One Summer Chapter 9

I slowly opened my eyes the next morning. I thought about Todd and the wonderful night we had. I looked over to the other side of the bed, I was alone. Was it a dream? I sat up and looked around the room. No one. I threw on my robe and ran downstairs. As I turned the corner to the kitchen, I saw Todd. He was sitting in the window seat, looking outside. I approached him.

"Todd," I said sofly. "Are you okay?"

He didn't move or speak. I walked up to him and put my hand on his shoulder, he jumped at my touch.

"Todd?" I said again

"Oh,....I didn't hear you come in," he said clearing his throat.

"What are you doing? You looked so lost in thought," I said growing more concerned.

"I didn't want to wake you up. You were sleeping so peacefully," he said turning to me. "I was thinking about all I told you last night. Any other woman would have made a run for it. But it felt so good to get it out and talk about it with someone. I have kept it all in since I left Llanview," he said.

I touched his hair and said, "You know, Todd, you can talk to me about anything. I will listen. And like I said last night, I am not afraid of you." I moved in closer to him. "Did I act afraid?"

A little smile formed and he said, "No...no, you did not act afraid." He paused for a moment and then stood up. He reached out and kissed me softly.

We stood there, looking into each other's eyes for a minute. I wanted him again, right at that minute. I walked toward the cabinet.

"You want some coffee?" I asked

"Sure," he said sitting at the table.

I started the coffee and went upstairs to get dressed. I still could not believe that Todd was here and what happened last night. I looked at the ruffled up bed sheets and played back some of last night in my head. He was a wonderful lover. It was sad that he was filled with so much self doubt. I went back downstairs. Todd was sitting outside; he was only wearing his jeans. I paused at the sliding glass doors to look at him. Damn, he was beautiful. He sat there, smoking a cigarette. I got the coffee and took it out on a tray.

"Here we go," I said as I stepped outside. I sat it on the table and took a seat.

He took a cup and added a ton of sugar in it. I was shocked to know he had such a sweet tooth. He saw me watching him putting all that sugar in.

"What?!" he said when he saw me watching. "So I like sugar."

We laughed for a minute. Then the phone rang. I ran inside to get it.

"Hello?...Oh hi, Ron."

Todd heard that it was Ron. He walked over to the door and listened in.

"Today? Well, I have a few things to do around here... You want to come by?...I...I don't think that would be a good idea, Ron. I will be in and out all day....yeah a lot of errands. Oh you have to go to the site and check on something....all I can say is see if I am here. I leave for work about one...ok...ok...talk to you later...bye."

I hung up the phone and turned around. Todd was standing there. He walked away from me as I walked toward him. We stood outside in silence. I was becoming very uncomfortable. Not knowing what he was thinking...thinking of me for lying to Ron. He finally broke the silence.

"I think I should go...you know before Ron gets here."

"Todd, don't do this. I told Ron I wasn't going to be home. I don’t want to see him. I know this sounds terrible, but I only went out with him to get closer to you! I know you must think I am a bitch, but I had to get close to you."

"Why? Why me? You know nothing about me! And what you know so far...how could you want to be with me? And I can't be here. What if Ron shows up and sees my truck?" He paced. "God, damnit! Why do I get myself into this shit?! You should be with Ron. He is safe. He is the one you need to be with."

"Todd, you are who I want," I said as I walked up to him, grabbing his arm. "I loved making love to you last night. It was more then just sex. I could feel it and I know you felt it too. I will tell Ron that it just isn't working out."

Todd put his hands on each side of my face and said, "Can't you see that I will hurt you?! I always do. I hurt Marty, Rebecca, Blair, Viki, Tea and Starr, the list goes on and on. Every woman I have ever cared about, I have hurt!"

I put my hands on his, looked him straight in the eyes and said, "You will not hurt me. I want you! Not Ron."

Our eyes stayed locked as he kissed me, tenderly. We were so into each other that we didn't hear a car pull up next door at the site. It was Ron. He saw us kissing. Todd was still shirtless. He walked up to us. We didn't hear him coming at all.

"What the fuck is this?!" he yelled.

Todd and I jumped, breaking our embrace.

"Todd! What the hell is this?! " he yelled again.

The tension grew; I jumped in.

"Ron, this is not Todd's fault...it is mine. I started it, not him. I'm ...I'm sorry."

Ron glared at me and said, "I was talking to Todd."

Todd walked up to him and said, "Hey man, I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't...I wanted..."

"Oh I see, it just 'happened.' What, Todd, you just happened to bump into her and your dick fell in?! I can't believe I thought we were friends! How could you do this shit to me? I am the one... I am, who helped you get this fucking job when you first got here!" He turned to me. "As for you, Brooklynn, did you spread your legs for the whole crew? Everyone but me that is."

Having heard that, Todd was filled with rage. He punched Ron dead in the mouth. He stumbled back, putting his hand to his lip. It was bleeding. He looked at the blood on his finger.

"You Bastard!" Ron yelled as he charged after Todd.

The two men began to fight,. I was scared. I yelled for them to break it up, but no one heard me. There was blood coming from Ron's mouth and nose. Todd had blood coming from his lip and his shoulder. The punches were flying so fast. It seemed to go on forever. Todd hit Ron one last time. The ring he wore cut Ron's forehead. The blow knocked Ron to the ground. Todd stood over him, waiting for him to get up. The anger in his eyes was something I had never seen in a man before.

"Get up, you son of a bitch!" Todd screamed at him.

Ron sat up, on the ground. Holding his arm, he got up and began to walk away.

"You are fired, Todd! Get your shit out of the shop and get the fuck out of here. You are damn lucky I don't call the cops and press charges." Ron turned to me as we walked away. "As for you, you bitch, hope you are happy. You two deserve each other."

to be continued

Chapter 10

I stood there, my heart pounding Todd was quiet. I ran into the house to get something to wipe the blood off him with. I returned with a cold washcloth.

"Todd, here...use this." He took it from me. "I don't know what to say...I guess this is my fault. I..."

"Don't...don't blame yourself. He had no right to say to you what he did. He should be pissed at me. I allowed this to happen between us."

"Todd, you did not force me to sleep with you. I wanted to. I want you." I could not help it, but the thought of him fighting for me turned me on. He looked great all sweaty with scratches on his shoulder. God, was I nuts about him. No one had ever fought for my honor before.

"Well, guess I need to look for another job," he said with a little smirk.

"Oh my God, your job, Todd! I am so sorry," I said

"You remember what I told you about my birth father being rich?" he asked as he continued to blot his lip. "I still have the money he left me. I wanted to leave all that behind me when I left Llanview. I wanted to start over, forget it all...all but my daughter. I left her almost half of it in a trust that she will get when she is 18. If her mother can keep her hands off it."

"You really care a lot about her, don't you? That's great. Don't you miss her?" I asked softly

"Oh yeah, Starr is a great kid. Nothing like me or her mother. She is better than both of us."

"Starr...what a beautiful name. How did she get it?" I asked

Todd sat at the patio table and continued to blot his lip.

"Well, I had left to go to Ireland to help Marty, the woman I raped. I had bought some early Christmas presents for the baby and hid them in the closet. Then when I was presumed dead, Blair, my first wife, found them. One was a necklace and I wrote "to our little star" on the card. So I guess Blair took that as a sign as to what to name her." His eyes grew sad.

"That's a wonderful story, Todd, " I said with tears in my eyes. "There is so much I want to know about you.“

"Are you sure? Maybe you are better off not knowing."

I leaned in and moved his hair out of his eyes. "Yes, I am sure."

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Todd took a shower to get all the blood off him. He stood in the shower stall, water beating down on him. The night before played in his head. Then his thoughts turned to what he told me about hurting every woman he ever cared for. He looked down at the ring he still wore from Blair. He looked at his left hand ring finger where the ring once was. He then thought of the ring Téa had given him at their wedding. He just recently taken it off.

He lathered his hair and rinsed the shampoo out, turned off the water, stepped out, and grabbed a towel. He wrapped it around his waist, and walked over to the mirror. He wiped off the steam with his hand. He looked in the mirror and said to himself, "What are you doing?"

While Todd was in the shower, I called work and said I would not be in today. I was taking a chance with my job, but I wanted to spend the day with him. I wanted to know more about him. He seemed to trust me a little more now. He has been talking about his daughter to me, so maybe he would open up more. I wanted to know about all the women he mentioned. Mainly his ex-wives.

Todd came out of the bathroom. Damn, he looked great with wet hair. He started to towel dry his hair. He sat on the bed, which I had just made. I watched him.

"Can you get some time off from work?" he asked

"Well, I called in for today. How much time are you talking?"

"Oh...about a week or two," he said not giving any hints as to why.

"Todd, what's going on?"

"I was....was wondering if you would help me with something."

"Of course. What?"

"I feel like I am ready to face some of my past demons. And I would like you with me. I have to go clean out my stuff from the shop and get my last paycheck. I don't have access to my money here. I had it set it up so I couldn’t, I wanted to do this whole new life thing without it."

"Ah...I can see if I can take some of my vacation time now. Wh...Where is it you want to go?"

Todd lay back on the bed and pulled me to him. I leaned next to him on my side. He brought his head up to meet my lips with his. He put his hand on the back of my head to keep the kiss going.

After we broke the kiss I said, "I will go anywhere with you. I want to help you."

We lay there, looking into each other's eyes for a minute.

"I want to go to Texas. There is someone there that I need to see again. A woman...I have to see for myself that she is happy."

He could tell that the idea of going to see another woman wasn't what I wanted to hear. I looked down. He pulled my head back up with his hand on my chin.

"Hey, it's nothing like that. I hurt her so much years ago. She was the first person I ever let in my soul. It's Rebecca...I told you a little about her."

"Oh, yeah...the one that got engaged to one of the other people who was in the gang rape. He was the one who raped those nurses and tried to set you up."

"Yeah, Powell. Rebecca trusted him... and me. We both screwed her up royally. I just have to see whatever happened to her," he said.

"I can understand that, but why do you want me there? What can I do?" I asked

"You have a way of making me feel like I am not a monster. That I am human, like I have changed. And to continue to change, I need to deal with my past." He then got an evil little grin on his face and said, "And you will help make the nights more interesting." He raised an eye brow and leaned in for another kiss.

to be continued