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Setting: Danny's hotel room, later that night
Sleep wouldn't come. Hadn't he known that it wouldn't? He cursed his foolish action earlier when he had dumped out the last of his liquor. He needed something to take this edge off. He never had stopped to get any sleep aids and now he was paying the price. Sleep had never been further away. He clasped his hands behind his neck and stared at the ceiling.
Visions of Michelle and their lovemaking began to sweep over him, totally consuming him. He smiled to himself, they had really made love. His smile disappeared though when he realized that it shouldn't have happened. Not like that. He had wanted their first time to make love to be perfect for her. He had wanted to be totally alone and have plenty of time to discover each other and he sure as hell wanted her awake the whole time.
He closed his eyes and let the shame he felt wash over him. He deserved to feel this lousy. He doubted Michelle would even remember what had happened just a few short hours ago and if perchance she did, she would think it had been a dream She had said several times that she thought he was a dream, one that haunted her each night.
His body was still hungry for Michelle and he cursed himself again. Wow, he thought to himself, it that was what it was like with Michelle when she was half asleep, what would it be like when they went to bed every night as man and wife. The thought nearly undid him. It had been the most beautiful experience of his life. She had touched him so tentatively, as it she were unsure of herself, at first and then she had driven him to the point of madness.
Had Jesse taught her how to do that??? He hated himself for even thinking that because all that did was give him a mental image of Michelle making love to Jesse as sweetly as she had to him, of Michelle giving her virginity to Jesse Blue, of her delicate hands rubbing across his chest and then down to his........
He sat up and swung his legs over the bed. He had known that Jesse had been Michelle's first lover and God knew he was far from being a virgin himself, but these images of Michelle and Jesse were torturing him. Jesse Blue had been the one to introduce Michelle to the wonders of lovemaking while Danny had just made love to a half conscience Michelle who didn't know what she was doing. Still, Michelle half conscience was still better than anything he had ever felt in his life. Would she had made love to him like that if she had been in her right mind he wondered???
The jealousy he felt for Jesse at this moment was turning into rage. He mind kept tormenting him with the image of Jesse poised over Michelle ready to be the first to enter her body, of Michelle smiling up at her lover as she invited him into her body.
Danny picked up the bedside lamp and threw it against the wall. The manager would insist he pay for it but Danny didn't give a damn. Why in God's name couldn't he get the image of Michelle and Jesse out of his mind?? What he would give for a good stiff drink right now.
"She loves you now" his seldom listened to little voice told him. Danny leaned his head down between his knees and breathed deeply. HE couldn't hold Michelle responsible for the time she had been with Jesse, just as he couldn't change the fact that he had been with other women.
None of it made any difference now anyway and those women had been experienced enough to know that it was just sex and nothing more.
Those few minutes with Michelle earlier had meant more to him that anything ever had in his life. Those other faceless women meant nothing to him and for the life of him could not recall one single name among the faces.
Michelle was different. She was the kind of woman you revered and waited for. The kind you married before you took them to bed.
None of this changed the fact that tonight simply shouldn't have happened. "Damn" he muttered. There was no going back though. What was done was done. She probably wouldn't remember it anyway and his secret of still being in Springfield would be safe. He was progressing well with his plan. HE had made some very subtle transactions to the accounts via his computer. When it was all said and done, Carmen Santos wouldn't know what hit her.
He had wrestled with himself about how to go about finalizing his plan. He had all the dirt he would ever need to destroy her, but it would also destroy the family in the process. His way was much more productive, no matter how much he wanted to make his mother pay for costing him Michelle.
He would be in control of the business and if she wanted to keep her Armani clad butt out of jail, she would have no choice but to go along with everything.
He was still so afraid to hope though. He needed this to work. He now knew after making love to Michelle that he would never let her go. He hated having to wait another couple of weeks for all of this to end, but if he had calculated it correctly, he and Michelle could be together as soon as two weeks.
It he had been unsure of her feelings before, he was now completely sure how she felt about him. Her heartfelt pleas tonight when she was semi-conscience were sincere. She had been plagued by dreams of him leaving her and it was tormenting her.
He was still taken aback at how miserable she had acted. Did her weight loss and sickness have anything to do with their separation?? He knew he seemed to be living on a diet of booze and pretzels himself. He wasn't so bold as to think that Michelle was wasting away pining for him but she had cried so much at the thought of him being a dream. She had looked so heartbroken at the knowledge that she would never see him again.
She had really believed that he was gone forever and not in the same room with her. She had clung to him desperately believing he would vanish into thin air right before her eyes.
His heart constricted with pain when he recalled the sobs that had overtaken her body when she had begged him not to leave her again. She had been so sure that they were over, annulled, was what she had said.
Though he tried to shake it, a very bad feeling swept over him. None of it made sense. She had merely been hallucinating, she was not well.....suppose, just suppose he thought , that she had been half awake but not delirious. Didn't people who were half asleep tell the truth when they spoke. He had read about that in one of the books for that psychology class that he had bullied himself his way into to get close to Michelle. Something about your subconscience being in control and you couldn't override it or some crap like that. Anyway, the conclusion was made that people always tell the truth when they speak in their sleep. That was why many a marriage had been dissolved when one party would mention a name that was not their spouses.
Michelle thought they were annulled. The eerie feeling crept over his body again as he thought about it. Why did she think that???? She had signed the papers that was true, but she should have known when she didn't get them back with his signature that the annulment was never filed, that it never went through. They were still married, he still had the papers...............
His blood turned cold as realization hit him. "Oh my God,,,,Oh my God,,,,," Danny said. He shot out of bed. Now it all made sense. It was like a hammer hitting him on the head. It was there all along. How did he not see it???? Carmen. He was going to kill her. He was going to kill her with his bare hands.
That bitch had forged his name on those papers or got her lapdog Warren to do it and then had sent them to Michelle.
Michelle had received the papers with his so called signature and believed that their marriage was now annulled. Everything she had said last night suddenly made perfect sense. His being gone forever, their being annulled, .... all of it. She wasn't crazy or delusional, she had just been overcome with grief and misery.
How long ago had this happened??? Had Michelle become sick because she believed he didn't love her when she had gotten those papers?? Carmen had indirectly caused harm to Michelle and there was no way it would go unpunished. He wished he could get his hands around her throat right now. He would squeeze her throat until she turned black. Black like her heart.
"Damn," Danny spat between clenched teeth. Carmen had him over a barrel. IF he exacted his revenge right now like every ounce of his being was telling him to, he could kiss all of his work that he had been doing these last weeks goodbye. His presence in Springfield would be exposed and his plan would be jeopardized. He had no other choice but to wait this out.
Oh, but when this was over........ he wouldn't want to be Carmen Santos.
What about Michelle??? How would she feel when she woke up in the morning? Would she remember what happened or chalk it up to another dream. He hated her having to think it was a dream but he had to pray that Michelle would think of it as a bad dream. He had to keep his presence secretive.
He grabbed the phone and barked at the party on the other line. "Get over here right now" and then slammed the receiver back in his cradle. It was time to take some serious action.
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