CHAPTER IX: SEVERANCE

Nash awoke to a buzzing sounding through his apartment. He looked around groggily, realizing he was alone again, much to his disappointment. He saw the two Halloween masks laying near his dresser and stopped to smile. It had not been a dream. He had shared a night with the woman he was in love with. Realizing the buzzing was someone at his door, and hoping it was Tess, he hopped up and put on his clothes from the previous day along with the huckleberry hound mask.

The mask managed to hide his look of disappointment as he opened the door to find an annoyed Claudia. She gave him a roll of her eyes as she saw him.

"Real cute Nash, Halloween's not for half a year." She stormed into the apartment, her prada overcoat sweeping out like a cape. "Where the hell were you last night? Why didn't you answer the cell OR the land line? I even e-mailed you and got no answer!"

Nash guiltily removed his mask. "Sorry, I got wrapped up in some research and fell asleep." Why was he lying, he wondered? Why was he going to such lengths to keep a deal relationship going? Of course he knew the answer. It always came back to the finances with him and Claudia. And now it made him feel more guilty than ever before.

Claudia bought the line, however. She pouted prettily. "Sometimes I think you care more about your stupid wine than you do me."

Nash sighed. This was getting painful. "Claudia, I need to talk to..."

"Oooh!" She squealed as she wandered into the bedroom, interrupting him. She came out wearing the cat mask. "You got one for me too!" She put a clawed hand out and meowed. "Does doggie want a little pussy?" she teased, scratching playfully at his chest. "You know kitty likes it doggy-style!"

Nash was not amused by the innuendo. Seeing her in Tess' mask made something snap in him. "Take it off!" he growled, snatching from her face.

"Ow!" she cried, glaring at him. "What's wrong, I can't play with your toys anymore Nash?" She moved back into her flirting mode and pressed herself against. "Come on, you let me play with yours, I'll let you play with mine..."

Nash stepped back and turned away from her. He held his the cat mask in his hands, gently running his fingers over it's lines.

Claudia grew annoyed. "What the hell's your problem Nash?"

He turned back to her with a determined look on his face. "Claudia... I can't do this anymore."

"Do what?!" her voice rose with a tinge of desperation.

"This... this lying." Nash gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, but I just think it would be better if we were just friends again."

"Friends?!" she shrieked. "You want to be friends?! Do you think I rent apartments for my friends?! Buy them new wardrobes and computers?! You're not my friend, Nash! You're my property! I bought you and now I own you!"

Nash glared at her. "No. You don't. I never asked for any of this. I asked you to help me find an apartment. I didn't ask you to pay for it or furnish it."

"You didn't turn it down though, did you?!"

"I'd have to be an idiot to. Then again, if I had known puppet strings were attached I probably would have."

Claudia looked like she wanted to scream again, but then stopped suddenly and gave him an evil, little smile. "Oh. I see. You've found another sugar-baby. Someone who can do more for you. She must have more money, huh Nash? Cause that's all you ever look for in a girl." She walked towards him and took his face in her hands. "Look, I'll talk to daddy again, I'll make him back you. You don't need anyone else, I can get you more money..."

"That's not what this is about." Nash removed her hands. "I have met someone else, but she's in no position to help anyone, not even herself. But I think I can help her. And that's a new feeling for me. I like it. I need more of it."

Claudia once again walked towards him, but instead of embracing him she slapped him hard across the jaw. "You bastard!! Are you telling me you're in love?! You?!" She laughed bitterly. "Nash Brennan in love! There must be a comet headed for Earth, because now we have seen everything!" She stopped laughing and glared at him. "So you're dumping me for some bitch who sweet-talked you into thinking she's in love with you? Who the hell is she Nash?!"

"It doesn't matter."

"It's that slut downstairs, isn't it? What's her name, Bess?"

"Tess."

"Oh, he corrects me. Must be her." She smiled wickedly at him. "So what does her husband think of you banging his little woman?"

"She's not married."

"Hmm, well, whatever she is, clearly you're not the only dog sniffing around that trash."

Nash tried to not respond to her baiting, reminding himself she was lashing out because she was hurt. "This isn't about her. This is about you and me. We were friends first, I was hoping we could do this in a friendly way."

"I told you Nash, you were never my friend. If anything you were my employee." She took her checkbook out of her Gucci purse. "So I guess you need some severance, huh? What do you think, two thousand? Three thousand? Well, the sex was good, let's make it three." She began to write out a check.

Nash shook his head ruefully. "Claudia, what are you doing?"

"You know, I feel for you Nash." She continued to write the check as she ignored his question. "This gig of yours really isn't that choice. I mean, late hours, no benefits, no retirement plan... I really wonder what you'll do when that body of yours isn't so hard and that face isn't so pretty. Do you think that tramp'll stand by you, an old Casanova with five bucks in his bank account? She'll dump you like a used condom. Because that's all you are Nash, a nice lay. That winery of yours'll never happen, it'll fail, just like everything you do fails." She ripped out the check and handed it to him. "Here. Take her on a trip or something, make some memories to cling to when you're rotting away in the shelter twenty years from now."

Nash took the check and looked at it. He then took off his sportscoat. "I better turn in my uniform too Claudia. Maybe you can find some other guy my size when you're out clubbing. That way you won't even have to pay for alterations." He threw the jacket and the check in her face and walked out.

"You have two weeks lover boy!" She yelled at his retreating back. "Two weeks notice to find a new place to live or a new bitch to sponge off! And forget about that vineyard! My daddy'll make sure every investor in town slams the door in your lying face!!"

Nash ignored the rest of her shrieks. He paused briefly to knock on Tess' door, but there was no answer. It was just as well, he needed some time alone to clear his head. He and Tess would have the rest of their lives together after all. He wasn't going anywhere, homeless or not.