To Have and To Hold

Chapter 12

Michael was really glad he had not put anything substantial into his mouth as he would have either spat it out or have choked.  Had that happened, he was pretty sure Lisa and Debbie would just go at each other while letting him suffocate on the floor. 

He shot an accusatory look at Carlos who appeared to be close to fainting. 

“MJ, we really tried, but she was quicker.”

Michael looked down and shook his head in frustration. She was a pregnant lady.  How in the world did she overpower his highly paid security team?  How quick could she be? It was just ridiculous.  He would deal with them later.  One frigging crisis at a time.

Lisa stared at Debbie, then back at him.  He shrugged his shoulders, indicating he had no idea how in the world she had materialized like some unwelcome genie. 

Debbie seemed the only one in the room having any fun.  She was grinning her Cheshire cat smile while chuckling at his little introductory comment.  Admittedly, it had been pretty asinine, but hey, it was not like he had been given the luxury of time to come up with another more appropriate icebreaker. 

What had happened?  How did things spin out of control this quickly?  The day was heading downhill at neck breaking speed.  And this was one adrenaline rush he neither wanted nor needed.

Things had been truly magical this past night.  Why did he always seem to have to pay for whatever scrap of happiness he had struggled for?  He was flying on an incredible high after he woke up.  Having been with Lisa again opened up all those floodgates and he was happily drowning in the resulting emotional vortex.  She was his once again.  He had not lost her after all.  All he had to do was to play it smart and to not let her control his every thought like she had in the past.  It was difficult: his heart had started to cry out for her when she had had lain there like an angel: peaceful, relaxed.  Then she had awoken and proven that she was a little devil who can stir him to crazy levels of arousal with one look, one touch, or one word.  No one should have this much power over another human being. 

The urgency to have her again and again had been more forceful than he had ever experienced before.   He felt their recent love making possessed an added edge that had not been there before: he felt this crazy urge to prove with every kiss, with very thrust that he could touch her, move her, and affect her more than any other man she had ever been with.  She was his woman again, and he intended to keep reminding her of that fact.  No legal paper, no contract, no ring was needed to enforce his claim on her.  All he had to do was to show her what she would never have with anyone else.  And to hide that she was the only woman he could see himself with until the end of his days.  He might want her and even love her, but he could not trust her.

Carlos’ earlier intrusion had put a small damper on his ecstasy with the information that Debbie had been trying to get a hold of him and had gotten more and more angry upon his staff telling her that he was not available.  Seemed she had this idea that she should have unlimited access just because they were legally married now.  It probably was not a bad idea to sit down with her and once again lay out the boundaries of their relationship: they were friends, and she was his surrogate.  The fact that she was also his wife was a fairy tale constructed for others.  Just another part of the act;  an illusion, he meant to keep separate from the carefully guarded reality of his privacy.  All his life, he had struggled to manage this dual existence: Michael Jackson, the miracle child, the consummate performer, the product.  And Michael, the prankster, the lonely teen, the love-struck young man, the disillusioned fool, the married man, the lover…and soon, the father.  At times, boundaries bled into one another and he himself had some difficulty figuring out which world he operated in.  Lisa had likewise struggled with this concept, and had not always been able to separate their reality from the magic trick.  And he was damned if Debbie now started to get confused, too.