Fur

The building manager seemed to be glad to see me. "Sorry about the trouble you had last night," he said. "Your fiancé assures me that it won't happen again. The one guy who fell on the steps and broke his jaw, how is he doing?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said. "I came home unexpectedly and Drea was entertaining some friends. We got into a disagreement. We've broken up. She's keeping the apartment so I'd like my name taken off of the lease."

"Well, let me call her," he said. "If she okays it there's no problem."

"Why do you have to call her?" I asked.

"Both of your names are on the lease," he said. "In order for her to be held liable for the entire lease she has to agree to it."

"I'll tell you what then," I said. "Our lease runs out in another month anyway. We've already paid for this month. I'll write you a check for half of next month's rent. That way we don't have to tell her anything."

"Well, I'd still need to speak to her," he said.

"You can just give me a receipt for the payment," I told him. "I'll fax it to her. That way she knows that all she's responsible for is half of next month's rent. At the end of that next month if she wants to renew the lease she can do it alone."

"Okay, let me get my receipt pad," he said smiling. He left the room and seemed to be gone for longer than necessary to find an object that he probably used often.

When he came back in the room he didn't have it. But he sat down and smiled. I held out the check. He reached for it.

"Where's your receipt book?" I asked.

"I'll have to get it," he said. That struck me as funny but I let it go. He seemed to be taking his fucking time finding it so I got up and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"There's something going on," I said. "I think I'm going to visit your boss at his office and tell him what I want. It's better to speak to the owner sometimes."

"Please don't do that," he cried. "She promised me a hundred bucks."

I bolted for the door. I got it open just in time to run into Drea as she tried to knock on it. I pushed past her and she grabbed me.

"Drea, get your hands off of me," I said.

"Jack, we have to talk about this," she said. "I'm sorry, they got me drunk and you know how much I like sex. You have to forgive me. I love you."

"Oh, okay Drea," I said. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her to me turning us around as I did.

"So you'll forgive me just this once?" she asked.

"Yep," I smiled. "...But only this once." I turned and walked out of the door.

"Where are you going, Honey?" she asked. "I think we need to go upstairs to our apartment so I can prove something to someone."

"I'll be right up," I said. "Take your clothes off. I need to get my stuff out of the truck."

She smiled and kissed me and headed back down the hall. "So we're okay?" asked the building manager. I gave him a cheesy smile and the thumbs up sign.

I walked out of the building whistling a cheerful tune. I got into my truck and drove across town to the first of my apartment appointments. I liked the place but it turned out to be owned by the same management company that owned the other building. I tuned it down for that reason alone.

The second place that I saw was beautiful. It was right on the waterfront. The scenery and landscaping was awesome. It was also twice my rent at the apartment I shared with Drea. The third place was a nice building but there were too many kids around the building. Some of them were teenagers and they were just hanging around looking for trouble. I have nothing against kids, but I work nights. That means that during the day I like to sleep. I need quiet for that. It also means that while I'm away from my place it's vulnerable.

In only a month or so I'd have four million bucks, why quibble over a few dollars? I signed a three month trial basis lease of the second place.

I drove by the warehouse even though I knew I wouldn't be working that night. As I pulled up in front of the place, I saw three motorcycles parked there.

I'd turned my phone off. I turned it back on then. Drea had left me six more messages just since I'd left her this afternoon. They were pathetic. They started out wondering what was taking me so long to get my stuff and ended up with her crying into the phone.

The phone rang as I was listening to the messages.

"Jack, that wasn't very nice," said Drea.

"Well, it got me out of the building without having to hit anyone," I said.

"Jack, can't we talk about this?" she asked. "I love you. I'll do anything you want, to make this up to you."

"There's nothing you can do Drea," I said. "We're done."

"But Jack, it was only sex," she said.

"Drea, do you have any idea of how stupid what you just said was?" I asked. "Of course it was only sex. What the fuck did you think it was, ballet, nuclear fission maybe? It was sex. You were having only sex with a bunch of guys, one of whom was your brother. So yep maybe it was only sex, but to me it was a deal breaker."

"You didn't do anything illegal. You and I are not married yet. So you were perfectly within your legal rights as a US citizen to go and fuck as many guys as you want. I, on the other hand, am also perfectly free to end our engagement at any time and for any reason. I find you fucking a gang of guys on our bed to be sufficient grounds to do so. No hard feelings. I'm not angry at you. This works out better for everyone. If I had found this out after we got married it might have been expensive. I do have to admit that I'm kind of hurt, because, Drea, I really have no idea of how you feel about me, but I loved you so much. It does hurt, but I'll get over it. You can keep the furniture and everything I didn't take. I won't be back."

I thought she'd hung up the phone and I was going back to checking my messages. There's a weird thing about phones. She hadn't actually hung up the phone on her end and I had my phone on speaker since I was driving. As a result I could hear her conversation. She was talking to her brother.

"This is as much your fault as mine," she snapped. "I was a good girl for over two fucking years. I only had a month or so to go and we'd have hit the gravy train. Why couldn't you have gone home and fucked your wife. You had to come over to fuck your baby sister."

"Shit Drea, you're hotter than her. Her pussy ain't as tight since she had the kids. Besides you always said I was the best and you're a slut anyway. I was just riding by with the guys. I stopped off to knock off a piece with them waiting downstairs. You were the one who said bring them all up. You always were a slut for gang bangs anyway. And it's not like this was the first time you'd cheated on him. What about last month at the hotel? What about when he went out of town on business for that warehouse he works at and you got fucked every night that he was gone? Instead of pointing the finger at someone you need to help me find a way out of this shit."

"But then, the thinking part isn't your strong suit is it baby sister?" he asked. "That's why I had to find him for you in the first place. It was me who told you about him getting the money and all wasn't it? And look at how easily he just made a fool out of you. He told you okay I forgive you and you marched your dumb ass back upstairs, took your clothes off and waited for him. It took you almost an hour to realize that he wasn't coming."

"But you have to help me get him back Gus," she whined. "He's less than a month from getting the money. And you know what? I do love him. He's the only guy I've been with that treats me that well. I should have never started fucking you guys again. I could have been rich. But you need to think up something, because if I'm not rich, I won't be able to give you any money either. And shit Gus, I'm twenty five, you know what's going to happen in a few years. If I'm anything like Momma and Molly, by the time I'm thirty my tits will be on my knees and I'll be a butterball. Only someone who loves me will stay with me then. So Jack will either have to love me or give me half of his money. Think of something."

"Yeah, I'll have the guys keep looking for him and we'll bring him in. Maybe we'll just hold him here. We'll keep the two of you locked up here together. Sooner or later the two of you will start fucking again. We won't leave you anything else to do. Maybe he'll knock you up. Then we'd get child support. Child support from a guy who has millions of dollars is more than enough for all of us to live on."

"But Gus, I want my Jack back," she whined.

"Bitch, we can't always have what we want. If you really wanted him back you should have kept your legs closed. You've probably fucked at least forty or fifty guys since the two of you got together. You were bound to be caught just by the law of averages. We're lucky you lasted this long. At least you were smart enough not to shit where you eat. If you'd picked up anyone at the bar he'd have caught you before now. We're just going to have to squeeze whatever we can get out of him."

I heard a door slam in the background and turned off my phone.

So, I thought, now I know. In a way I was hurt even more. But knowing really did help. All this time I guess I'd thought that Drea had met me and fallen in love with me, but had been cheating on me for a while. I guess I thought that maybe she was some kind of sex addict and just couldn't stop. Maybe with therapy or something she could be cured. But the situation was completely different from what I'd thought. Drea and her brother had set out to hook me from the beginning. I guess when all is said and done it always comes back to the money.

Maybe, from what Drea said, she did like me or love me a little bit. But the over-riding concern here is, was and always would be, the money. So no matter how badly my heart hurt, my brain had taken over. I'd done the right thing. I was better off without her. In a few weeks I'd be able to buy all the short fat assed blonds I wanted. They have a factory out near Vegas where they make them to order anyway.

With her brother and his biker buddies looking for me, I should probably lay low for a while. I figured the smartest thing for me to do would be to wait until tomorrow when the electrical system would be back online at work and then call in and tell them that I'd have to go out of town for a few weeks. I had a huge bank of vacation hours and sick time, so there shouldn't be any problems.

I'd take a little vacation and after I got my money, maybe I'd simply move somewhere else for a fresh start. There really was nothing holding me here.

I was starting to drift off. A nap sounded good until I realized that I hadn't eaten since that morning and it was almost five p.m. I suddenly remembered my promise to the waitress and headed out to my truck.

I drove over to the café keeping one eye on the road and the other on the lookout for bikers. I walked in and sat down at the same table I'd taken that morning. She was nowhere to be found. I looked around and didn't see her anywhere. Then she came out from the kitchen carrying a tray full of plates. She looked nearly exhausted. Waitressing was hard work and to do it for a twelve hour shift was no joke.

As soon as her eyes spotted me, her face lit up. Her back straightened out and she added an extra swing in her hips. She put the tray full of plates down on the table and dashed over to my table before the other waitress even noticed that I'd come in.

The customers at the other tables were confused. She'd just dropped the entire tray of plates on their table without taking the plates off of it or giving them their orders. They didn't know whether she was coming back or not.

The other waitress was giving her evil looks too. She hadn't finished with one customer and had pounced on another. She smiled at me and told me she'd be back in just a second then went back to the first table.

As my waitress quickly zipped back to her first table to dispense their plates and drinks, the other waitress, a taller chunkier blond who wore a lot of makeup zoomed over. "Did Nadja wait on you this morning?" she asked.

Her voice sounded like cigarettes and hard liquor. Her breath smelled like alcohol covered by breath mints. The smell under that was definitely a uniform that was only washed every other day. Her name tag read "Flo." But she didn't seem to be flowing at all. She had that look of someone who had gone with the flow at one time and ended up stuck in the middle of the stream. Life had passed her by and now she was hoping for a miracle.

She reminded me of an older version of Drea. In her twenties, she'd probably been a really pretty, really curvy blond with an hour glass figure. She'd probably had a big curvy ass, some jaw dropping boobs and a twinkle in her blue eyes. She figured that she had all she needed to catch herself an easy life. So instead of studying and finding a career, she'd taken the easy path. She'd taken the easy way out in terms of her life too. Instead of looking for a lasting love with "Mr. Right," she'd settled for quick fun with a series of "Mr. Right nows."

So now in her forties, the sand in the hour glass had shifted. Her big curvy butt had become just another cellulite riddled fat ass. If you looked hard enough you could make out the dimpling through her cheap nylon uniform. Those jaw dropping boobs were just a wonder bra away from her waist line and their nipples now pointed at the floor instead of reaching for the sky.

Her twinkling blue eyes had lost their glow to too many parties, too much alcohol and too many broken dreams. All of a sudden, she realized that she'd missed out on most of the things that make life special.

For a woman who could once have had almost any man she looked at and did, often times more than one at a time, her own personal hell was realizing that at this point in her life, she didn't have even one. She went home each night calling her sister a bitch, because her less pretty sister lived in a nice split level ranch home with her boring but loving husband and three kids. Flo lived in a fifth floor walk-up studio apartment over a bowling alley.

If something were to happen to her, no one would find her until the smell of the cat shit got so bad that someone had to investigate it.

I saw all of that in the glance I took as she asked me the question.

"Uhm, yeah, she did," I said.

"Did you really give her a tip that was bigger than the bill?" she asked.

"I guess," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

"So uhm what else did she give you? It wasn't anything too kinky was it? Because look, I can do anything she did for you. And I'll do it better and cheaper. If you know what I mean," she said, looking around nervously.

Before she could say anything else, my little brown haired waitress was back and looking at her angrily. I could almost swear I heard her growling under her breath.

"Oh, hey Nadja," said Flo. "I was just taking his order so you wouldn't have to. I know you're busy with the table over there and..."

"You can take them," said Nadja.

"But they're already eating. All you have to do is get their check from them. And, of course, get your tip. It wouldn't be right. You did all of the work," said Flo.

"Mine," said Nadja, smiling at me. Flo shuffled off to the other table. I heard her mumbling about evil bitches under her breath.

Nadja stood over me smiling. The change in her was remarkable. In a matter of seconds, she went from glaring at her co-worker to smiling at me instantly. As I looked at the menu, she seemed pleased. I got the idea that if she could have, she'd have not only taken my order but gone into the kitchen and cooked it for me as well.

"I'll have the fried steak," I said, noticing that she wasn't writing it down.

"No," she said sharply, looking at me and shaking her head.

"Okay, I'll have the grilled steak then," I said.

"Unh uh," she said with the same little shake. "The meat isn't good, it's past its due date," she whispered.

"Uhm a hamburger?" I asked questioningly. I was rewarded with a smile and a nod.

"I'd like fries with that and..." I paused when I noticed her shaking her head again.

"The grease hasn't been changed in weeks. The fries all smell like fish," she said under her breath. "Yuck."

"How about soup?" I asked.

"As long as it's canned. None of that home-made stuff," she said.

"Can I have tomato soup with my burger?" I asked tentatively.

"Yes sir," she said loudly. "One hamburger and tomato soup coming up."

As Nadja went into the kitchen to relay the order, Flo headed back to my table. She kept an eye on the door to the kitchen. "Have you ever heard of the girlfriend experience?" she asked. The door swung open and she quickly turned back to pretend she was just walking past me. When she saw that it wasn't Nadja, she came back, still keeping an eye on the door.

"You get the whole thing. We pretend that we're married or dating. We go out and eat or see a movie, then you get to take me home and have me for the whole night. We can do whatever you want. I can even stay over of you want. It costs more but it's worth it," she said.

"Is it worth your life, you old hag?" Nadja had snuck up beside us so quietly that neither Flo nor I had heard her coming. She hadn't come out from the kitchen either.

"He's not interested in your..." Nadja hissed.

Flo left the area so quickly I thought she had a rocket up her ass. Nadja stood there glaring at the other waitresses. She surveyed the room fiercely. It reminded me of those nature shows where some wild animal has its back against a wall protecting her cubs from all comers. I wondered if the tips were that vital.

I guess this morning had proven me to be a good tipper and Nadja was making sure that everyone knew that I was HER customer. In the back of my mind I knew there had to be more to it than that. She brought me my food a little while later. She had a ratty jacket on over her cheap uniform. She looked like any other woman in her twenties.

"I'm done for the day," she said. "I hope you come back. I'd miss you very much if you didn't. I might even have to track you down."

"Before you go, can I have my check?" I asked. She looked at me strangely.

"You need to eat," she said. "You haven't eaten yet."

"I'll pay for it first," I said. She went and brought the check over. It must have been some kind of dinner special. The bill was 4.99. I gave her a twenty and a five. I thought Flo's eyes would bug out.

"Are you giving me five dollars for a tip again?" she asked. "You don't have to tip me."

"Actually the five was for the meal," I said. "The twenty was your tip. You take really good care of me." Flo dropped her tray of dishes on the floor and stared at us.

"I'd like to," she said biting her lip. "I'd like to take care of you. You come back very soon okay? But you eat now, you're too skinny. Remember what I said about tracking you down. And don't go with the Flo."

Over the next few days I maintained a very low profile. I moved into my new apartment. I got new furniture and had it delivered. Some of the things I brought home in my truck and assembled myself. I stayed home from work but I drove near there often. Nearly every time I went by there I saw motorcycles either directly in front of the building or down the street.

I also changed my cell phone number. That didn't benefit me nearly as much as you'd think. Instead of me being deluged with calls from Drea all day long, I was deluged with calls from my friends who all wanted to tell me how upset Drea was and how badly I was treating her.

I even got a call from the personnel director at my job. He'd met Drea at the company picnic and really thought that he was helping me by relaying her calls to me. I guess he thought that since we were engaged and everyone knew it, he was helping to smooth out the path to marital bliss.