Page 37 of CowSex

He stares at the telly in silence for a while, and I begin to wonder if he’s gonna answer when he speaks.

“Danielle and I had been together since junior high.” That’s as far as he goes before draining his glass and pouring himself another drink.

“We were...it was like...not being from around here, I don’t know that you’ll fully understand, but I was in a band and was the school football star, destined for great things. She was head of the cheer squad. Her dad was the richest in town, so she wore the latest clothes, drove the best car.

“We were the American dream. I was scouted at age twelve, my scholarship a done deal before I turned sixteen. Danielle stayed here to do a business management course at a community college while I went off to USC to earn a name for myself, which I did. Both on the field and off it. It was a whole new world for me.”

“Did you cheat on her?”

It’s none of my business...but hello, female.

“No, but there were girls everywhere I turned. Everywhere. From the day I arrived at college, to the day I had to leave. I got caught up in it all at first. I never strayed, never cheated on her, but I was getting tempted, and I was enjoying the parties. I stopped coming home weekends and holidays. She became clingy, always calling and crying down the phone, so I decided to make a clean break and end things with her.”

He shifts his position, drains the contents of his glass again, and then leans forward to refill it.

“You want another?” He gestures with the bottle towards me, and I offer him my glass, which he also tops up.

It strikes me then, how surreal this whole situation is. Two random people—complete strangers—sharing a house, meals, and life stories while curled up in front of a fire, drinking bourbon.

I watch him as he rests his elbow on the arm of the sofa and turns his gaze back to me.

His eyes have a glassy sheen, and I wonder if it’s the alcohol, the glow of the fire, or the conversation that’s causing it.

“She took it badly. When I say badly, I really mean she was hysterical. Crying and lashing out at me. Then, just as fast as she lost it, she calmed down. It was like a switch inside her had been flipped, and she began agreeing with me about the reasons why it’d be best to part ways.

I had used my fake ID to buy us some alcohol, and we had sat on the bed of my truck drinking a bottle of cheap vodka together. We talked about our lives, hopes, wishes, and dreams for the future.

She wished me well, and we made love under the stars one final time.”

“Oh, Koa.” I knew what was coming next. I knew of women that had done this exact kind of thing to trap a man.

He smiled while staring down into his glass.

“Should have known. Should have worked it out for myself. You just did an’ I ain’t even gotten to tell you what happened next.”

He turns his smile towards me, but it’s not a happy smile. It’s sad and possibly carries a hint of bitterness.

“I was over halfway through my first year when she called and told me she was pregnant. She’d been on the pill for a couple of years, so I had no clue how it could have happened. We’d been having sex since she turned sixteen without so much as a scare.”

He shrugs and watches the flames dance in the fire.

“Something I should’ve realised about Danielle was that she’d always liked to get her own way, and she was good at getting it, too. She was the spoiled little rich girl who never heard, or listened to, the word no. There was no way that she wasn’t gonna get what she wanted, and what she wanted was me.”

I started to feel too warm. My sore wrist began to throb, and I was sure that my blood pressure was rising on Koa’s behalf.

“She wanted to be the wife of an NFL player. She wasn’t happy with a rich daddy, she wanted a rich husband, too. What she didn’t count on was all of that meaning nothing to me.

I walked away from college. I walked away from the game. I wasn’t gonna have Dani’s family supporting her and my baby—my family—so that I could stay in college. So, I did what I thought was the right thing.”

His hand rakes through his hair and then tugs on his beard.

“I came home. I borrowed money from my mom and Bill and rented us a little two-bedroomed place on River Road. I got work with my dad’s construction company, which my mom was still in charge of, and started earning money. We were married the following month.”

“How was Danielle with that, you giving up college and football?”

“Not happy, but, I told her straight up that I either came home and got a job and supported us or I walked away.”

I lift the sling over my head and release my arm.