"Put me down, AJ!" Sam demanded as she dangled upside down over his shoulder, the blood rushing to her head. She tried to push herself up and break free of AJ's grasp. "What in the hell is your problem, anyway? And get your hand off of my ass!"
AJ laughed as he carried her down the hall towards the elevator. "Come on, Sam," he said, "let's go shoot some pool."
"I don't want to shoot pool, I want to talk to Dani!" she insisted. "Why don't you get Howie to shoot pool with you?" she asked, squirming to get loose.
As the elevator door closed, AJ sat Sam's feet down on the floor and steadied her until she caught her balance.
"Because Howie wants to propose to Dani." He paused to let his statement sink in. "And then screw her brains out," AJ laughed. "And he doesn't want you for an audience."
Sam smiled broadly as AJ's words penetrated her brain. "Howie's proposing to Dani?" she repeated. "Well, it's about damn time!"
Sam's mood was melancholy. She was happy for Dani, but thinking about Dani's impending nuptials and family had reminded her of her own biological clock. Why on earth had she ever let herself fall in love with a man 12 years younger than herself? What power was it that he held over her? Try as she might, she could never get him far from the center of her thoughts. Why did an electric current run through her that seized every nerve ending in her body when he glanced at her? Why in the hell had she let herself make love to him last night?
As AJ drew his cue stick back, Sam swallowed nervously, "Uhmm, so, I hear you and Amanda broke up again." Shit, how had that slipped out, she groaned silently. She'd been dying to know the details ever since Dani had told her about the breakup, but she had never meant to ask AJ about it. Surprised that she had been the one to bring up Amanda, AJ missed his shot. He stood up and walked over to where he had sat his Corona down. He took a long drink before answering.
"Yeah," he said, "It just wasn't working out." He sat down on his barstool, grabbed an ashtray, and lit a cigarette as Sam prepared to shoot.
"Well, I'm sure you'll be back together before long," she replied as she sank the two ball. She walked to the end of the table, contemplating her next shot. AJ stared at her for a moment before saying, "I didn't sleep with her that night, Sam." She paused in mid-stroke.
"I suppose you were just playing a game of strip poker to pass the time while you waited for me." She banked the six ball off the rail, putting it in the corner pocket.
"She was there because she said she was worried about you too," AJ told her.
Sam made a rude noise. "Yeah," she said sarcastically, "she was so worried she ripped all her clothes off and crawled into our bed!" Angrily and deliberately, she spiked the eight ball into the side pocket.
"Sam, I had no idea she was in the bed," AJ said. "When I got out of the shower I heard you come in," he explained. "I was so relieved that you were back, I didn't even notice her in the bed." He sighed and shook his head. "Look, I know she did it to try and come between us..."
"Well," Sam interrupted bitterly, "she certainly succeeded."
"I'm sorry," AJ told her, "I'm sorry she hurt you." After a long pause, he added, "I'm sorry I hurt you. And I would have told you then if you had given me a chance."
Anger flashed in Sam's eyes. She was not going to let him blame this on her. She was the victim here. "Obviously you weren't too upset by what she did," Sam fumed. "It didn't take you long to go running back to her. Come on, AJ. Two weeks?" A traitorous tear began to run down her face. She quickly wiped it away. It broke AJ's heart to know he had made her cry and he wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her. He didn't though. If she couldn't get past her anger and hurt, then the two of them didn't stand a chance together.
AJ laid his cigarette in the ashtray on the edge of the pool table and began removing balls from the pockets. "I tried every way I knew to get in touch with you," he said. "You wouldn't accept my calls, you wouldn't return my messages. You made it very clear that it was over between us," he reminded her as he racked the pool balls again. He offered her the table but she shook her head.
"I was angry," she said as she watched him break.
"Yeah, well, I was angry too," he said taking a drag on his cigarette as he leaned on his stick and motioned for Sam to take her turn. "I wrote you a letter," he said casually. Sam's head jerked up and she missed her shot.
"I never got it," she said. AJ calmly lined up his shot and sank the seven ball. He shrugged.
"I never mailed it," he said. "It would have only made things worse between us, if that was possible. Like I said, I was angry too."
"What did you have to be angry about?" Sam asked reproachfully
He took a last drag off his cigarette before putting it out in the ashtray. "I was angry because you didn't trust in my love for you enough to believe that I wouldn't betray you like that." Sam looked down at her drink, stirring it slowly with the straw. She heard him sink several more balls.
"I wish you had tried harder. To make me listen," she said quietly, without looking up.
"Eight ball in the corner pocket," AJ said before sinking it easily. He tossed his stick on the table before turning to face Sam. Crossing his arms, he leaned his hip against the table. "Sam, look at me." She raised her head and met his eyes. "There's a lot of things I wish I'd done differently. I wish I had made you listen. I wish you hadn't been so stubborn. I wish I hadn't let Amanda stay when you asked me to send her away." He sighed and walked over to stand in front of her. He grasped her chin in his hand, turning her face up. "I wish I could change the past. But I can't," he said. He leaned down and placed a soft, lingering kiss on her lips. "So," he said, as he broke the kiss, "you can either stay mad at me, in which case I might as well go back to LA and Amanda, or you can accept my apology and we can go on from here."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Sam told him, doubt in her voice.
"What?" he asked her, a confused statement on his face. Sam ducked her head and sighed. "That we'll have an argument and you'll realize you should have stayed with Amanda. Look, I know I'm just something different for you," she said. "I'm older, I'm biracial, I'm experienced. . . . What in the hell are you laughing at?" she asked indignantly as AJ doubled over unable to control himself.
"Oh baby," he laughed wiping tears from his eyes, "I've been with women that were ‘just something different’. . . "
"I'm not interested in hearing about your sexual escapades," Sam informed him frostily as she turned and tried to brush past him. He reached out and caught her, pulling her into his arms. "I've been with women who were just something different," he repeated firmly, "but I didn't end a two year relationship for them. And I didn't lie awake at night wondering where they were or who they were with. Or if they were missing me as much as I missed them," he confessed.
"You broke up with Amanda because of me?" she asked. AJ nodded. "It wasn't fair to her for me stay any longer." Sam stiffened in his arms. "Well, we certainly wouldn't want to be unfair to Amanda," she said sarcastically.
"Sam," AJ said shaking his head, "I can't promise that I'll never hurt you again. Or that we'll be together forever. But baby," he
said tenderly as he caressed her cheek with his hand, "I love you." He stared down tenderly at her upturned face. "Come on,
sweetheart," he said. "There's a Jacuzzi upstairs with our name on it."
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