Forever More
Part 3 - . . . And The Greatest Is Love
Chapter Thirty Six
Rebecca walked up the stairs to her bedroom. The house was dark now as she shut off the lights behind her as she went. The children were asleep in their own beds. Ethan was not coming home that night and Kyle had stayed at college for a basketball game. She was alone and sad as she climbed the stairs. No one but her was even aware of what she was feeling that day. Had Scott even remembered?
Saturday night found Scott out once again with his friends. They had come together, had dinner and caught a show at a local comedy club. The evening had been fun, filled with laughter and good times. Several in his group, men and women, had just left to hail some cabs to take them to the next stop for the evening. Scott insisted that he was picking up this tab. The waitress had just brought his credit card back and he was folding the receipt to put in his wallet when he caught sight of the date, March seventh.
This was his wedding anniversary. Eleven years earlier he and Becky had flown out to California to be married. Now he was living out there, alone. From somewhere deep inside and awful sense of sadness crept across his heart. Just then two of the women from his party came to get him. The cab was waiting. They had to get hurry. He threw the paper on the table and left.
As the days wore on Jon was beginning to get the feeling that Scott wanted no part of anyone anymore. Once he moved into the apartment that he had sublet from a friend in L.A. he started hanging out with old friends that he knew from his younger days before Paradox and before Becky. Jon did not necessarily trust Scott’s rekindling of past acquaintances. Not that he shouldn’t be able to chose his own friends but Jon actually questioned their intentions.
Most of whom Scott was hanging around with now on the L.A. circuit were people who did not have his best interests at heart. The men were all single or divorced. Some, if they had children, had not seen them for years. There were always plenty of women around and certainly none of them cared at all whether or not Scott was married, happily or otherwise.
On one occasion Jon had driven down to spend the weekend in L.A. with Scott. They hit the clubs and the party scene. It was something that they had been accustomed to years before. It was easy to fall back into it headfirst. Scott was trying desperately to escape any reality and anything that offered up a night’s respite was a welcome sight.
That particular night Jon become more and more aware of the interest that his friend was bestowing on a younger tall blond female who had planted herself near Scott all night. Her interest in him was not only obvious but encouraged. Jon sat watching as Scott unashamedly led her on. It was obvious to Jon that Scott did not intend to end the relationship when the party ended.
He knew that Scott had too much to drink. Hell, they all had. But could he sit back and let his friend make maybe the biggest mistake of his life. after all, he knew that Scott had a wife and family who only wanted him home. If he continued along this path the chances of that would continue to fade.
He finally spoke. Jon was not even aware of what he had said. Something to the effect that Scott was married, happily he added for good measure. Scott shot him a look. Obviously this bit of information did not dampen the prospective spirits of the girl to whom they were directed.
"Well, if you are married I don’t see her anywhere here now." She cooed into Scott’s ear as her lips met his for yet another sensuous kiss.
Jon had had it. He stood, shoved his chair against the table spilling over a few drinks and took off. Scott, breaking free of the girl, got up to follow him. Outside in the parking lot he caught up with Jon.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Jon couldn’t help but laugh out in disdain. "What am I doing? What are you doing?"
In the few seconds that Scott stood trying to come up with an acceptable answer Jon turned a disgusted look and started to walk away.
Finally Scott spoke and Jon stopped. "Why don’t you just let me live my own life?"
"This isn’t your life. You honestly think those people in there are your life? If you do you’re more screwed up than I thought. Those people don’t give a damn about you. They’re happy as long as the money and the booze or whatever keeps flowing. You’ve been around long enough to know that."
Scott’s eyes narrowed. "Maybe that’s all I need right now. Friends that just accept me for what I am and don’t make judgements on my life!"
Jon whipped around and was back in Scott’s face before he realized it. "You son of a bitch!" Jon’s words slashed across Scott’s face with ire. He wasn’t finished yet, but before he could even get out another breath the feel of a rigid fist against his jaw sent him back and unsteady on his feet. Straightening up he focused on the figure that had inflicted the blow. He hardly knew him anymore. Dabbing at the taste of blood that warmed the corner of his mouth he regained his composure.
"You wanna go fuck that bitch? Then go right ahead. You’re right. I can’t live your life for you, but if you think that piece of ass is gonna help then nothing I say is gonna make any difference."
Scott just stood there. In all the years that he had known Jon nothing like this had ever happened between them. Part of him wanted to apologize another part wanted to take another swipe at him but Jon was already across the parking lot before he got through with his speech.
Jon got in one more dig before Scott turned to go back inside.
"Better hurry up and get back in there. The more I think about it, she’s perfect for you. Take a piece for me too, OK?"
Scott stood outside. The night air filled his lungs. Even Jon had turned on him. What the fuck is wrong with everybody? He got a cab and went back to the his apartment alone. How or when Jon got home he never knew. He didn’t really care.
To Jon’s credit that night had more of an effect on Scott than he would have ever admitted. Though he had not spoke to Jon since that night, nearly three weeks earlier, theirs was a friendship that would withstand even the most hurtful of arguments. They had both been drunk, after all, and after awhile even that could be deemed an excuse for things said or did in anger.
Still Jon’s words hung in Scott’s ears for a long time. He wasn’t partying as much anymore. The nearly every night ritual of meeting friends down at the local club had given way to more lonely nights back at his apartment. He was missing his children more and more. He found himself looking forward to the summer when they would be spending several weeks with him rather than the occasional weekend.
In the quiet of his room at night he missed Becky too. As intense as his need to put her out of his mind had been suppressed by drink and good friends, so was the passion with which she visited him at night alone in that room.
If the truth had been known he had realized the grave mistake that he had made shortly after his arrival but pride in combination with guilt had led him down a path of no return. How could he ever expect her to forgive him again of all that he had done. The wrath that he had lashed out against her with was gone. It broke his heart to think now that she hated him, but it was too late.
He knew in his heart that signing those legal documents would only create a deeper wedge between them, yet he kept telling himself that it was all for the good. He had heard the pain in her voice and he knew that after that she could never feel for him again.
Now he spent most evenings alone at his apartment where he would quench his physical needs with adult movies and drink his way into most every night. The later satisfying two needs as not only a medication to make him sleep but also an anesthetic to relieve the constant pain that his throbbing hand was causing him.
When Rebecca heard about the rift between the two men from Paula, though Paula herself had not the slightest notion of its cause, it only brought more hurt as she realized that he was now not only alienating his family but also his friends. He had rarely any contact with his mother who was also trying hard to understand what was happening with her son. Scott had not spoken to Tom since that day at the rehabilitation center. Rick and Jesse had not heard a word from him either, now Jon.
Rebecca had relied on Jon up until that point as a buffer between them. If anything had needed to be said she would go through him. Now if that was gone she felt lost.
Tom had called on several occasions after he found out that Scott had left. He felt as though his friend had abandoned his family and Tom was going to make sure that he was there for them when and if they needed him. He had always liked Becky from the first time that Scott had introduced them. He gave Scott credit, He had finally found someone who was real. Not some ditsy no-named, good-for-one-thing, doxy or an uptight superior bitch. He never liked Linda anyway.
Tom had his fair share of desirable women. He had several notches on his bedpost that he was to this day quite proud of. They served a purpose at the time. He had also made a few bad judgements in his life for which he had ended up paying handsomely through the nose, but those unions had produced three children, a boy and two girls who were by far the best things that had ever come into his life.
Scott stepped onto the deck of his friend’s boat. The couple, Bill and Joyce, who owned the boat had invited him to go out on the bay that Sunday afternoon. Reaching out a hand to Kim he helped her up on board. Another couple joined them shortly.
Scott had met Kim one evening when they were all out together. She was twenty-eight, recently divorced and Joyce, as a friend of hers, had steered them in the right direction. Bill himself told Scott that is was time he got back in the saddle, so to speak, and if you were going to go, Kim was definitely the one to take you.
Scott could not argue with his friend on that account. Kim was a gorgeous, deep tanned nymph with long flowing blond hair. This day it blew untamed around her breasts as the boat made its way through the harbor and out to the bay. She was wearing a tiny hot pink bikini that clung to her firm hips and showed every curve. Her breasts were full and the meager cloth that covered them lay taunt against their lustiness leaving nothing to the imagination. Just standing next to her and having them brush his chest, as they often did, sent his heart to racing and his groin aching. She might as well have been standing there naked.
The afternoon was spent laying in the sun and the usual indulgences that this group was accustomed to. Kim hardly left Scott’s side and the now familiar feel of her body against his was met with his exceedingly growing need to have her there. Her lips were moist and inviting and more than once had she lain in his arms on the deck while he explored the warm wet regions of her mouth with his tongue.
As the sun started to set and the small party made its way back to the dock it was very clear that he would going home with this beautiful woman who had stolen all of his will. They took off arm and arm back to his car laughing and recounting some events of that afternoon.
Once back at her apartment she stood before him temptingly as he could almost taste the sweetness of her breasts upon his lips. He pulled her into him squeezing them hard next to his chest. She reached behind herself and untied the slight string that held the two swatches that had thus far only served as a tempting reminder of what lay beneath. Her nipples were hard and deep brown as he worked them with his fingertips before devouring each one with his tongue. Reaching down he slid his hand between her thighs to feel the wet softness before he began to probe the inner recesses of her body.
She started to writhe beneath his touch and suddenly he was aware of his presence. Until that moment he had almost felt like an outsider. Someone standing in the shadows watching the whole scene play out before him. What had he been doing up till that point? Rationalizing his behavior? She was a very beautiful woman. His friends had wanted them to get together. She had wanted it. He had wanted it. He had pictured himself making love to her all afternoon. Now suddenly he was having second thoughts. Was he crazy?
This woman wants you. This woman is falling apart at your touch. You have not felt a woman since....Oh god, Becky.
The body of this incredibly beautiful woman was not at all familiar. What he craved, what he longed for was not the feel of any woman but only one.
He must have stiffened slightly as he removed his hands. Kim brought her eyes back to his as she reached down to massage the hard mass that quickened under his shorts.
He took a step back. She looked at him confused. He felt ill. Oh, god, which is crazier? Not making love to this gorgeous beauty that I am here with right now or not making love to my own wife who I know that I love? Either way, he knew that he was not going to consummate this relationship tonight. He had mistakenly thought that he was ready. Even if at some point in the future he was, tonight was not the night.
Kim was not very understanding as he tried to desperately struggle to come to grips with his emotions, but he knew what he had to do and he had to do it now. He would probably regret it as he was left to his own devises to relieve his need later. He had to nearly pull her lips away from his thighs. He was insane! Maybe it was the alcohol or the buzz that he still had from the afternoon or something else, but wherever it was he was feeling ill.
And he was right. As he lay in his own bed alone later that night he could only think of how much of an idiot she must think him. What kind of moron would have turned down that woman? He needed the release that only the touch of a woman could offer. But he wasn’t twenty years old anymore. He wasn’t even single and right now he wasn’t even drunk. The way he saw it he had two choices, make it up to her to never see her again.
As he lay there longer he began to see the whole afternoon and evening for what it really was, a lesson in the pleasures of the flesh. True, she was a totally sensuous being, but other than being attracted to her for her body he was not necessarily taken by any of her other attributes. While not lacking in intelligence he soon found out that she spent her days working out and lying on the beach. Of course she looked great, she didn’t do anything else. She didn’t work. She was living off her ex husbands alimony. Hell, you know that he had paid for those voluptuous breasts that you found so desirable.
What attracted him to her was absolutely nothing but the anticipation of a purely sexual encounter. God, he had wanted her bad! He was only human. All afternoon he had been as stiff as a spike. That in itself he had found a little more then embarrassing at times. But that was an involuntary reaction, what he still had was a free will. That along with something else had made him leave tonight and he knew very well what that something else was. He just didn’t know how to fix it.
He reached for the phone. The voice of the woman on the other end was still groggy. He had woken her from sleep. Suddenly he was aware the he didn’t know what to say. He had made such an enormous fool out of himself. Could she ever forgive him? He set the receiver back down.
The woman on the other end heard the phone click. Assuming it was a wrong number she rolled back around and pulled the covers over the arms of her young son as he lay curved close to her body. She stroked the silky blond hair from his forehead and laid a soft kiss on his cheek.
