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"You stupid fuck, if you think that me just enjoying myself does half the damage that your ineptness does to our 'image,' you're about as stupid as you look." He gets up in Gerry's face, no doubt getting a face full of rank breath. "Now, I'm just going to say this one more time,stay the fuck awayfrom Clarissa. If you so much as think about looking at a picture of her in the paper, I'm going to choke you with your own gangrenous pickle for a dick."
Gerry stumbles back, pointing a shaky finger in Matthias's face, slurring, "You little shit. When are you going to realize you're a child playing an adult's game? And you're going to cry like a baby when you lose?"
I watch, breath held. I just want it to be over.
Gerry stumbles away, and Matthias doesn’t move until he's sure that's he's not coming back.
Matthias pulls off his jacket and wraps it around me as he leads me to the car.
"Come on, Rissie, let's get out of here."
I grab his wrist, needing to explain. " I don't know what he was doing..."
His arms come around to hug me. "Shhh, it's okay. I'm sorry I wasn't there when he appeared. He's a piece of work."
After standing there safe in the circle of his arms for a minute, he helps me into the car. It's a warm night, but I can't stop shivering.
The clock ticks on the dashboard, like it's mocking me, counting the last few moments I have before I'm going to wake up from this dream.
***
We spend the next week in relative peace after the excitement of the last two weeks, and we fall into a routine trying to fit our two vastly different lives together.
He comes to the club almost every night, or at least is there when I'm done, to take me home. Sometimes he drives me around the city, letting the sound of the night lull me to sleep. One time I woke up, and he'd been driving around the city for over two hours, his hand on mine, as soft music streamed through the speakers, the wind in our hair.
He spoils me constantly. We never talk about finances again after the day he first kissed me, but he takes care of me in a hundred different ways. He pays for everything when we're together as well everything that I might need at the house. He takes me out for expensive lunches, and when one or both of us are too busy to leave the office/club, we'll meet somewhere for a quick picnic lunch, catching up with a sandwich or salad from one of our favorite places.
As the Kids & Care IPO creeps closer, there's no doubt that it's weighing on his mind. He gets almost no sleep, always coming to bed at the same time as me, but whenever I wake up, he's in his office. The demand for Kids & Care shares haven't bounced back as fast as we'd hoped, and time is running out.
We have another meeting with Paula to time the next step in our "marriage"–the wedding. I have a few more months left here before my visa will run out. Matthias tells me that he's hired another immigration lawyer for me and tells me not to call the old one ever again. Something about having heard disreputable things about him. I'm not surprised, that's what happens when you get a number off a telephone.
Day by day, he and I grow closer.
He knows my drink order, I know his favorite setting on the thermostat, he knows what I want for the club in a year's time, I know about his plans for The Americas region of Baxter.
In bed we fit like laser-cut puzzle pieces. He takes me to new heights; I follow him into the light and the dark, taking everything he wants to give me.
Neither of us broaches the topic of our future. The few times we have, the conversations descend into a rehashing of past hurts. So we cocoon in a bubble that lets no one else in.
And when I wake each morning, I wonder if it's going to be our last.
Gerry's text doesn't come.
And I wonder if that was the plan all along. To fuck with my mind so that I'll trigger my own demise?
Anther date looms, an elephant in our bedroom, Damien and My-Linh's wedding. In a week, he'll have to get on a plane and fly away from me.
And no matter that they haven't spoken since Damien found me here, I know Matthias will swim across the ocean to make sure he's there.
He doesn't speak about them much, knowing it's still a sensitive topic for me, but when he does, his affection for My-Linh is clear.
It's the only time I want to scratch his eyes out.
I hate that he likes her, loves her as a sister. I hate that he smiles when he speaks about her, even if it's completely platonic.
I hate that when he leaves, it will be to go to them.
So, I just sit and nod, letting the words wash over me, trying not to ruin the happiness in his voice when he speaks about his family.
