The Rooster Club

by N. M. Catalano

  “You do too!” Angel shouted, defending herself, and looking terrified because her sister gave her up so quickly.

  Everyone laughed at the girls. Angel because of her attempt at being a grown-up, then immediately looking the innocent child she was. And Alex for just being Alex, the big sister.

  “How’s Johnny?” Vinnie asked Michael.

  “He went into the army and had a very successful career. He’s married and living on Long Island. He’s really good, we still talk and see each other sometimes.”

  “Man, we did some crazy stuff,” Vinnie laughed with the Michelob poised at his lips. His eyes shifted focus and became distant, gazing at something unseen.

  This was the part Natalie was dreading, when all those skeletons would come tumbling from the closet of the past. The ones she didn’t know about as fact, but somehow always knew were real.

  “Remember San Diego and Tijuana?” Sylvia finally found an opportunity to join in the reminiscing.

  “Oh yeah, I remember,” Michael laughed.

  He remembered how scared to death he was when they had run from the brothel with Sylvia’s bag full of pure cocaine.

  “I never told Paul about how you kissed me,” she purred, with her chin resting on her hand and looking seductively at Michael.

  The bomb had successfully been dropped and detonated.

  Nobody ever knows why people do or say stupid shit, and that was right at the top of stupid.

  Everyone’s eyes shot up and looked back and forth between Michael and Sylvia. Alex and Angel looked at their mother, waiting for the crazy woman to come out. Natalie felt the color drain from her face. There were a million things at the end of her tongue she was dying to spit at the two of them, but now wasn’t the time or place. She bit back the rage and hurt that welled up inside her. She was completely shocked. She’d trusted them, both of them. The betrayal she felt was insurmountable. ‘How could she do this to me,’ Natalie thought, ‘now and then, especially in front of my kids?’

  Natalie immediately realized in the span of the five tremendously long seconds everyone was silent that the only thing Sylvia had accomplished was making a damn fool of herself. Natalie didn’t need to say or do a thing.

  Michael was stunned by Sylvia’s announcement. And that was not how he remembered it happening. He refused to be punished for something that seemed from another lifetime ago. “We all made mistakes as kids, and the past is the place where they need to stay.” Michael turned to Natalie. So many emotions flashed across his face in that instant, “Now and the future is where we need to live.” Those words were filled with determination…and hope.

  Natalie’s eyes softened as his words removed the sting from Sylvia’s bombshell. She had her reasons for saying that now; low self-esteem, feeling threatened by Natalie, a hope for a future she wanted but couldn’t have, their father’s death, loneliness. From her actions with other men in Natalie’s life in the past, Natalie was certain the story wasn’t quite the way Sylvia presented it. Natalie felt sorry for Sylvia because she was so desperate for love and attention, Sylvia stooped to a level so incredibly low to get it, it was ridiculous. Michael was gracious enough to not add insult to Sylvia’s injury. Natalie respected him for it. She was mad as hell, but he’d handled it much better than she would have.

  “We should get going, Natalie. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow,” Michael suggested.

  Natalie silently let out a, ‘Thank you!’

  “Good idea. Girls get your things together,” Natalie said calmly as she stood. She walked over to Vinnie and kissed him on the cheek. “Good night Vinnie, see you tomorrow.” Then walking stiffly over to Sylvia, it took everything in her to do the same thing. “Night Syl.” There was no way she’d let her know that she’d succeeded in making Natalie feel like total shit, and making herself look like a complete asshole.

  The girls were already out the door on the way to the car. Natalie didn’t say a word. Vinnie and Sylvia were at the door still saying their goodbyes and, “Can’t wait to see you tomorrow.”

  “I bet,” Natalie grumbled under her breath as they walked through the darkness towards the car.

  “Natalie…,” Michael began.

  There was a tight tension between them in the night’s darkness.

  “Don’t, not now with the kids here,” she cut him off.

  “I’m sorry…,” he pleaded quietly.

  “Shit happens, Michael, every day.”

  “But that was twenty-five years ago. I’m here with you now.” His voice was firm but sincere.

  “You were with me then too,” Natalie snapped.

  He stopped.

  She turned to him.

  “You know, I tried to make sense out of everything for so long. I finally came to the realization that you were a sex addict, that you couldn’t help being the way you were. But she’s my sister, Michael, how could you?!” the words were quiet, but Natalie’s pain was loud and clear.

  “You’re right, I probably was then. It was a kiss, stupid and wrong. It happened at a very stressful time. I hated it happened as soon as it did, and I hate it more now. It meant nothing to me. YOU were the only thing that ever meant anything to me, Natalie. You know that,” his hands gripped Natalie’s arms tightly with his face only an inch from hers.

  She searched his face, and saw regret…and hope.

  “I did a lot of very stupid shit as a kid,” he continued. “And there isn’t a day that I don’t regret not being the man I wanted to be…for you. But that’s why I’m here, the only fucking reason. Because that’s what I want…for us.”

  Michael was furious with Sylvia for bringing that up. But he wasn’t going to let it ruin his time, these few days he had with Natalie. He came here for one reason only, and there was nothing that would stop him from accomplishing what he needed to.

  Natalie searched Michael’s face. All his emotions, everything that he felt, was visible in his deep, dark eyes.

  “Ok, it was a shock,” Natalie believed him. “And I was hurt, give me a couple of minutes to put it behind me,” she told him as she got in the car.

  That he could live with. Tonight.

  ***

  The service was very somber. There weren’t a lot of people there, mostly a few from the congregation who had time in their retired lives, their dad’s twin brother and his witch of a wife, Natalie’s ex-husband Ray, Vinnie’s wife and family, and them. It was over quickly.

  Michael, Natalie, and the girls had gone out for a late breakfast earlier and were now on their way back to her father’s house after the service. Sylvia had spent the morning cooking lasagna, rice and beans, chicken, and preparing salads. There was enough food to feed half the members of the church.

  Natalie had sworn to herself if there was a repeat of last night, she was going to knock Sylvia on her ass. She knew no one would stop her if she did.

  The evening passed by without incident, Vinnie and Michael spent a lot of time talking amongst themselves, thank God. Michael finally told him why he had to leave, the gang, the threat of cops, and the beating he had taken. Vinnie understood, and appreciated that Michael had told him everything. They both needed it so they could put the ghosts of the past to rest and move on.

  Natalie watched from the sidelines and spent most of her time, when she wasn’t helping out in the kitchen, with the kids, most all of them teenagers. Later on, they took all the kids to a movie and made it an early night.

  After Alex and Angel went to bed, Michael and Natalie sat together on the couch.

  “I want to tell you about everything that happened,” he said. His voice sounded as if he were somewhere far away while his fingers gently caressed Natalie’s soft skin.

  “Michael,” she started to pull away.

  She wasn’t sure she could handle it.

  “Sshh, Natalie, you need to know why I was the way I was. And why I had to leave.”

  He was determined to tell her everything, the things that were important. She
needed to know because of what he was going to tell her tomorrow.

  He took a deep breath, then began.

  “When I was a kid, my mom was a single mother who liked to drink a little too much. She had eight kids she needed to take care of, and life was very hard…”

  The story unfolded. Natalie envisioned that beautiful little boy out on the docks shining shoes in the freezing cold wind, she saw the fifteen year-old boy moving to a boys home alone to find a better life, and she felt the struggle of the young man making the decision to stand by his friend who felt alone in the world, much like he’d felt all his life, even though the decision had put him in danger. And she saw through his eyes how that decision turned him into the man that hurt her, the one life and circumstance had created in order to be everything he needed to be for everyone and everything. Except Natalie. He told her about the guilt he’d felt for loving her while at the same time doing all the things to achieve what he thought, back then, he needed to in order to escape the life that had been created from all these actions. And what made him leave. The drugs, the beating, the threat from the police, and the impending danger to everyone.

  Natalie listened, and he talked.

  He told her how he’d tried to find her twice, a year after he’d left and years later, and how Theresa had gotten pregnant, and their marriage.

  It was a lot.

  “I changed my name for two reasons: I knew I wanted to succeed, but in a white man’s world. I was a half Puerto Rican high school drop-out who lived the first fifteen years of his life on the streets. I had no formal education. And with the threat of the robbery, and the Harlem people, still hanging over my head, I felt that I needed to disappear and start from scratch. So I decided on Sterling, it seemed perfect. You know,” Natalie could feel him looking down at her, “’cause of my sterling personality and all.”

  “Oh please,” she moaned, rolling her eyes and smiling.

  The atmosphere lightened a little after they laughed at his joke.

  He smiled down at her as she laid against his chest. The rising and falling of his broad chest, along with the beat of his heart, was soothing to her.

  They sat quietly as Natalie digested the story of his life.

  “That’s it, until I found you again,” his voice was soft from reliving it all.

  Natalie looked into his face. He was worried, but he appeared as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

  There were so many feelings floating through Natalie. But the one that stood out the most, the only one that burned brighter than all the others, was love.

  She took his hand. They walked silently to her bedroom. She wanted to make love to him in her bed. She needed to have his presence and his memory embedded in her private place, so she could wrap herself in him when he was gone.

  They drowned themselves in each other, exploring not only their bodies, but their hearts, minds, and souls as well. It was magnificent, it rocked them both so hard, she cried, and he held her, loving her over again. They made magic that night, the kind that would be with them, joining them, even after they died.

  The next day Michael asked Natalie to take him out.

  “I want to have a look around the area and check out some places.”

  “What do you mean, ‘check out some places’?” Natalie asked.

  Ray had taken Angel and Alex out earlier, for the day. They were alone again. Having Michael around in her regular life was too comfortable, too easy, she was starting to get nervous. He was leaving tomorrow and Natalie couldn’t stop thinking about it. She knew she wouldn’t be able to go back to her mundane life of just being a mom. The woman inside her who had lain comatose for so long was alive and screaming to be recognized, knowing she was going to be shoved back in her hospital bed and sedated once again when Michael got on his plane.

  “Natalie, I want to talk to you about something.” It was time for Michael to talk to Natalie about what he’d waited so long for.

  Hope and apprehension seized Natalie as she sat on the couch next to him.

  “Ok, go ahead,” Natalie was nervous, and it showed in the way she wrung her fingers.

  “I told you when we first started talking again that I got married because of my kids. We talked about it again on the phone,” he began. His words were carefully selected and his voice was level. Now that the time was finally here, he couldn’t deny that he was a little scared.

  “I remember.” Natalie’s nerves were raging as she chewed on her lip.

  “My youngest graduates from high school this year,” he continued evenly, his eyes not flinching as they stared into Natalie’s.

  “Ok,” she wanted to shake him and yell at him to spit it out already.

  “I’ve been spending this year preparing my company so that I can make a move,” he continued.

  Natalie couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “Would you just say what you want to say plainly please!?”

  He laughed in his signature mischievous way.

  “Ok,” he took a deep breath. “Natalie,” and began, taking her hand, “I want to be with you. We’ve waited too many years, so much time has been wasted already. I want to find a little place down here so that when I do make my move, it will be next to you. I want to go shopping with you, and pick out meals to cook together. I want to watch you when you get frustrated, and see the spark in your eyes, and how your face flushes. I want to watch you laugh with your kids in that beautiful way do. I want to be with you and live…every single day, Natalie.” His eyes scanned her face, looking for something to tell him how she felt. “We’ve lost so much time, I don’t want to miss anymore. I know I’m asking you to wait, and I’m sorry, but we can see each other every month or two. I’ll come down or you can come up, or we’ll meet in the middle. I don’t care.”

  Michael sat quietly waiting for Natalie to say something.

  Natalie had to let this all sink in. She didn’t trust she’d heard him correctly. He wanted to be next to her, he wanted to be with her. He was going to do whatever he needed to make it happen. Natalie stared at him waiting for that ‘but’ to come, something, anything, to tell her she had it wrong. When he said nothing else, Natalie finally opened her mouth to answer him.

  Their relationship had always been a cacophony, one big, tangled mess. But it seemed they would finally start unraveling it.

  “Michael, I’ve waited for you over twenty-five years, another one is no big deal.”

  “Jesus Christ Natalie, you scared the shit out of me. I thought you were going to tell me to go to hell.”

  Michael clasped Natalie’s face in his hands and kissed her. It was the best kiss they had ever shared. It was the one filled with hope, of all the promises they’d waited so long for. It was the first one of the rest of their lives, their last first kiss.

  ***

  Twenty-three and a half months later…Valentine’s Day

  Natalie turned right, then left, examining her reflection in the mirror dressed in a very sexy cream suit that hugged her still attractive body for the hundredth time. What she saw made her smile. For a woman, a mother of two children, in her 40’s, she thought she looked pretty good. Her figure was still sexy, with curves in all the right places. Sure, things weren’t as perky as they used to be, but men in their 20’s still hit on her.

  But there was only one man who made her melt in his arms.

  The door to the bedroom opened, and Michael stepped in.

  “You look absolutely amazing, baby. I am one very lucky man,” he said, stepping closer and closing the space between them.

  His body pressed against hers as he slid his hands behind her and filled them with her ass.

  “How do you keep getting more beautiful everyday Natalie? My God, I think you’ve gotten better with age. I didn’t think it was possible, but you’re sexier, sultrier, even more stunning. And your mine,” he whispered huskily, with his face buried in her long dark hair. “And the way you smell, it always drove me wild,” he growled.r />
  “Michael,” she whispered as her head dipped back, her body still reacting as hungrily as it had the first time he held her on the dancefloor.

  “I just want to hold you for a moment, baby,” he said, his voice caressing her.

  One of his hands slid down the back of Natalie’s thighs until it reached the hem of her skirt. He pulled it up, his fingers grazing the inside of her thigh, pausing when he touched the flesh peeking out over her thigh-high hose. A low moan rumbled deep in her chest.

  “Michael,” she breathed heavily, “we’re going to be late.”

  “Just for a moment, Natalie. I want to touch you…,” he whispered.

  His hand continued the few inches until his fingers grazed over her wet folds under the silk of her panties.

  She shivered with the heat of his light touch.

  Michael’s other hand moved up Natalie’s waist until his thumb stroked the underside of her breast.

  “Michael, you’re going to kill me...,” Natalie groaned as she moved into his hands.

  “Sshh, baby, feel me…,” he whispered.

  His thumb glided over the point of her nipple pushing through the body hugging fabric of her cream jacket. The hand between her thighs lightly raked a nail over the fabric already wet from her arousal.

  “Again…,” she panted out.

  “Once more, but you’re not coming. Not until tonight,” he rasped out.

  Before she could plead for more, his thumbnail scratched along her nipple and another nail moved over her sex. Then they were gone, leaving her gasping.

  “We have to leave now, Natalie. The girls are waiting in the car,” he whispered with his lips a breath away from hers.

  “You are going to pay dearly for that, mister.” Natalie’s words were tight with her pent-up desire as a wicked smile played on her lips.

  “I know that, my love,” he answered with a devilish smirk.

  “Oh, you are impossible,” Natalie chuckled.

  “Yeah, but you love me,” he smiled broadly.

  “I do, Mr. Sterling, I always have,” Natalie replied, her voice still husky from her lingering lust.

  “I want to kiss you so hard, but I don’t want to ruin your lipstick. And I’m afraid it won’t stop there,” Michael said quietly, as the tip of his tongue licked Natalie’s lips long and lazily.