"We didn't even make it inside the office." Vincent stretched his arm over his head, fully satiated, glitter shinning on his chest hair; with Tess' s curtain of ink black hair spread over his chest.
"Kinda feels like our honeymoon."
"No it doesn't. You can't tell Sean what we did in here, he'd kill us both if he knew how we violated his props." She said, rolling away from him. The whole room reeked like sex, cheap booze and sweat. She wanted to clean it up and go home.
"I'm sure one of his boy - toys can arrange something as a replacement. " He said with a snort. "Consider yourself lucky that corset is still in one piece.
"Why are you so caught up on Sean? We need the props for the show, he has every right to be upset, but I'll spring for the dry cleaning bill so he'll never know. "
"We said this is like Fight Club, Tess." He stretched and his back popped as he got to his feet. "Do you want a ride home?"
"No, I'm fine here, you should call a cab." She said, picking up his pants from the floor and handing them over.
"Is this your way of saying it's over?" He handed over her bra before pulling his shirt on.
" It's been over, Vincent, a long time before this." The kicker was, she didn't even feel bad. She wasn't ashamed, she wasn't angry. She wasn't anything. Nothing, she felt absolutely nothing for this man that at one point she pledged to spend her life with.
"You're right."He grabbed his coat from the floor. "I'll see you. " And the door closed, the sound of footsteps on the metal staircase abated. She shoved the feather fans in the corner of the closet and doused the room in air fresher.
"Bye." She said to the empty room. She went down to the bar, they had closed the club hours ago. All the girls left after the final number. Tess reached across the bar and poured a shot of tequila; drinking alone wasn't all that bad. Fuck Vincent. Fuck his cheating ass and who gives a fuck if it was years ago. He still cheated on her, he still stumbled in drunk every other day of their marriage.
He couldn't drink at the club and support her, oh no he had to stick his dick in everything that walked while she worked to keep the place going. Part of her knew he enjoyed humiliating her with every thrust inside some bar fly.
Okay, maybe she was a little bit ashamed of herself.
She downed another shot, straight from the bottle. Fuck the glass, too.
Maybe she was a little angry, a little bitter.
Everything he did was payback, she deserved it for running a business instead of her household.
Fuck that, twice.
"Hey, Gorgeous." Like clockwork, Vincent left and Sean entered. "Got enough for two?"
"Always." She slurred, her head rested on the cool stone bar-top.
"Too bad. " He reached for the bottle and screwed the cap back on and replaced it on the other side of the bar. "You're cut off, now what's with the liver abuse?"
"I thought you left."
Without saying goodbye, never. Now tell Sean all about it." He began massaging her shoulders, trying to remove some of the weight they carried.
"I hate my ex husband, Sean I hate him more than anyone in the whole world!"
"Honey, I hate your ex husband, everyone hates him. What happened tonight?"
"I hate him! I hate how much he hurt me, he never wanted me or the club; he only stuck around when it was good for him."
He leaned in close, "he's a selfish prick, Tess and he didn't deserve you." He said in her ear.
"I fucked him!" She confessed, "all over the closet, he kept going on and on about how boring I was when we were married and I just-I don't know- I wanted to prove to him that I'm not."
Sean stopped massaging, "you don't have to prove jack shit to him, Tess."
"I know-but-" She raised up to look at him with glassy eyes.
She didn't deserve this, her tears were too special to be wasted on a piece of shit like Vincent.
"Clearly you don't know, now come on and let me drive you home. I won't let you sit here and puddle over some man whore who gave you a ring. "
"Why are you being so fucking mean, Sean?"
"I'm not. It's not a judgement, it's the truth. Now come on, we're going to sober you up and you can sleep it off."
" Look here, Sean Boy, I may be drunk off my ass, but I know my house is in the other direction. " Tess said from the back seat of Sean's car at least her mood was improving.
"We're going to my house." He lowered the window on her side, the cool summer breeze whipped through the car as he drove down the interstate; "just sit back and relax."
"Just shut up and take me home. "
He parked on the curbside and opened her door, chivalry isn't dead after all. She looked up, lifting her head from her lap. "What's your plan?"
"You're going to eat and sleep and I'll take you home tomorrow. "
"When did you become such a mother hen?" She asked, stepping, more like falling out of the car.
He caught her arm, "when you decided it was a good idea to slam half a bottle of tequila in twenty minutes." He helped her up the steps, she kept a death grip on the railing.
"As fabulous as those shoes are, consider them confiscated until you can see straight." He said and unlocked the door.
"You are way too good to me. " She said and sat down on the sofa, her head lolled to one side against the arm.
"Everyone is entitled to a night of reckless sex, " He called from the kitchen; heating a pan and cracking eggs into a bowl.
"Not me, " she countered and propped her hand under her head to stay upright. " My entire marriage was nothing but a giant mistake."
Sean reappeared with two steaming plates of scrambled eggs and buttered toast. "The good thing is-"
"We didn't have kids."
"I was going to say at least you got to keep the club."
He sat next to her, putting their plates on the coffee table.
"We would have done a number on kids, I'd be paying therapy bills until the day I died."
He pulled her close until her head was leaned against his chest.
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself and eat your eggs. "
"Stop bitching at me."
"Everything will look brighter in the morning, " he said and began to play with her hair. Screw the eggs, he'd rub her back while she slept, like he always did when shit hit the fan and make breakfast in the morning.
