The Return

Tyr schemed on how to claim his woman as he shaved. His dark skin was full of scars and bruises everywhere but his face, but that didn't stop his musings. It still amazed him that it had taken four years trapped on an island called Purgatory to realize just how much she meant to him. She was always so controlled, so cold around him and he'd always resented her for it. He'd teased her, gotten his friends to torment her and she'd never so much as flinched. How could he have not realized how much she loved him? How could he have been so blind? She'd kept him alive all these years, the thought of getting back to her sustaining him through the worst of his trials. All he wanted now that he'd been found was to see her, even if she only smiled for someone else. She always smiled for other people, but never for him. He'd hated that most of all before his supposed death.

But in all fairness, what had he ever given her to smile about? He'd spent the better part of their lives persecuting her, the same as her parents and everyone else around her. Then he'd bound her to him for the sake of her family's company. He could only imagine how she must feel about him. He'd been bedeviled with her image for the last four years. Imagine, a man who'd slept with hundreds of women and he couldn't conjure a single one in the four years he'd spent in Purgatory. There was only her. She'd been his salvation and he intended to claim her for himself.

"How have things been back at home?" he asked his best friend, Roy as he bathed.

"Well, your mother is remarried," the man said. "She married your father's partner. Do you remember Gregory? They're pretty happy together. Your little sister's raising hell the way you used to. She's been lost without you, I think she'll be happy to have you back. Then there's that no good bitch you married."

"What about her?" Tyr asked, doing his best not to sound too eager.

"She's running your company into the ground! As soon as she took power, she started making all these changes, firing people. It's going to be a relief when you divorce her ass and take the company back. The Board will back you, guaranteed."

"Is the Board that eager to get rid of her?"

"More than eager. If she didn't hold the deciding vote in both companies, they would have booted her scrawny ass out years ago. The cold-hearted skank even had her own brother imprisoned for embezzlement! He's four years into a ten-year sentence, for god's sake. That bitch needs to go."

"What do you mean, 'scrawny'?"

"Didn't you- oh. Right, you wouldn't know. Right after you disappeared, she lost a whole bunch of weight. We all thought that she was trying to attract a new man or something, but she hasn't dated anyone. Not that I blame anyone. Who would want to date that lousy, cold-hearted, back-stabbing bitch, right?" The man went on cataloging her bad traits, but Tyr wasn't paying attention anymore.

Four years and not so much as a date? She really was his woman! Feeling better than ever about his chances, he exited the shower.

"Whew! Someone is feeling better. You're at a half-chub, man. Missing Laurel already?" Roy chuckled. "Don't worry, man, we'll get you some grade-A pussy soon enough."

"Don't bother. I already have someone in mind," he confessed, thinking only of his lady.

"Fine, man. But you're going to have to hold off on all that until the docs clear you," his friend laughed. "Come on, get dressed, the sooner you do, the sooner you can find someone to stick that in!" The two shared a laugh at that, though Tyr had to fake it. The two headed to the doctor for his exam.

"Clean bill of health!" his best friend announced a few days later. "Outstanding, man! Let's go celebrate!"

"I have someone special in mind," the man demurred. "How about a drink instead? I haven't had a drink in four years."

"Sure, whatever man," Roy said, starting to feel a little weird. With his father and girlfriend's sister dead, you'd think the man would jump at the chance to unload on a random body, but he was holding off like he was saving himself. It reminded him too much of that do-gooder bitch for comfort. But the man was right, he hadn't had a drink in four years. Time to get drunk!

… …

"I wonder if she's down there," Tyr said, still thinking of his woman. Two weeks had gone by since he'd come back from the dead, and his mind was constantly on his old nemesis.

"Who, Laurel? It's likely. She's gonna be pissed though, I mean, you know that you took her sister on the honeymoon cruise after spending the honeymoon night with her. Or have you forgotten those little details?"

"I haven't forgotten."

"Right, well, anyway… there's likely to be a LOT of women there to greet you. You are quite popular. And back from the dead!"

"Whatever, man," the man said, settling back in his seat. It was a Friday night and he would be expected to party. Little did his best friend know that he planned to beg off of the festivities, claiming tiredness, and research his woman now that he had access to a computer. Apparently, his little one had been busy in the years since they'd last met. She'd taken over his company and her family company after her brother had gone to jail. She'd also increased their profits by 17% yearly. The Board's problem with her wasn't so much in the current business they did. It was in the potential business she turned away. Apparently, the Christian woman refused to do business with shady businesspeople. She turned down contracts that could potentially make the company millions based on the people that she would have to deal with. This, along with her habit of randomly having the police sweep her companies for drugs and immigration problems had earned her the title, 'the Christian CEO'. Everyone wanted to interview her and he was eager to see some of her late-night talk show interviews.

"You ready for this?" Roy asked as their private plane landed.

"Ready as I'll ever be," the man responded, scanning the crowd for her face. He was sure he'd recognize it after so many years of having her pop up in dreams and fantasies. Hundreds of women showed up to greet him, along with his mother, her husband, and sister. He talked to them all, but didn't stop scanning the crowd for her face.

She wasn't there.

He hadn't expected the crushing disappointment at this. Why wouldn't she come greet him? Technically, they were still married. But then again, considering the blatant hostility towards her from the family and those gathered, he wasn't completely surprised. He would have liked to have seen her though. He would have liked to have seen her first, somewhere private where she could yell and he could confess his love. With this in mind, he let himself fall to the ground. The women fell all over themselves trying to help him up, but he feigned tiredness and pain, insisting that he go to his mother's house. People helped him up, he leaned on his sister to get to the car.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Roy asked once they were in his own room and they were away from the women's sympathy. "You're acting like a damn monk!"

"I'm just… more tired than I thought I was," Tyr countered, trying out his bed. "I want sleep, not chemical highs."

"'Chemical highs'. Are you crazy? You're starting to sound like that-"

"Stop calling her that," he warned, pulling off the top blanket and sheet and laying them on the floor. "Just because she has a solid work ethic and sticks to her guns… It doesn't make her a bitch."

"Will you listen to yourself? You sound like you care for her. You never cared before."

"Look, I spent a lot of time dying and almost dying on that island. It gives one a sense of… perspective. I don't think she was as bad as we made her out to be. I certainly am not going to condemn her actions now. I would have to do some research on it, but I doubt she's as bad as you make her out to be."

"What does it matter? You're divorcing her, remember?" the man huffed, pulling out the divorce papers his best friend had signed all those years ago. The idea had been to sign the papers and then force her to sign them once he came back from his honeymoon cruise with his girlfriend's sister. "Or have you forgotten that little fact as well? I mean, you are still planning to divorce her, right?"

"I'm not planning anything right now, man. I just got back to the land of the living. I plan to sleep and adjust to life as a citizen as much as I possibly can. Good night." Once the man was gone, he got up and went to the computer to research his love. What he found shocked him. As far as he could tell, she hadn't smiled once in four years. Thank God he was back to fix that. The woman was a legend, garnering attention that she clearly did not want. She was everything Roy had unwittingly built her up to be. She would be his. Now he just had to arrange it. Seeing how late it was, he settled into his nest of blankets on the floor. The bed was just too soft.