I tried to catch up on what was going on.
“It’s none of your business what I do with her,” Bernie said. He appeared drunk, but it could’ve been dizziness from the blow to the head. He staggered.
“You son of a bitch!” Owen yelled, lunging toward Bernie.
I jumped in front of him and put my hands on his bare chest. “Owen, calm down. Calm down.” I didn’t think it would take so much effort to hold him back. We were roughly the same size, both about six feet two and two hundred twenty or thirty pounds. But it really was taking all I had to hold him back.
“Get off me, Andy!” Owen had never yelled at me before, but he sure was now.
“Just calm down. What’s going on?”
“That bastard broke in and...he done things to Carla while I was right next to her! I’ll kill him. You hear me, you bastard? I’ll kill you.”
I gave Owen one last push and turned toward Bernie.
“Bernie, is that true? Why? Why’d you do that?”
Bernie waved his hand like it was nothing. “She wanted it.”
Owen sprang for him, going around me, but before he got to Bernie, Carla did.
She came from nowhere it seemed and swung a golf club with more strength than I would’ve guessed any woman to possess. It connected solidly with Bernie’s crotch. The howl that arose from him at that moment made my skin crawl.
He grabbed his damaged goods and doubled over in agony. He fell to his knees in a heap and sobbed, writhing in the street. I was pretty sure he was crying.
I saw Carla raise the club high above her head, and I barely had time to react. I leaped toward her, grabbing the club before she brought it down. She was easier to hold than Owen, but she was still a force to be reckoned with. The anger and hatred she felt for Bernie at that moment for whatever he’d done to her gave her strength that she surely didn’t possess on any ordinary day.
“Don’t,” I said quietly to her. “He’s not worth doing time over.”
She allowed me to take the golf club from her. The hollow look in her eyes made my heart ache. I didn’t know what Bernie had done to her. I probably couldn’t even begin to imagine the things he’d done. I didn’t want to try. I’d never liked Bernie. I’d always thought he was creepy. The look on his face had always suggested to me that he was in the middle of some seriously perverted and twisted fantasy. Even though I didn’t really know Carla, I felt for her at the moment in a way I never thought I would. Looking into her empty eyes gave me a small taste of her pain.
Fortunately, Jill arrived at her side just in time for Carla to bury her face in Jill’s shoulder and weep uncontrollably. I watched as Jill led Carla into her house, where she would no doubt succeed in calming her down. That was Jill. I loved her for reasons such as that.
I turned back to Bernie. He lay in the street, moaning and groaning.
“Maybe you’ll think about the next time you want to mess with somebody,” Owen hissed.
I felt sorry for Bernie briefly. He was in the street bleeding, in ripped jeans and a torn shirt, scuffed cowboy boots, and he was crying like a baby. His life was crap. He was crap. He would never again be anything other than that. He was trash. He was pathetic.
“I better never see you over here again. If I even think I see you look toward this house, I’ll kill you. You hear me?” Owen said, with one finger pointing down at Bernie like a dagger. “Never.”
Bernie ignored Owen and continued writhing in the street. Owen walked up the steps and into Carla’s house. I turned to give Bernie one last look before I followed suit. He was slowly crawling toward his house.
I stood over him, leaning down so he could hear me better.
“If you ever make my friend this angry again, or if you ever mess with Carla again, I’ll kill you. Got it?” I thought about kicking him, but figured he was suffering plenty already.
I’d never liked Bernie. I didn’t know anyone who did. Maybe Hazel, the little old lady next door to me, but I don’t even think she liked him. She just always tried to find something good in everyone. I couldn’t imagine that there was any good at all in Bernie. I thought about it for a second, but I couldn’t think of a single thing.
I thought about Owen threatening to kill him. I wondered if he really would if he caught Bernie here again. I remembered the look on Owen’s face and decided that he would. Hell, if Bernie had the balls to break in and defile Carla while Owen was next to her, he deserved to die.
Then, I wondered something I wish had never crossed my mind. If Bernie had enough guts to come in and do whatever he’d done with Owen laying next to Carla, what would he do without Owen there?
40 Bernie
I made my way into the kitchen, where I grabbed two cold beers from the fridge. I sat down carefully in a kitchen chair and popped the top on one of beers. I guzzled it while I placed the other one on my love nub. Who knew the broad could swing like that?
I hoped there was no permanent damage. It felt like it now, but maybe when the swelling went down, it would be fine.
I finished the beer and threw the bottle across the room. I reached up and gently touched the side of my head where blood ran freely from the gash. That damn Owen. A knot the size of a golf ball had risen up from my skull. It stung and throbbed liked a bitch. I hadn’t even seen it coming. I hadn’t had time to duck or throw my arm up or anything. That was fighting dirty.
I hated that damn Owen more now than I ever had before. I wouldn’t have bothered him at all. He could’ve rolled over and let me have at her, and things would’ve been just fine. But no. He had to step in and screw everything up.
I couldn’t help but smile when I thought of it, even though I was in misery. I’d gotten off – finally. And while I was touching her! Even better. It’s not what I’d planned, but it would do.
For now.
But it wouldn’t do forever. I was going to go back over there, no matter what that damn Owen said. He didn’t scare me. And now that I knew he was keeping watch over the broad, I’d be better prepared next time.
And next time, I wasn’t going to settle for a stupid diddling. I wanted it all. I would have her, completely. Tonight might’ve eased the need to have her, but it didn’t erase it. It was still there. The desire to be inside her, to squeeze and bite her flesh...It was almost too much to bear.
I fished her panties out of my pocket. I gave them a good looking-at and them brought them up and buried my face in them. I breathed deeply through my nose, inhaling her scent. I could feel the tingling in my crotch through the pain. I had no doubt there would be a raging hard-on waiting to greet me in the morning.
41 Owen
After things calmed down and everyone left, Carla and I laid on the couch together. She wasn’t ready to go back to the bed yet, and I didn’t blame her. Plus, I wasn’t tired.
I was still seething at Bernie. I didn’t want her to see it, though. I wanted to help her calm down and I couldn’t do that if she saw the fury in my eyes. I pulled it together and lay with her on the couch, talking until she fell asleep. I remained awake, mulling everything over in my mind.
I would never be able to forget the sound of Carla’s voice when she shrieked, as she realized what was happening or the look on Bernie’s face as he spilled his vile seed on her bed.
I would also never forget the way Carla looked when she bashed his groin with the golf club. She was angry and she was standing up for herself. I was proud of her. Had she not had the presence of mind earlier to stash weapons around the house, who knows what would’ve happened? We wouldn’t have had a golf club in the bedroom. I would’ve had to fight Bernie with my fists, which I had no doubt I could easily do. But what if I hadn’t been here tonight? If I hadn’t been here, and she hadn’t thought ahead and put the club in the room, what would’ve happened?