Two's a Crowd Ch. 10

I went on. "The woman at the engagement party was Myriam, wasn't she? So was the woman fucking Erica at the request of Enthwistle. And so is the woman I am talking to now. There may be a lot of Estelle inside you, Myr...but you can't give me that shit about not knowing what goes on anymore. Do you hear me?"

I had stepped closer and grabbed her arm. She looked very scared.

"I...I don't know what..."

I cut her off. "You DO know, Myriam. You know everything. And you know a hell of a lot more than I do! What the fuck is going on? What are you and Erica after? How well do you know Onslow? How long have you known him? What is he to you? What is Erica to you? What's still there for me?"

My barrage of questions left her flustered. Her eyes were down now, so was her head. I was stumbling around in the dark, but her reactions told me I was on to something. "Do you love Erica, Myriam? Is that it? Do you have sex with her?"

Her eyes shot up again. She was a little bunny caught by a snake.

The floor seemed to shift under my feet. "You are, aren't you?" I almost whispered. "I saw it when you were together. In the car, in the bathroom. Why shower together? Why shower right before she left and before I came home?"

I once more grabbed her arm. "Do you love her?"

Her head ever so slowly nodded. "We, eh..." she said. "We have to talk."

"Go ahead," I said. I slumped down on a kitchen stool.

"Arnold...I mean, Enthwistle senior forced me to have sex with Erica." Her voice was almost a whisper. "You saw that." Her eyes seemed to plead with me to believe her.

"I saw you having a great time with her, yes," I answered. "As no doubt you had with him, too. And with the Turd, his son. And god knows how many friends and customers. Now don't tell me that wasn't you."

She looked very sad. "That wasn't me, Bruce. You must believe me. It wasn't me."

I shrugged. Somehow my sudden rage had flushed out the depression. It cleared my eyes. In the new light I just saw a whore at my table.

"What you saw was what Enthwistle made me do," she insisted. "Don't ask me why, but he made me do things I don't understand at all."

"I DO ask you why, Myriam," I said. I tried to keep the rage out of my voice.

"I can't tell you."

We just stared at each other for a minute.

"Anyway," I said at last. "Erica."

"Arnold...Enthwistle had ways to blackmail me and my mother."

I groaned. "For god's sake, Myr! Blackmail? Who do you think I am?"

She shrugged. "It is true. He made me. But I must admit that I was very much taken in by Erica. Even at the engagement party. And seeing her helpless on the bed -- and watching her respond to my love making...She's very sexy, Bruce."

"I never knew you loved women, Myr. But then again, I never knew you at all, did I?"

She didn't respond to that. She paused for a second. "Yes, Bruce," she then went on. "I fell in love with her. I couldn't help it. Every time I see her, I get all weak. And she says she loves me too."

I played with the beer can. I didn't know what to feel or what to think.

"Bruce?" Her voice was distant. "Do you want me to go? Should I leave?"

I rose abrubtly. "No, Myr," I said. "You stay. I leave. And when I come back tomorrow, you're gone."

"I love you, Bruce."

"No, you don't."

***

The apartment was empty. So were the closets and the drawers Myriam had been using the few days she'd stayed. The new clothes I had bought for her were gone. So were her lingerie and toiletries. Even her scent seemed to have evaporated.

The loneliness of the house matched the emptiness inside me. I walked around the Park till sundown. Then I went to a bar. I have no memories after that until I woke up the next morning with a severe hangover.