had on my arms. "I'm just going to walk away, Staci. Tonight was a mistake, just another big mistake"

Where she got the strength, I have no idea. But, she grabbed my wrist and forced the palm of my hand against her tit. She looked up at me and said, "Now try to walk away!"

She continued to hold my hand against her and God help me I started softly squeezing her and then I moved against her and began kissing her. She moved into my arms in acceptance.

At once I was holding her familiar body, yet so different after six years of change. I tried to trace out her new form garbed in her dress. She moved her leg against mine to prolong contact. I immediately harden to the point of discomfort in my trousers.

"Please, Staci, stop this now!" I gasped between kisses.

She continued to throw herself at me and I continued to do battle with myself. Most telling was that I didn't fight her off. I wasn't rejecting her. I was meeting every moment of her passion with one of my own.

She perched one leg off the ground and rubbed against me. I countered by grabbing her tight ass with both hands and lifting her off the ground. She responded by straddling me as I held her aloft. Slowly, she grounded her pelvis dryhumping into me.

"Staci, I can't...If I do this, I'm no better than David. I don't have much left to me, but my conscience won't let me do this. If your marriage is so horrible, then leave him. Go divorce him and find someone to make you happy. There's too much history between us to overcome. Too much animosity and bad blood for us to ever get over. Your dad is going to destroy me or I'll destroy him. There is no other way."

"I'm tired of you hurting me Staci. You have to understand I'll always love you. All this time, all this pain, all my pretense of hating you. It's killing me, Staci. I won't ever forget you, but I need closure between us. I need to be able to think of you as my friend, despite what is about to happen. If we continue tonight, I promise you that you'll hate me, or I'll hate you for the rest of our lives."

My explanation was the catalyst for her crying jag as we continued to hold each other.

Right in front of David Porter.

He launched a haymaker as soon as I moved away from Staci and it caught me flush on the jaw. I dropped on the seat of my pants, disoriented from the blow. In a daze, I watched Staci prevent David from finishing me off with kicks as I sat vulnerable trying to clear my head.

Lucky for me, David was followed outside with some of his minions; including Fred Carter who watched me with a sneer. The remaining group joined Staci in physically holding him back from maiming or killing me.

David continued screaming at me, threatening me with death as they finally managed to haul him away. I continued sitting on the ground as the nausea and vertigo slowly abated.

I groaned as I was finally able to get up. Again, I had the incongruous thought; Nobody would forget this 10th reunion.

I limped home literally and figuratively all the while fighting to keep the contents of my stomach from rebelling on me. I staggered up the stairs and limped to the fridge. I collect ice in a dishrag and kept applying it to the most immediate hurt.

Physical hurt that is—nothing was going to help with the newly ripped heartstrings I was suffering.

Something strange was going on with my body. I started having trouble making my body perform the commands my brain were making. I felt something wet and oozy trickling down my neck. I finally managed to get my hand up there and with a slightly out of focus vision I could see blood on my fingers.

After what seemed an eternity, I was able to punch up 911 on the speed dial on my phone and groggily told them my predicament. Fearing I was suffering from a concussion from David's beating, I was resolved to try to stay awake for the ambulance.

Which transpired to being passed out when they arrived and took me to the emergency room. There was hustle and bustle as the medical staff had me jump through the hoops of my symptoms and how I had got in that condition. I simply told them someone had a disagreement with me and I left it at that.

The consensus was that I was suffering from a concussion exacerbated from some inner ear damage that should heal without any complications. The upshot was I would stay overnight to be monitored in the event of my condition changing.

Early next morning I had a couple of visitors. The Camden Police Chief along with the Captain of Detectives came into my room. When I saw them I assumed they were going to question me to ascertain who had beat me up. So I was mentally prepared for that scenario when they started throwing curves.

It wasn't a matter of who I had an altercation with that warranted their concerns, but how I could account for my whereabouts after the fracas. In particular, when did I call 911 and whether anyone was with me prior to the arrival of the ambulance. I referred them to contact the ambulance service and the hospital to satisfy their curiosity of my timeline. If they had any other questions they could refer them to my attorney, I informed them. Both men left with a frown on their face.

Normally, I would have been willing to oblige the police, but the hostile attitudes got my radar alerted. Within the hour I found out why. The hospital was abuzz with the news that Staci Porter was being tended to in the Emergency Room and was assigned a bed in the Intensive Care Unit.

An unknown party had beat the holy hell out of her and she was comatose from the injuries and the medications used to treat her. My efforts to see her were easily defused by the medical staff and I felt a sense of frustration in not understanding what had happened. No doubt, my attempts to see her would add grist to the rumor mills.

My hospital stay was extended another couple of days as the tending physician wanted to be doubly sure there was no extenuating circumstances from my concussion. There were only two circumstances that I was aware of.

First, throughout the weekend, I had not heard word one from Janet, my would be fiancee. I could only assume she had heard of the spectacle at the country club and was pissed to the gills at me.

Second, I had the misfortunate of having David Porter as a visitor. I turned to see him standing in the doorway of my room. The gloating grin was testament what he thought of my predicament. I continued to look at him as he relished the results of his sneak attack.

"David, I can understand why you felt compelled to pick a fight with me, but why did you have to do that to Staci? " I asked.

The sneer got bigger as he replied, "Do what? I have no idea what you are talking about!"

"The only one with a motive to hurt Staci is you, David. What are you going to do when Charles Buckman decides to get involved?"

"Don't worry about that, Troy. He and I have an understanding and the police have already been given their marching orders. Some 'unknown person' is the culprit to Staci's attack. When Staci gets better she'll be shipped back out to California to stay with her sister. Charles Buckman and I will continue business as usual of running you out of town like a beaten dog."

I sadly shook my head. "Charles Buckman hates me that much? He would allow you to beat up his daughter and try to blame it on me?"

"He can't stand the ground you walk on. You are an ongoing source of humiliation to his family. What you and Staci did at the school reunion was icing on the cake. He approved wholeheartedly of my measures to discipline Staci."

"David, I can almost understand why he hates me. But, what did I ever do to you that caused you to hate me to the extent that you do?"

My question startled David. For a brief second the malice in his eyes were replaced with a sense of doubt as he searched for an answer.

"Mr. Holier Than Thou. Mr. I Think I'm Better Than Everyone Else," he harshly responded, "You thought I was going to let you get away with stealing Staci from me?"

"You didn't let anything," I quickly interjected, "You dumped her and I went up to you and told you that I intended to ask her out. You didn't have a problem with that."

"Well guess what, asshole? I changed my mind and decided I did want her and I snuck around every chance I could to get in her pants. And she still wouldn't give it up saying that she was saving it for you. Hell, even when we went to Europe after she ran away from you, all she did was mope and cry over you. She still wouldn't sleep with me. I was so pissed off."

"Then we fly back into town and her father read her the riot act and told her that she would marry me, because he wouldn't tolerate any more scandals from her. So we had our shotgun wedding and she bawled like a baby when I finally fucked her on our honeymoon!"

"So, now, I go out and have my fun and she gets to sit at home wishing that she never left her poor Troy and that is alright by me. Because when you are finally out on the street, she can have you as far as I'm concerned. I'll be running Buckman's Enterprises and you'll be dumpster diving if I can help it."

"David, I'm just going to tell you once, you got a long way to go to get rid of me," I replied, "And don't think you'll be able to kick my ass. Even after you sucker punched me and kicked me, you never kept me down. I was getting up to fight back when Staci stopped the fight. I would've killed you." I said matter of fact.

The implication that David lacked the ability to keep me down weighed in on him as he walked away. I wanted him to dwell on that fact.

Somehow the days passed at the hospital. Janet was still Missing In Action. I was staying in touch with Tom Jenkins, who was running things on my behalf. I was contemplating weighing revealing aspects of the bank's affairs that he wasn't privy to when I was informed Staci wanted to see me.

When I walked in her room I winced seeing the extent of her injuries and my animosity went to a whole new level. How could anyone do that to somebody they were suppose to love.

She beckoned me to sit by her bedside and I held her frail hand.

"I guess you've heard I'm being banished again," she said weakly.

"I heard."

"I'm sorry, Troy. I didn't mean to get you hurt. It seems like that's all I'm good for."

She started to cry.

"Hush, Staci. This isn't your fault. You need to leave. Get away from this, because however it ends, you are going to be hurt. Go out to California. Start over. Find someone you can love and put me and David and your dad behind you. Don't look back," I ordered.

"I have someone here that I love," she insisted as she gripped my hand tightly.

I removed my hand.

"Will you love me if I ruin your father, Staci? Because, I intend to do that if I can. Can you stand the thought of being known in this town as the woman that betrayed her own father? I can't put you through that, Staci."