Chapter 4
The air at 30,000 feet was charged, sparks cracking in the thin space between the warring factions. Michael looked up as the gruff voice of the man he wished he knew only as the bartender broke into his thoughts. For an instant he wondered how much of a beating he could lay out before the midget fought back, then Billy scraped his foot along the ground like a bull and Michael smiled at the thought of watching him charge.
Before her husband had a chance to make an even bigger ass of himself, Maria stepped forward to place her hands on his shoulders, Michael frowning as he saw his opportunity for victory fading.
"Babe, I was just talking to him, making sure he understood, you know?"
"Understood, what? That you're my wife." Billy snapped the words towards Michael, leering at the taller man as he awaited a reaction.
"Oh, I'm supposed to be surprised?" Michael said quickly, pointing to his chest as Billy faltered in his threatening gaze. "Sorry dude, I knew she was hitched."
"You…" Billy flicked his eyes back to Maria. "You told him?"
"No baby, no," she soothed, secretly cursing Michael for prodding his anger. "I…" she grinned as she thought of a way to calm him completely. "I just couldn't help it, you know? When it happened, yours was the only name on my lips."
Michael thought he was going to throw up.
"Really?" Billy asked, his face softening as he stared at his wife.
"Really," she cooed, stroking his cheek with her hand.
"Really!" Michael growled, moving to slide past the scene of sickly sweetness.
Billy instinctively moved to block his path, puffing his chest as he stretched up to full height.
Michael stopped, stared, then glanced at Maria.
"Is he fucking serious?"
She winced as she realized this wasn't going to go smoothly.
"Hey!" Billy challenged, jabbing his finger into Michael's ribs when he dared to address his wife. "You don't get to talk to her anymore buddy. You have something to say, you say it to me."
"Something to say? How about 'Any man that would pimp his wife out at an airport bar, doesn't get to protect her from the big bad man that boned her'? That good?"
"Don't you talk about my wife that way," Billy growled, advancing upon Michael.
Michael resisted the urge to flatten him in front of Maria. "Whoa little man, wouldn't want to strain yourself there."
"Stop it, both of you, stop it now!"
Maria stepped between the two just as a flight attendant rounded the corner and saw the three of them standing together.
"Is there something I can help you…"
"Line-up," Maria said quickly, gesturing towards the bathroom over Michael's shoulder. "We're just figuring out who has to go the most."
The flight attendant nodded slowly as she stepped away, then turned to shoot a peculiar glance at the trio.
"Good save, Sparky here was about to break his leash."
"God damn it, who the fuck do you think you are?" Billy asked fiercely.
Michael cocked his head to one side. "I'm that man that gave her what you couldn't."
Maria closed her eyes as Billy exploded.
"You told him that?"
She swallowed thickly as she wondered how long she had left before they landed.
"Sweetie," she said softly, opening her eyes to meet his furor head on. "I just thought it would be best if he understood, you know? If he knew why we had to do this."
"He didn't have to know I… that I…"
"That Billy and the boys lost the boys? Please man, it was so obvious."
"Michael," Maria pleaded as she used physical force to restrain her irate husband.
"I can't believe you told him!" Billy grunted as he let Maria maintain the human barrier between him and his target. Glaring at Michael while the taller man continued the light smirk of one who knew he'd hit the bull's-eye, Billy finally turned back to his wife pleadingly. "You know I always wanted to be the one for you? I never wanted you to have to find… to have to go through something like that. It must have been awful."
"Sounded like she enjoyed herself to me."
"One more word," Maria said evenly as she whipped around to stare at Michael.
Michael pursed his lips as he shoved his hands into his pockets and took up a forced casual stance against the wall.
"Babe," she continued, turning back to Billy whose suddenly crimson complexion startled her. "Just calm down, okay?"
She rubbed her hand quickly across his chest until his gaze left its task of burning holes into Michael's head and drifted back to her.
"Let me explain," she said softly. "I went with Michael last night just like we planned. In and out of the hotel room, no attachment, no hurt feelings. But then…" she shrugged and turned to shoot a longing glance over her shoulder.
Billy's cough sent her careening around again. "Uh… well," she said lamely. "Then I felt sort of bad, you know? So I… well I spent the night."
"You… did… what?" he ground out, smoke rising in furious puffs from his ears as his blood steamed past the boiling point.
Michael stiffened against the wall as he watched Maria tread into danger.
"I was just trying to do what you wanted," she hurried. "Pick up a guy, fuck him, get pregnant. It was all for you baby."
"You weren't supposed to stay over."
She blushed. "He was so comfortable to sleep on. And after the second time…"
"You did it twice!" he shouted, dropping his voice to a whisper as a nearby passenger coughed loudly to signal his presence. "Twice?"
"Honey, it was just to make sure, you know? Just in case the first time didn't take. And you know… well…" she bowed her head away from him shyly. "Well I kind of liked it," she admitted.
Billy grabbed fistfuls of hair, turning around to pace a few steps up the hallway before whirling back to face her again. "I… you… I…" he sputtered.
"Oh baby," she cooed. "I know it's got to be hard, but you know how long it's been and well… well sweetie, I mean you should have seen it. It was just so big!"
Maria's eyes bulged into saucers on her face as Billy's heart threatened to drum its way through his ribs. Behind them, Michael swallowed a smug smile.
"I can't, I can't," he repeated, turning to his left, then right as his hands pulled helplessly at his shirt and he struggled to process the blatant disregard his supposedly faithful wife had demonstrated. His gaze raked over Maria, onto Michael, and returned before flying back to the instigator of this whole betrayal.
"You," he spat as he pushed past his wife and advanced on her lover. "You did this."
Michael raised himself up to full height and stared with disinterest at Billy's finger poking his chest.
"You made her sleep with you, you with your leather jacket and your…" his eyes wandered down to Michael's midsection as his speech halted. "Your hair," Billy finally finished, dragging his gaze back up across the muscled chest.
Michael's lip twitched as he accepted the veiled compliment.
"Don't you fucking smile at me," Billy threatened, his finger drilling into Michael's ribs persistently. "And don't you even think about smiling at her. You did your duty; your services are no longer required."
Michael looked past the irate man to where Maria stood just out of his reach. Biting back a reply was just beyond his means and he saw her nod imperceptibly as he threw acid on Billy's wounds.
Bending over, he leaned close to the shorter man's ear. "My services pleased the lady, you'd do well to take notes."
He never saw Billy's fist flying toward his face. His nose exploded in a shower of blood as the world before him was lost behind a crimson curtain. Reeling from the blow, Michael pulled back in immediate defense, holding a hand to his face as he peered through blood-washed eyes to find his attacker. All he saw was a concerned Maria looking up at him.
"Are you okay? Jesus, did he hurt you?"
"Where…" Michael looked around to find his payback target.
"Out cold," she replied, accepting a towel from the flight attendant crowding around them and holding it up to Michael. "Here… pressure."
"Out? Did I hit him that hard?"
"Oh babe, you didn't hit him," she said softly, smiling as she cleared his face of blood and saw the amber tones of his eyes peeking out at her. "This nice man took care of him."
Michael was finally able to pick out Billy's body, sprawled on the floor of the cabin, a rather hefty crew-cut pinning his arms to his back.
"What?" Michael mumbled, wincing as he wiped the back of his hand across his face.
"This man… um, excuse me sir?" Maria asked, watching as he encased Billy's wrists in handcuffs. "Are you like a cop or something?"
"Air Marshall, ma'am. Saw him attack this gentleman here, figured it was cause to step in. We'll have him formally arrested when we land in Chicago, that's if you want to press charges," he offered to Michael.
"Ye…" he stopped as he looked to Maria for affirmation. "Whatever you want."
Maria stood to wipe another smear of blood from Michael's face. She shrugged, "I don't know. I think he suffered enough for one day. Humiliated by his wife, arrested on an airplane… maybe we should just let him sleep this one off."
Michael was silent as he searched her eyes for her true intention. After last night, and then today, she was still cowing to Billy?
"I thought you wanted out of this."
"My marriage?"
His lips pursed as he worked his jaw.
"Michael," she sighed.
"Fuck it," he hissed.
"Michael no, listen to me."
"I think I've done enough listening, Maria." His voice was too loud and the Air Marshall cleared his throat as he tried to ignore their fighting.
Michael shook his head as he dropped his voice to a murmur. "You gave me every indication that he made you miserable. Now you want to go off with him? Try to work this mess out? Be my guest, there's no broken heart here."
"I don't believe that."
"Believe what you want. You're going with him, I'm going to Dallas." His eyes blinked quickly and when she looked again she saw that he'd retreated, blocked any chance of true emotion from shining through.
She dropped her eyes, the cloth stained with his blood tightly wound around her fingers. Turning, she tossed it into a trash can and wiped her hands pointlessly on her skirt. One last look at Billy and she knew she couldn't leave him alone in some jail while she committed adultery all across the country.
"I can't just come with you," she said tersely, reaching for his arm as she pleaded with him to listen. "Things are not that simple, I'm married to him."
"I am fully aware of your marital status."
"Michael…"
"No, look," he said, shrugging out of her grip. "I knew you were married before I even slept with you, if I expected it to be over this easy then I'm a bigger idiot than I thought."
"You are not an idiot," she whispered, tears pricking her eyes.
"I'm not?" His voice was cold, the message that he most certainly was vehemently clear.
He turned to move away from her and she grabbed after him once again.
"Don't leave it like this, please?" she begged.
"I'm not the one leaving it like anything."
"Excuse me sir," the Air Marshall interrupted their good-bye as he pulled a still sleeping Billy into a vacant seat and turned to Michael. "I'm going to need to take a statement… when you're done."
"I'm done now."
Ignoring Maria, Michael tried to pull his arm from her grasp. She dug her nails in, yanking him back against her body as she stretched up to whisper in his ear. "Go to Dallas. Maybe…" she stepped in front of him and shrugged as she silently said her final goodbye. "Maybe someday I'll get there too."
"Don't make me any promises."
His voice curt, Michael stepped past the Air Marshall who was busy talking to the flight attendant. He turned into his seat and dropped heavily against the cushion, closing his eyes before he had to watch her pass him. The soft swish of her skirt against her legs nearly sent him up and chasing her down the aisle but he remained seated, confident he could be stronger than the lure of her body.
The short wait until they landed was filled with filing a report against Billy and declining the option to press charges. It burned him deeper that he hadn't even had time to throw a return punch but his revenge wouldn't be had through the Chicago court system. He'd grant her that one last wish.
When they finally landed, the plane taxied towards the terminal and then stopped just shy of the arrival gate. A frozen lever was the cause and the disembarking passengers bundled into their coats for a frigid walk across the snow covered tarmac. Michael tried to stop himself from watching, but the sound of a newly conscious Billy protesting his incarceration was difficult to resist. He watched as the Air Marshall tugged Billy's T-Shirt clad body down the stairs, pushing him unceremoniously into a waiting police car. A smile of satisfaction painted his face until he saw the next passenger exit and it dissolved into a grimace.
The sprinkle of snow filtered towards her body, settling in her hair as she pulled her thin jacket tighter around her. Shoes meant only for the inside of a conference room slipped their way down the stairs and he tensed as he watched her almost lose her footing. Finally, she was at the bottom and approaching the police car when she turned and cast a shaded glance back at the plane.
She couldn't see him, he knew he was safe from her glances but he shrunk back anyway, uncertain if he was ready to see her.
With a last look longingly up at the cabin where she was sure the better option lay, Maria turned and climbed into the car with her husband; ever the dutiful wife, resolved to see him through one more marital trial.