Page 77 of Hale's Pawn
Oran kisses my shoulder and turns me into his arms. “I’m sorry about what you’re going through with your dad. I wish I could do something, but all we can do is wait. I stayed back a little bit after you left just to sit with him and Markos.”
I cup his face in my hands. “Yeah?” I ask him sweetly.”
“Yeah, they’re family too, let me worry about them with you. Plus, I kinda like them.”
I lean in and kiss him hard. “Thank you, my love. They kinda like you too.” I snuggle into his arms.
I nod. “I wish we could stay like this forever.”
Oran snorts. “You’d be spoiled.”
I kiss his neck. “Yeah, but it would be the one place I feel safe and comfortable.”
“Buttering me up, aren’t you?” Oran teases.
“A little,” I admit.
Oran laughs and kisses my temple. “Get some sleep, baby. We’ll talk in the morning.”
“I love you,” I say.
“I love you too, Bug.”
36
Oran
My wife is disappearing…Wait, no, that sounds harsh. My wife is losing herself in ‘the life’. There’s no balance right now. It’s been months, and each time Ainslee goes to see her father, she loses a bit of herself. From her hair color going back to brown to it never being down. I don’t like the woman that comes back to me because she’s like a ghost. She tries to fake it but I notice. She’ll ask me about my day, ask me how work was and all the normal things, but at night she doesn’t come to me. She sleeps on the edge of the bed as if she’s afraid that she’ll taint me somehow.
With Elmer being gone and me becoming part of the Founders meetings, I completely forgot about my wife taking over temporarily and what it means. Ainslee walks into the Founders meeting in an all-black pant suit. She looks fucking gorgeous, but it feels like I haven’t seen her in days. She’s in and out of the house lately. I just want five minutes with my wife. I sigh as Ainslee sits across from me at the round table. “Gentlemen,” she greets us and Dondi.
Jagger’s eyes widen. He leans towards me. “Is this how she’s been?”
I sharply nod, not able to take my eyes off my wife. “So, you can show up to things on time huh?” I sneer.
Ainslee looks up from the table. “This is part of what I have to do.”
I glare at her and she stares right back at me.
Dondi clears his throat, “Ainslee, you know you didn’t have to be here. We know with everything going on, we could’ve given the information to your husband.”
“Is it because I’m a woman that you don’t want me here?” Ainslee says coldly.
Dondi looks at her. “Ainslee, that’s not how it goes and you know it. That’s not fair,” he says in a fatherly tone. Dondi cares about her and it makes me wonder how close Andres and Dondi are.
Ainslee looks up at him. “I’m sorry, you’re right. I just have a lot on my mind.”
Dondi gives her a sad smile. I open my mouth to say something and Dondi clears his throat, beginning the meetings.
After the business part of the meeting is over, we play poker. I watch Ainslee as she concentrates on her deck. She lifts her glass and one of the staff that serves us brings her another glass of the bourbon she’s drinking. When did she start drinking that? I watch her hard and I know she knows I’m staring. Jagger elbows me. “You’ll drill a hole in her head.”
“I don’t give a fuck. She better look at me soon, or else.”
“Or else what?” Ainslee finally looks up at me. There is this eerie look in her eyes. A sadness so profound, yet she masks it before I can mention it. “Maybe you and Jagger should fold and go home,” Ainslee says.
I look at Dondi. “So, I have a Founder’s question.”
“Go ahead.”
