done this before. It didn’t work. I don’t know how to get sane.’ He paused. ‘Do you? I didn’t think so. We’re just crazed all the time.’
Her mouth was dry when she whispered, ‘Yeah, crazed.’
‘Crazed!’ he exclaimed. Grabbing her, he pulled her close to him on the bed. ‘Rocky, why are you doing this to me? Why do you do this to me all the time?’ he said hotly, feverishly kissing her open lips, his hands gripping her wrists so tight it hurt.
She shut her eyes and pulled his head into her face, closer, if that were possible, into her, his lips overwhelming hers, pushing them apart with their intensity, their violence.
She groaned, moaned under his arms. He pushed her down on the bed. ‘Kristina,’ he whispered. ‘What are we going to do?’
Her only response was a stifled, raspy moan. Albert pulled her up to lift her pink tank top and expose her breasts, and then pushed her back down on the bed again. She whispered. ‘We’re going to go a little crazy. And then we’re going to escape forever.’
‘Escape?’ he whispered into her mouth, grinding against her with the hardness in his jeans, hurting her, making her ache and moan with pain and desire. He was grinding as if he were trying to push himself whole inside her. ‘Escape? What are you talking about? There is no escape.’
‘Sweet hell,’ she whispered. ‘Almost like heaven.’ His big hand covered her mouth roughly. ‘I don’t want to be damned,’ she said through his closed fingers. She wanted to cry.
He bent down to her breast, putting her nipple between his teeth. She stroked his arms, his head, his hair, his face. ‘Kristina, Kristina,’ he whispered back. ‘We’re not damned. We’re in love.’
‘No,’ she moaned as his hands moved down to her thighs. ‘We’re damned.’
She arched her back to help him take off her panties.
He pulled himself back up to her face and kissed her lips. ‘Rocky, darling,’ he said. ‘Rocky, Kristina, Rocky…’
‘Oh, Albert,’ Kristina whispered. ‘Please… please… let’s stop.’
He pulled back for a moment, to look at her, his hands near her face and neck. ‘How can I stop?’ he whispered fiercely.
‘How can I when you make me so fucking weak, I can’t see straight…’
When he pulled off his jeans and she reached down to feel him, he was ready for her. She moaned softly into his neck, and he breathed hard, clutching her with his hands, propping himself up, one hand underneath her back, thrusting into her.
A knock on the door stopped them.
‘Kristina?’
It was Conni.
Kristina instantly fell silent and put her hand over Albert’s mouth, whose heavy belabored breath continued to be the only sound in the room.
The knock came again. ‘Kristina, I’m looking for Albert. You know where he is?’
Kristina held her breath, held Albert with her arms, and then let out, ‘Conni? No, I don’t see him. Listen, it’s real late.’
The doorknob turned.
‘Could you open the door, please?’ Conni said impatiently.
‘Conn, I’m so tired, I can’t see straight,’ said Kristina, as she stifled Albert’s moan. ‘I’m half asleep,’ Kristina finished, finding his mouth with her hand. ‘I’ll talk to you in the morning, okay?’
‘Could you just open the door for a second? I need to talk to you.’
‘Conni, tomorrow, okay?’
Conni banged loudly on the door. ‘No, it’s not okay, Kristina. No it’s not okay. Open the door.’
‘Conni, leave me alone, will you? I had a long day. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.’
Conni continued to bang on the door and carry on, but Albert and Kristina stopped listening. Albert turned Kristina over. Kristina put her face in the pillow to muffle her sounds. She felt Albert’s hand in the back of her head, pushing her face into the pillow, his body hard behind her.
But Conni’s banging and yelling did not subside.
Finally, Kristina heard someone out in the hall telling Conni to shut the hell up or they would call security. Conni wouldn’t stop. A few minutes later somebody came to the door and asked Conni to come away. She refused. The security man knocked on the door and asked Kristina to open it. By this time Albert and Kristina were spent. Albert’s hands were stroking her, caressing her. He blew on her perspired face to cool her.
Kristina told the security man she was trying to sleep, wasn’t well, and wasn’t dressed. Eventually he led Conni away.
Later when they were lying next to each other in the little bed, Kristina said quietly, ‘God, Albert, we can’t live like this.’
‘You’re right. Let’s go to Canada.’
‘What, forever?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Let’s go to Canada forever.’
She pushed him lightly. ‘Boy, you’ll say anything right now, won’t you?’
He smiled. ‘Anything.’ He was lying sideways, propping himself up on his elbow. He blew on her face again and then kissed it.
Kristina wondered about Conni. What was Albert going to tell her?
‘Canada, huh? Albert,’ Kristina said, ‘why Canada? Seems far away.’
‘The farther the better,’ he said. ‘Tell me you don’t want to go.’
‘I didn’t say that,’ she said cautiously, thinking.
‘Let’s go,’ he beseeched her. ‘We’ve got the money - you said so yourself. There’s nothing stopping us.’
She wanted to ask Albert about his imminent engagement to Conni. How are you going to take me to Canada and get engaged to her at the same time? she wanted to ask.
Albert poked her gently. ‘Well?’
‘And when this money is gone, then what?’
‘Then nothing. Then we’ll get more money,’ he said.
‘From where?’
Albert pulled away from her and stared at the ceiling.
‘Howard and I are now officially divorced,’ Kristina said. ‘Grandma is dead.’
‘There must be some money tucked away somewhere,’ said Albert.
‘What are you talking about?’ Kristina said, a little shrilly. ‘There’s no money, I’m telling you.’
‘So? We’ll get jobs. We’ll have money.’
Smirking, Kristina said, ‘You’re gonna get a job, Albert?’
‘Sure, why not?’ He put his hands behind his head. ‘I’ll try anything once.’
Now Kristina lay on her side, propped up by her elbow, and stared into his face. She wanted to tell him about the money, but she was just waiting for the right time. When he was married to Conni, maybe. She smiled at her own little joke.
‘What’s so funny?’ he asked.
‘Nothing, nothing,’ she quickly said. This was not a good time.
‘Rocky? If I break up with Conni, will you break up with Jim?’
Oh, not this again. She wanted to say, break up with Conni? Is that before or after you get engaged? But she didn’t.
‘Albert, please,’ she said. ‘Please.’