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| VOYEURS BY BEESA |
CHAPTER 17 |
One week later, at the gym
Todd breathes hard, as he rapidly pumps heavier iron than he should.
"Whoa, Manning! Are you trying to kill yourself or something? Slow and heavy builds muscle, fast and heavy causes injuries, so slow your ass down," says Del.
"Shut up," warns Todd.
"What’s your problem?"
"You. You’re like a goddam mother hen, you know that?"
"Ah, I see. What did she do now?"
"What?"
"Manning, the only thing that gets you this worked up is my baby sister. So, fess up, what’s going on between you and Téa?"
"Nothing."
"Uh huh...and that’s the problem, right?"
"What?"
"Oh, please. Do you seriously think that I don’t know that you’ve been spending the night at her place? And, I don’t think you’re there just because you prefer the view from her apartment."
Todd rests the barbell in its holder and sits up. "Nothing is going on between Téa and me, okay, and I do mean nothing."
"Well, then...that explains your bad mood," teases Del, as he tosses a towel to Todd. "Look, man, I don’t want to hear the intimate details of your private life with my sister, but both of you have been too damned moody lately. Figure out what the problem is and fix it."
"Fix it? I could say the same thing to you about you and Kate. It’s not that easy, you know?"
"Yeah, I know."
There is a long silence, as the two men contemplate their respective relationships. "Okay, I’ll make you a deal," says Del.
"God, what is it with Delgados and deals?"
"Shut up. Here it is...if you’ll talk to Téa about whatever is bothering you two, I’ll go see Kate. Deal?"
"What kind of deal is that? Your end of it is way easier than my end of it."
"Hey, you don’t know Kate."
"True, but you do know Téa!"
Del sighs and nods. "Yeah, you’ve got a point there. Regardless, don’t you think it’s better to work out things with Téa than to hang around this place as much as you have been lately? I mean, you’re lifting weights that are clearly too heavy for you and doing it too often. Are you trying to become one of those guys who can pull a truck by a rope with his teeth, or are you purposely trying to hurt yourself, to play on Téa’s sympathies?"
"It’s not her sympathies I want to play on...," mumbles Todd.
"Okay, I really don’t want to hear shit like that about you and my kid sister. Yuck, Manning! Damn!"
Todd laughs and throws his sweaty towel at Del. Del lunges for Todd and gets him in a headlock, pulling him to a standing position. "That was disgusting! You’re in so much trouble now, Manning."
"Yeah?," laughs Todd.
"Yeah," confirms Del.
"What are you gonna do about it?"
"I’m...I’m...I’m gonna go have a big-ass lunch, and then I’m gonna make you pay the bill!," declares Del.
"Oh, you’re a real tough guy, huh?"
Del releases his hold on Todd’s head and drops his arm to Todd’s shoulder. "No, I’m a wuss...because I’m not even sure I can eat, knowing that I’m going to go see Kate later."
Todd doesn’t know what to say. "Want some beer with that big-ass lunch?"
They walk toward the locker room.
"Oh, yeah. Yeah. Good call. We need beer. We must fortify ourselves, before we take on our women!," announces Del, pumping his fist into the air.
"Carbo-loading!"
"Huh?"
"Beer does a body good, you know. Think about it...it comes from grain, which is good for us. Bread, bagels, beer...what’s the difference? There’s got to be all kinds of hidden vitamins and shit in beer," suggests Todd.
"That’s what we should have for lunch! Bread, bagels and beer."
"Beer probably helps build muscle," offers Todd.
"Well, in that case, you haven’t been drinking nearly enough beer, Manning!"
"Hey!"
"No offense."
"Whatever. I’d better just have one beer anyway. If I’m going to try to talk some sense into Téa tonight, I need a clear head. For some bizarre reason, Téa doesn’t appreciate me getting drunk."
"Women!"
~~~
Téa sits on the floor of her gym, resting her back against the wall and taking a long drink of water from her water bottle. She smiles at her fellow survivors, all sitting there just like her, exhausted but pleased with themselves.
A woman stands up slowly and groans. "I don’t know why they call it kickboxing. They should call it kick-your-own-ass boxing. Someone carry me to the showers!"
One by one, each woman stands up and makes her way to the showers, but Téa remains behind. Alone in the gym, she closes her eyes and lets her mind come back down to reality. Todd. What is she going to do about Todd?
Since their encounter in the hot tub a week earlier, they haven’t touched once. Not that Todd hasn’t tried, but Téa has been pushing him away like crazy. Their time together on the roof brought too many feelings to the surface, feelings she no longer wants to have and is trying desperately to bury.
The drastic change in their work situation has helped immensely with her attempts to distance herself from Todd, emotionally and physically. No more encounters of the sexual kind while on stakeouts, since the Barker case has been solved.
Téa had returned to the nightclub three more times, encountering David Vickers each time and getting nowhere, beyond many hours of dancing, until two nights ago, when Téa had overheard David talking to someone on his cell phone. He had referred to the caller as Michael and had excused himself and left within minutes of the call. Todd, Téa and Del had followed David to an alley several blocks away, and there it was...the red Porsche, parked in the alley behind a restaurant that they later discovered Michael owns.
They had found Michael in a back room off the kitchen, watching the videotapes of Sheila and David he had taped himself. Except for David’s surprise at seeing Todd again, neither David nor Michael had shown much of a reaction to getting caught. Michael had been all too pleased to inform everyone that they had done nothing illegal. He had innocently videotaped his property for security purposes, so it’s not his fault that his wife got caught being unfaithful.
Michael had leered at Téa and had expressed his disappointment in never getting the chance to see her posing as a hooker. After Del had pulled Todd off of Michael, Michael had told them that Sheila had informed David about hiring D&D Investigations to get videotape of him propositioning a prostitute, so he had received plenty of advanced warning and just avoided the solicitation scene for a few weeks, using the time to gather huge amounts of evidence against his wife.
Del, Todd and Téa had been furious, but they had to accept the reality that they had nothing on either Michael or David. Whatever legal troubles Michael had at work had been taken care of, so all that was left was a nasty divorce from Sheila, and he had the upper hand there, too, since he had the videotapes of his wife being unfaithful to him with a guy he had hired himself.
Téa wipes her face with her towel and sighs, feeling relief that the Barker case is now history. She pushes it out of her mind, as she gets up and goes to take a shower.
~~~
Later that evening
Del takes a deep breath and knocks on her door, gripping the bouquet of red roses in his left hand tighter and using his right hand to smooth out his jacket. He clears his throat. The door opens. "Hello, Katie," he says, shyly.
"Del! It’s...so...what a surprise! Hi!," replies Kate.
"Is this a bad time? I should have called. I’ll come back some other time." He turns to leave, but quickly realizes he still has the flowers. He turns back and hands them to her. "Um, these are for you. Bye." He turns to leaves, again.
"Wait a second! Where are you going? You just got here."
"Yeah, but, you probably have company, right?"
"Uh, no...actually, I don’t. I haven’t had company since last week."
"You dumped the moron?"
Kate smiles. "Something like that."
A smile slowly spreads across Del’s face. "Cool."
"Wanna come inside?"
"Yes. Yes, I do."
~~~
Meanwhile, in the hallway
Todd takes a deep breath and knocks on her door, gripping the bouquet of peach roses in his left hand tighter and running the fingers of his right hand through his hair. He clears his throat. The door opens. "Hey, Téa," he says, shyly.
"Hi, Todd," replies Téa.
"These are for you," he says, as he hands her the roses.
She smiles. "They’re beautiful. Thank you."
"You’re beautiful...thank you."
Téa laughs, nervously. "You look really handsome tonight."
"I look really handsome every night."
Téa laughs, again, a little less nervously this time. "Do I have time to put these in water?"
"Yeah, yeah...go ahead. The limo’s here, but we can take a minute for the shrubs."
"Limo? Wow, Manning, you’re going all out here, huh?"
"Yeah, well, I figured I should, it being our first date and all."
Téa sighs, as she places the roses in a vase. "Todd, I told you this wasn’t going to be a date. We both know we need to talk about some things, and you suggested we do it over dinner, that’s all."
"Tomato, tom-ah-to, whatever. Let’s go."
"I can’t believe you picked such an exclusive restaurant," declares Téa, as she puts her wrap around her bare shoulders.
"Only the best for our first date," he says, as he places his hand on her back and steers her out the door.
"How’d you get a reservation on such short notice?," she asks.
"I have my ways."
They spend the evening enjoying each other. They share a wonderful dinner, lots of champagne and more slow dancing than either thought was possible with Todd being one half of the couple.
That afternoon, when Todd had suggested dinner, Téa had no idea he meant this kind of dinner. She had intended to inform him that she needs some time and some distance from him, but this evening isn’t working out the way she had hoped it would.
Todd can’t believe how this evening is working out exactly the way he had hoped it would.
~~~
In the hallway
Todd is leaning into Téa, causing her to press against the door. They are nuzzling each other, kind of lost in each other, when Todd asks, "So, do I get a goodnight kiss?"
"Do you want one?," she asks.
"Duh?"
"Then, you should have one."
"You mean, all I have to do is ask, and I’ll get whatever I want?"
Téa laughs.
"Okay, then, can I have a goodnight...you know?," he asks.
"Todd..."
"No! No thinking. Let’s check our brains at the door and claim them tomorrow or the next day or whenever, but not tonight." He kisses her neck, sending shivers down their spines. "Come on, Delgado," he whispers in her ear. "I’ve had you in my arms vertically all night. I think it’s time we switch to horizontal."
Téa giggles and groans. "That was the worst line I’ve ever heard."
"Did it work?" He pulls back and looks into her eyes. "I think it did."
She just smiles at him, takes his hand in hers and leads him inside her apartment and into her bedroom.
to be continued...
