Tainted

16 - Colt: Real

I craned my neck to look at the ticking clock on the wall, holding the punching bag as one of the guys flew his fist into it repeatedly, never once sending me haywire.

7:12PM.

Vee was already home safe, but I didn't want her to be alone for long. I had to remind myself to thank Ben again for bringing her home when I couldn't. Work had been hectic lately; I was possibly buying over Dan Rochester's entire Firm Fitness business, but he was giving me a hell of a hard time doing so.

That, and I had to train people as well as keep up maintenance demands of my own gym - it was mentally draining. By the end of the day, I looked forward to only one person.

Sometimes I wondered how I did it before - how did I go about accomplishing things and getting on with my life, when I didn't have her to come home to? It seemed nearly impossible now that I had the pleasure of waking up every morning with her drooling beside me, which I've grown so accustomed to.

Being without Vee was... Like I was missing something.

As shameful as it is, I remember that the sex we'd have at least once a week would work as a dosage of her essence - a dosage of her love for the week.

Though, I recall it being more like I was barely getting by in the week before I was speeding over to her apartment to sleep with her - even when we couldn't, I just craved her presence.

When it got to the point of where her mere laugh would suffice as my dosage, I knew I was in trouble. How could someone's laugh be enough to fulfill your happiness? I didn't think it was possible. But like ninety percent of the time, I was wrong when it came to my judgement.

There were things I was still unsure about with Vee. Her past wasn't something she opened up much about, but I would be a hypocrite if I held that against her. I wouldn't push it, but I wanted to know more about her before she met me. Things I didn't already know... Especially things she wouldn't want me to know.

I wished for nothing more than for Vee to tell me all of what she couldn't say months ago.

On the other hand, there were days when I felt like I had just about enough of Vee's attitude, which as a result, allows us to argue much more than necessary sometimes. It was either over stupid, meaningless things or my mouth got the best of me and I decided to take it too far. But every time we fought, we did it to get rid of the anger we'd built up over something else.

I was never angry with her, just angry at her. It didn't matter how upset she was with me or I was with her, I would always be the one attempting to solve the problem, but only because Vee was usually too stubborn to make the first move.

She was rarely the first one to apologize, too. It was almost as if she had something against apologizing. Simple apologies, yes, but when she hurt someone... She really failed at doing it. She could hardly say sorry without looking sick to her stomach.

Strangely, that was just another one of her traits that I both despised and adored about her.

And the list went on.

By almost half past eight, I was skipping up the porch steps in a hurry, when I heard music reverberating from inside the house.

I couldn't recognize the song, but the base shook through the house before it slowly faded, only to morph into another song. Just as I unlocked the front door, a female voice rung in my ears, the music sensual.

I recognized the song from the radio and raised an eyebrow at Vee's choice of Miley Cyrus, continuing forward towards the kitchen and living room in curiosity. Vee stood behind the counter, her body swaying to Miley's voice. Her hands were up in her hair and her hips circled in a provocative manner, dipping on each side to match every other beat.