Chapter 21

 

 

“I lay on my side of the bed, facing Skyler for a long time before drifting off to sleep. I warily watched her sleep. I shouldn’t have been so impetuous. She shouldn’t be there. I wanted to be home and hoped like hell the negotiations would wind down in the morning. I was leaving Derik to deal with it if it didn’t. I needed to get home for whatever reason. I was up before daylight, checking on Morgan. She was back on the bathroom floor still dressed in her clothes. Why the hell wasn’t Rebecca there taking care of her? It pissed me off and I walked out to the balcony to call her. What the hell did she think I paid her for?

‘Hello,’ Rebecca, groggily answered.  

‘Did you no know that Morgan was sick?’ I snapped.

‘I knew she didn’t feel well last night. Why?’

‘Did you give her anything? She’s sick. Do you think maybe you could go take care of her?’

‘Yes, sir. I’m on my way right this second.’

I hung up, watching the camera views as Rebecca made her way upstairs. She helped Morgan up, started a bath, and left her to soak while she went back downstairs. Rebecca made a tray with a glass of sprite, saltine crackers, and a medicine cup full of pink stuff.

Feeling better about Rebecca being with her, I showered and dressed for what I hoped was our last meeting.

Skyler entered the bathroom and wrapped her arms around my waist from behind. ‘Are you sneaking out on me?’

I smiled a weak smile through the mirror. ‘I’ve got to get going.’

‘How long are you in town for? Should I wait here for you? Maybe we can catch a show later.’

‘I can’t, Sky, I’m heading home as soon as this meeting is over. I’ve been gone for nine days now. There are things I have to get back to.’

‘Like a wife?’

I didn’t answer.

‘You’re different, Drew.’

Turning to her, I tilted my head. ‘How so?’

‘I don’t know. You’re not into me like you once were.’

‘Skyler, you left me, remember? Besides, we haven’t been around each other for a few years now. How do you expect me to be with you?’

‘I guess I want you to still want me. Do you still want me, Drew?’ Skyler asked, coming to the tips of her toes with her lips close to mine.

‘I don’t have time to want anything right now. Callaway has pretty much passed the buck to me. I have a lot on my plate right now.’

‘You still need love. I know you,’ she accused, softly kissing my lips between words.”

Ahhh, how fucking sweet.

Drew continued, “I snickered. Love? No. I didn’t need that shit. ‘I’m good in the love department.’

‘Sex? Do you have sex with her, Drew?’

‘Yes,’ I honestly told her. She dropped her hands and took a step back.

‘You’re in love with her,’ she accused with a dramatic expression like it had just dawned on her.

What? No. That wasn’t it. I wasn’t in love with Morgan. No way. That was absurd. ‘No, Skyler. I’m not in love with Morgan. You left. A man has needs.’

‘I can name five girls that would do you in a heartbeat. I don’t think that is what it is—at all.’

‘It is. I told you. I’m busy. She’s convenient.’

Taking a step back to me, Skyler wrapped her arms around my neck with a sly grin. ‘This is your lucky day. You see, the thing is, I’m sort of available now for your convenience. I will be back in Vegas in a few days. Maybe we can pick up where we left off and so you don’t have to settle for that piece of trash anymore.’ Skyler offered herself to me.”

I’ll give you trash, you little home wrecker.

“I moved her arms from around my neck and tightened my tie. Morgan was far from being trash. She could give Skyler a run for her money any day of the week, all day long. Maybe not when she first came, but now, wow. The dance lessons served her well, she could turn every head in a room, and she often did. She didn’t have the fake mundane laugh that Skyler had. Morgan’s laugh was genuine and made my days brighter. I turned my laptop on to see her doing trivial things so many times when I was away, hoping to catch her laughing at something silly, which she did often. Skyler didn’t know her. She had no right.”

“You felt that way then, Drew?” I had to ask. I was shocked. I still hated Drew then, well, most of the time anyway. I guess there were moments, but not many.

“I did, Morgan,” Drew admitted, getting back to his story. “Skyler asked me with a frown, ‘What? You don’t like that idea?’

‘I’ve got to go, Sky. Call me,’ I cowardly said, kissing her on the cheek.

I answered a call from Callaway in the cab. He wanted to know if I had this deal in the bag or if he needed to come and take care of it, like he could do any more than I was already doing.

‘When will you be back? The Martinez’s are having a party for their daughter tonight. I want you and Morgan there.’

‘I am hoping to be out of here by noon, but I’m not going to any party. Morgan’s sick.’

‘What do you mean she’s sick? Does she need a doctor?’

‘She says she doesn’t. She insists that it’s just a bug. I will give her until tomorrow. If she’s still sick, I’ll take her to the doctor.’

‘Maybe I should go over there.’

‘No, you shouldn’t. She’s got Rebecca there. She’s taking good care of her.’

‘You call me if she gets any worse. You hear me?’

‘Yes, sir. I’ll give you a call after this meeting.’

I arrived home around four in the evening. Sprinting upstairs, taking two at a time. I saw Rebecca reading in a nearby chair while Morgan slept, and I nodded for her to leave. I sat on the edge of the bed and brushed Morgan’s hair from her face.  

‘She’s burning up,’ I alleged, looking at Rebecca before she had a chance to get out of the room.

‘She’s not as hot as she was, and she hasn’t gotten sick at all today.’

I looked back to Morgan’s heated face. She never stirred. Normally when I came to her room, I instantly got the death glare, even if she was sound asleep.

‘You can go,’ I dictated.

‘I’ll bring you both some supper. Maybe you can get her to eat. I haven’t had any luck.’

I didn’t reply. Walking to the bathroom, I remembered my mother, placing a cold cloth over my forehead when I had run a fever as a boy.

Morgan jumped from the cold. For a split second I felt like the biggest ass on the face of the earth. She hid her face with her arm. Startled from her sleep, she thought I was going to strike her.”

I did do that. I remember. 

“I said, ‘Lay down,’ trying to sound calm and soothing. I didn’t know how to be that way with Morgan. It wasn’t in my nature to be loving towards her. That is how I was feeling though. I wanted to be there and take care of her. I didn’t know how. She looked at me cautiously, not trusting me. Placing her head back to the pillow, I covered her head with the cloth.

‘Did your mother do this when you were sick?’ I asked.

‘No, not really, maybe. I don’t remember,’ she replied, still carrying the careful look. 

She had every reason to be cautious. She knew me, knew I’d been gone for nine days and knew I’d need to be taken care of. She was right. After sitting up, eating a little and admitting that she did feel better, I fucked her. I didn’t make her do anything other than lay there for me, nonetheless, it was pretty heartless of me. I could feel the heat radiate from her skin as my hand held her hips. I hadn’t planned on doing that at all. I’d just had sex with Skyler, I didn’t really need the sex. It wasn’t the sex at all. I don’t know what it was, a way to keep my feelings and emotions intact? I’m not sure, but once I tenaciously used her for my pleasure, I left her.”

That part left me feeling a little sad. I was appalled that Drew hated me enough to make me do that being sick. I remember, repeating in my head over and over, don’t get sick, Morgan, don’t get sick.

“Watching her from my office, she did as she always did, walked to the bathroom to shower, trying to wash me away, I was sure. She didn’t feel better at all. She held her herself up, placing her hands in front of her on the shower walls. She didn’t even wash, just let the water run over her for a little bit, securing her stance with the shower tile. She dried herself, wrapped the towel around her midsection, and dragged her feet back to her bed. Dropping the towel to the floor she crawled back into bed, naked. She didn’t even have the energy to get dressed and I made her fuck me.”

Hmmm, he did feel bad about that.

“Dialing Rebecca, she spoke, ‘Can you bring me something for a headache?’ before dropping her head back to her pillow, still holding the phone, too weak to hang it up.

Morgan slept the entire night. She tried to wake up enough to drink the fluids that Rebecca was forcing down her, but refused to eat. She slept, and slept, and slept, until eleven the next day.

‘Drew, come on, dude. We’ve got to get this shit done,’ Derik whined, protesting my need to go to Morgan. She may need a doctor. She shouldn’t still be this sick. I couldn’t concentrate on the numbers from the last quarter. My eyes and attention kept going to my computer screen to my sleeping wife. Derik and the accountant were getting pissed, wanting to get through the complex figures.

‘You two keep at it. I’ll be right back,’ I said, leaving them alone. Derik knew what the hell was going on. He could handle it without me. Shaking my head, I realized that I was putting Morgan before my business. What the hell? I didn’t do that.”

Silent squeal.

“Sitting on the side of her bed, she opened her eyes, cautiously, shifting her eyes around the room and landing them on me with a smile. She actually smiled at me, well, maybe it wasn’t at me, but it felt like it for a brief moment.”

It wasn’t.

“She exclaimed, ‘I feel better,’ pulling herself up. She held the covers over her breasts which made me smile. I never understood why she hid herself from me. I saw her naked all the time, whether I was with her or not.

‘That’s good. I was going to call a doctor.’

‘You don’t need to do that. I’m fine. I’m just going to get up and take a bath. I think I’m kind of hungry,’ she said weakly.

‘You get a bath and I’ll have Rebecca bring you something to eat,’ I thoughtfully offered, pulling the covers hiding her breasts. She looked past me while my thumb brushed over her nipple. Her skin felt soft and had lost the heat from the fever.

‘I’m really glad you feel better, I’ll see you later,’ I promised, pinching her nipple between my fingers with a little bit of a twist. She didn’t reply. She’d learned that it was best that she didn’t. She seemed to have a hard time replying without saying something smart. I almost wished she would sometimes. She was very quick witted when she wanted to be. Knowing it usually ended in her bent over my lap, she typically refrained. 

Trying to listen and go over the last quarter with Derik and Pete, I loosened my tie and unbuttoned the first two buttons of my shirt. It was suddenly hot in the office. I turned the cuff up on my sleeves a couple times and tried to keep up. Sweat beaded off my head, and I suddenly felt a little queasy. Fuck. I couldn’t be sick. I didn’t have time to be sick.

‘You alright, man? You look a little pale,’ Derik asked.

‘Yeah, we’re done here. I think we’ve gone over enough. You can finish it, right, Pete?’

‘Sure, no problem. I’ll report back to you once I’m finished,’ he offered, standing and gathering his things. Derik followed, answering his phone.

I removed my tie walked out to the empty house. I heard Rebecca and Morgan talking in the kitchen but didn’t really care what they were saying at the time. I was on a mission. I hurried to my room, made it to the bathroom and released nasty bile to the toilet. Holy shit. I felt horrible. I wasn’t sick. No. I wasn’t sick, there was no time to be sick. I had a meeting with a client, coming to the house tomorrow. It was big, the owner of Sheffield’s Casino. This would be his third wife. He’d always purchased his rings from Callaway Jewels, and like the Callaways, you didn’t put him off for anything. He’d go buy a half million dollar ring from someone else. I was sure of it.

I didn’t wait until I was down like Morgan. I sat on the edge of my bed and dialed Dr. Reynolds. Of course he was busy and had to call me back. I lay across the bed with my shirt open, trying to cool down. It was so hot in my room; I could feel the sweat run down the back of my neck.

Dr. Reynolds returned my call twenty minutes later, informing there was nothing he could do. It was stomach flu that was being passed around, and the only thing I could do was let it run its course. It should only last forty eight hours or so, I was informed. I didn’t have five hours to be sick, let alone forty eight. Fluids and rest, that was the prescription.

Okay, if I was going to do this, I was getting rid of it as quickly as I could. Walking to the kitchen, Morgan and Rebecca halted their conversation. It was stupid. I listened to all of their conversations, and they knew it. Why they always stopped when I entered the room was beyond me.

‘Do we have more Sprite?’ I asked, pouring the rest in a glass.

‘No, I kind of forced it into Morgan,’ Rebecca explained. ‘Are you sick? I can run out and get more.’

‘Would you? I’m not sick, just a little queasy,’ I tried telling myself more than her.

Slamming the glass to the island, I darted to the bathroom, feeling the inevitable in the back of my throat. This was bad. This was so bad. I felt like I’d been hit by a truck. How the hell did this happen? I didn’t get sick. I hadn’t been sick since like high school.

‘Here, you should get out of those clothes and into something a little more comfortable. You’re not going anywhere for a couple days,’ Morgan assured me, handing me a wet washcloth. I looked up at her peculiarly. Why would she help me? She should be doing some sort of happy dance. I jerked the cloth from her hands, covering my face with the coolness, moaning, sure that I was dying.”

Drew wasn’t lying about that, not that Drew really lied anyway. He always told the truth, whether you liked it or not, but he was right about dying. I prayed that I would die when I felt the way he was feeling. It was horrible, pure hell.

“Morgan coaxed, ‘Come on,’ pulling me from my seated position. I let her help me, thinking we were going to my room. She led me to the living room where I practically fell to the sofa. I felt so drained, like I had no energy at all.

Morgan squatted in front of me and removed my black dress shoes and socks. I watched her, wondering what went through her mind. She was taking care of me. Why?

‘Take your pants off. I’m going to see if I can find a t-shirt in your room. Is that okay?’ she asked, turning back.

‘There are some white cotton shirts in the armoire,’ I helped. I should just go in my bed. That was a nice thought. I didn’t feel like I could move. I was barely strong enough to remove my dress slacks.

I held the not so cool cloth over my face, observing all the unwanted feelings. Sitting up, wearing only black designer boxers and my unbuttoned shirt, Morgan pulled on the end of my sleeve, helping me out of my shirt.

‘I don’t want that,’ I whined when she tried to put the t-shirt over my head.

‘Lay down,’ she commanded. I looked at her, seeing something in her that I’d never seen before. She wasn’t being a bitch, she wasn’t looking at me in anyway but empathy, like she cared.  I didn’t get it. I scooted up to the end of the overstuffed sofa, dropped my head, and moaned.

The room was dark when I woke. I could feel the inside of my mouth start to water. The room felt like the walls were closing in when I opened my eyes, feeling a bit of vertigo. I didn’t even see Morgan, sitting in the chair, but as soon as I sat up she was right there, right there holding the trashcan. Thank god she thought of that. I would have never made it to the bathroom.

She disappeared while I hurled what was in my stomach and then dry heaved. I was going to die. I wanted to die. This was the worse feeling in the world. 

‘Here, drink some of this,’ Morgan said, holding the glass to my lips, forcing me to sip it. I waited a second, needing to see if it was going to stay down. It did and I sipped it again.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked, lightly wrapping my fingers around her dainty wrist. She gave me a warm smile and pulled away without an answer. I watched her walk back to the chair she’d been sitting in and pick up her book. She opened it to her place, ignored me, and took up reading by the dim lit lamp.

‘Lay down,’ she demanded, peaking over the top of the book. I smiled and dropped back to the pillow.

I watched her read, wondering for the first time about her. I wanted to ask her questions about her life before me, I wanted to know things about her. Jesus, I wanted to know her. I was delusional. It was the fever. It had to be the fever. Closing my eyes, I tried to relax and tell myself I wasn’t going to get sick.”