Part 6 R
Zander lay face down on the raft, and Brenda stood at the end of it, her arms around his neck, head leaning against his. He had called her to meet him at the swimming pool as he was leaving work.
"She said something about me signing away my rights," he said. "It might be the best thing. She's married to a stable, older guy. That has to be better for any kid."
"On the surface," Brenda said. "But don't jump to sign off. You'll know that kid is your flesh and blood. And Sonny is an organized crime boss. If he were a gardener or a mechanic or even a tennis pro, I'd agree with what you just said. But his stability is all illusory."
"Your vocabulary, Brenda!" Zander grinned. "That expensive prep school wasn't totally useless. But then the mob is a given, here. Mama is a – a mob – mob wife, a . ."
"Mob groupie," Brenda laughed.
"So wouldn't it be better to be the son of the crime boss at least, then the stepson of the crime boss? If the mob must be in your life, you may as well be placed as high in it as you can be."
"OK," Brenda said. "It is something to keep in mind."
She leaned up and kissed him, long and slow.
"Of course, Sonny may dump her at any time," Brenda said.
"If you set your sights on him, she's dead meat."
"I won't be bothering with that," she said. "But anybody else could. And she will do something stupid someday."
"She already has."
"I'm not sure. I'd rather have your kid than his!"
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I know you were planning to have his at one time."
"And lucky for me, I won't be!"
"You complained he dumped you at the altar."
"Doesn't mean I'm not grateful now! I was ticked off then, of course! But he did me the biggest favor of my life!"
"Now our kids," he grinned, "shouldn't be, because the risk of insanity is too great. Isn't that inherited?"
"They'd be crazy, all right. But they'd be awfully sexy."
"Yeah. Oh. That gives me another thought. Carly ought to know about my mother."
"Want me to tell her for you?"
"Thanks, but you've had enough of this dumped on you already."
"It's OK."
They kissed in the elevator on the way up to her room, in a delight of anticipation.
He lay on his back on her bed. She sat over him, head thrown back. He was blown away by her beauty – the shape of her breasts was so perfect, her shape in general, and her face, a model's face, of course. The way her curls dropped over her neck and her face. She was the biggest turn-on he had ever known. He thrust slightly harder, to see if she liked it. Her response was to show, at least, that she liked it very much.
He thought she must be playing him; couldn't possibly want him, but was at a loss to do anything other than enjoy the ride. He had no way of figuring out what she was playing him for.
These thoughts went into oblivion as she leaned over him now, panting faster with louder shouts. He was caught up in a crazy excitement. He felt her thighs and then squeezed her buttocks, which got her to sit back up and scream as he finally sent her over the edge.
She was so amazed he was still hard, and with an air of almost kindness, kept going until she sent him over the edge too. A woman's advantage, she thought.
She ordered room service up a little later. "Watching you eat is sensy, sexual, sensous," he said.
"Sensuous," she said. "Your vocabulary can always use more work."
"You are so sexy," he said. "What do you want with someone like me, when you can have anyone?"
"Maybe you could have anyone."
"I know I can't."
"Neither can I. I'll take it as a compliment that you think I can somehow do better than what I just got back there in the bedroom."
"There's all this stuff you could be trying for. Sonny, you deny it too much. I don't know how doing me helps that, but maybe it's to distract Carly, make her jealous, and . ."
"How much denial is too much?"
"Maybe that wasn't fair, I don't know."
"Don't worry about him. I would not let him hurt you. Even if I had been carrying out the plan you say, I would have changed my mind by now. I'm not capable of carrying out a plan, any more than you."
"That's true!" He laughed.
"Now, what I want you for is pure, unadulterated fun, which you give like no one else can."
"You too."
"You could be using me to get mama Carly jealous, for all I know."
"No."
"Did you know she was on her way over the other night?"
"No!"
"OK. I'll buy it for now. I admit, that was kind of fun. The look on her face!"
"Oh, she wasn't jealous about that! In the end, she must have liked it. Probably ran to Sonny to tell him, because it makes you look bad!"
"Oh, I don't know. She misses it. She's got to be missing it. I know for a fact what she has might be more stable, as you say. But it is not more fun!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he replied.
Zander went to Kelly's before work, and drinking a cup of coffee, asked Bobbie Spencer, who poured it, if one of the rooms was open.
"There's the one Emily had," Bobbie said. "Open again. But I've got some space in my brownstone that's better. There you've got more of your own space, and even a kitchen, though you have to share it with Detective Taggart."
"Oh, boy."
"Well," she smiled. "You haven't been in much trouble lately, have you?"
"No. Maybe being that near him could keep me out of it yet better. A constant reminder, sort of. At least it would make it more convenient for him to arrest me."
"It might make some things more convenient for you, too," she said.
He looked at her a minute, realizing.
"Carly told you her big secret?"
"She did."
"Aren't you on the side of – well, passing the job on to Sonny?"
"Actually not. It's not my take on things. Children should know who they are. She ought to remember more how she felt about not knowing her biological parents. It is going to be hard enough with Michael when he gets older. I don't know why she even considers compounding the problem."
"I do. She thinks Sonny will kill her."
"Well, she is awfully insecure."
"I have to tell her some stuff about my family."
"That's good. Do that."
"I have to work all day. Do you know if she's going to be here or anyplace tonight?"
"Come over to the brownstone."
"OK."
"You can have a look at the place, too."
Brenda went to Kelly's later in the day to meet Ned. They talked about the record company for awhile. Laura Spencer stopped in, saw her and seemed happy she was in town. Laura explained she was now part owner of a cosmetic company and would love to talk to Brenda about modeling.
Pleased with business for that day, Brenda went to get an iced tea to go. She took it from the young girl now working behind the counter, then turned to see Carly standing there.
Brenda went on outside, thinking for a moment she might be able to resist, but lingered a minute in case Carly couldn't.
"Your chances with Sonny are dead," Carly said as she came out. "I'm going to make sure he finds out you were screwing that stupid kid."
"That's no way to talk about the father of your child," Brenda said, sipping iced tea. "And it's no worse than what you did. You're the one he knocked up."
"You better keep it to yourself if you know what's good for you," Carly was overcome with anger.
"Is that a threat? Woooh, I'm so scared. But hold onto your britches. You can have the old man. I'll take the young stud."
Carly took a step closer to Brenda and slapped her across the face.
"Oh, wow that hurt. It's worth it, though. I'm having too much fun, er, let's say, getting too much satisfaction, oooh, you know, um, well, you saw the other night! I'll just take that slap as evidence of frustration. You haven't had any orgasms since, well, since the time you conceived, I'm sure."
Carly had had it with that, and pushed Brenda, punching with all her might. The plastic cup of iced tea fell and spilled all over Brenda and the ground. Brenda was shocked at how primitive Carly was – she had been thinking this cat-fight would consist on verbal barbs; now she realized Carly was a nut case through and through. She pushed back, and tried to defend herself.
Eventually, she realized Jason Morgan had come along and forcibly taken Carly off of her. Carly still struggled for awhile in Jason's grasp. "Run that bitch out of town, Jason!" she yelled.
Brenda got up and started straightening out her clothes and her hair, in automatic gestures.
"There really isn't anything for you here," Jason said to Brenda. "You really should get out of town."
"Yeah, there's something for me here," Brenda grinned wickedly at Carly, from who she was now safe. "Carly understands."