Free Now & Forever 3 - Blind love by Jean C. Joachim Page A

had much affection as a child and he
found he liked it. He was growing used to being with Deena. In fact, he began
to look forward to it.
     
    * * * *
     
    “Two hundred bucks a month?” Deena slipped her hand in his as
they left the restaurant and headed to The Wet Tee Shirt.
    “Yeah. For doing nothin’ really. How many guys doin’ that for
you?” Rex arched an eyebrow.
    “None. You ever been in love, Rex?”
    “Never found the one, Deena.” He turned to face her.
    She placed her palm on his cheek and looked into his eyes.
    “It’s time you did.”
    Got her. Hook, line and
sinker.
    He smiled at her.
    “You volunteering for the job?”
    “Maybe.”
    “You make me hard, baby.” His gaze swept her body.
    “That’s not love.”
    “As close as I’m gonna get.”
    Deena stopped and moved into his arms. She placed a sweet
kiss on his lips.
    “Maybe I can change your mind.” Deena pursed her lips and
pushed her breasts up against him.
    She’s into me.
    “Maybe you can, baby. Ain’t gonna stop you from tryin’.”
    It was obvious to Rex Deena felt safer at The Wet Tee Shirt
with him there as the bouncer. He never missed a day and never came to work
drunk, like Benny did. He was always alert and she knew no one would give her a
hard time as long as he was there.
    Deena was getting good at gathering information. When she
suspected a customer had something to hide, she had Raj make their drinks
stronger. She slipped him twenty dollars from time to time, thinking Rex didn’t
know, so Raj wouldn’t ask questions. She flirted and talked with as many
patrons as she could, always looking for information to give to Rex. Every time
she had a good tip, he was happy and appreciative, giving her small gifts, taking
her out and making love to her.
     
    * * * *
     
    At eight o’clock in the morning, Alan left Rex sleeping in
the guest room and went to his office where the first thing he did was count
the number of women in his Survey of Western Literature classes. There were
fifty-three women out of two classes of fifty students. He smiled. Surely one
of those women will fail…unless she was a little friendly.
    Alan was lonely. His wife, Beth had left him for her
chemistry teaching assistant. Beth and Cal Dexter worked together for two
semesters and Alan never had any hint they were having an affair. Beth had
still had sex with Alan and seemed to be satisfied. Of course when he looked
back on it, he could see her interest in affection, outside of the sex he
initiated, dwindled down to nothing during the year. Her pulling away was so
subtle.
    Then it happened, after final exams one day in May when he
came back from submitting his final grades. He’d never forget the moment…that
moment of ultimate humiliation. He’d walked into their house and Beth was not
there. There was no note, no message on his cell phone. In fact, he’d found her
cell phone on the dresser. A sense of dread had come over him as the empty
house became so quiet he could hear his pulse pounding in his ears. He had approached
her closet, afraid to open the door. When he finally got the courage, he was
shocked to see only empty hangers. All her clothes were   gone.
    Next he checked her bureau drawers. They were all empty too.
Her two suitcases were gone from the closet shelves. He searched the house for
a note, but found none. Beth was gone. Alan couldn’t breathe. Feeling a
tightness in his chest, he sat down. He didn’t know what to do. Where was Beth?
Why did she go? Was she coming back?
    They had been married for eight years. Eight happy years. He
had met Beth in graduate school. She was studying chemistry and he was studying
English and they bumped into each other in the library. Alan liked her right
away. Beth was quiet, she rarely shared her feelings. They dated for six months
before Alan asked her to marry him.
    Together they lived a quiet life of teaching and traveling.
He thought she’d always be there. He thought they’d grow old