“Dana you need to calm down….you know I don’t do relationships….we are business partners who fuck every once in a while….and I don’t want you right now…..so get off my back already……”

“Fuck you……I saved your life…..I took care of you…..I….I…lov….”

“I am sorry Dana….but we are just business partners………and don’t ever and I mean never confuse it…..I can’t be what you want me to be……I can’t love you……I can’t trust you…..nor do I want to…….it’s just the way it has to be…..if you want out if you want to leave and take everything go ahead……..but don’t talk to me about love…….I don’t want hear it…… look I know it’s fucked up the way I am…….but I am just being honest with you…….I’ll see you tonight ok……”

Her wounded demeanor left nothing to my imagination.

I didn’t know it then but Dana was working against me. Dana had a serious gambling problem and this whole bit she was giving me about how I am here for you, I love you, I am trying to save you. It was all bullshit. She never left her husband for me, she left California because she owed a lot of money and her husband was liquefying all of her assets. She was lying to me.

Did I know then? Was that why I was treating her that way? No I was treating her that way because the woman I loved most in this world was gone to me. The movie that was my life was getting murky. I was back to not trusting again. A sure sign I was in trouble.

I made my way to Marina’s house after that blow up with Dana. I needed to relax before my race that night.

Marina greeted me with a drink and her warm body. I needed both badly. She was in a black silk nightgown. I drank the sugary sweet concoction and threw the glass on the floor. She didn’t mind.

“I missed you Shane…..” is all she said.

We stripped our clothes faster than locomotive. She was tan all over, her nipples hard in my mouth, her breasts pressed against my face. I breathed in her spicy scent; I licked the valley between her breasts spicy again and soft. She mussed my hair looking for a way to get a hold of me; she whispered things in Italian or French or Latin to me it was some new language, maybe all rolled into one and off her tongue. She wanted to give pleasure as much as she got. We had to hurry to make it to her bedroom.