by Anna Collins
“You do speak my language. That’s one thing I find refreshing, and you’re not afraid to pay for good help. You are a shrewd negotiator, but I think in this kind of business there has to be a give and take. I’m the kind of guy who would take his mother in after she was ill. I work on the premise everybody is going to do exactly as they are told. I don’t need the hassle of having to torture and maim some of my crew for having loose lips. The example I talked about before is something they will never forget. It’s ingrained into them, and I’ve seen the way they look at me from time to time like I’m some kind of monster. They know I’m tough but fair. I don’t ask any of them to do anything I wouldn’t do myself. This is what makes a good leader. I see in your eyes you have that same responsibility or you did at one time. It never goes away. No matter how much you want it to or wish it would,” Lucas said while turning on his heels and making his way back up to where he would be at the helm for the rest of the voyage.
“After what happened with Wes and Rita, it’s a wonder we are even able to get on a boat without hurling our cookies. They are still out there, and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention they are still breathing. I’m glad you didn’t kill them. This is something you would have to carry with you for the rest of your life. It’s a burden and one that never ceases to amaze me. You can’t even escape it in your dreams, and it follows you like an albatross around your neck. Taking somebody’s life is never easy, but living with it is something most men find difficult. This is the reason why those who have served feel it necessary to end their lives prematurely with a bullet or other means,” Casper said looking like he was thinking about the past and how he might have done something differently.
“In any war, there are going to be casualties one way or the other. Both sides will suffer and those who see that kind of action will be affected even after serving their term. I don’t know what you have gone through, but it has made you tougher than nails and willing to do anything to survive. Talking has always been the one thing you have been good at. If that doesn’t work, then you have no problem getting dirty in the trenches. It actually seems you enjoy it, but I think you hate yourself afterward. I could be there for you, but I can’t take away the pain forever,” I said with my two hands on his shoulders, looking into his eyes to let him know whatever he had done in the past was not going to affect our future.
“You have seen me at my worst, and you’re still here. That says a lot about your character and how you’re able to see past the monster. I have blood on my hands, and I never claimed to have otherwise. There are things I have done I’m not proud of, and I can’t take them back. I can make up for them in some small way by giving to those who can’t fight for themselves. I’m giving them a fighting chance. I actually volunteer at soup kitchens and not just at Christmas. I roll up my sleeves, and I do what I can to aid and give comfort to those who suffer needlessly. It’s not what I would call a selfless act. I have a lot to make up for, and I don’t think I will ever wipe that slate clean,” Casper said as he put his hand on my waist and squeezed to give me a reason to think what we had together was something able to stand up to just about anything.
“I don’t even know what I would do if you were gone. In the old days, I probably would’ve curled up and wanted to die. I think I could live without you, but I don’t want to find out. I find myself giving in and letting you play my body like a musical instrument. You know just what chords to strike to get a very distinctive resonant. There’s always this something in the air. I can’t explain it, and I don’t think you would understand what I’m talking about. I think there are a few women in the world who can truly say they are happy sexually and otherwise,” I said while touching his face with the back of my hand. I let the bristles touch my skin and set the mood.
“It’s a good thing you don’t get seasick,” He was teasing, and I had already shown I was not seaworthy. I was lucky, and this time, I had taken a couple of pills to settle my stomach and make sure I didn’t have a repeat performance of what happened on the yacht.
“I have help in the form of a pill. It really does work, and I’ve never really prescribed to modern medicine. I like to think I’m more holistic. I use only those grown in the wild to heal me of various ailments. I’ve turned other people onto this latest craze, and it has become all the rage. There are those who are suffering. They have gone to Dr. after Dr. and have never been completely satisfied with the prognosis. I speak to them in their own language, giving them a reason to take a risk when the side effects are minimal. You can’t say this for most drugs being doled out by the medical community,” I said not quite knowing how I had gotten off topic and onto something really dear to my heart.
“I’ve decided to take a page from your book. I take supplements in vitamins and even garlic pills that help to boost the immune system. I do have a lot more energy these days. I thought it was all just nonsense, but eating right and letting nature serve its purpose does make sense. I’ve gotten off of junk food and sweets really don’t have the same appeal they had done before I started this new healthy lifestyle. There’s something liberating about taking control of your life and not allowing processed sugars to blind you. I’ve always been under the adage you should live the way you want to and that everything will fall into place as it is supposed to,” Casper said with conviction his lifestyle had changed because of me.
“Trust me; I suspected it was going to work. You just have to believe. Half the battle lets your body know it’s going to work before it even does. I’ve never been healthier, and I will never revert back to what I used to do. It feels good, and it makes me virile. You have witnessed my transformation, and I think you have only yourself to blame for the raging bull in the sack I am today,” Casper said as he made me believe living my life was supposed to be on my terms.
“I do like you can go all night. Keep doing what you are doing, my love.” I said.
“We keep living the good life, and we will never have to worry about dying at an early age. I’m a little older than you, but I’ve always believed there is no such thing as a number. It’s the way you feel that should matter the most. Some have the young gene following them like a dark cloud in adolescence but becomes quite the gift when they get older. Their lives really don’t start until they get out of high school. I was like this, and I always wore denim jackets in class to mask my lack of muscles. I was never picked on in school. I was left alone as some sort of leper,” Casper said letting me see the cracks in the wall he had built against this kind of questioning.
Chapter 36
We had a lot in common and sitting in silence saying nothing was one of them. It was an uneventful trip, but there was one hiccup we didn’t take into consideration. It wasn’t the Raven who caught up with us. It was pirates. These were modern day pirates. They came on board, and since they weren’t looking for us, we didn’t stand out like sore thumbs. They spoke with the captain, and it was as if they had this understanding nobody else knew about. They left with a suitcase most likely full of cash. This must’ve been Lucas’s way of keeping everybody happy. It was essentially protection money.
We got to the plane, and it was ready to take off. There was no pilot; Casper was the one who had made the flight plan. He was in the captain’s chair, and I was in the co-pilot’s chair. I didn’t know everything there was to know about Casper. I didn’t want to know everything. It would’ve taken any kind of mystery out of our relationship. It was better to reveal certain tidbits of information at the right time and the right place. I had my own baggage, but it was not as near as much as what Casper currently was carrying.
“I’ve been an accomplished pilot for almost five years. I don’t get out as much as I would like to, but having a wife like I have made it necessary to escape from time to time. I would take long overnight trips to any place by pointing to the map. I think that’s where I got the idea of going to Bali by doing the same thing. My father used to do it all the time when he was making decisions. He would alwa
ys tell me it was an adventure and if you didn’t take the time to enjoy the little things you weren’t really living.” Casper said as he flew into the open sky, scattering a bunch of birds nearby, clipping one of them and making them fall like a brick to the ground below.
I couldn’t imagine what kind of death this would be. It made me curl up and put my arms around my knees like I was back in the womb. I had been on planes before, but this was the first time I saw it from the captain’s point of view. It was interesting, and it was as if I had the best seat in the house. The man of my dreams was sitting right there. I rubbed his knee and lightly squeezed to let him know I was there. It was a little thing, but it was those that made the most difference in any relationship. Showing affection and a bit of intimacy go a long way to keeping somebody faithful.
“I can’t believe you see all of this every time you go up. I think I’ve been wasting too much time. I might have to join you and get my license so I can feel what you feel. There’s something magical about having the ability to fly, even if it is inside a machine much like this. I’ve been in hot air balloons, but it doesn’t compare to seeing things like a bird in the sky,” I said as the clouds were below us and they looked angry and black as a storm reached its peak.
“The weather forecast calls for clear sailing after we get out from underneath the storm. The one thing I know about you Angel is you are hot under the covers. You are a tiny oven, and I think sleeping with you during those winter months is going to be a pleasure. I’ve asked you to do a lot, and you’ve never once given me any kind of argument. You did have your opinion. You know this is my life, and the decisions I make are going to determine if I get out of this without going to jail. I will say I’m not going to jail. I could probably survive, but it’s not a life,” Casper said as I lay back and let my eyes drift closed.
“I would say I can take over for you in a couple of hours, but I don’t even know what to do. Is there an autopilot you can use to get some necessary sleep? There are planes equipped with something like that, but maybe it’s only on commercial airlines,” I said with him pointing towards the autopilot this very expensive machine was equipped with.
“I’ll get us leveled off and then I will join you for some necessary rest. Once we land, we’re going to be on a time crunch. It’s a good thing they are keeping to a schedule. If they were to bump it up even an hour, we would be out of luck,” Casper said
“I don’t know how I got so lucky to be with you,” I said.
“I know we can treat each other right. Going after each other like lovesick teenagers is hopefully never going to get old. You can be temperamental and quite the handful, but I think for the most part you make life interesting. I’ve always been the kind of guy who seeks out something to make me think. I can’t sit still. I can’t live with the idea I didn’t experience everything life has to offer. Food, women and extreme sports have always been something I lived for. I got away from it after I got married, but I think with you I can see things through your eyes for the first time,” Casper said as he lay back with his hands on his lap and his eyes closed, letting this machine take control.
His hand took hold of mine, and we entwined fingers like lovers do when they are in need of that intimate connection. The hot spot between his legs looked ready to surge ahead. It didn’t take much to get his motor running. I could probably charge people admission for the kind of sex show we could put on for them. Paradise wasn’t the island. Paradise was in the arms of the man I loved. It didn’t matter where we were. Home was where we hung our hat and twisted in the sheets together.
“My grandfather used to say you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. I’ve lived by this motto all of my life. I never did take one second for granted. I think I saw the way the disease ravaged my grandfather’s body. He became a husk, and it’s not the way I want to remember him. He had always been strong, but the disease kept him from doing the things he loved including hunting and fishing. He still went with me, but there was very little energy in him at the end to even pick up the fishing rod. He’s a man who I like to think gave me sound advice during my childhood. They were little nuggets of inspiration leading me to strive for the best at everything I did. I would never settle for second place, and winning was the only thing that mattered,” Casper said letting me see more of how he was raised.
“I’m not sure I’m going to fall asleep anytime soon. My family life has never been stable. I’ve always thought of myself as an outsider. I’ve tried to bridge the gap, but nothing makes a difference. I do know how you feel. There was one moment where a child was going to get hit by a car going too fast. I acted without thinking. I broke my leg as the car hit me and spun me in place. It didn’t even stop, and I was in no position to get a license plate. I saved the kid, but at the cost of six weeks of my life in a cast to mend a broken bone. I grew up quickly and learned how to take care of myself at an early age,” I said feeling his hands squeeze mine.
“I really thought I had found the love of my life when I met my wife. She was the livewire always with something to say and never able to admit she was wrong. I married her because I thought she could keep me grounded. I didn’t know what money would do to her. She became a leech, always amassing material objects which actually cannot be taken with us at the end. She never did understand. I never was courageous enough to cut her off. It seemed to make her happy and you know what they say about a happy wife is a happy life,” Casper said letting me see another side of his wife, that made me even much more determined to see her.
I wanted to know what kind of woman could treat him as if he was nothing. Could belittle him in front of his friends and make disparaging comments about his manhood. There’s nothing small or underplayed at all about his anatomy. She was just doing it to get underneath his skin. I thought he would lash out, but he allowed her to manipulate him. That wasn’t going to happen with me around. I would see to it that his wife would understand treating him like this was wrong. This was my time to make sure she wasn’t going to be any kind of problem going forward. I didn’t tell Casper about my plans to meet her and give her a piece of my mind. I’m sure he would envision some sort of pillow fight or jello wrestling. I was not the kind of girl who would slap another. But threaten what I held the dearest and you would see the fur fly.
“It’s not going to happen, and I would really wish you didn’t think about it. I’m going over every scenario in my head, and each one of them isn’t pretty. You think I don’t know, but I do. You want to know what it is that made her my equal. I was powerless to resist at the very beginning, and I don’t want to fall into the trap again. She can be real sweet, but get in her way and watch out. My wife is not one to stand back and let others do what she could do for herself. She likes being pampered. I had all of this money and didn’t care how much she spent. It didn’t matter if it was artwork, a new car or even a place by the beach. It was always one thing or another with that girl,” Casper said as we continued to talk and drift in and out of consciousness from time to time.
10 minutes went by and finally I opened my eyes to see us coming in for a landing. The wheels touched down and the screech of the breaks as they made contact with the pavement was a good sign we had made it safely to our destination.
He turned towards me; he held both of my hands and made me look at him in the eyes. “It’s almost over, and I have to wonder if you have any regrets. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t. You have been brave in the face of danger, and I have never been more proud of someone in my life. I do hope to have a son one day to pass on my many years of experience. I can teach him how to talk to girls, shave and even about the birds and bees. I know this might seem sudden, but I really would like you to be there with me every step of the way. What I’m asking is if you would consider having my child?” It was a question hanging in the air, and I stared at him in disbelief he would even mention this without a ring on my finger.
Chapter 37
“I was wrong, and
I have no idea what we’re going to do. He’s not going to let us in there. It’s obvious Raven is one step ahead of us. That man has a one track mind and protecting Nash is the only thing he has been thinking about. The Raven and those who work with him are not going to be easy to get around. We only have a couple of hours before they sit down. I can’t even think straight. I have the evidence, and I can’t do anything with it. I’m so angry I just want to grab a bunch of guns and go on a murderous rampage,” Casper said as we sat in this nondescript white van watching through the tinted windows at Raven and his men cordoning off the building and making it impossible to penetrate.
I used my eyes to scan the area. I was learning how to look for anything of use, not letting anything escape my notice. The Raven had somehow beaten us here. Money was no object with Nash footing the bill. He probably wasn’t very happy Raven came back empty handed. I imagine he had to do a lot of fancy footwork to get Nash off his back. No doubt Nash would have him killed for failure. He was most likely giving him one last chance to prove he was not a worthless piece of crap.
I came across something, but it wasn’t without its risks. There was some kind of catered affair going on within the very same building they were going to sign on the dotted line. The caterer had already arrived wearing the usual black and white attire with bow ties to match. They carried the food in large trays into the employee entrance only.
