Tainted Bodies

  Their father couldn’t handle his wife leaving him and had turned to alcohol for comfort. He never looked Kate in the eye again, blaming her for costing him his wife. He refused to believe Kate about what had been done to her and constantly told her she was a liar.

  Contempt seeped out of him every time Kate was around. He forced Kate to rescind her statement to the police and even forced her to write an apology letter to her principal. Kate shuddered at the thought of writing that letter, as she was putting on her eye shadow in the mirror. Writing to her predator an apology for slandering his reputation was by far the worst thing Kate had ever had to do in her entire life. She remembered her father standing over her shouting as he forced her to write the scrawled note and put it in the mailbox. As Kate stood there and watched the letter slip into the box, her respect for her father disappeared along with that letter and never returned.

  Kate paused as she was doing her makeup and watched in the mirror as a small tear snuck out disobediently and slipped down her cheek. She stopped doing her makeup for a moment and leaned against the counter, letting her head hang as she allowed herself a few minutes. She took a few deep breaths, trying to ward off the tears from coming, but it was too late.

  Her cat jumped up on the bathroom counter and rubbed against her stomach, sensing her sadness. The cat meowed as she balanced herself on her hind legs, her front legs against Kate’s chest as she tried to reach up and touch Kate’s face. Her actions were so touching that Kate couldn’t help but smile among her tears and lift her cat into her arms, cuddling her like a baby and burying her wet face in her kitty’s fur. It had been at least a decade but the wounds her father inflicted on her, combined with losing him entirely, felt as fresh as if she had just returned home from his funeral.

  ~~~~

  Kate finally finished getting ready for work, doing the best she could to hide her puffy eyes with makeup, and quickly headed out to catch the metro. As usual, she met up with Derrick at their favorite coffee shop near her work where they had originally met. He smiled when he saw her walk through the doors of the café and headed over to her with a cup in each hand. He was wearing a black pin stripe suit that accentuated his broad shoulders and tall frame, Kate’s breath caught for a moment as she gazed at him. He handed her a cup and leaned down to kiss her. They shared a brief peck when she pulled away to greet him,

  “I don’t think so, I’m not done yet,” Derrick grinned, mischievously and pulled her back into his arms, dipping her slightly as his lips came down on hers. She smiled as his lips met hers, her arms moving to tightly wrap around his neck, still holding the cup of coffee behind his head. He certainly knew how to brighten her sad day.

  Finally, the two pulled apart and Kate smiled at him warmly, appreciating his ability to change her entire mood in just a moment. She heard some angry muttering behind her and turned to see her favorite barista, Jimmy, wiping down a table while sending jealous glances their way and muttering angrily to himself. She blushed at their public display of affection and waived to him, attempting to make nice.

  “Hey Jimmy, how have you been doing?” She asked him. Jimmy immediately perked up and stood straight, adjusting his apron, and trying to tidy himself up.

  “Been doing wonderful, Miss Kate. How about yourself?” Jimmy replied, smiling from ear to ear. Another employee came up behind him wearing the same apron. He was a few inches taller than Jimmy but had a similar face, except he had no acne and his hair was wavy and almost magazine perfect.

  “Jimmy, I need your card for the register.” He said, his eyes never leaving Kate while he talked. There was something intense about his gaze that made Kate shift awkwardly from one foot to the other. Derrick suddenly felt a bit territorial and put his arm around Kate, staking his claim. She smiled at Derrick, enjoying the affection.

  “Oh yeah, man, sorry, here you go.” Jimmy said and handed a white card to his coworker. Jimmy then turned back to Kate,

  “Sorry about that, that was my cousin Craig. I just got him a job here.” Jimmy bragged to her, hoping that he was making himself sound important.

  “That’s so nice. Well we should start to head towards work, see you later, Jimmy.” Kate replied and Derrick followed her out of the shop.

  “Lead the way,” Derrick grinned, winking at Jimmy who shot back a glare that could kill as the two exited

  “So, I had a great time at dinner on Friday night with you and Annie.” Derrick restarted the conversation as they walked down the sidewalk.

  “It started a little bumpy,” Kate chuckled, “but it was nice. I hope she didn’t overwhelm you with all her questions.”

  “Not at all, I understand. She is your family, your only family. She is just being protective of you.” Derrick took hold of her hand as they walked down the street. At the mention of family, Kate was again reminded about the significance of the day. She looked down at the sidewalk and bit her lip, forcing back a tear that traitorously threatened to slip out. Derrick looked at her curiously as he felt her stiffen.

  “What’s wrong?” Derrick slowed down for a beat, and bent down to look at her lowered face. He saw the glisten of tears peaking across her eyelashes.

  “Kate, are you crying? What’s wrong? What did I say?” Derrick was alarmed as he stopped walking and pulled her against him in the middle of the sidewalk, pedestrians moving around them to get by.

  “No, nothing. You didn’t do anything wrong, don’t worry about me. I’m just a little emotional today.” Kate pulled away and composed herself with a deep breath out, then continued to walk towards work.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Derrick asked.

  “Not really, I mean, it’s not that big of a deal.” Kate took another deep breath, making sure to consciously keep her tears in check so as not to become overly emotional again.

  “Today is the anniversary of my father’s death. It was a long time ago, I’m fine.” Kate brushed it off with a shrug of her shoulders. Derrick was silent for a minute as they continued to walk, he reached out for her hand again and quickly found it. He gave her hand a small squeeze.

  “I’m sorry, Kate, were you close to him? You’ve never talked to me about him.” Derrick gently said.

  “No, we weren’t close at all.” She responded quickly, not a moment of hesitation at the question. He waited for her to say more, but she didn’t so they continued to walk in silence the remaining block to her job.

  Derrick could sense there was a story here that he didn’t know but he wasn’t one to push and knew that one day she would tell him when she was ready. He definitely felt curious though as to what could have happened to make her be so distant from her father during his lifetime. He filed away the information, telling himself that this was a topic he would want to try and revisit with her at another time.

  ~~~~

  “Why don’t you go, Kate?” Annie asked through the phone. Kate repositioned the phone against her shoulder, propping it against her ear while she chopped up carrots in her kitchen. She was beginning preparations for dinner with Derrick tonight. He had won a big case in his firm today and so she was cooking him a celebratory dinner.

  Several days had passed since the anniversary of her father’s passing and the weekend was once again upon them. Kate loved to cook and was constantly looking up new recipes online to try so she was excited to experiment tonight with a meal for Derrick. She had only cooked for him a few times before in the few short months that they had been dating, so she was a little nervous that she might burn something or mess it up somehow since that certainly was not out of the realm of possibility for her. However, she smiled when she remembered how much he had loved her cooking before.

  “Kate? Hello?” Annie said, wondering why Kate had paused in their phone call.

  “Oops, sorry, I’m here. And I can’t go, Annie, you know that. Where am I going to get the money to pay for it? Plus I have a good job now and I probably wouldn’t do very well in the program anyways. It would be a waste of time and money.
I can’t ask Uncle Lenny to help with more schooling, he already helped me with college.” Kate said, continuing to chop vegetables and place them into a skillet, already sizzling.

  “Okay, first of all, you hate your job. Yes, I am saying that even though it’s Uncle Lenny’s company.” Annie sputtered in annoyance at Kate’s lame excuses.

  “I don’t hate-“ Kate started,

  “Yes, you do. You are always complaining about that job. You sell office furniture. Seriously, Kate? That is Uncle Lenny’s life dream, not yours.” Annie stated firmly.

  “Second, you would do great in graduate school! You were top of your class in undergrad! You got a psychology degree with a 3.9 GPA and now you are selling office furniture?” Annie continued to berate Kate with logic that Kate didn’t want to hear.

  “Yeah, I know. But graduate school is a lot harder than undergraduate school. Plus I was only working part time back then, now I have a fulltime job. I can’t juggle both.” Kate disputed.

  “Kate, I’m your sister. I know you. You have multitasked your entire life- taking care of me, going to school, always working several jobs- come on, you know you can do it. Please, please just try and see if you get in. Then you can decide.”

  Kate was silent for a few beats, contemplating the idea of applying to a masters program in social work. She knew Annie was right and that she would probably be accepted, but she was nervous. She loved psychology and she had always wanted to help people, but honestly she didn’t think she had much to give back. She didn’t think she would be any good at it; book smarts and being able to ace a test is a lot different than talking to actual people and trying to help them solve their crises. She knew she had the brains to do it, but did she have the inner strength?

  “I’ll think about it, Annie.” Kate sighed, repositioning the phone again as she began cutting the fat off a couple pieces of raw chicken breast.

  “Yes! That’s all I ask, just think about it!” Kate could practically hear Annie smiling through the phone as she seasoned the chicken and then placed it on a pan in the oven. Just as she finished the preparations, the doorbell rang.

  “Annie, I have to go. Derrick is here.” The sisters exchanged their goodbyes and they hung up the phone. Kate quickly pulled off her apron and smoothed her blouse, going to answer the door. As she opened the door, she grinned at the sight of Derrick hold another bouquet of wild flowers in his hands. He knew how much she loved flowers and he never failed to keep her apartment full of them.

  “You’re the one we are celebrating, but you bring me flowers?” Kate asked, happily taking the bouquet. Derrick leaned down and kissed her gently on the lips, pulled away for a second to look her over, and then smiled teasingly at what he saw. Kate blushed knowing that look in his eye only meant one thing.

  Changing his mind about pulling away, he pulled her back to him, his arms wrapped around her waist, and kissed her again, a bit harder this time. She wrapped her arms around his waist, locking them behind his back. They continued kissing in the open doorway, getting more and more revved up as the seconds went by. Finally, Derrick pulled away and kicked the door shut behind him as he whisked Kate up into his arms and carried her towards the bedroom. Kate giggled, but then stated in protest,

  “I have dinner in the oven!” Kate said, unconvincingly.

  “Well, I guess we will have to make the time count then.” Derrick flashed her his mischievous grin as he walked into the bedroom and put her down on the bed, climbing on top of her. He began kissing down her neck, pulling her blouse open. Kate’s hands began to roam his body as she brushed them over his pecs and up to his shoulders, then down his arms feeling his large biceps.

  Derrick made his way back up to her chin, finally found her mouth as they tightly locked their lips together. His hand reached down and pushed down her skirt as she wiggled her hips to help him. He didn’t need much help though because he quickly tossed her skirt across the room. He pressed against her and she felt the warmth of his skin searing hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and disappeared into his embrace.

  The kitchen timer began beeping in the other room, but neither one of them was paying attention to anything but each other’s body. Derrick pulled her even tighter against him as their passion built. He pushed his mouth down on hers to muffle her sounds as they peaked, clutching each other fiercely.

  After a few wonderful moments of pleasure, the two drifted back down from their high. The energy leaving his body, Derrick slipped off of Kate and laid against her side, pulling her against him to hug her. She closed her eyes and focused on how amazing she felt, still trying to catch her breath. They laid like that for a few more minutes until Kate’s attention was drawn away. She sat up in the bed and realized she smelled something funny.

  “Oh my gosh! The chicken!” Kate bolted out of the bed, just as the screeching of the smoke alarm began, a sound she was starting to become accustomed to. She scrambled out of the room, still mostly naked and ran into the kitchen.

  Derrick was close behind her and grabbed a towel off the counter and began fanning the smoke detector. Kate opened the oven, shielding her face from the billowing smoke that jumped out of it. Finally the smoke alarm silenced and the smoke began to clear out of the window that Derrick opened. They looked at each other and began laughing.

  “Burning dinner is becoming a habit of yours,” Derrick teased her.

  “Hey, hey, this was not my fault! And the last time was popcorn, not dinner, so it doesn’t count. ” Kate laughed as she threw a towel at him, “Plus I was doing just fine before you distracted me!”

  “Are you complaining?” Derrick jumped out of the way of the launched towel and then grabbed her, pulling her against his chest. Kate blushed, looking down and avoiding eye contact, because she knew that the last thing on her mind was a complaint.

  “Didn’t think so,” Derrick grinned at her.

  “Well, now what are we going to do for dinner?” Kate said as she pulled away from him and walked back to the oven, surveying the crisp, black remains of the chicken.

  “Let’s just order a pizza or something that delivers,” Derrick suggested, grabbing a menu out of one of her kitchen drawers.

  “That’s not much of a celebratory dinner for your big win in court today,” Kate pouted, crossing her arms in disappointment. Derrick winked at her,

  “I think we celebrated pretty well already,” he teased, causing Kate to blush again. She rolled her eyes at him and went to grab the phone.

  “Fine, pizza it is then.” She tossed him the phone and headed back towards the bedroom to get dressed.

  ~~~~

  Kate pushed the empty pizza box towards the foot of the bed and turned towards Derrick. They had gotten distracted again while waiting for the pizza and had spent the rest of the evening in bed. Derrick was stretched out on his back with one arm behind his head, propping his head to face the TV on Kate’s bedroom wall. He was naked except for her sheets draped across his body.

  She couldn’t help but take in the view as her eyes soaked him in, smiling to herself. He did everything with intensity, even watching television. His eyes were piercing at all times and his profile was strong and confident. His muscles were well defined against his chocolate colored skin and Kate couldn’t help but marvel at how soft he felt next to her.

  A commercial came on and Derrick turned to look at Kate, realizing that she was watching him.

  “Are you staring at me?” Derrick chuckled. Kate smiled, blushing, and turned her face away from him.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Kate grinned. She wasn’t about to admit to him that she was once again wondering why they were still not exclusive or officially boyfriend and girlfriend yet. Plus she wasn’t about to admit the things her mind was thinking when she looked at his amazingly chiseled naked body lounging in her bed.

  Derrick turned onto his side facing her, propping himself up on one arm and draping his other arm across her waist. She turned her face towards h
is and he leaned down to kiss her. She reached her hands up to his shoulder and neck, becoming deeply distracted by their kiss. Derrick slowly pulled his head away, looking down into her eyes. He gently pushed a few loose strands of hair off of her face, smiling at her.

  “Go away with me.” he said, she looked at him, puzzled, not sure what he was asking her.

  “For the weekend or so, we can go to the beach, or the mountains, anywhere. Let’s just take a few days for just you and me, no work, no responsibilities.” Kate closed her eyes at the idea, smiling to herself.

  “That sounds perfect,” Kate told him, kissing him again.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Two weeks later, Kate and Derrick packed up his car and headed north towards Delaware. Derrick had booked them a weekend at a small bed and breakfast that was right on the water in Bethany Beach. Luckily, the traffic was pretty light so they were making great time on their drive.

  The weather was perfect for the beach that weekend, it was mid-September so the summer heat had left and been replaced with a crisp, autumn breeze. The ocean water was still slightly warm enough and was perfect for taking a quick dip in. Also, at this time of year most tourists were working or in school, so the beach wasn’t going to be crowded at all. The duo pulled up to the bed and breakfast inn after a two hour drive and were immediately impressed at the quaint lodgings.

  The inn looked similar to a log cabin except that it was sitting on the sandy beach. It had large windows on the first and second floor and a porch that looked like it wrapped around the entire building. There were multiple wooden rocking chairs lined up on the porch that looked so comfy and inviting. The couple unpacked the car and headed up the front steps and through the front door with their luggage in tow.

  Kate and Derrick checked into the hotel at the front desk and got their keys from a high school aged girl who was more interested in scrolling through her phone than paying attention to them. Luckily, their opinion of the inn drastically improved when they actually entered their room. It was small but cozy and the fireplace across from the large king size bed was already glowing. Kate walked over to the giant, plush bed and turned around, letting herself fall backwards onto the cushy bed.