To Good People

“Pete! It’s Chris. Hey, sorry I didn’t catch you. Uh, I have to cancel on the ski trip this weekend. The wife decided she wants me home for some family time. She’s got the purse strings so you’ll have to enjoy yourself without me. But I’m sure you’ll forget all about me with that new girlfriend of yours. Alright, I’ll call ya next week.”

Pete sighed. His friend had now cancelled. And still no word from Ava. A whirlwind romance since he had taken her out two and a half months ago and now suddenly nothing. Nothing at all. This had once had the promise of a great relationship, with the constant texts, daily calls, endless daydreaming, and just when it seemed to get serious, nothing.

With another sigh, Pete sat up in his bed. Newborn daylight streamed in through the thin drapes and lit the well-decorated bedroom. The light revealed the clean spartan look of a bachelor pad with rich grays and dull metal accents. This was not the best start to the day, but it was time to get up and go to work.

*** *** ***

“Morning,” Pete acknowledged the receptionist in the office lobby as he always did.

“Hi, Pete,” she cordially replied. “The giants are in again today.”

“Oh. Thanks for the warning,” Pete said with a cringing smile. Humor was how the employees had come to deal with the stress of the new owners and their “operations review.” Rumors of layoffs hung thick in the air and only festered further with the two visiting executives meeting one-on-one with the senior staff day after day.

Pete had barely recovered from his uncomfortable smile when another voice called out to him from a distance. It was that of his boss. “Peter.”

Turning around toward the sound, Pete saw his boss briskly approaching. The speed of the boss’ walk belied the weight shown in his shoulders. “Peter, I have to talk to you.”

The employee and the receptionist exchanged a worried glance, and Pete started toward his boss, who was now gesturing into a small side conference room.

*** *** ***

The room was bright. Newly unemployed, Pete was not used to being at home this hour of day. He was usually in the company of his colleagues at the office or on weekends out with friends. But this was the Friday before the long-awaited ski trip. Pete sat in his chair, staring out the window in silence. His cell phone hung lazily in his hand. In this defunct state, his fingers clung to the hope of some social contact. Despite another unrequited call and unanswered voice mail, still no word came from Ava.

It was then that the text message appeared. “i need 2 talk 2 u”

Nerves welled inside of him. It was finally a message from Ava but not the smoothing words Pete was hoping for. His heart hammered as he pondered calling her. This could be the answer to explain Ava’s absence. It could be so innocent. It could be such a relief. But it could also be heartbreak.

Another moment of frozen torment passed and suddenly the phone rang. Ava’s face popped onto the screen, smiling sweetly from a photo snapped in a different era.

“Hello,” he finally answered, relieved his voice did not crack under the mental strain.

“Hi, Pete. How are you?” she replied in a cordial, joyless voice.

His mind raced. He just wanted her to tell him. Where had she been?? What was going on??

“I’m fine,” he finally muttered, his voice now obviously wavering.

A muffled sigh came through the phone. And then, in a painfully sympathetic tone, Ava cut right to the point. “Pete, you know I've had such a wonderful time with you the last couple weeks.”

He felt his heart collapsing as she continued, “It’s really been wonderful... But I have an ex.”

There was another terrible pause before she went on, “I need to be direct with you. Me and my ex are getting back together. I met you when we were in a rough spot – me and my ex. And I really am so glad I met you. It’s just...”

She paused again, at a loss for how to soften the message. Her own emotions began to surface and overtake her. But he didn’t utter a sound for fear that he would burst into tears.

“I’m sorry, Pete. It was really great spending this time together. That’s something I will never forget.”

This time she waited out his reply. It finally came in a soft, broken whisper. “I knew something was going on when I didn't hear from you.”

“I’m sorry,” she interjected with sincere feeling.

More firm in his speech, Pete continued, “I understand.”

Now openly weeping, Ava groped for consoling words but clumsily failed. “I’m sorry. You were… so great to me. I hope you are okay.”

His composure once again began to crumble as the two continued the dance of heartbreak. With emotion climbing to a crescendo, Pete proceeded to drive the conversation to a hasty close.

“Yeah, it was a good time. I’ll talk to you later.”

Ava fumbled for her own closing words, finally awkwardly blurting, “Yeah, later.”

He ended the call, knowing there would be no later. His eyelids dropped closed and his phone slowly slid from his hand.

*** *** ***

I came all the way out here. I may as well enjoy it, Pete prodded himself by internal monologue. He forced his foot into the ski boot, and then struggled with the next.

Now fully suited up in his skiing garb, his phone rang. The thought flashed, could it be Ava? Could she have come to the ski lodge after all? How wonderful, he dreamt as he finally freed his phone from his inner pocket. But the call came from Chris, the other no-show on the planned three-person trip.

“Hello.”

“Hey, Pete. Sorry again about Lucia sending me off this weekend. I’d rather be on the slopes with you.”

“Heh, yeah.”

“But you must be having a good time with Ava.”

Pete had mentally readied himself for this topic, so his delivery did not skip a beat. “Yeah, I didn’t tell you but she’s not here. We broke up.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Chris replied, also without skipping a beat. “You alright?”

“Yeah. Not everything works out, ya know.”

Chris broke the short intervening silence. “Did you go up to the mountain?”

“Yeah. I’m here. Can’t let the tickets go to a complete waste.”

“Right. That’s why I was calling. Everything is booked under your name. Enjoy the place. Order room service. Just bill it all to the room.”

“I really need to thank you, Chris–”

“No, no,” Chris interrupted. “This was supposed to be my trip too, so you live it up for the both of us.”

Peter cracked as close to a smile as he had a right to. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, go hit the slopes.”

“I’m heading up to the Black Diamond course now.”

“Ooh, I didn’t know you were that good.”

“I’m not but I’m in that kind of mood.”

“Ok, well, have a good run,” Chris said, adding, “It’s all downhill from here.”

The conversation halted before Chris quickly amended his comment, “…on the slopes. Enjoy it.”

“Yeah, ok.”

“Alright.”

And the two exchanged good-byes.

*** *** ***

The ambulance driver left Pete to his new home, a bed deep within the sprawling mansion of his friend, Chris, and wealthy wife, Lucia. Lucia stood there looking at Peter in his immobilized state. An arm broken, both ankles in casts and a patchwork of bloodied contusions offered a lot to behold.

“So do you blame me?” Lucia poked with a whimsical smile.

“You?” Pete answered back incredulously.

“Well, I am the one who funded your little trip into disaster.”

Peter pressed his lips and turned his head slightly. It wasn’t as off-putting of a remark, knowing from whom it came. Lucia was an astoundingly beautiful woman, and as rich as could be. So much of whatever she did was simply accepted for one or both of those reasons. And somehow, with her charms, that was even done happily.

“Well, I’ll let you get some rest,” she said, looking with an ambiguous expression of sweet sarcasm. “Try and stay off the phone, and get some sleep.”

“Thanks, Lucia. I really appreciate the help right now,” Pete replied with sincerity.

“Oh, don’t mention it,” she sighed with false humility, as she turned to walk out the door.

“Well, it is your fault,” he jabbed.

With penetrating eyes, she whipped her gaze back on him. She was his best friend’s wife, but that stare could spear any man. And Pete found himself frozen in the headlights of those eyes – flirting with danger.

Soon enough, with that mischievous smile, she disappeared, and the door closed behind her. Touched by guilt, Peter’s thoughts recoiled back to his friend. Despite the suggestion against it, he grabbed his phone and dialed.

“Peter! Hallelujah! I am so glad to hear from you.”

“Yeah. Hey.”

“Is Lucia taking good care of you?”

“Yup,” Peter snapped, squirming at the thought. “She has me in her clutches for sure.”

“Oh,” Chris stammered, “you have no idea.”

“So where are you?”

“Aw, Lucia has me out fighting the good fight for her.”

“Oh, so you're not around then?”

“Not for some time.”

“She’s tough on you sometimes, eh?” Peter cracked, somewhat empathetically and somewhat not.

“You have no idea,” Chris sighed.

“Well, she’s your soul mate. I guess you are lucky to have her.”

“Ha,” Chris snorted with sarcastic amusement, “you really have no idea.”

*** *** ***

Peter’s eyes opened into the dark room with only an alluring silhouette visible at the doorway.

“You are cute, all bundled up in your bandages.”

“Hey, Lucia,” Pete groaned in a groggy malaise.

The switch suddenly flipped on. Pete’s eyes crinkled in the blinding light, as Lucia nestled herself onto the edge of the bed next to him.

“It is time to change your bandages,” she said, almost with a hint of glee.

Pete’s agonized expression maintained, even as his eyes adjusted to the light. The bandages were now a regular source of pain in his life, and that had only worsened since leaving the hospital for Lucia’s care.

“Hey,” she prodded in a gentle voice. Her soft warm hand came down to cradle his.

“Alright, let’s do it,” he conceded.

And the process began. She tugged at the edge of the dressing and started to unfurl it slowly into a repeating pattern of white and red-stained cotton. With each unnecessary tug on the taught fabric, the lesion beneath sang with stinging pain. But under the attentive care of such a gorgeous woman, any man’s resolve would harden.

“This is a bad one,” she said playfully, uncovering the small pad against the wound and peeling it away. “So we need to do a little alcohol.”

Pete instinctively moaned into an exhale. “I don’t think we need to do alcohol.”

“Oh, sure we do,” she countered. “We have to do it every time. But let me take this off first.

She reached around and removed the only modest garment on her sinfully voluptuous body. Her light sweater came off to reveal a skin-tight silk shirt that took the exact shape of her every feminine feature. Blood began to ooze ever so slightly from his freshly exposed scab as his heart palpitated in lustful excitement. And then, the caustic burn of the cold liquid splashed on the wound.

*** *** ***

“You are dark,” he said to her silhouette in the doorway.

The lights torturously burst on as his sleepy eyes adjusted.

“I could just leave you down here to rot in your dirty bandages,” she retorted.

“No, you wouldn’t do that to me.”

“Taking care of you really is much more fun.”

The two shared a devilish smile as his eyes traveled down the curves of her body. He made no attempt to hide his amorous inspection.

“But I do have something to tell you,” she said, “…something bad.”

His brow furrowed as his mind jumped back from its state of imprisoned lust.

“You don’t want to hear it,” she teased.

The furrow of his brow deepened in an unspoken plea.

After another moment of her silent stare, she proceeded, “I asked our groundskeeper to check in on your apartment. The news, it wasn’t good.”

She stopped for another eternity, savoring the anxiety in the air.

“Apparently,” she finally resumed, “it was broken into. Parties or something. Everything is missing or wrecked.”

By this time, she was perched on the edge of the bed. She grabbed the bandage and started it unraveling.

*** *** ***

His wounds had continued to heal day after day alone in the room. But a little early this round, she appeared at the door.

“Bandages already?” he questioned.

This time the silhouette was different. The lines traced all the way up her legs, and her curves were unabashedly pronounced. This observation did not take long to be noticed, and Pete’s heart began to gallop.

The lights stayed off this time, the only thing concealing her raw beauty. She started into the room with a seductive strut that caused no less than panic to sweep through his body. Guilt had long since been conditioned out of him, but that forbidden fantasy that he had harbored for so long– the one that had become so accentuated over his time in her bed –it was now playing out. That thought that he could once scarcely dare to think was now approaching on a collision course. His thoughts of bandages had evaporated, as she replied, “I’m going to unwrap something else tonight.”

Every part of him engorged as she climbed atop his quivering mass. Never breaking that eye contact– somehow blazingly perceptible in the pitch-black shadow –she arched her back and carried one hand down into darkness.

“It’s fate that you aren’t bandaged here,” she said forcefully.

He responded to more than the words with a guttural grunt.

The intensity continued as his heart pounded in and out of his chest.

“Just tell me what you want,” she spoke gently. Her stroke softened as if to calm his rattled nerves.

“Lucia, wait,” he mustered.

The gleam in her eyes squinted now into wild aggression. Her grip tightened, and his head lifted from the pillow.

“Tell me what you want,” she growled.

He swallowed hard and closed his eyes for a moment. It was the best he could do for a reprieve from the onslaught. But as a semblance of composure returned to him, she gripped again. His eyes and mouth burst open, and, despite his injuries and her weight, he nearly sat up.

“Have you ever felt this good?” she demanded.

“No,” he choked, struggling between shallow breaths.

“Then tell me what you want,” her voice echoed now with a deep overtone of hellish fury.

“No,” he gasped, putting his unbroken arm out defensively against her.

The consuming pleasure now dissolved into radiating waves of pain from his chest. His warm sweat turned cold. And his heart, beating to the limit, vanished into chaos.

*** *** ***

Pete’s eyes struggled open, as he lay on his back in cradling arms. There was Angel Christopher. Christopher and Peter reunited at last.

“Bless you, Angel Peter. You have rejected Lucifer and shall remain in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Peter’s eyes widened and then winced at the thought, “I... I was alive.”

“Yes, Peter. She got hold of you and took you to Earth for trial by flesh. But you remain true, Peter. You remain true. Bless you.”

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