DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Gary Leonard Oldman
HTML https://garyleonardoldman.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Tips & Rants
*****************************************************
#Post#: 3493--------------------------------------------------
You Really Got A Hold On Me
DIR By: Maggie Flannery
Date: September 23, 2018, 7:55 am
---------------------------------------------------------
TW: Violence. Straight up Violence. Extramarital affairs also
feature.
You Really Got A Hold On Me
Cracks in the foundation aren’t always visible to the naked eye.
It doesn’t matter if those cracks are in the foundation of the
place one calls home or in the relationship they once thought
was bullet proof. Colleen knew the cracks were there but she did
her best to repair them with the love she gave so willingly.
Eddie ended up muttering something about ‘feeling smothered’ and
went on a business trip that lasted the better part of a month
only to return reeking of some cheap perfume and with lipstick
on his collar. She’d been through it before with Frank when they
were dating and that had ended with Eddie rushing in like her
knight in shining armor and all but pistol whipping the eldest
Flannery son within and inch of his life because he’d raised a
hand to her. Something he had vowed never to do. Like their
wedding vows and many of his promises in their relationship he
reneged on it. He had stumbled into the house a little after one
in the morning his eyes glazed over and his movements twitchy.
Probably the coke again. She thought to herself as she wrapped
her robe around herself and came out from the living room to
meet him as he threw off his blazer and set his gun and holster
on the side table. Saying a silent prayer of thanks that they
had never had children because God only knew what sort of damage
little hands could do with a loaded gun in the home. He had no
clue she waited up for him, always wanting to make sure he made
it home safe and sound. He never once noticed or told her not to
worry herself. The record player switched to another single and
Bobby Darin filtered into the room.
“What’re you doing in that cheap ass robe, Col? Closet full of
designer clothes and it’s like wasted money on you.”
“ My silk robe is at the cleaners. You bled all over it,
remember? By the way I’ve never asked you to spend that kind of
money on me.”
“What about all those trips to the salon? Vacations? Furs,
jewelry? The house we **** live in. What about about all of
that, Colleen?”
“I never asked for any of it and you know it! Not once!”
“Oh yeah right. I know women that would give their eye teeth to
have the kinda life you’ve got.”
“Like the one that lives over in Roxbury? What’s her name,
Eddie?”
“You leave Gina out of this.”
“Oh, so Gina’s her name. Her last name wouldn’t happen to be
Avisanti would it? The brunette I hired as a shampoo girl two
years ago? That I give a paycheck to and have to see every ****
day when I go into work?”
“Yeah. It is and she’s twice the woman you are.”
“Go **** yourself!”
“Well if I could I would because you won’t.”
“Why the hell should I after you slum around with that **** of
yours?”
That’s when the hand came towards her face and landed hard on
her right cheek. The pain and the sound of bells peeling in her
head was ever so familiar and she could have sworn she saw Frank
Flannery standing in front of her all over again. But no, it was
her husband. The man she had taken vows to love, honor, obey
seven years ago in front of their combined families and all of
their friends. She had been nineteen then, still a child if you
thought about it. But she had loved him, she still did, deep
down. His hands were around her throat and her back was pushed
flush up against the entryway wall, the painting of Mary
Magdalene that graced the wall pressing into the back of her
head.
“Don’t you ever call her that again.”
She felt his hands tighten around the long slim column of her
neck and her vision began to fade. A tiny spark had ignited in
her chest and a voice in her mind screamed out that she was
surely dying. The glazed look in his blue eyes changed to the
something she had seen before. Pure unadulterated hatred had
taken over. She had seen that look on Frank’s face many a time
during their courtship that had thankfully never ended up to
anything. She still carried the scars from it none the less. Her
knight, her brave loving knight had turned on her. The spark
turned to a flame as she brought her knee up into his groin and
connected with a hard upward motion. She heard him yelp as he
doubled over. Colleen reeled for a moment as she stumbled over
to the side table and grabbed the pistol. Holding her ground she
stood over him as he held himself.
“Oh so you’re gonna shoot me now?”
The distinct sound of the barrel rotating into place filled the
large space.
“You couldn’t hit the broad side of a **** barn, Colleen.”
The blast sent her reeling and half deaf. Somewhere in the haze
of disbelief she stared at the scarlet stain that was rapidly
seeping through her husband’s white dress shirt. It was slowing
seeping into the grooves of the beautiful cream colored tile
that was on the floor, that was going to take a ton of elbow
grease to get out not to mention bleach. The hate that had been
in his eyes faded as he looked at her in utter shock. The gun
clattered to the floor cracking one of the tiles at her feet.
“You **** shot me!?!”
She could have said a million different things, they each zipped
through her head but instead she looked him in the eye as she
appraised the damage. She grabbed the hem of her nightgown and
yanked off a length of silk and wrapped it around the wound.
“In the shoulder. It could have been worse, Eddie. I’ve got a
cousin that’ll patch you up and not ask questions.”
Disbelief gave way to utter shock as her wounded husband simply
stared at her. She might have loved Eddie but after he had hit
her and nearly choked the very life out of her she didn’t trust
him as far as she could throw him. She was going to use this
situation to her advantage. She helped him up and slung his good
arm around her shoulders as she walked him to the door.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to break it off
with that little **** of yours and we’re going to a marriage
counselor. We took vows and I fully intend to honor them. Every
job you do I get a percentage to put into a college fund.”
“We don’t have kids.”
“That’s my third point of interest. By this time next year we
will. You forgot about that trip to the Poconos for your
birthday didn’t you?”
“Jesus. ****. Colleen…I didn’t…God. I didn’t know.”
Tears welled up in his eyes as the guilt set in. Offering him
her hanky she maneuvered him down the steps and in front of her
car. He had so many reasons to cry, the pain he’d caused her
over the years was part of it but she had just fed him a line
straight out of his own book. He had spent his birthday in a
drunken coked out stupor and she had gone to the Poconos but
just not with him. She had spent a rather lovely weekend with
one of his muscle men that had given her a personal tour of
Naples. A soft spoken mountain of a man named Furio. She had
figured if Eddie could fool around what was good for the goose
was good for the gander. He owed her that much after how many
years of telling her ‘Next year, Colleen. Next year.’
“Don’t cry. Just repeat back to me what I just asked of you.”
“Get rid of Gina, marriage counseling and a college fund. Are we
talking community college?”
“Ivy League all the way.”
Eddie hobbled out to Col’s little convertible as she settled
into the driver’s seat. The engine turned over and she took a
moment to look at her husband.
“I’m sorry I shot you but don’t you ever lay a hand on me ever
again.”
“It’s the **** coke.”
“Then get rid of it. I won’t have a drug addict around my
child.”
“Isn’t it ours?”
“I’m the one that’s carrying it, I’m the one defending it from
the world so as far as I’m concerned it's mine."
“Aye aye, Captain.”
“You think I’m kidding?”
“Colleen, you just **** shot me. I’m not dense. How’d you learn
to do that anyway?”
“My Dad. He taught me quite a few things.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Do me a favor call Gina from Bobby’s office, okay?”
“Wouldn’t you rather me meet face to face with her?”
“No, side pieces don’t get the luxury of having their feelings
spared in my book. Do it quick.”
“God, I didn’t know you were so cold.”
“Cold? This isn’t cold, Eddie. This a woman who’s been hurt so
deeply her heart’s bleeding over the fact that she can’t trust
the man she married. Do you know every time you go out on
business I worry myself into knots? I wait up for you when
you’re on local collections. I’ve got the hospitals on speed
dial. I love you and you don’t even care. You’re the one that’s
cold. Think of that every time you leave or think about screwing
around on me.”
“If I had known I never would have done it. A lot of the other
wives just…”
“What? Accept it? I’m not like the other wives, Eddie. I take
after my mother.”
“You can’t tell me your mother shot your father…”
“Four times over the course of their marriage. I’m hoping that
this just serves as a warning. Honestly though I keep telling
you to put the safety on.”
“Lessons have been learned on all fronts. Your point has been
made crystal clear.”
She knew deep within her heart of hearts that a man like Eddie
would never be faithful to her but that was a gamble she was
willing to take. After all, she still had Furio, the nest egg
she was slowly building and copies of the books Eddie kept if
everything truly turned to crap. In this life you had to look
out for yourself and your own. Her mother had taught her that
much.
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 1