Now & Forever 3 - Blind love (9 page)

Soon Rex would have his own place. He wasn’t ready to move
out yet, though. He hadn’t discovered Alan’s secret. Rex had bugged Alan’s
bedroom and the living room and learned nothing. Next he had to bug Alan’s
office. He could feel Alan was up to no good in some way and Rex was determined
to find out what it was.

Staying at Deena’s sometimes worked out well for Rex. Deena
couldn’t afford a big apartment, but she kept the place clean and stocked his
favorite gin. She also made some of his favorite foods from time to time. After
having sex, Rex and Deena would stay up late watching television. She hugged
him and touched him often. Rex had never had much affection as a child and he
found he liked it. He was growing used to being with Deena. In fact, he began
to look forward to it.

* * * *

“Two hundred bucks a month?” Deena slipped her hand in his as
they left the restaurant and headed to The Wet Tee Shirt.

“Yeah. For doing nothin’ really. How many guys doin’ that for
you?” Rex arched an eyebrow.

“None. You ever been in love, Rex?”

“Never found the one, Deena.” He turned to face her.

She placed her palm on his cheek and looked into his eyes.

“It’s time you did.”

Got her. Hook, line and
sinker.

He smiled at her.

“You volunteering for the job?”

“Maybe.”

“You make me hard, baby.” His gaze swept her body.

“That’s not love.”

“As close as I’m gonna get.”

Deena stopped and moved into his arms. She placed a sweet
kiss on his lips.

“Maybe I can change your mind.” Deena pursed her lips and
pushed her breasts up against him.

She’s into me.

“Maybe you can, baby. Ain’t gonna stop you from tryin’.”

It was obvious to Rex Deena felt safer at The Wet Tee Shirt
with him there as the bouncer. He never missed a day and never came to work
drunk, like Benny did. He was always alert and she knew no one would give her a
hard time as long as he was there.

Deena was getting good at gathering information. When she
suspected a customer had something to hide, she had Raj make their drinks
stronger. She slipped him twenty dollars from time to time, thinking Rex didn’t
know, so Raj wouldn’t ask questions. She flirted and talked with as many
patrons as she could, always looking for information to give to Rex. Every time
she had a good tip, he was happy and appreciative, giving her small gifts, taking
her out and making love to her.

* * * *

At eight o’clock in the morning, Alan left Rex sleeping in
the guest room and went to his office where the first thing he did was count
the number of women in his Survey of Western Literature classes. There were
fifty-three women out of two classes of fifty students. He smiled. Surely one
of those women will fail…unless she was a little friendly.

Alan was lonely. His wife, Beth had left him for her
chemistry teaching assistant. Beth and Cal Dexter worked together for two
semesters and Alan never had any hint they were having an affair. Beth had
still had sex with Alan and seemed to be satisfied. Of course when he looked
back on it, he could see her interest in affection, outside of the sex he
initiated, dwindled down to nothing during the year. Her pulling away was so
subtle.

Then it happened, after final exams one day in May when he
came back from submitting his final grades. He’d never forget the moment…that
moment of ultimate humiliation. He’d walked into their house and Beth was not
there. There was no note, no message on his cell phone. In fact, he’d found her
cell phone on the dresser. A sense of dread had come over him as the empty
house became so quiet he could hear his pulse pounding in his ears. He had approached
her closet, afraid to open the door. When he finally got the courage, he was
shocked to see only empty hangers. All her clothes were
 
gone.

Next he checked her bureau drawers. They were all empty too.
Her two suitcases were gone from the closet shelves. He searched the house for
a note, but found none. Beth was gone. Alan couldn’t breathe. Feeling a
tightness in his chest, he sat down. He didn’t know what to do. Where was Beth?
Why did she go? Was she coming back?

They had been married for eight years. Eight happy years. He
had met Beth in graduate school. She was studying chemistry and he was studying
English and they bumped into each other in the library. Alan liked her right
away. Beth was quiet, she rarely shared her feelings. They dated for six months
before Alan asked her to marry him.

Together they lived a quiet life of teaching and traveling.
He thought she’d always be there. He thought they’d grow old together. Then Cal
Dexter had arrived. Alan thought he was a brash young man, a know-it-all. But
he spent a lot of time with Beth, discussing students, teaching methods and
experiments. Beth never mentioned Cal at home, so Alan didn’t worry.

Alan checked with Jonesy, the administrative secretary and
discovered Cal Dexter was gone too. He finished his Master’s degree and left,
telling no one where he was going, which Jonesy thought odd. Alan knew then it
was part of their plan.

Shock turned to anger. Anger turned to cold-blooded rage. He
hated Beth. He hated Cal. It was three years since Beth left him, since the
divorce papers arrived with still no word from Beth, since Alan’s life came
apart but he hadn’t moved on. Alan was out for revenge, revenge on women and
the young women in his freshman English class became his targets.

Helpless girls who had no knack for English were ripe for
Alan’s cruelty and sexual advances. He spared no one, after all, neither Beth
nor Cal spared him. Had they given him a chance to change? Even a reason? For
three years he kept guessing what it was that went wrong, but he’d never know
for sure and not knowing drove him crazy. He never heard from Beth again.

So Alan looked over his list of potential victims and decided
this would be a good year with more girls than ever taking his English class.
Who would it be this year? He couldn’t wait to find out.

Alan reminded himself there was a suicide he was responsible
for last year. Margaret Jason took an overdose and died. The administration
attributed it to some break-up with a boyfriend, but Alan knew it was because he
failed her in English and dashed her hopes of ever getting into veterinary
school. As soon as Alan became aware of Margaret’s death, he changed her grade
to a B. He didn’t want that F, the only failing grade on her entire record, to
be discovered because he knew an investigation would put him in the spotlight
and he’d have to answer some uncomfortable questions.

Alan looked up the fifty-three girls in the database to check
out their majors. He was looking for serious science majors and phys. Ed.
majors…the ones most likely to have trouble in his English class. You had to
watch out for those phys. Ed. majors, though, sometimes they turned out to be
lesbians. His favorites were the pre-med majors who couldn’t write an English
paper. Every time he had sex with one of them, he thought of Beth and her gift
for chemistry. She could barely write an intelligible sentence, he scoffed to
himself.

Rex moving into his house didn’t deter Alan. He had sex with
his students in the evening, but in his office, not at home, so Rex would never
know. Still, Alan worried about having him around. Rex didn’t miss much. But he
paid rent, so Alan couldn’t complain. He was careful around Rex, kept his mouth
shut, or Rex would move in on him like a vulture and tear him apart.

* * * *

At the neat little house on James Street

Peter had fallen in love with Lara, but she didn’t love him
back and it was killing him, eating him up. He needed to go back to his
position of strength, an environment where he could be in control…a bar. He called
Mac.

“Hey, Mac. Where does a single guy go here for some action?”

“How the hell would I know? I’ve been married for five
years.”

“Come on, Mac. Even in a town this small there’s a place.”

“There’s the Juke Box, and a topless bar.”

“Topless sounds good. Where?”

“It’s called The Wet Tee Shirt. It’s on Malone outside of
town, past Monty’s Liquor Store and The Tire Factory.”

“I think I know where that is.”

“Call me if you need a ride home, Pete, okay?”

“Don’t worry about me.”

After dinner with Sam, Peter got dressed for a night of
tomcatting at The Wet Tee Shirt.

“Where you headed tonight, Pete?” Sam said, picking up a book
and settling down in an easy chair. He watched his son carefully combing his
hair in the mirror by the front door.

“You don’t want to know, Dad.”

“Where?”

“A topless bar.”

Silence greeted Peter. Sam put his book down and glared at
his son.

“No women in a long time…makes an unhappy man,” Peter said,
opening the door.

“Don’t go. You can patch things up with Lara.”

“A woman who goes off the deep end because I give her an
innocent little kiss will never be more than a friend. I need a woman. I’m not
meant for a celibate life.”

Peter walked out the door, got into the car and drove away.

As he pulled into the parking lot, he noticed there were only
a few cars there.

Small town strip joint,
no cars, how good can it be?

Sexual frustration forced him out of the car, and curiosity
enticed him to the front door.

She drove me to it.
Lara, you’re always out of reach.

He wondered what he’d find inside.

After entering The Wet Tee Shirt, Peter stopped to let his
eyes adjust to the dim lighting. There was a bar on the right and a stage on
the left. In between were small tables and chairs. It was eight o’clock and
there were two girls wearing only tiny bikini bottoms gyrating on the stage to
boring canned music.

The place was practically empty. Two
guys were sitting at the bar, one, fairly drunk already ordered another drink,
loudly while the other watched the women. There were four men scattered at
different tables.

Peter let his eyes adjust to the dark
room, then found a table not too far from the stage. He looked over the girls
carefully. He wondered what Lara would look like dancing there, topless. Once
she entered his mind, the brunette and redhead faded. He closed his eyes and
saw Lara’s beautiful face and luxurious brown hair. He opened his eyes and let
his mind soar into fantasy, until a topless waitress interrupted his thoughts.

“I say, are you drinking, buddy?”

“Sorry, sorry. I’ll have a Johnny Walker
Red straight up,” he said, staring briefly at her chest, trying to get Lara out
of his mind. Lara’s breasts weren’t as big as this woman’s, but he guessed Lara’s
were firmer. His fingers tingled slightly at the thought of touching the sweet
ballerina.

When his drink came, he drank it quickly
and ordered another, hoping the alcohol would make Lara disappear. But his
fantasies continued…a vision of her naked in his bed, the tops of her breasts
peeking out slightly from the sheet swam in his head. He had it bad.

“Hi, there. You new here?” the brunette
said as she sat down at his table.

Peter looked up. She wasn’t bad looking,
but she wasn’t Lara.

“What’s your name? I’m Deena,” she said,
giving him a warm smile. “Buy me a drink?”

“Sure. I’m Peter,” he said then turned
to motion to the waitress.

Peter had two more drinks and Deena had
one. They became chummy as Deena drew her chair closer to Peter and he touched
her hand. Deena questioned Peter, trying to be subtle.

“You look familiar. Who are you here visiting?”

“I’m not visiting. I’m teaching here
this year.” Peter looked down at his drink.

“At Kensington State?”

“Yup.” He nodded.

“Know Mac Caldwell?” Deena finished her
drink.

“He’s my brother. How do you know him?”
Peter asked, staring at her face.

“I went out with him for a while, a few
years ago,” Deena said, flashing him her sexiest smile.

“He’s been married for five years and
from what I’ve seen, I doubt he’s cheating on his wife,” Peter said. He
narrowed his eyes.

“You’re right. It was a long time ago.
You’re his brother, huh? I guess sexy runs in the family,” she said, putting
her hand on his arm.

Peter flashed back to Lara putting her
hand on his arm when she almost fell over. He recalled how warm her little hand
was and how her touch created heat in his body.

“Hey, where’d you go?” Deena said.

“I’m here,” Peter said, trying to focus
on Deena while the alcohol addled his brain.

“You lived here long?” he asked her,
speaking slowly and forcing his tongue to cooperate.

“Long enough. How are Mac and his
bride?” Deena said, sarcastically.

“Good,” Peter said, too tipsy to pick up
on the sarcasm.

“Any kids yet?”

“Yeah. But he’s had Jason for a long
time, though Jason isn’t his kid.”

“What do you mean?” Deena leaned closer
to him.

“Not his bio…biology…not his natural
kid. He’s got the cutest little girl, Kitty. She’s his bio…natural kid…looks
just like him,” Peter rambled on.

“You mean Mac isn’t Jason’s biological
father?”

“Nope,” Peter said, putting his empty
glass down on the table.

“Who is?” Deena sat up straighter.

“Beats me. Mac never told me. Probably
doesn’t know,” Peter murmured, resting his chin on his hand.

Mac wasn’t Jason’s biological father.
Whammo! That ought to be worth something. She looked over at Rex, smiled and
nodded her head.

“His tough luck. Gotta go,” Deena said
getting up from the table.