Sin & Savior

CHAPTER 6, PART 4

"This asshole has SOME fucking nerve!!! After all I've put up with trying to make YOU happy....are you KIDDING ME?!?!!?" she fumed senselessly as she careened down the boulevard. When her Bluetooth chimed off into the car radio, she nearly missed recognizing what the tone was indicating. She waited until she hit an exit to pull over and check her telephone for any pertinent message, and found one she didn't at all expect: an invitation by her old work colleague, Giovanni, who everybody called "Gio" considering he was a 5'9" black man without a lick of Italian in him, to a Silent Disco party, which she immediately said yes to. She'd been to 3 before: parties where everyone had their own set of wireless headphones, playing only the music they enjoyed, rather than the stale, dull "hits" that tended to dim the light of the party. They could then remove those headsets to flirt, mingle, order friendly rounds, or anything else they felt needed to occur. She was elated to have been asked, and by the person who'd asked her: he was her favorite co-worker at her old marketing firm job. Well...she'd considered it a job, although it was truly an internship prior to her sophomore and junior years of college.

Unfortunately: that would be the last memory her cognition held fast to in the aftermath of the following night's events. When she awoke the next morning with Broderick claiming he "took care of" and "babysat" her, she thanked him for it through a veil of thorough frustration.

"Hey there, feeling better now?"

"Not really. Run that all by me again, if you don't mind? For clarity's sake."

"Sure thing! So I took your phone to see if I could help you out."

"Stop with the jokes. I mean about last night."

"Oh, that. Um, well, it was pretty crazy, you know? I had to save your life and whatnot."

"The situation you were just explaining to me with you and Alex, Broderick."

"Okay, but what about it? I had to defend myself."

"Against??"

"Don't be ridiculous. You really expect me to admit that I was the one who attacked Alex?"

"No....retrograde amnesia, Ricky. I don't remember SHIT, Broderick. Tell me what happened again. From the beginning, Please."

He shrugged, trying to play it cool. "Uh, well, we were at my place watching a movie, and then we started making out, and...and then things kinda got carried away."

"At your place?"

*Blushes* "Well, you know how it is..."

"No - Rick. No, I don't. I almost never stay the night at your home. I've asked you twice now to recount the night for me. Your reliance on being all dodgy and cryptic is insane to me. If that's your explanation of events - whatever it is.... I'd rather not talk about it."

He sighed as if there were weights in his lungs.

"Fine. Look, I get why you're upset, okay? But please, try to understand where I'm coming from...." He said, struggling to emphasize his point, and failing.

"If where 'you're coming from' is not a full rundown of the day: I don't WANT to understand you, or IT, or where ANYTHING is coming from, Broderick."

Notably frustrated, he glanced at her with a begging desperation in his eyes. "Can you just put yourself in my shoes for a sec?"

"No, I can't. Because I don't remember any of yesterday, for the third time."

"I'm just gonna take off." She said before standing up and attempting to stumble toward her keys, intent on heading to her car immediately. She yanked them off the key-ring holder and stepped out the door in 3 swift and concurrent motions.