CHAPTER 27
Kevin and Connie remained in seclusion and in bed for the
entire day. Other than deliveries of food by room service, they
were allowed to be alone - something that really hadn't happened
before now. The only time they'd had before had been professional
or surreptitious. Connie had interviewed Kevin when no one else
had been present but it hadn't been personal. The time they had
been together after her date with Terry had proven to be more of
a period of self-discovery. Now it was time to learn more about
each other.
Their physical union had been fueled by unspoken desires based
on gut feelings that they had ignored or fought almost from the
time they had met. It wasn't love at first sight. It was more
like 'intrigue at first sight' that took the form of 'hostility
at first sight'. Connie and Kevin had emotional wounds that had
made them afraid to hope for anything more than the mundane. In
fact, mundane would have been a step up for both of them.
On the surface, they had it all. They were both physically attractive
people with successful careers in professions that they loved.
They had a lot in common, too. Both had felt the stab of betrayal,
both had been challenged to win the respect of their peers and
both tended to be loners. Both had grown thick crusts around their
hearts that had now been pierced with tenderness and intimacy
unlike either of them ever knew existed. Kevin had taken the first
step towards Connie and she had taken his hand. She didn't realize
the significance of her surrender to him.
Despite the fact that they shared certain emotional characteristics,
there was enough yin and yang between them to make things interesting.
Their initial acts of lovemaking and been tender, passionate and
spontaneous. In Connie's romantic mind, that was the way it was
supposed to be. In Kevin's romantic mind it was supposed to be
that way, too, yet in his practical mind, the question of birth
control reared it's unromantic head. He had used no protection.
He always used a condom. Always. The idea of pregnancy
had never been as bothersome to him as the danger of disease.
After being inside of Connie with no barriers between them,
after experiencing the groundbreaking sensations that her moistness
and heat had afforded him, he doubted that he would ever find
latex sex satisfying again. Of course women had performed oral
sex on him without the obstacle of a rubber sheath but to Kevin,
fellatio would never replace the intimacy of penetration and on
a more profound level, no woman would ever replace Connie. The
realization brought with it supreme joy as well as an uneasy fear.
It was hard to explain. He hadn't known Connie that long, yet
he had known her all of his life. It was if she was his missing
part. His fear was that fate would take her from him as unexpectedly
as it had brought her into his life.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.
"Room service!"
Kevin glanced towards the bathroom door, which was open. Connie
was wrapped in a towel and leaning over the sink rinsing toothpaste
out of her mouth. The server would have to walk past her to bring
lunch into the room. Kevin pulled himself up from the bed and
walked towards the bathroom to close the door.
"Room Service…" he explained.
"You ordered lunch?"
"I'm starving - I feel totally empty…"
Connie couldn't help but display a wicked smile. "That, I can
believe…"
Connie waited for several minutes before she finally cracked
the door and peeked into the room. Kevin was sitting up in the
bed biting into the mother of all cheeseburgers and staring at
the surfing championships on ESPN.
"Hey!" she shouted, tossing a wet washcloth across the room
at Kevin. "Thanks for coming back to get me!" The cold cloth plopped
on his thigh.
Kevin narrowed his eyes and glared at her. Connie was a little
taken aback.
"Smart asses don't get to eat…" he growled.
When Connie's eyes widened, Kevin shook his head and patted
the pillow beside him.
"I'm only kidding…” he said and reached over to the food cart.
"How come you get a big, nasty, greasy cheeseburger and I get
a salad plate?" she complained good-naturedly as she slid back
into bed. "And yuck! Onions!"
Kevin looked hurt. "Hey, I got them to bring me one of these,
too!" He waved a small box containing a blue plastic toothbrush
in her face. "Besides, you were always eating salad stuff at the
house…."
"I like nasty food, too.."
"I'll share…” Kevin held the burger in front of Connie's face
but she pushed his hand away.
"No thanks. I don't want your cooties…"
Kevin sighed and put the cheeseburger down on his plate. Might
as well jump on in… Connie was looking down at the plate in
her lap and about to pick up a strawberry when Kevin got her attention
by taking her hand.
"I think it's too late to be worried about that…"
She was about to say something silly when she saw that Kevin
was very serious. He stared into her eyes but didn't speak. It
was as if he expected her to know what he was thinking. His brows
shot up a little, waiting. Connie stared back, her own brows furrowed
in concentration. She felt like a subject in a telepathy exercise.
"What?" she whispered.
Kevin rolled his eyes. He was going to have to say it.
"We didn't use any protection, Connie…"
She watched as Kevin's eyes darted quickly down to his crotch
and back up again.
"I think I know that, Kevin…" she nodded.
Kevin squirmed a little. "Well…. Doesn't that bother
you at all? I mean, especially in this day and age…"
Connie frowned and drew her hand away. "What are you getting
at Kevin? Are you worried that I might have given you something?"
"NO…No, baby. I know that you don't have anything…. I
was thinking about you!"
Connie's features seemed to freeze before Kevin's eyes. He felt
a distinct chill in the air.
"Why are you so sure I don't have anything? Is my lack
of expertise that obvious?" Connie wasn't really sure why
she found Kevin's assumption of her cleanliness mildly insulting.
"No, Connie…” Kevin said sternly shaking his head. "You're twisting
this."
"Oh, I see.. I forgot. You were thinking aboutme…"
Kevin feared he had painted himself into a corner. "I just didn't
want you to worry because my… my history might be a little more…
uh, more…. " Kevin struggled to find the right word. "Oh, shit,
Connie! You know what I mean!"
Kevin watched as Connie's face seemed to go completely blank.
He made a move to pull her towards him, but she was too quick
and hopped out of the bed.
"Yes, Kevin… I know what you mean." Connie said quietly as she
set her plate on the bedside table and walked over to retrieve
her clothes from a nearby chair. "It was good of you to remind
me."
“Connie!”
Her back was to him now and she couldn’t hear him call. She
began to speak again. He voice was low and unemotional.
“What’s your number, Kevin?” She fished a pair of clean panties
from her bag and turned to see him answer. He looked puzzled.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What are you doing?”
“I’m getting dressed. Your number, Kevin! How many women have
you slept with? A hundred? Three hundred? Five? More?” Connie
stepped into the blue satin panties, turned her back again and
dropped the towel. As she fastened the matching bra, she looked
over her shoulder. “Well? How many?”
Kevin grabbed the pillow she had been leaning against and hurled
it across the room. “Jesus Christ! I don’t know…. Why are you
getting dressed?”
Connie ignored his question and turned away from him again.
“Whew! Too many to remember? I am impressed! And honored
to be counted among the legions..” She pulled her jeans off the
chair and quickly put them on. “You know what my number is, Kevin?”
she asked lightly. When she turned back to him his expression
had changed from angry to sad.
“Where are you going, Connie?” he choked.
Again she ignored his question but the haunted look on his face
caused her to lose her flippancy. Her voiced cracked over her
confession. “Last night you bumped my number all the way to …two.”
CHAPTER 28
"I thought that what happened between us last
night went beyond numbers, Connie…." Kevin wasn't angry. He was
hurt. "Do you think I'm like Terry? That this is some kind of sport
to me?"
His question shocked her and made her ashamed. Their lives had
been lived under different circumstances that had dictated their
actions and reactions to the things and people around them. They
had both done the best they could with what they had been dealt.
Were countless frivolous liaisons worse than one degrading, self-depreciating
relationship? Connie guessed that in that moment they both wished
those parts of their lives could have been different but she couldn't
- she wouldn't let Kevin compare himself to a deviate like Terry
Mitchell.
"Oh God, Kevin!" she cried as tears began to spill. "NO! Don't
ever say that! Please!"
She stood fastened to the floor and brought her fists up over
her eyes. She couldn't move. All she could do was stand there
and sob. Soon she felt his arms wrapping themselves around her
shoulders, holding her to his chest and rocking her gently.
"I'm sorry…" she cried against his shoulder. "I'm so sorry…"
Kevin let her cry herself out. He hadn't expected to be discussing
their respective histories this soon but he felt the urgent need
to deal with this while emotions were high and vulnerabilities
couldn't be hidden under cool, rational thought and objectivity.
After several moments, Connie's fierce cries had turned into
exhausted whimpers and Kevin pulled her away from him so she could
see his face.
"I need to tell you something about numbers, Connie…"
She closed her eyes and shook her head in protest. She didn't
want him to feel like he had to explain anything. But Kevin was
not going to let her escape so easily. She would hear what he
had to say. He had never taken such a leap before but he was ready
to risk humiliation and rejection in order to bare his soul to
a woman he had only known for a few short weeks. If he stopped
to analyze it or wait until the 'right time', it may never happen.
He squeezed her shoulders and shook her, forcing her to look
at him. He was dead serious. He would not be denied her undivided
attention.
"I'm not proud of the fact that I don't know what my 'number'
is as far as how many women I've slept with…"
"Kevin…." She pleaded.
"Let me finish. I'm not proud of that. To be honest I never
really thought about it. The reason I never really thought about
it, Connie, is because those hours spent in generic hotel rooms
with faceless women were meaningless. They were diversions at
best or an easy way to work off tension. They were fucks - pure
and simple - and that's all. Now if you want to know about numbers,
ask me about the numbers that count. Ask me how many times I've
been in love. Ask me how many times I've said 'I love you' to
a woman. Ask me how many women have brought me to tears……"
"No… I don't need.."
"ASK ME!" he screamed, shaking her.
Connie gasped at his display of forcefulness. He was demanding
that she question him. His hands tightened at her hesitation and
she relented.
"How… how m..many women have brought you to tears?" she whispered.
"One…"
"How many t..times have you been in love?"
"One…"
"How many times have you told a woman that you loved her?"
Kevin closed his eyes for a moment as he prepared to lay it
on the line.
"I'm in love with you Connie." He smiled gently as her eyes
widened. "One."
*****
Leighanne was beside herself. It was now five o' clock in the
afternoon and Kevin was still nowhere to be found. She would have
chalked it up to his independent ways but when Stephen Sullivan
had called inquiring about the whereabouts of Connie O' Rourke,
she had begun to think the unthinkable. To top it off, that he-woman,
Hannah, had been humming her ass off all day and smiling sweetly
at Leighanne whenever they passed. They had watched one of the
MTV tapes and were waiting to view the second in the hopes that
Kevin would return.
Finally, Jeffrey called them all together. He wasn't going to
wait any longer. He popped in the second tape and the group gathered
around the large screen TV to watch. They all tittered at the
small personal moments that Tom had captured on tape. There was
no particular order of events. The segments would be edited before
they aired. Leighanne practically gloated when the video showed
Kevin walking over to his dented truck and getting all pissy with
Connie. She wished that Kevin had been there so that he could
be reminded of her dismissive and snotty attitude. Leighanne wasn't
so pleased when the saw Tom's film clip that showed her picking
a wedgy out of her ass and then posing for the camera and offering
her most brilliant smile - with a piece if spinach stuck between
her two front teeth. The entire room broke into peals of laughter.
"I want that cut out!" Leighanne screamed. "Tom should have
told me that I had something between my teeth!"
The next shot was of Leigh again. She was stumbling down the
steps one morning when all of the guys were in the studio. Her
hair was a tangled mess and she had absolutely no make up on to
cover the angry zit that perched on the edge of her chin. She
was grumpy and her nose was stuffed up. She brought a raggedy
tissue to her nose and blew. She sounded like a tuba. Nick started
screaming at the screen in mock terror and laughing.
"SHUT-UP, NICK!" Leigh shrieked. She picked up a magazine and
threw it at his head. “I’m gonna kill Tom - that little son of
a bitch!”
“Leighanne…” Brian cautioned.
When the next scene started to unfold, it was Hannah’s turn
to cringe. For a brief moment she and Leighanne had something
in common. She was also considering the possibility of murdering
Tom. It was difficult to figure out what was going on at first
because the camera shot was taken from above but the cast of characters
was quite recognizable. The viewing audience grew silent and leaned
forward. Five of the seven mouths in the room were hanging open
and two heads were cocked to side attempting to get a better perspective
of the action.
“That’s Kevin!” Leighanne shouted. “What are you and Connie
doing to him?” She cast an accusatory glare towards Hannah who
deftly repelled it with a shrug.
Leighanne was still glaring when AJ broke into ripples of laughter.
Soon the entire room was laughing, except for one certain outraged
blond. Kevin had fallen back and pinned Connie to the mattress.
The look on her face was priceless.
“Turn it up!” AJ shouted.
They all listened as Connie solicited Hannah’s help and was
refused. Then the tape showed Hannah stuffing the pillow behind
Connie’s head and walking away. Connie was demanding help, Hannah
was laughing and Kevin was dead to the world, ignorant of the
drama surrounding him. Connie lay flat on her back, pinned under
an oblivious Kevin. It almost looked as if she were staring into
the camera with eyes full of outrage, shock and helplessness.
Shots blurred and sharpened as Tom had tried to get artsy with
the tape. The hours on the futon were reduced to minutes as scene
after scene highlighted the various positions the couple had shifted
into during their little sleepover - Kevin’s arms and legs wrapped
around Connie’s body, Connie nuzzling into Kevin’s side. When
the pair rolled into a tight spoon, a chorus of “Awww’s" filled
the room. Hannah glanced at Leighanne. She was unusually pink
and tight-lipped.
Hannah suppressed a giggle as she watched Connie awaken and
realize where she was. The shots of her sneaking out of bed and
crawling away were so ridiculous that they looked as if they had
been scripted. Hannah's smile faded when she saw Kevin open his
eyes, smile knowingly and roll over. Then she burst into laughter.
That s.o.b. knew she was there!. The tape ended there.
"I can't believe this!" Leighanne snorted. "Those two were sleeping
together!"
AJ rolled his eyes. "Pull the pinecone out of you ass, Leigh!
It wasn't exactly an X-rated performance! Damn!"
"They looked pretty comfortable to me…." Leigh argued. "…and
this is going to be on national television? Great…"
"Brian, I think your girlfriend needs a laxative…" AJ said seriously.
Nick glanced over his shoulder at Hannah and wiggled his eyebrows.
She acknowledged his signal with a smirk and then turned to Leigh,
wondering why Kevin's personal life affected her so strongly.
What would she do if she actually knew where Kevin was and
who he was with?
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