A Novel by Paris Waterman
*****
Hooking up with Rosa
'Unbelievable!' Dutch told himself, recalling that memorable night. "Just fucking unbelievable," this he said aloud.
Of course the four had never gotten together again. Marty had been killed in a mugging two days before Alice and Robert returned from their honeymoon. They were all stunned by it and it was quite a while before Dutch had joined Robert and Alice for some fairly decent threesomes, But after getting together several times, some of the luster had been lost, something new was needed.
The bartender approached Dutch who indicated that he wanted another scotch. And as the bartender filled his glass, Dutch's thoughts turned to Rosa and his brow furrowed.
'I should call her. She'll think all I wanted was a one night stand.' He told himself.
He was quiet for a time, not thinking about anything, absentmindedly sipping his drink. Then he found himself thinking about her again. He realized he missed her and wanted to be with her again.
'I better call," he thought, reliving her very uninhibited appetite. He slid off the barstool and headed for the phone, pausing to adjust himself, for he was now sporting an erection.
It took him several minutes to locate her number. He had to empty his wallet of all its contents and sift through tem before finding the tiny scrap of paper with her name and number on it.
She answered on the first ring. Five minutes later he delivered a solid kick to the door of his Volvo that produced what Dutch considered a handsome dent. Then he slipped behind the wheel and drove to the address Rosa had given him.
***
He pulled out a cigarette and moved it toward her mouth. She spread her lips slightly to accept it and looked him in the eye as he placed it between the chiseled rims that made him think of Sofia Loren. The way she kept looking at him as he lit the cigarette for her made him feel the return of a meddlesome tingle that ran between his legs through his crotch and out the head of his dissolute dick.
Dutch found Rosa to be one of the sexiest women he'd ever encountered.
Rosa kept looking into his face until she remembered that if she followed the match with her eyes they would cross and she'd look like an idiot. She broke off the look, smiled and said, "There's some cold beer in the fridge."
He continued to look at her. "Sounds good," he murmured and got up and went to the refrigerator. Rosa drew her legs up under her and sat Indian-style on the bed while he opened the door and removed two cans from the eight that huddled on the frost-caked shelf. He popped the tab on his beer and handed her another can without opening it. She popped the top, twisted off the ring and tossed the broken tab in the general direction of the wastebasket in the corner. It landed on the rug. She made no move to retrieve it, nor did he. Dutch thought it added to the informality of her place.
He leaned his ass against the edge of the chipped dresser. "Where you from?"
"Los Angeles."
He said nothing, but took a swallow of his beer. The silence goaded Rosa into revealing more about herself.
"My father was Mexican, my mother . . ."
Dutch jumped in. "I've met the lady."
"Um, yeah . . . you sure did."
"Don't be a bitch about it." He said without rancor.
"No . . . no, I'm not." She peeked at his face to see if he believed her. His expression told her nothing.
"Anyway, he left us when I was fourteen. Mom got a job working in this bar and made herself invaluable."
"No one's invaluable," he said and took a swig of beer. To himself he said, My God this woman is gorgeous. A fantastic body and look at her mouth . . .
"Well the owner thought she was; and when his cancer . . ." she gulped to stifle a sob, "Sorry. He was good to me too. Anyway, when the cancer reached a point where everyone knew he was going fast, he drew up a will and left the bar to Mom. I was maybe twenty-four then."
"And?"
She wondered how he knew she was holding it back. Then she blurted it out, "I have a baby."
"I figured," he said giving her no indication one way or the other about how he felt about such matters.
Rosa bit her lower lip and pushed on. "She's almost eighteen now. Goes to high school, gets good grades. Gonna go to college too." This last carried a defiant tone.
"That's okay. A woman as good looking as you are figures to have had a few men in her life. Getting pregnant is kind of an occupational hazard."
"Hey! I'm not a whore!" Rosa spat out.
"Whoa! Never said you were. Didn't mean to imply it either. Sorry if I offended you."
Rosa calmed down. "Her father was Swedish, a blond god - like a Viking."
"And he sailed off into the unknown?"
"No!" She stared at the ceiling and he took the opportunity to admire the graceful line of her neck. "He was killed in a stupid race. He thought he could drive a racecar like Earnhardt or something. Well, he couldn't."