Journey

“I don't want you making all my decisions for me.”

“Why not?” he asked. “You couldn't make them yourself, if I let you. You need to be protected.”

“I appreciate that,” she said, trying to sound grateful, but feeling stifled, “but I'm a grown woman, I have a right to make decisions and choices. I need friends. And even if you don't like the decisions I might make, I have a right to make them.”

“Not if they're the wrong ones. Why should you be burdened with that? I've been making all your decisions for the last nine years. What's changed?”

“Maybe I grew up. It doesn't mean I don't love you.”

“I love you too, which is why I protect you from being foolish.” He absolutely wouldn't concede that she had a right to at least some independence. She was trying to reason with him, to prove what she feared wasn't true, but he was unwilling to relinquish even one iota of control to her, even about her own life. “You're a pretty girl, Mad, but that's all you are, sweetheart. Let me do your thinking for you. All you have to do is read the news, and look pretty.”

“I'm not a moron, Jack.” She sounded angry as she said it, and she was still shaken by what had happened earlier that evening. “I can do more than just comb my hair and read the news. For chrissake, how dumb do you think I am?”

“That's a loaded question,” he smiled derisively at her as he said it, and for the first time in her life, she wanted to slap him.

“That's insulting!”

“It's the truth. As I recall, Mad, you never went to college. In fact, I'm not even sure if you finished high school.” It was the ultimate put-down, insinuating that she was too stupid and uneducated to think. He said it to humiliate her, but this time he only made her angry. He had said as much before to her, and she had never fought back when he said it.

“It didn't stop you from hiring me, did it? Or from getting you the best ratings in the business.”

“I told you. People respond to pretty faces. Now, shall we go to bed?”

“What does that mean? That you're horny, and feeling ‘passionate’ again? I've already been mauled once this evening.”

“Watch it, Maddy” He took a step closer to her, and she could see fury in his eyes. She was shaking, but she didn't step back from him. She was tired of being abused by him, under whatever title he gave it. But passion no longer convinced her. “You're out of line,” he hissed into her face.

“So are you when you hurt me.”

“I don't hurt you. You want it, and you love it.”

“I love you, but I don't like the way you treat me.”

“Who've you been talking to? That little black punk you used to work with? Did you know he used to be a bisexual, or does that come as a surprise to you?” He was trying to demean Greg and to shock her, but instead she was outraged.

“Yes, I did know, as a matter of fact. And it's none of my business, or yours either. Is that why you fired him? If it is, I hope he slaps you with a discrimination suit, because you deserve it.”

“I fired him because he was a rotten influence on you. There were rumors about you two. I spared you the embarrassment of discussing them with you, and kicked his ass out, where it belongs.”

“That's a disgusting thing to say. You know I've never cheated on you.”

“So you say. But just in case, I thought I'd remove the temptation.”

“Is that why you hired that pompous mummy who can't even read the news? He's using a TelePrompTer the size of a billboard. And he's going to flush your ratings right down the toilet.”

“If they go, baby, you go with them, so you'd better hope he puts some jazz into his delivery pretty quickly. You'd better carry him just like you did your little black boyfriend. Because if the ratings hit the skids, you might just be out of a job, and then you can come home and scrub floors, because there's nothing else you know how to do, is there?” He was saying disgusting things to her, and all his pretense of loving her was falling by the wayside. Just listening to him made her want to hit him.

“Why are you doing this, Jack?” There were tears in her eyes as she asked him, but he seemed not to care, as he walked up to her, grabbed a handful of hair, and yanked it, to get her attention.

“I'm doing it, you little crybaby, because you need to remember who's in charge here. You seem to have forgotten. I don't want to hear any of your threats anymore, or your demands. I'll tell you what I want to, when I want to, if I want to. And if I don't tell you a goddamn thing, it's none of your fucking business. All you have to do is your job, read the news, once in a while do a special report, and get into bed at night and not whine at me about how much I hurt you. You don't even know what it's like to be hurt, and you better pray you never find out. You're lucky I bother to fuck you at all.”