I'm not sure how long I've been lying in bed. Hours. Days. I know I've been up intermittently but the details of those moments are clouded in a haze of alcohol and grief. I might be missing the rest of the CIT Board meeting, but how can I bring myself to attend? That organization that gave such a positive boost to my life and career; that opened my eyes and my mind to a part of the world that I did not know but have now grown to love; that brought Lisa and me together. How could I drag myself there in this condition. And, when I now see it only as the front for the sinister intentions of Xiao and Jimmy. The contrast between Xiao and Jimmy's self-serving motivation and their blatant disregard for innocent human lives; and Lisa's quiet gentleness, delicate beauty and complete devotion to others; is so stark that I cannot reconcile in my mind the fact that we were all involved in CIT.
In spite of everything Lisa was dealing with there; the verbal and physical abuse she suffered at the hands of Xiao and Jimmy, she never brought any of that up with me. She only cared about me and my own struggles and making me happy. As my trust in her grew, my walls came down and I poured out everything to her. She knew it all; my good intentions and my self-destructive behavior. My kind words and my lies. My loving devotion and my unfaithfulness. She knew everything about me and, in spite of it all, loved me anyways.
On what would be our last night together, we danced slowly and sweetly in my hotel room to some Chinese flute music she had on her playlist. We danced and our hands wandered up and down each other's bodies. As I often did with Lisa, I found myself moving in the gentlest way possible, yet fighting the strong testosterone-fueled urge to make love to her immediately. My hand found its way through her long soft hair to the back of her neck. I gently caressed her noticing every detail of her body there; the delicate hairs on her neck, the smooth soft skin, the tiniest of moles. I found the zipper at the top of the irresistible little black dress she was wearing. Even though we had made love before, I was still afraid of coming on too strong, so I lowered the zipper as slowly as possible, less than an inch at a time. When the zipper stopped at her waist, my hand worked its way inside and caressed her soft warm back.