Unforgettable (28 page)

“
And look what
you
did with Fritz and
David! You’re not completely innocent here.” he shouted. “You and
David fucked, didn’t you?”

“
Yes.”

“
And you and Fritz. That
man’s explored just about every inch of you. And you let him! He’s
crazy about you as you can tell by his fist imprint on my jaw.
We’ve
both
had
lovers.
Both of us,
Sam. But, I love you more than I’ve loved anyone in
my
life. We just need a
fresh start. Please, Sam.”

What he said was true. Partially true.
Since we’d been together I hadn’t…Did I have any right to this
anger?

He did not look at me straight on but
slightly turned, questioning, afraid. His chin jutted out at me,
jaws clenched. But his eyes, his eyes were loaded with
pain.

I wanted to feel no
sympathy.

I wanted to know I would never love him
again.

I wanted to think I had control over
something…anything.

“
Can you honestly say you
won’t screw around, ever again? That you’ll be completely loyal to
me? I don’t think so.”

“
Can
you
?” he yelled.

“
See—you can’t even answer
the question. Leave.”

He grabbed me and pulled me to my feet.
I felt like a small twig under a boot.

“
I swear to God I’ll do
anything you want. Don’t leave me, Sam.”

I escaped his grip and paced around the
edge of room, staring out at the dusk, wishing I could slip through
the heavy panes of glass and fly away.

I was already dead.

“
Perhaps we should be like
David. Have several lovers, rotate them through according to our
appetite. We could be third Thursdays, you can fuck Shandi at work,
and the make-up girl every other Tuesday. And I’m sure you’ll add
some on the Saturday parties.”

Tears were running down my numb face.
They were stealing my strength.

I was already dead.

“
I feel so damned ashamed.
I’m sorry, Sam. I don’t know why I do this. I’ve always done this.
Maybe you’re right. Maybe it is a game with me. Maybe…most
probably…I am a fool. But, I’m going to prove to you that I love
you, with all my heart. And John Black…I’m meeting with David about
him. The son of a bitch.

“
But, know this, Sammy, I’ll
do whatever you want. Please, don’t leave me.”

He could not face me.

“
I don’t know if I can
really forgive you. I loved how you loved me.”

“
I know I have no right to
ask you this, but, please, let me fix this. Let me be with you. I
can’t bear an hour without you. I’m so sorry, Sam.”

He leaned on the glass, staring at the
floor. “And please hear me. I do love you. I’ll prove it to
you.”

He glanced at me, walked to the
elevator and was gone.

I was already dead.

Ted and Gabrielle had been
standing on the outside of the windows. They stepped through the
glass as Jack left.

“
I don’t know if she can
survive this,” Gabrielle cried. “She’s been through so
much.”

Ted stared at Sam sobbing
on the couch.

“
She’ll make it.
Unfortunately these are the hard lessons we learn as mortals. Son
of a bitch. I knew… I knew…”

Three lost weeks

The penthouse prison had anything any
prisoner could want. Everything in the world was delivered
including groceries and dinners. Even desserts and breakfasts. I
found a place for strippers—either sex. Massages, facials, nails,
even custom made shoes or bathing suits.

I was bored.

David and or Fritz came over almost
every night. They always wanted to stay. I always said
no.

My heart, and related organs, were
closed for the season.

Maybe forever.

And they never, ever talked about
Jack.

David and Fritz and Roger tried to
teach me poker. It failed miserably since I always revealed
everything in my face. However, I realized I was very good at
reading them and began to win a hand here and there based on a
facial twitch, a sigh, or a rhythm they drummed.

Arnie had no clue he was
going to do it. The woman had actually been quite sweet. She just
argued with him. And he hated that. He stared at the blood and her
face that was now almost unrecognizable as human.

He punched the wall. He was
out of control. And above all else he hated being out of
control.

He kicked the body, over
and over, screaming at her that it was her fault.

Then he washed, watched a
game for a while, stole her money, and left.

I drank too much and wondered if I was
going to be Rapunzel in this tower forever.

But one morning things
changed.

I woke at ten. The apartment was quiet
as a tomb. I got up, showered, and went to the kitchen to make
coffee.

Silverman called, said he was on his
way. He walked off the elevator two minutes later,
whistling.

“
Girl, this is some place.
You just keep falling upstairs, don’t you?”

“
Yes. Yes I do. Don’t know
how really. I asked Fritz to just get me a small apartment and this
is what I got. I’m not complaining. Although with all the marble it
feels a bit like a museum.”

“
So Jack’s having trouble
keeping his dick in his pants—no surprise there—and you decide to
move out. Understandable.”

I nodded. We went out on the patio and
sat with big mugs of coffee. He looked at the book of castles on
the table.

“
You like
castles?”

“
Love castles. Fritz is
determined to buy me one. With a nursery.”

He laughed. “Wow, Princess, Van Nuys to
a castle. Wow!”

“
I know. I keep thinking I’m
going to wake up soon.”

“
Listen to me… Hate to shift
the mood like this… Our little psychopath has been busy. Dennington
informed us of an incident at your old apartment. Someone who fit
the description of Robert Welsh, was hanging around the kids there.
Taking photos of them.”

I sat straight up.

“
What do you want me to
do?”

“
This may go on for a while.
I think you need to go into witness protection.”

I closed the book of
castles.

“
And let some poor kid get
hacked to pieces? No way.”

“
Dennington wants to talk to
you. She’s on her way over. Don’t cooperate with her, Princess.
This is off the record. I could lose my job here but I’m telling
you it would not be wise. Please listen to me on this.”

As if on cue Dennington strode across
the apartment and sat next to me. Five minutes later she left.
Silverman stayed with me for a long time. I saw Roger walk
in.

Eddie and Robert got back
from the hardware store and unloaded large, blue flowerpots from
the van. Oscar was studying the map he’d drawn of the UPS
route.

“
Those are pretty,” Oscar
said. “Got the UPS route down. Shouldn’t be any
problem.”

“
You know where we’ll come
out? Where to park the second van?”

“
Yeah. At the grocery.
That’ll get us just ten blocks from our furniture store. Man, if we
pull this off we’ll be so fuckin’ rich. I can’t wait.”

“
Oscar, wanting to do a
job? I think I’ll die of fucking shock,” Robert laughed at
him.

“
Good. Let’s go out
tonight,” Eddie said. “May be the last time for a
while.”

Ted walked over and ran his
hand over their beer. The pops all flew off and beer flew into the
air.

Ted laughed and floated out
the ceiling.

Fritz arrived and talked to
Roger.

I walked Silverman to the elevator. He
glared at me. We said good bye with silent words.

I carried the castle book and gave
Fritz a big hug.

“
I have to make a phone
call,” I told Fritz. “Be right back.”

I called David.

“
I was wondering if we could
have business meeting tomorrow night. Are you free?”

“
Free or at a greatly
reduced price,” he giggled. “What’s up?”

“
Two scripts I really liked,
and…I just need to see you. Alone. Thought we could order Chinese.
Or Thai.”

“
I’ll be there,
sweetheart.”

I walked back to Fritz. Everyone was
gone and the place was quiet.

“
Coffee?”

“
Sure.”

“
Let’s look at the castles
for sale. I think it’s fascinating.”

We sat at the table for hours, talking,
laughing.

“
Sam, tell me the
truth.”

“
Why don’t people ever ask
for a lie?” I was being flip. It was being ignored.

“
Do you love me?” His face
serious, his eyes clouded in hope and pain.

Now I was in a corner. I sat on his lap
and kissed him. It was good but it wasn’t going to get me out of
this.

“
You didn’t
answer.”

“
I do love you.
But…”

“
Jack.”

“
Yes. And David. And, the
big but of all, I’m not ready for a relationship right now. I will
tell you something, though.”

“
What?”

“
I’ve been thinking about it
a lot and I want to…if you want to…make love to you.
Tonight.”

“
What’s the change?” He bit
my nipple through my tee shirt tightening his hold.

“
Thinking about you more,
thinking Jack and I are never going to be, feeling lonely. There’s
one rule, though.”

“
You are a woman of
rules.”

“
No talk about marriage or
tomorrow or taking me away. Just here, now.”

He took my hand and we walked into the
bedroom. He undressed me. I curled up in his arms and we lay on the
bed. I slipped his shirt off.

“
You’re scared,” he
whispered, nuzzling my neck.

“
I’m scared.”

“
Don’t think.”

He quickly pulled his pants off,
slipped a condom on, and climbed on top of me.

“
Oh, God, you’re inside of
me,” the erotic surprise of it took my breath.

I arched into him and he
moaned.

“
Good?”

“
So good.”

He kissed me, thrusting his hips faster
and faster. We rolled and fucked until finally he moaned, cumming
deep within me.

We lay peacefully together. He stroked
my face.

“
I love you so much, Sammy.
God I love you.”

“
I love you, too. I really
want you to know that.”

I wept. I knew the future. I knew this
was probably the last time.

“
Why are you
crying?”

I shook my head. “Just hold me, kiss
me.”

We spooned together.

“
I’m starving,” I whispered,
barely awake.

“
Me too. Let’s go make some
food.”

“
We smell like sex,” I
laughed. “I want a shower.”

He showered with me, luxuriating in my
slick, soapy skin.

“
Do you know how much I love
your ass?”

“
No.”

He massaged me and I turned him around,
leaning him against the wall, as I massaged his back and ass,
wrapping my arms around him.

He turned and I slid down him while he
moaned. He gasped as I took him into my mouth. I stood, wrapped a
leg around him and he pushed deep into me.

“
I love you, I love you, I
love…,” I whispered into his ear.

He quickly came and eventually I turned
the water off.

“
If we don’t get out of here
we’ll turn into prunes. Starving prunes.”

Fritz found chicken breasts in the
freezer and made baked chicken with sweet potato fries.

“
You are amazing. I didn’t
know you could cook.”

“
I can do all kinds of
things. You should marry me.”

“
That’s breaking the rules.
Look what I found in the cabinet?”

I held up a bag of marshmallows and two
long skewers.

We went to the fire pit outside. He
fired it up and snuggled on the bench in front of it.

“
Do you know how long it’s
been since I roasted marshmallows?” He ate two burnt
ones.

“
Your military
days.”

“
Oh, yeah, us chums all sang
around the campfires and roasted marshmallows. No, I think I was in
school, on an outing, with the hots for Jennifer Pruitt. That was
the last time.”