Page 11 of It Hurts Me
My fingers automatically felt my left hand where my naked finger sat. “I was in a hurry this morning and forgot it.”
Those dark eyes continued to pierce me with judgment. “If I had a wife, I’d make sure she’d never forget to wear hers.” He turned away from me and the painting and headed back to the stairs, his muscular back filling out his shirt in every sexy way.
I watched him go, a sharp pain in my chest, a wave of guilt coupled with inexplicable longing. Marrying my husband had been a foolish decision, but I had been wildly in love. But that love had fallen apart like a house that descended into ruin from a lack of maintenance. First, the pipes had turned to rust, then the walls filled with mold, the roof cracked in a storm…and then it came tumbling down into a pile of rubble that no one wanted to clear away.
I looked at the painting again, and for just a second, I saw myself standing there, eating the corpse of a victim…a changeling.
4
THEO
I sat alone and stared at the girls on the stage, drinking my scotch the way finer people enjoyed their wine. The bass from the music blared and drowned out the sound of nearby conversation. Watching naked girls dance around in a room with other men with hard dicks was strange to me, but I did it for business. Businessman did most of their deals on the golf course, and I did mine in the strip club.
Axel finally arrived, catching up with the bouncer he used to see all the time. After he fist-bumped him, he made his way over to me but got a drink from the waitress along the way. His wedding ring was distinct on his left hand because no other man wore a wedding ring in a place like this.
He dropped into the armchair beside me, his head turned to greet me. Not once did he look at the topless girls as they grinded on the pole, their tits out and their G-strings stuffed with bills. “You look pissed.”
“You look tired.”
“Fuck, I’m always tired.” He chuckled before he took a drink.
“Scarlett doesn’t care that you’re here?”
“What are you talking about? She loves you.”
“I meant the atmosphere.” I nodded to the girl in front of me, who seemed to take it as a personal offense that I didn’t seem interested.
“Oh, she doesn’t care.”
“She doesn’t care that her husband is visiting strip clubs?”
“My baby knows I’ve only got eyes for her.” He grabbed his drink and took another sip. And just like he said, he never looked, didn’t even glance at the naked girl who passed right in front of us. “You’re the one who wanted to meet here, by the way.”
“You wanted to catch up, and I told you where I was. Didn’t expect you to come down.” I grabbed a cigar and lit up. “How are the kids?”
“Emotional terrorists and fucking cockblocks.”
I smirked.
“But I love my babies.”
“Do you actually mean that, or do you feel obligated to say that?” I wasn’t the family man kind of guy. Never had been and never would be. Every parent I knew was miserable until their kids finally left the nest.
“Is it hard?” he asked with a shrug. “Yes, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Just when you finally get a routine nailed down, they decide to fuck with you and change it. My daughter is latched on to my wife’s tits, so I don’t get to play with them whenever I want. The last time I had a good night of sleep was before I was a father. I’m grouchy sometimes, and when Scarlett gets drained, she lashes out at me. But I can honestly tell you it’s also the best thing. The best fucking thing ever.” He said it with complete sincerity as he looked me in the eye. “The parents who say it’s magical every second of every day are full of shit. It’s not magical. They pull the shit out of their diapers and smear it on the wall. You get vomit on your five-hundred-euro shirts. The lows are low, but let me tell you…the highs are high.” He raised his hand in the air as far as he could. “The best way to describe it is like going on a trip. You’ve got to pack, you’ve got to sit on a plane, you’re sleep-deprived by the time you land, then you gotta get to the hotel, and that’s when you realize you forgot to pack something important. But then you look at the ocean or the mountains or whatever the fuck you came to see, and the view makes it all worth it.”
I let the smoke fill my mouth as I listened, letting the smoky flavors of chocolate and licorice coat my tongue in a cloudy haze. “You think you’re going to have more?”
“No,” he said with a quiet chuckle. “Two is enough. Don’t want to be outnumbered.” He took a drink of his scotch and looked relaxed, not annoyed by the blaring music he had to scream over. “What about you?”
“What about me, what?”
“You think you’ll ever change your mind about kids?”
“No.”
“Maybe if you meet the right woman, you’ll feel differently.”
“I already met the right woman—in case you forgot.”