Scarlet Rose Ranch

Blood, Roses, and the Island Night Life

Dennis had gone through the war of blood and roses, she would make him bleed and he sent her desperate roses, the previous year. It was embarrassing, traumatic, and it was a very public bloodbath, it had also left him quite jaded.
   For a solid year, he had desperately dealt with the breakup and was left shattered.   It was shocking to all who knew them as a couple,  they were seen as the "couple". Or at least it appeared to everyone else, and him! That was not enough to stop her at 40 from running off with a very close friend of his, a 70-year-old retired Air Force Pilot, probably most embarrassing of it all was that this had went on for a year, and he would later learn, while having coffee with the man every single morning. Ultimately she would in fact even marry him.

On his birthday that December day, Dennis declared that this year, is my year, and what a year it would be! He drank so much that year, that his friends were worried he would loose it all, his daily routine consisted of getting off of work, eating a 99 cent burger at McDonalds, and straight to the bar.

He had spent what money he made on Locksmith calls and Private Investigation, when he was off from his retail job, to pay for a hotel room by the night, until a good friend rented him an old trailer house from the '60s.

  He humorously referred to it as the bomb shelter.  When it rained, he would have to slosh through a foot of water, to get to his car it was at most three foot above sea level to begin with. He lost well over twenty pounds throughout the year and was not a big person to begin with.

But, recover he did, and by the end of that infamous year he was solid, almost predatory in his nightlife habits, he would not be in another relationship, and would never allow anyone that level of leverage on him again! He became a hunter and seducer, it had become a game to pick the woman of his next escapade and tell her everything she wanted to hear. He disclosed nothing of himself ever, and the manner in which he carried himself, was strong and authoritative and presented himself as a person of dignity and power.

  It was not hard, for he had in fact been so years before & it was familiar grounds to him. He never divulged his previous split, didn't divulge that he didn't have more than a $100 total at any given time, not that the Child support stripped him of every dime but $108 a week, nor that he was essentially homeless and only staying in the hotel because for a while he had no place as home.

   He was no longer a victim but had, in fact, become the hunter, a very skilled one. Galveston Island is an isolated hunting ground for Damsel's in distress or otherwise horny women.  Everyone living there, was geographically confined to the island, so seeing each other again would be a regular thing, no matter what. Dennis had become a specialized hunter of women from out of town, which alleviated this issue altogether, he knew two truths, he wasn't telling and they weren't telling the truth either anyway!

There was an advantage to hunting at the Holiday Inn, as it presented him with plenty of opportunities, whom he may or may not, ever see again. But Tuesday nights, they were slow and most often just resulted in the same old locals, whom he'd either dated or had no interest in dating period. And his drinking buddies, locals who gathered there almost every night to drink and have fun, just the usual midweek bantering.

But this Tuesday night would be different from any other night ever! It would not only embed a permanent memory, it would also get him celebrity status with those friends, and those whom were told about it, he would not ever put down. An encounter that would be so very unique it would span a couple of years, so hot it could cut through steel, it was epic! He was prepared for anything but even so, he was not prepared for this night's encounter.

He considered, not even going out that night, because it would probably be uneventful. He had no idea how wrong his thoughts on this were, and the level of raw hormones that would permeate the salty night air, before the evening was done. And the allure of an epic romantic encounter like no other.

Dennis worked a remedial job to get by at the time, having lost everything the year before, he was now working for a department store forty hours a week and working in his trade as a Locksmith and Private Investigator, when he was off. The State withheld all but one-hundred two dollars a week for child support leaving him $408 a month, plus what he picked up smithing and PI work on the side, which fortunately was considerably more. With the money he had left, he drank, sang Karaoke, danced, and was in the Holiday Inn Bar most every night. Even the slow ones and for that year, pretty much didn't not ever go to bed sober. Ironic as it was people really couldn't tell, he'd grown up in an ultra-conservative Baptist home, they drank - but it was a sin to be seen as intoxicated!

During this year of rebuilding, he read several   books, one of his favorites was ruthless but great book, by Robert Greene "The 48 Laws of Power". And he had also read the book "How to Succeed with Women" by David Copeland, an excellent read he found, which explained many of the direct influences, which make people (especially women) respond and react to.

He structured what he had learned in these books and applied them in his nightly activities with a considerable amount of success. He referred to the later as his "black book" it has some very interesting insights especially in regards to dealing with problematic issues and flaws in the personalities of others. Most of which, he found to be very accurate, and extremely helpful! He kept this book for years eventually passing it along to friend getting a divorce.

But it would take all of everything he had learned from all the books he had read, to deal with the events to unfold on this balmy spring night on the Gulf of Mexico! This would be an encounter for the books, not from them!

The night began with the usual gathering of the regulars, there was Harrell, Glenn, Harrell's wife, a couple of the local ladies who would stop by to chat, but mostly to see if anyone would pay for their drinking habits, Brad who ran the islands biggest restaurant chain and that was about it. Harrell and his family were a tough bunch, nicest people in the world if you were their friends, but would be your worst nightmare if you crossed him, he had tats on both arms and was always armed with a pistol.  He owned a wrecker company but below all his badass exterior was a troubled but gentle soul and a good friend. Glenn was one of the island smiths and would send Dennis work and let him use the company locksmith van to go out and run calls, he was a self-centered childlike man with little control of his own compunctions and as much helping Dennis, he was doing it because Dennis made him a lot of money!

   Dennis was an established player and known to be a hardcore, drinker, and partier. It was known he did not give one damned about a thing, except having exactly what he wanted, and how to get it!   Some would see him as a sexist womanizer, but in reality, he longed for a relationship with a good woman, he just was at a point in life, he wasn't sure such a thing even existed.

This night and they were sitting around the one section of tall bar stools and island bar which was in the back corner of the bar, it was the local's spot and it gave a Birdseye view of the whole bar and dance-floor. It was early, there were few people in the club so far and a mediocre, middle of the week band, but they were good, so all were having their first drink or two.
   Things in this bar didn't usually light up much even on the good nights until after ten o'clock, and it was getting to be about nine. Dennis had just walked into the front door of the bar and walked over to say hello to the group when the back door to the bar opened. Most locals and entered from the front, but there was a rear door by the swimming pool, which came into the bar from the hotel's room side. From the group table, there was a clear line of sight.
   Dennis had just said hello and in through that door, walked an absolutely stunningly dressed woman in her early forties, with perfect long blonde, pristinely curled hair, wearing a diamond watch and more jewelry than a woman should in Galveston! Not only was she extremely well dressed and groomed, but she was also radiantly beautiful and clearly aware of it! Dennis, who had not sat down yet, immediately walked over to the guys, you know, I believe it's time for me to go get that drink!   Harrell in his always gruff manner mumbled to him, you don't stand a chance! At which everyone at the table laughed.
   Dennis always dressed well and this night was no exception, he walked around the opposite side of the bar as this beautiful mysterious woman was approaching, and he gave his friend Bennie the Bartender a nod, acknowledging he wanted his usual, a stout (double shot) Bourbon and coke. He caught her from the corner of his view, looking him over, as he leaned on the bar to get his drink. All of the perfect queues were in play, it was game on!
   Chardonnay, he asked this beauty, as she approached the bar next to him?