Maneater: Recovery & Redemption

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I sat in the hospital parking lot, awaiting the phone call that Shawn could be released. I thought about taking him home, and then I thought about dropping him off on the side of the road. I didn't know which was the best option, but the fling this afternoon awakened new life into me. The feelings it awakened in me were like no other, making me feel fearless and invincible. The whole sordid charade made my loins tingle. A secret that was all my own, and I didn't have to hear about someone else's pitiful life story in the process.

As I sat, my phone rang.

Will.

"Yeah?" I answered, not even remotely interested in what he had to say. "What do you want?"

"I want you, what else?" He responded. "You got a minute? My wife is in the shower."

"Okay, go ahead."

"Are you home? Where are you? I need to know you can take your panties off."

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head to no one in particular.

"Are you kidding me right now? I'm sitting in my car at the hospital. My husband is in the hospital and I'm picking up my betrothed."

He chortled, as if he didn't believe me. Taken aback, I looked at the phone.

"Why are you laughing, dipshit? What's so funny?"

"You kidding me, Sash? You're going to act like you love him so much now of all times? You didn't seem to love him so much when we were fuckin' each other this morning, but now that I want a little phone action to get me through the night, you're in love? What is this shit?"

"It's me being over you and your shit," I assured him. "You got the nerve to call me and ask me to take my panties off not even knowing where I am, and expect me to just succumb to your clumsy-ass phone sex pickup line? You are so pathetic."

"Oh, yeah? I'm pathetic? At least I have a business and something to call my own. You're just a shitty excuse for a trophy wife. Not like you're with a politician or an athlete. Just a fat-ass laundromat owner."

"Fuck you and everything you are," I gritted between my teeth, desperately trying not to raise my voice in the crowded lot. "Stop being a bitch and get off my phone."

"Not until you give me what I want. Now hurry up before this bitch gets out the shower," he insisted.

I laughed haughtily in his ear. Shaking my head to no one in particular, I adjusted my rearview mirror to see Porky being wheeled out.

"Never. I'm over it," I swore as I hung up. Throwing the phone onto the backseat, I unlocked the doors so the nurses could help Baby Huey squeeze himself into my car. Looking at Shawn struggle to get into the car from this wheelchair had me urging for my Frederick's salesman again, but in an entirely different way. I wanted to be with someone I could do things with because he could move around, not someone I had to help wipe the sweat off his forehead. The need for companionship had gone beyond sex. I thought back to the store momentarily, to the idea of being held up against a mirror. If a thinner guy held me up against a mirror, he could also hold me up when dancing, or help me up a mountain, or go rock climbing with me. Suddenly, I realized that the void in my life wasn't just sexual, but emotional and mental.

*

The evening dragged along as I helped Shawn take a shower and get settled. He needed to be as comfortable as possible as his heart was still weak, so I made sure I moved as quickly as possible so I could have my quiet time. There was no double in my mind that he would be sleeping endlessly after he got a hefty dosage of his medication. I couldn't wait to just be, and think about what I was going to do next.