Page 110 of With Wine Comes War

He turned around and said, “Good morning to you, too.” He came over and hugged me, kissing my forehead as I stepped back, crossing my arms over my chest.

“I didn’t go in your phone. Well, I did turn your alarm off, but only because you didn’t wake up and do it yourself. I asked you if you wanted to go to the gym and you said no, so I let you sleep.”

Ugh, what the hell. I guess I needed the sleep. Oh well, no gym this morning. I can go after I see Dr. King.

“Ok, sorry. I think I scared Mary. I know she scared me.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine. I made you some breakfast. Call me and let me know when you get home. Do you want anything special for dinner tonight? I can just order something if we don’t want to cook.”

“I’ll think about it and let you know later. Thank you for breakfast. Have a good day. I’ll take a shower, eat breakfast and head out.” He handed me a coffee and left for the day.

I sat in my car for a minute, thinking about what I was going to say to Bruce. How am I going to keep him from freaking out and get himto go along with my plan? I turned on some music I and cranked it up. The music drowned out all the noise in my head and made the drive to the studio bearable. I knew exactly what I was going to say to Bruce now. I jumped out of the car and hurried in before I lost my nerve. He smiled and waved me into his office, and I closed the door behind me.

“What the heck are you so excited about?” he laughed. I was practically bouncing up and down.

“Bruce, please don’t get mad at me and don’t tell me no.” I was almost out of breath. He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

“I promise not to get mad, but I do not promise I won’t say no until I hear what it is.”

“Fair enough. Tuesday is the big day. I want to provoke Tanner.” My hands were balled up in fists and I was biting my bottom lip.

He raised his eyebrows with a look that was more confused than surprised. “What? What do you mean, provoke him? Why do you want to provoke him?”

I had everything running so fast through my head.

“There’s a reason I wanted to learn how to fight. It wasn’t just to get control of my emotions. I have control of them, I promise.”

He leaned forward and put his arms on the desk. “Oh shit, you want to fight him!”

I just smiled and nodded, waiting for him to say something else.

“Tell me your thoughts. I’m intrigued.”

Fantastic.Now I can get it off my chest and finally relax a bit.

“He’s planning to have his lawyer spin the whole thing making me look like I somehow did this to myself or asked for it. I just want to give him a chance to finish what he started, fairly.” Or try to, I should say.

He sat back and clapped his hands together and said, “Only a dumb motherfucker would want to fight you. What do you need from me?”

Oh my god, I can’t believe he’s really going to help me. My heart was racing so fast now.

“Well, first I need to get him to take the bait. When his lawyer starts interrogating me and trying to make it sound like I’m some kind of degenerate, I plan to make a personal attack of my own on him and his manhood. I’m hoping to have a lawsuit filed against me for defamation.” When I say it out loud, it sounds completely mental.

“How do you plan to get him to sue you?” He sat back in his chair. This was such a rush having someone to talk to about this stuff.

“Well, he’s quite the arrogant SOB, so I’m going to say something like, ‘I could choose to sleep with every guy in that place and I would still turn you down.’ Then I plan to say he needed to drug me because he would never have been able to take me without it.”

Bruce was laughing now.

“I’m sure that’s the laymen’s terms for what you plan to say in there. What if they object to what you’re saying and make you stop?”

Good question. I think I know what to do though.

“Well, I’ve thought about that. I’m going to keep going and get him really riled up. If I get fined or held in contempt, I’m ready for that. I have plenty of money to pay for fines. I’ll make sure I say everything I need to say before the judge threatens jail time.” I don’t need or want to go to jail for any reason because of this guy.

“And what if they convict him and he gets jail time?”

“That would be awesome, but as far as I’m concerned, nothing they give him will be enough. I think it will be a slap on the wrist, and I have a feeling he’ll do something to retaliate and if he does; that’s where you come in.”

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