Chapter Fifteen
Talen
I woke up with a hard on and the image of Brittany standing by her apartment building in nothing but an old blanket. Her black hair fell across her shoulders, and her blue eyes were brighter and more beautiful than the stars twinkling down from the sky. I massaged down the hard on and headed to the bathroom for a cold shower. But still, I couldn’t stop thinking of her.
I wondered for a moment if I should head to the diner or if I should skip today. I hadn’t spent the night with her and thought maybe it would be a little awkward seeing her this morning. I shook my head, surprised with how chaotic and entangled my thoughts were. I went to the diner every morning without fail. Surely, it would be much more awkward if I didn’t go in today?
“You’re being a fucking retard,” I told myself as I stepped out of the shower and dressed quickly.
The truth was that I wanted to see Brittany again and that was the part that really scared me. I had never really had that experience with any other woman before. I usually just fucked and forgot, and it had worked well for me over the years. This was the first time a woman’s image lingered in my brain after the fact.
I put on my sweats and my usual black hoodie and headed over to Danny’s Diner. I found myself searching for Brittany before I had even stepped foot into the diner. I spotted Lacey talking to some customers by the window, but didn’t see Brittany until I had walked inside. She popped up from behind the counter with her black hair tied back and her blue eyes on full display. She was wearing jeans and a black t-shirt that reminded me of how spectacular her body really was.
The moment she saw me, her face lit up into a brilliant smile that dispelled any fears of awkwardness I might have had.
“Morning,” she said to me as she came up around the corner with a cup of coffee in hand. “I’ll walk you to your table.”
I smiled. “Thanks.”
When I was seated, she placed the cup of coffee in front of me. “Same old or are you willing to be adventurous this morning?”
“Same old,” I replied. “I’m boring, remember?”
“That’s not what I saw last night,” she reminded me. “I didn’t get bored at all, actually.”
I smiled. “That’s good to know.”
I noticed Lacey was staring over in our direction. She wasn’t even trying to be subtle – her gaze was direct and studying and I couldn’t help but give her a little wave. She hesitated for a moment and then nodded at me.
“Don’t mind her,” Brittany told me. “Like I said, she’s a little…”
“Overprotective?”
“And extremely nosey,” she added. “But I assured her that you were a perfect gentleman last night.”
“A gentleman?” I repeated. “That’s another word that’s never really been used to describe me.”
“Maybe that’s because people don’t really take the time to get to know you. Or it could be because you refuse to let people close enough to see that part of you.”
I felt the corners of my mouth go up at that assessment. She was smart, observant, and had obviously understood certain things about me from last night. It made me feel strangely exposed, as though she had peeled away one layer of my carefully constructed mask, but it also made me feel understood. The juxtaposing feelings were confusing and slightly uncomfortable.
“Are you going to be training today?” Brittany asked.
I paused. “Not today actually,” I told her. “Today I have to…”
“Do something you don’t like?” she offered.
I smiled. “How did you know?”
“Your face,” she said.
My smiled widened a little. “I’m doing a photo shoot today; apparently it’s necessary to do before my upcoming fight. Apparently, it builds awareness and interest for me as a fighter.”
“That makes sense,” she nodded. “And, I’m guessing you’re not the kind of guy who’s comfortable in front of the camera.”
“Not even a little bit,” I sighed. “This is going to be torture for me.”
“You’re a big, strong guy,” she laughed. “You can handle it.”
“I just wish I didn’t have to do it.”
“You’re doing it for a reason,” Brittany reminded me. “Remember that.”
“Yeah…” I nodded.
“So, are they going to be putting make-up on you?” she asked teasingly.
I groaned. “Fuck, I hope not.”
“I think that’s a normal part of any photo shoot,” she went on. “I heard in some cases they like to put eyeliner on the guys.”
I narrowed my eyes at Brittany. “Having fun?”
“Oodles,” she nodded with a laugh. “Now, I’d love to stay here all morning and give you a hard time, but unfortunately, I have toast to get and a bunch of other diners to attend to.”
As she gave me a wink and walked away, I let myself be comforted by the graceful swing of her hips. I finished my toast reluctantly and then headed over to the training camp. At the door, Brittany waved goodbye to me.
“Good luck,” she mouthed to me.
I smiled, nodded, and headed out. I got to the training ring, hoping that maybe it was possible someone had forgotten about the shoot today, but Wendell was waiting for me.
“Good, you’re early,” he observed.
“I want to get this over with as painlessly as possible.”
Wendell rolled his eyes. “You’re going to be standing in front of a camera, having a professional take pictures of you. Is that really so bad?”
“Let’s just say I’d rather face Kendrick Conner in the ring without any professional training rather than do this.”
He sighed. “Follow me,” he said.
We left the gym area and headed down the hall to a large spacious room that had been set up at one end with a massive white screen covering one wall. There were a bunch of cameras and equipment pointed in its direction. A snack table had been placed on one end of the room, and there were several little stations set up for God knows what reason. A number of people milled around, checking equipment and setting up.
“Geez…” I breathed.
“See how much trouble we went through for you?”
I frowned. “But why? I mean, why go through all this trouble for me?”
Wendell looked me over carefully. “You want the straight answer.”
“Obviously.”
“You have the right look.”
“What?”
“You look like a fighter, you’re young and strong and let’s face it – you’re good looking. The tattoos are a bonus. They make you look dangerous. The fact that you’re a newcomer will inspire some amount of curiosity, so we’re playing up that curiosity with this photo shoot.”
“So you’re marketing my image, basically.”
“Basically,” Wendell nodded. “You’re a product, Burbank. And, that’s means you need to be advertised. So, get that look off your face and pose for the camera. It’s time to dance, monkey.”
I closed my eyes and took a deep, frustrated breath. “It’s time to dance, monkey,” I repeated to myself, under my breath.
Wendell walked me over to the white set they had set up on one end of the room where two men stood talking. “Talen, this is Barry; he’s going to be shooting you today. And, this is Ethan; he’s going to be the set director. Listen to them, cooperate with them, and everything will go smoothly. Got it?”
I didn’t miss the veiled threat in his voice. I refrained from rolling my eyes and nodded. “Got it,” I nodded.
“Nice to meet you, Talen,” Barry said, holding out his hand for me to shake. “Why don’t you head over to that corner? Sasha and Tanya are going to get you ready.”
“Get me ready?” I repeated.
“Just a little light make up,” Barry replied.
I sighed, nodded, and did as I was told.
I sat down in their chair while Sasha and Tanya fluttered around me with their brushes and their creams and their little compacts that held a number of different powders in different tones of the same color.
“You’re tattoos are amazing,” Tanya told me with an appreciative smile.
“Thanks,” I replied brusquely.
She kept trying to make conversation, but I just wasn’t in the mood. I sat quietly through the humiliating process of being done up, and then I was ushered towards the white screen. They made me stand in the middle while Barry got his camera ready. In the meantime, Ethan kept directing me, telling me to move my arm or turn my head. It was the strangest thing I had ever been through and I wondered what my mates in the underground would say if they saw me now. I cringed at the thought.
After what seemed like an eternity of constant picture taking, Ethan clapped his hands together. “Okay,” he said. “That’s enough of stand alone pictures. Let’s bring in the girls.”
My eyes widened as five bikini-clad girls were paraded into the room. Their bodies displayed several different shades of tanning, all were toned and perky, and all of them had their eyes on me. I shook my head, thinking of Ryan immediately. I had honestly though he was joking about this, but apparently, the joke was on me.
“Okay, ladies, join Talen up there and wrap yourselves around him as best you can. Oh and, Talen…get rid of your shirt.”
Suppressing my annoyance, I threw my shirt to the side. One of the models gave me a predatory wink and sidled in beside me. I felt her hand on my lower back and then some pressure on my ass as she squeezed it. I didn’t even bother looking in her direction. I just stood there and suffered through it.
“Talen, how about giving us a smile?” Ethan asked.
I was just about to walk over to Ethan and punch him in the face when Barry interrupted. “Actually, it works better without a smile,” he argued. “His image should be constructed on the dangerous, bad-boy vibe. Smiling defeats the purpose.”
To my relief, Ethan conceded, but I didn’t like being talked over like that. And, I certainly didn’t like the fact that they were “constructing an image” for me. I had thought of simply being myself through this whole process, but apparently, they were going to create a persona for me – and I knew I was powerless to prevent it. I promised myself that if I ever made it in the big time, I would get rid of the marketing strategies and the manufactured image and the photo shoots. I would do this on my own terms.
At long last, when my ordeal was done, I grabbed my shirt off the floor and tried to make a run for it, but I was cornered on my way out. It was one of the models from the shoot, the one who had pinched my ass. She was still dressed in her tiny two-piece bikini and her dead straight blonde hair hung down her shoulders, almost touching her navel.
“Where are you off to in such a hurry?” she asked.
“Nowhere special,” I replied.
“In that case, would you like to join me and the girls for drinks and dancing later? You’ll be the only guy, but you look like you can handle all of us.”
For some reason, Brittany popped into my head the moment she said that. “No thanks,” I said. “I’m busy.”
I walked away from her without bothering to be polite. I headed to the gym and honed in on the nearest punching bag I could find. I took out all my frustration on it until my arms were sore and my frustration had dulled to a low roar. When I was done, I sat down in the corner and though about the offer I had just received from the blonde model.
It was an offer I might have taken up a few weeks ago, but now it seemed distasteful somehow. I wasn’t sure why exactly that was, but I suspected it had something to do with Brittany.
And, that suspicion was more unsettling than anything else I had been through that day.
Chapter Sixteen
Brittany
“So, what did he say?” Lacey pounced on me the moment I approached her.
“Nothing much,” I replied, being purposefully evasive.
Lacey glared at me. “Come on, Brit,” she begged. “You didn’t answer my calls last night. You got in late this morning, and you’ve been so busy with the breakfast shift that you’ve avoided all my questions thus far. I’m going nuts over here.”
I smiled. “I know,” I nodded. “It’s surprisingly enjoyable.”
“Bitch.”
I laughed. “Will you chill out for a minute?” I said. “I have one last table to wait on.”
It was almost eleven before the last two diners left. We usually had an hour’s break because our earliest lunch diners came in around twelve, twelve-thirty. The moment they left, Danny emerged from the kitchen looking hungry. He already had an empty plate in hand. Without a word, he cut himself a slice of his own blueberry tart, took a seat at the counter, and started eating.
“Damn,” he sighed. “I’m good.”
“Aren’t you going to offer us a piece?” Lacey demanded with her hands on her hips.
“Of course,” Danny nodded. “Have at it, four-ninety a slice.”
“You’re really going to make us pay?” she demanded.
He winked at her. “You had three free meals on me last week,” he reminded her.
Lacey sighed. “Was it three?”
“Yup.”
“Damn it,” she sighed. “Fine, I’ll pay. That pie looks too damn good. Brit, how about a slice for you?”
I was tempted, but I didn’t have very much free cash lying around, especially since I’d blown most of my money on my date with Talen last night. I probably shouldn’t have insisted on paying, but I just felt obligated. I was the one who’d initiated the date in the first place.
“I’m good,” I said. “I made a sandwich this morning. One of the reasons I got in late.”
“One of the reasons?” Lacey asked suggestively.
“Oh yeah,” Danny nodded, with his mouth full of pie. “How did the date go last night?”
I took a seat at the counter and got out my measly sandwich. It comprised of a lettuce leaf, a thin slice of bologna, and the thinnest layer of butter imaginable. It wasn’t much, but at least it would satiate my hunger somewhat.
“It went really well actually,” I nodded. “We had a good time.”
“Where did you end up taking him?” Danny asked.
“Duncan’s to play some arcade games,” I said. “And then I stopped by Freddie’s Fried Shack to get their dipper specials and took him to my favorite lake.”
Danny raised his eyebrows. “You took him to your lake…on the first date? Big move, huh?”
“Umm… I didn’t think so,” I said. “I just thought it was a perfect spot for a late night picnic.”
“That sounds pretty romantic,” Lacey nodded. “Does that mean he fucked you under the stars?”
Danny almost choked on his pie.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Must you be so crass?”
Lacey threw back her head and laughed. “I want to make this conversation as interesting as possible. Come on…tell me the details. I’m dying here.”
“Oh geez, spare me the details,” Danny said quickly.
Lacey swatted him away with her hand. “If you don’t want to hear this, then leave.”
“This is my dinner,” he pointed out incredulously.
“Tough.”
“We didn’t have sex at the lake,” I said.
Her face dropped a little. “You didn’t have sex with him?”
“I didn’t say that,” I replied, with a smile.
“Is that so?” she said, beaming once more. “Your place, then?”
“I don’t know what came over me,” I admitted. “He walked me to my door and I just…grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him inside. I basically assaulted him.”
Danny sighed. “I wish women assaulted me like that.”
“Hush,” Lacey snapped at him. “Brit’s talking. Go on.”
I smiled. “We didn’t even make it to the couch.”
“Damn! How good was he?”
I paused a moment for dramatic effect. “I came three times.”
Lacey’s eyebrows hit the roof. “Say that again?”
“Urgh, please don’t say that again,” Danny quipped.
“You heard me,” I laughed.
“Three times in one…session?”
“Yup.”
“Damn, he’s better than I thought.”
“Oh, and I found out what he does,” I said.
“Do tell,” Danny said, obviously eager to change the topic from my sex life.
“He’s a professional MMA fighter.”
“No way!” he said, obviously impressed by that. “I haven’t really heard of him.”
“That’s because he just landed a huge contract,” I explained. “His first official fight is coming up, which is why he’s in Quebec at the moment. He’s training.”
“Fuck, that’s sexy,” Lacey said with approval. “That explains all the scars on his body. It also explains why he’s such a tiger in bed.”
“How the hell did we end up talking about sex again?” Danny said tiredly.
I laughed. “All in all, it was a good night.”
“Good night?” Lacey repeated. “You had three orgasms – it was a fucking amazing night.”
I nodded. “True,” I said as Danny rolled his eyes at the both of us.
That night, after our shifts were over, Lacey gave me a lift home. I heard my stomach growl slightly and prayed Lacey wouldn’t hear it. My measly lunch had lasted me only a couple of hours before the hunger had set in again.
“Thanks for driving me again,” I told her when she came to a stop outside my building. “I know I can’t keep bumming lifts off of you forever.”
“Have you looked into any other jobs?”
“A few,” I nodded. “But none that are realistic options. I’d have to work six months at least in order to make enough money to get any repairs done.”
“That’s a bummer,” Lacey said.
I sighed and leaned back in the seat. “I’ve actually been thinking of…”
“Yes?”
“Calling my father.” The words tasted bitter on my tongue.
Lacey gave me a sympathetic look. “How seriously have you been thinking about it?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed. “I go back and forth. It depends on the time of day and how desperate I am.”
“Hang in there, kid,” Lacey said, but they were just hollow words she was saying because there was nothing else she could do.
“Thanks again for the lift,” I said as I got out of the car.
I waited till Lacey had driven away and then headed up to my apartment. The place was freezing. I realized that I’d forgotten to close my windows that morning.
“Fuck,” I complained, rushing forward to shut them.
I went straight to my fridge, but there was only one slice of bologna left. I ate it as slowly as I could, but it only made me hungrier. “Screw this,” I said as I changed into my running tights and a sports bra. I needed a distraction and running seemed like my only option at the moment. I put on a hoodie and headed out the door.
Surprisingly, the running did a good job of distracting me. It fed into my hunger a little, but it also made me feel strong and pro-active. I was only planning on running for a half hour or so, but then I just kept going, letting my thoughts run free. I kept thinking about my father and somehow, that pissed me off so much that I had more energy to keep running.
I was thinking back to my childhood when I heard someone calling my name. Thinking I had just imagined it, I kept going, but then I heard it again. I stopped running and looked up towards a modest red brick apartment building. To my amazement, I saw Talen at a window on the third floor.
“Talen?” I called, walking up to the pavement of his building.
“You wanna come up for a bit?” he asked in his abrupt manner.
I hesitated only because I was so surprised to see him. “Umm…sure,” I nodded.
“Apartment three-zero-nine,” he said, before disappearing from view.
I took the elevator up to his floor. It was by no means a luxury apartment building, but it was leaps and bounds better than mine. It was actually pretty homey and comfortable. Talen was waiting outside for me when I turned into the corridor.
“Fancy running into you here,” he said.
“It was a surprise,” I nodded.
“You must have been running for quite a while to have ended up in my neighborhood.”
“I guess so,” I nodded. “I didn’t even realize it.”
I stepped into his apartment and immediately the smell of fresh pasta assaulted my nose. I almost went weak in the knees at the aroma. It was so unbelievably temping.
“You’re cooking dinner?” I asked.
“Just finished actually,” Talen replied. “Would you like to join me?”
I tried not to answer too fast. “I’d love to.”
We sat down at his small circular table, and he handed me a plate heaped with creamy linguini. I could smell garlic and cheese, and my stomach growled impolitely.
“Hungry?” Talen asked, meeting my eyes.
I blushed scarlet. “Dear God, did you hear that?”
“Only a little.”
“Oh God!” I gasped, covering my face with my hands.
“You’ve been running for awhile,” he said. “Of course, you’re hungry. Don’t be shy to go for seconds.”
Feeling a little less conscious of myself, I dug into the plate before me. It had to be the best thing I’d tasted in awhile. Talen also had fried chicken on the table and a fresh loaf of garlic bread hot from the oven. Once the edge had been taken off my hunger, I looked up at him.
“This is amazing,” I said. “Did you really cook it all yourself?”
Talen smiled. “Just the pasta,” he nodded. “The bread and chicken is from the supermarket around the corner.”
“Still… I’m impressed.”
“Good.”
“How did your photo shoot go?” I asked.
He groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
“That bad, huh?” I laughed.
“It was the most uncomfortable thing I’ve ever done in my life.”
“That can’t be true.”
“It is,” Talen insisted. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
“So…did they put make-up on you?”
Talen closed his eyes, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh no.”
“Like I said, I’m putting the whole sordid experience behind me.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “Out of respect, I will refrain from asking the dozen other questions running through my mind right now.”
“I appreciate that,” he smiled.
We spent an hour at the table, eating slowly, taking seconds and in my case, thirds. It was the nicest dinner I’d had in awhile, and the conversation was just as good. It was light, but it was nice getting to know Talen, especially because his answers were always a little out of the ordinary. I could tell that he didn’t really fit the mould. He was an unintentional rebel and that somehow made him more attractive.
“Can I give you a lift home?” Talen asked when I excused myself for the night.
“That’s nice of you,” I said. “But I’d like to jog back home, actually…work off that delicious dinner. I need to keep in shape, in any case, for the marathon.”
“Marathon?”
“There’s a winter marathon coming up,” I explained. “Danny, Lacey, and I decided to take part.”
“Wow,” Talen nodded. “I wouldn’t have pegged you for the marathon running type.”
I smiled. “Neither would I,” I said. “I’m just…trying something different.”
He nodded as though he understood the hidden nuance behind my words. He walked me out of his building and at the threshold I turned to him. “So, when will I see you again? Outside of the diner I mean.”
One corner of his mouth went up in a tilted smile. “Sundays are usually better for me,” he replied. “I have some free time then.”
“Good to know,” I nodded. “Goodnight, Talen, thanks for dinner.”
He nodded back at me and I headed home, resisting the urge to turn around and sneak another glance at him. It must have been pure instinct, but somehow, I knew he was watching me jog away and I knew he would watch me until I turned the corner.