West Richland Tavern.

[gearhead73]

Ethan was disappointed that she had declined the drink, but was glad that at least the awkward silence had been broken. A small smile played on her lips as she filled his glass and then slid it across the shiny surface of the bar to him.

"Prices on the sign." she said softly and he turned to the end of the bar to read it.

"Drinks are five bucks? Awesome." he said reaching for his wallet. He removed a twenty and slid it across the bar to her, then turned to continue.

"Lodging, meals, compan..." he muttered softly before flashing his eyes back to her. "Looks like a full service establishment."

He realized how stupid he sounded the minute the words left his mouth. He had never been known to be a smooth talker, but now he sounded like an idiot. He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks and again his fingers idly touched the band on his finger. He thought back to when someone saw beyond his awkwardness to the man inside, the man she was able to bring out in him.

"Escaping the wife?" she said bringing him back to the present.

"Huh? Oh...this..." he said his eyes darting from her to the ring. "No, I'm not married...I mean not anymore...I mean I am but she left...she passed away a couple of years ago."

He downed his drink as the memory of his wife's passing came flooding back. The phone call saying she had been in an accident, the funeral with the endless line of well wishers extending their condolences. Facing her parents, and then the guys at work had been brutal. Everyone walking on eggshells around you, being overly sympathetic and a constant reminder that she was never coming back.

He slid the glass back over to her, "A double this time, please."

 

[1millionsecrets]

Her heart shattered and she wouldn't raise her eyes. She touched his hand softly and passed him the glass. Then she handed him back his money. "Today hun you drink for free..." She smiled warmly and pulled back and refaced the alcohol.
"My mother passed when I was younger. The apologies get redundant, and meaningless. It never stops hurting, but it gets better sweet heart."

She glanced over at Troy and her father, a soft sadness in her eyes. She felt sympathy for the man before her, and wanted to comfort him but it would be inappropriate. She then stepped back from the bar and straightened her bodice and sat alone on her little stool yet again.

 

[merryohmd]

Rex finished with the dogs and walked back into the kitchen. He was about to ask Tess about some food when I saw what time it was.

"What the hell?" he said aloud when he saw the clock.

"I'm going by to bed, good night," he said to no one in particular and head back upstairs, ignoring the people in the tavern.

 

[gearhead73]

He smiled at her kind words, and spun the glass between his fingers. It was nice to talk to someone that could relate.

"It does get better, after a while. The ironic part of it is, that when you finally do find the strength to move on, people still treat you like you are broken, or at least fragile. Friends that you have known for years before you even met your spouse, start acting like they have to watch what they say or do. You start to feel like you have lost someone all over again, and end up searching for a connection to someone, anyone...even if it's just fantasy."

He looked over at the sign again. 'Companionship' he thought. The possibilities of what that one would could mean ran through his thoughts. His eyes went back to her.

"Forgive me, I shouldn't dump all my baggage on you. My name's Ethan by the way, Ethan Summers."

 

[1millionsecrets]

"Call me Hannah..." She almost mentioned her last name but her father's cold.gaze.cut so deeply.into her. "Just... Hannah." She.smiled timidly and placed before him a new glass. She then leaned back against the counter and sighed.
"I was alone for years before this place... Before I hired people, and got to know them... Most life here now, and if you'd like you could work here. Be a fill in, help in the kitchen..." Her voice trailed away slowly. She looked away and sighed, biting her lip she crossed her arms across her chest.

 

[gearhead73]

"Nice to meet you Hannah." he said, a smile spreading across his face.

He didn't miss that her eyes kept darting to the two men sitting behind him. She seemed to brighten for brief moments, and then she would look to them and the sadness in her eyes would return. He thought about asking her about it, but decided against it. They had just met and it wasn't any of his business.

"I was alone for years before this place... Before I hired people, and got to know them... Most live here now, and if you'd like you could work here. Be a fill in, help in the kitchen..." she said but then her voice trailed off.

He was surprised at her offer. "That sounds great." he said before he even thought about it. "I have a day job, but I wouldn't mind helping out n the evenings after I got off work. If that would work for you."

He couldn't believe what he was saying. He had sent the bulk of the evening trying to work up the courage to come in here and see if he could find temporary comfort with someone, and now he was taking a job here. Still, as he looked at her, standing there with her flowing red hair and soulful green eyes, he thought that she could have asked him if he wanted to scrub the toilets in Grand Central, and he would have said yes.

 

[Wolfias]

"Well I had a good teacher," she said as she smiled at the compliment. Tess didn't waste any time finishing her food, she tried to remind herself to slow down but it had been over 12 hours since her last meal. Everything was delicious.

"This was amazing Eric," she sipped her wine and leaned back in her chair. It had been fun cooking with him and being close to him had made her forget about the incident earlier. She turned her attention back to Eric and watched him in the low light, wondering if she gave him the same feeling she'd had when he pressed himself against her in the kitchen. She sighed softly.

Eric

Eric ate his food at the same pace Tess had, grins with a mouth full at her nice compliment. He wouldn't wait 10 hours to eat again, but it was worth it he got cook and eat with Tess. He finished eating as she sat back in her chair, she looked full and happily satisfied after the meal.

Sipping the last of his wine watching her over his glass, she was watching him thinking of something. Eric wondered if Tess was thinking what he was, of when his body touched up against hers. If she'd felt his erection against her back, or noticed it when she stood right in front of her. ''I appreciate the compliment Tess..I'm glad you enjoyed cooking it also.''

Pushing his plate away with a satisfied grunt, Eric rests his elbows on the table chin in his hands. His eyes twinkling in the low light, just being with Tess made him feel good. I hope we can do this again soon..I really enjoyed spending time with you. I hope you have with me?''

 

[feistyphoenix]

"I did enjoy it," she said and smiled. She leaned back in her chair and relaxed, stretching her legs to the side and crossing them at the ankles.

"I wasn't on my feet all day like I thought I would be but my legs dont hurt at all," she said absently as she looked at them and then back into his dark eyes. She could get lost in those if she wasn't careful.

Maybe it was the wine or the food giving her some energy but the next sentence flew out of her mouth beforeshe could think to stop it, "would you like to see the dance I thought the girls today?"

Her face flushed a little as she watched Eric's reaction.

 

[Wolfias]

Eric

Catches sight of Tess's long dancers legs, wrapped in the skin tight jeans she wore. Eric was hanging on each word she spoke, he was glad to hear she wasn't in pain. ''I'm very glad you're not in pain Hun..I felt bad the deep tissue massage hurting so badly. When I see it has done you some good..I don't feel as bad about it as I did.

As Tess just up and blurted out "Would you like to see the dance I taught the girls today?" He couldn't help but grin seeing her blush, she couldn't have looked cuter if she'd tried. ''I sure would if you can dance on a full stomach..if not we could slow dance till you're ready''

 

[feistyphoenix]

She felt her face flush even deeper and she bit her lip when he suggested a slow dance.

"Why don't we clean up first?"she said, deliberately dodging his question. She picked up both plates and headed to the kitchen to put them in the dishwasher. She started wiping everything down and cleaning the grill. She faced away from Eric, hoping he couldn't see how flustered she was. She liked him but she had no idea why he liked her. He went to Rutgers for god sake, she was a nobody. He should be dating a stock brokers daughter or an attorney, not a whore.

She distracted herself with the cleaning and tried not to be consumed with self doubt. She knew getting close to him would test her self control.

"I'm ready to go if you're ready to watch," she smiled and headed towards the stage. She had offered and she couldnt take it back now.

 

[Wolfias]

Eric

''Yeah we should do that first.'' Eric carried the bowl along with him, lifting the baking sheet and steamer into the sink. ''I can't let you clean up everything by yourself, now can I?'' Loading the items into the dish washer, stepping to the kitchen sink to wet and soap a rag. Returning to the griddle to scrub it thoroughly, back to the sink again to rinse the rag out. Repeating the process the griddle was rinsed and spotless. ''Ok we can go now, I've done my fair share of cleaning up.'' Following Tess he couldn't keep from watching her walk, as she had reached the stage Eric grabs a chair and sat down.

 

[feistyphoenix]

Tess took a deep breath as she fiddled with the sound system. DJ had locked all of his stuff up save for an ipod. She scrolled through and quickly found the song she needed before setting it to play, she only turned it up loud enough for them to hear and not to wake anyone upstairs who might be sleeping. Thankfully the intro had no steps and it gave her enough time to get up in the middle of the dimly lit stage in her starting pose. She flashed Eric a half smile as the singer started the first line, "I knew you were, you were gonna come to me. Now here you are..."

Tess breezed through the song, not missing a step. She threw her hips seductively, tossed her loose hair when she was supposed to, and in general put a ton of attitude into each and every step just like it was the real deal.

Halfway through she noticed Eric's eyes glued to her body as she moved, it only made her try harder. When the song ended she was panting slightly, she let her head fall back and she sighed dropping the pose she had been holding and tilted her head back down to look at him.

"Without you, I wouldn't have been able to do any of that," she told him breathlessly as she trotted down the steps to stand closer to him.

 

[Wolfias]

Eric

Eric couldn't believe his eyes as he saw Tess dance, she had him mesmerized with a few seconds. The sensuous movements to the beat were perfectly timed, as he wished that song was for him. Figuring it must have just been a random playlist, she did barely know me what was I thinking. The attitude she showed during her dance number, he got a tiny glimpse of her fighting spirit. Her eyes met his during one of her moves, his jaw dropped as she turned things up a notch. It was an absolute understatement how she turned Eric on, he kept him hands in his lap to hide it. As the dance number ended in a held pose, he claps his hands a little bit too loudly. Realizing he was he eased up on the applause, Tess looking down at my made him grin ear to ear. ''Woah...that was great Tess..I'm glad I did something helpful. Putting his right arm around her waist, in an obviously unimposing way to his side. ''You have some real talent girl...I had no idea what you could do.''

 

[1millionsecrets]

She genuinely smiled and checked his drink, wondering if his head was swimming yet she offered him another. Then she spoke carefully, why her words had to be precise she was uncertain. "Now, what really brought you here?"

 

[feistyphoenix]

Eric

Eric couldn't believe his eyes as he saw Tess dance, she had him mesmerized with a few seconds. The sensuous movements to the beat were perfectly timed, as he wished that song was for him. Figuring it must have just been a random playlist, she did barely know me what was I thinking. The attitude she showed during her dance number, he got a tiny glimpse of her fighting spirit. Her eyes met his during one of her moves, his jaw dropped as she turned things up a notch. It was an absolute understatement how she turned Eric on, he kept him hands in his lap to hide it. As the dance number ended in a held pose, he claps his hands a little bit too loudly. Realizing he was he eased up on the applause, Tess looking down at my made him grin ear to ear. ''Woah...that was great Tess..I'm glad I did something helpful. Putting his right arm around her waist, in an obviously unimposing way to his side. ''You have some real talent girl...I had no idea what you could do.''

When Eric put his arm around her waist it wrapped all the way around her and his hand rested against the inside of her right hip, sending a current through her and making her knees almost weak. Her left arm instinctively went around his broad shoulders and she leaned into him as he sat there.

Her breathing was still a little labored from the dance and Eric being so close wasn't exactly making it easy for her to calm down. Her long hair fell to the side against his shoulder; he was looking at her in awe, and she didn't think any man had ever looked at her like that.

"Thank you, it's been a really long time since i've done anything like that," she smiled down at him. She had never been this close to his face before looking straight at him. She could see the tiny golden flecks in his brown eyes in the low light. Eric was truly a very handsome man. She had to drag her eyes away from his face, otherwise she probably would have kissed him.

It so happened the clock was on the opposite wall and she noticed the time.

"Oh God, it's so late. We should probably go to bed, we both have to work tomorrow," as soon as she said it she realized she had made it sound like they'd be going to bed together and she blushed. That wasn't her intended meaning, she put her hand over her mouth and started to pull back from him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate..."

 

[raiguy]

Alexa smiled and giggled as he kissed her while teaching her. "I'll keep that in mind," she said, storing the information away in her brain. She kissed him again and grinned. "Can I try again?"

DJ nodded. "We'll start from the top. Don't just do what I taught you. Throw other punches and kicks if you feel like it. You can't just go for your objective right away. You need to lull the person into a false sense of confidence, before you strike. Also, don't look at where you want to hit all the time. It telegraphs your punches," he said to Alexa, before standing up and banging his mitts together, waiting for her to start.

 

[gearhead73]

He watched the amber liquid fill his glass again. He hadn't eaten anything for a while and the alcohol was doing it's job, bringing that familiar haze into his thoughts. It had been a while since he had tied on one or even caught a buzz, but as he felt the effects of the alcohol flow outward from his head to his extremities, he welcomed it. He was tired of over thinking and worrying. He was tried of feeling alone and lonely. He wanted to just once, go with the flow and enjoy the moment.

"Now, what really brought you here?" she said, the easy smile never leaving her lips.

This was it. He had been wondering all evening how he would broach the subject of his original reason for being here. The light conversation, the whiskey, and the out of the blue employment opportunity had taken his mind away from it's original purpose. He thought about how he should answer.

"I guess..." he said after a few moments "I guess I just got tired of feeling alone. I thought that I would come here and find someone to spend some time with. I thought that, at least for a short time anyway, I could find someone that wouldn't mind providing some company."

His eyes searched hers trying to see if she understood what he was saying. If this place was in fact what he had heard it was, there was no doubt that she would know exactly what he meant, and this was just the dance they each had to participate in to make sure neither was there to entrap the other. If this was just a bar, he could always just say he was getting shitfaced and walk out of there. Even then, he had enjoyed talking to Hannah and if she meant it about him working there he looked forward to spending some more time with her.

 

[1millionsecrets]

"Well..." She started softly. "We have many girls you can choose from... They are all quite lovely..." She smiled softly again and sat on the stool. Her feet were sore and she longed to remove her boots and stretch her legs. "Any preferences?"

 

[gearhead73]

"Oh...so you don't...I mean you're not...I have to pick other girls?" Ethan said as his face fell a bit.

He supposed that he should have known better. It didn't make sense even in his foggy brain that Hannah could leave the bar to be with a customer. He hadn't given it much thought until they had started talking, but as he looked at her now, he began seeing that she had fit his preferences perfectly.

 

[1millionsecrets]

Her face would flush red. She would glance up at him biting her lip.. She having only ever had sex the.one time, recently at that, and she had never found herself.desirable in the least. She glanced back at Troy and held her breath for a moment. "I... I... I'm not sure if you'd really want that..." Her voice shook softly.

 

[gearhead73]

He watched as her cheeks reddened and her eyes once again flashed behind him to where the men were sitting. He started to think that her hesitation resulted in her being involved with the younger of the two, or perhaps even the older of the two. There were relationships of all types these days. Ethan then started to wonder if maybe the problem was him. Maybe she was just trying to find a nice way to say that she didn't want to be with him. He had never thought of himself as a particularly handsome guy, but he didn't think that he was all that bad looking either.

"Uhm...it's ok. If you don't want to, I understand. Maybe I should just...maybe I'll just call it a night."

 

[1millionsecrets]

Seeing the sadness in his face she held her breath and knew Troy would understand. It was a business after all. One she ran and participated in. She held her breath and spoke softly. "Go to the lobby at the top of the stairs. I'll be up there soon..." She smiled weakly and made her way over to Troy. She ignored her father's icy glare and placed a timid kiss upon Troy's cheek and whispered, " Forgive me for what I may do." She then slipped from him and started towards the stairs.

 

[celestialdragon]

Alexa nodded before getting back up. Crouching, she circled him for a few moments. Feinting for his groin, she attempted to elbow him in the stomach.

 

[gearhead73]

Ethan did as he was instructed and climbed the stairs to the lobby she had mentioned. He had butterflies in his stomach as the realization of what he was about to do weighed on his mind.

"I just need to feel something again." he whispered to himself as he leaned against the wall and waited for Hannah.

He looked down at his left hand and stared at the golden band that had encircled his finger since just after graduation. He thought back to day she had slipped it on his hand and said the words "I do" in front of Judge Wilkins. The only witness has been his secretary. There was no reception, no smiling parents or siblings or friends, just two young people in love who were ready to face the world together. They had never been apart and Ethan couldn't have imagined his life ever being more perfect.

After the accident, and the funerals, and all of the well wishes from friends they shared he found himself alone and lost. He threw himself into his work and it had paid off. He was one of the highest paid techs in the shop and was on the fast track to be the general manager, but it all meant nothing with no one to share it with.

He drew a deep breath, and slid the ring from his finger for the first time since it had been placed there. I tear moistened his eye as he saw the stark white contrast of the skin below.

"I miss you." he whispered before sliding the ring into the pocket of his jeans.

 

[1millionsecrets]

She reached the top of the stairs just as he slipped the ring from his flesh. She watched as he visibly seemed to fold into himself. She watched him slip the ring into his pocket. She heard him speak and her heart broke. She stepped closer quietly knowing, she wasn't nearly good enough, she also knew this wasn't going to help as much as he wished it to.
She wasn't talented, beautiful, or even lust worthy in her own eyes. She could only offer compassion and hope it was enough.
"Are you ready?" Her voice broke, trembling against her will. She smiled dimly, "Come on..." and held her hand out to him and waited quietly for him to take her cool soft hand.