Chapter 15: Metaphorical Adhesive

Mark and Katrina manage to make amends, but their problems might not be over quite yet.

The doors on most of the guest rooms are wide open, and I already know which one Priscilla is staying in, so I make sure to scurry past and ignore it. Finding the only other closed room, I poise myself to knock on the door, but halt in my tracks as I hear the sound of talking on the other side. It sounds like Katrina is on the phone once more. Just who does she keep talking to, and for what reason? And why won't she tell anyone?

"Please tell me you're gonna be here asap. It's pretty damn urgent," she says. "...Oh, ya' just landed? Good, good. Now hurry up and get your a*s over here."

Within a minute or two, Katrina wraps up the call and I take the opportunity to tap my knuckles against the door. She wordlessly appears, looking rather unamused yet still stunning at the same time, bolstered further by the fact that she's finally decided to put her stylish glasses back on.

A rather generous cleavage line peeks out of a snug V-neck sweater that matches her eyes, and is not quite long enough to reach the top of her tan leggings. Her hair is once again curly and worn all the way down, and a small but unmistakable cold-sore has formed near the left corner of her mouth, most likely due to the emotional stress from our presumably failed relationship.

"Whaddaya want? Ya' made up your mind?" Katrina asks bitterly as she lets me in, shutting the door behind us.

"As a matter of fact, yes," I reply, stepping into the room and sitting on the bed. "And I've chosen to stay with you."

"Good choice. But the question is, can I trust ya' this time?" Katrina asks.

I take a few seconds to not respond, briefly admiring the room that I've seldom gone inside before, which is designed identically to all the other guest rooms.

"Most definitely. And uh, look. I... I feel the need to clarify some things," I reply at last. "And... and I really don't want to fight. So I need you to promise me that you'll stay calm and listen to what I have to say, and I'll calmly hear you out as well."

"Okay," Katrina replies.

"Good. So, about that unfaithfulness you accused me of? That wasn't my fault whatsoever," I explain. "See, shortly after you left, Priscilla basically admitted that for the past two weeks, she's been sneaking into our room and framing me to look like I was cheating. I use sleep meds, and you're a heavy sleeper by nature, so it was probably extremely easy for her."

"Wait! But last I checked, Priscilla was married!" Katrina replies, a baffled look on her face.

"That what she told me! But she also said that her husband isn't ideal for her, which would explain the feelings she seems to have for me," I reply. "I have harbored absolutely no feelings towards her in return, and I've never once committed infidelity against you. I would never do that!"

Katrina says nothing, her face adopting the same shocked expression she wore on the day of our breakup. She seems as though she may burst into tears at any moment over the massive mistake she made that day.

"Don't you see? You're freaking out at the wrong person here. You walking out on me was all part of Priscilla's plan, and I was just the innocent victim!" I finish, extending my arm out and placing my hand on Katrina's shoulder. "Now with that being said... I... don't expect you to believe me. If you're not buying this, that's... that's fine. If you don't wanna marry me, or even see me again? It's cool. I can move on-"

Katrina cuts me off as she takes my hand in her own and puts it down her sweater with a wry smile. The sensation of warmth shorts the circuits to my brain and causes my jeans to tighten yet again.

"Uhm... Katrina?" I manage to ask.

"Shhh!" she gently silences me. "No, Mark. I'm the one who should be sorry. For not givin' you the benefit of the doubt, and breakin' your heart in the process. See if I ever let anything get between us again!"

I don't say a word as we both lean in for a deep kiss, which feels especially amazing since we haven't kissed in several days.

"And y'know what, Mark?" Katrina asks after we withdraw our lips. "I'd be happy to marry ya'."

"I am so glad to hear that. You have no idea how much that means to me," I reply, hugging her as tightly as I possibly can before we lock lips once more.

"Now. I know at some point, I'll have to go give my big sis a little chewin'-out for what she did to us," Katrina says after we end the second kiss. "But for now, lemme give you an apology gift. To show you how sorry I am for the misunderstanding."

I say nothing as we begin to make out heatedly, caressing each other's fully-clothed bodies and rolling over so that Katrina is on top of me, grinding against me occasionally as I grab her backside and gently stroke it. Before I completely give in to my libido, however, I speak up.

"Sorry to kill the moment, but, uh... I'd prefer it if we do this back in our own room. I'd like to keep this one relatively clean and untouched for the guests," I say.

"Good point," Katrina replies in a throaty, carnal voice that's positively dripping with lust. "...But I think with the way we's goin', that bed just might get destroyed."

Without a word, I tap on my phone so it starts to play "If Only For One Night" by Luther Vandross, tucking it into my pocket and lifting Katrina up. We continue to kiss as we hurry upstairs, the flies on both of our pants still open and our hair slightly mussed up, though we pay no mind to this. I briefly remove one arm to lock the door before we both pounce onto the bed, commencing the wildest night of both of our lives.

---

Several hours later, I find myself waking up faster than a student at military school, to the sound of my bedroom door forcefully being opened. I can feel Katrina's body twitch violently as well, but she takes a bit longer to wake up than I do. The light in the hallway outside our bedroom is lit up, and a silhouette of a very tall, burly man is standing right in the doorway, his arms hanging tensely at his sides and his fists curled tightly - somehow possessing enough strength to open the locked door without damaging the hinges.

"So this is what you've been up to this whole damn time, huh?" the man asks in a deep, gruff, Buffalo accent. "You just left so you could hook up with some snooty-a*s windbag while I was out of the picture!"

"Wait, what?" Katrina asks, before suddenly having an epiphany which she mutters to me. "Oh god, I totally forgot..."

"What'd you say?!" the man growls. "I swear to God, Prissy! If I catch you cheatin' on me one more f****n' time, I'll file for a divorce! But not before I beat the ever-livin' s**t out of you!"

"Hold on, hold on!" I interrupt. "First of all, who do you think you are just barging into my house in the middle of the night like this?! Secondly, how did you even get in here?! And third, just who the hell are you?!"

"My identity ain't none a'your concern, you George Michael wannabe!" the man replies. Okay, that's the second time someone's compared me to that guy. "And if you must know, I retraced my wife's steps across the country, so now I'll just take her and leave! Hope you enjoyed the affair! Now come on, b***h!"

Before either of us can reply, he forcefully yanks Katrina out of the bed, causing her to fall onto the floor, though a combination of the short drop and the shagged carpet prevents any injury. He pulls her up onto her feet by the arm and begins walking to the door. Katrina struggles to break free of his iron grip, whimpering a little at the pain in her bruised arm. In disbelief, I climb out of bed and step in front of him.

"You step away from my woman right now! She is not your wife! In fact, she's soon to be mine!" I say angrily, showing no signs of fear as I stare down the much taller man.

"Hah! Nice try, shorty! She's probably just deceived you!" the man replies nonchalantly. "Now get the hell out of my way!"

"I will do no such thing," I reply sternly, holding the door shut and blocking his access to the knob.

"Fine then. I guess you'll be joinin' your butler." the man puts on a cocky smirk.

"WHAT?!" I yell in horror, wondering what this man who can kill with his bare hands did to one of my lifelong companions. "What did you do to Vladik?!"

"Sorry pal, I ain't got time to talk! Now move!" the man replies, lifting me up to face-level by my collar.

I am rendered speechless due to the way his grip is choking me, but I am taken by surprise as he throws me into the wall adjacent to the bed. The impact results in a fairly loud thud, but I don't hear anything shattering. Still stunned from the blow I've taken, I fall limply to the ground, only to be yanked back up as the man lifts me up onto my feet. He nails me in the groin with his knee and decks me in the stomach and face with a series of punches, with the last hit sending me back into the wall. I slide down and land on my rear. I can feel some blood trickling out of a few scattered cuts on my face as well as my aching nose, and I can tell that my right eye has slowly begun to swell shut.

From there, it's a constant struggle between myself and this intruder as he mercilessly beats me to a pulp and I weakly try to resist. Even Sting and Dean try to get in on the action, attacking Collin by biting at his ankles, only to be swatted away. Thankfully, before long, we all hear a feminine voice with a Brooklyn accent approaching the scene. Priscilla soon enters the room, her slightly frizzy hair worn all the way down and a mask of white moisturizer on her face.

"Alright, you two. I'm glad you're back together and all, but could you at least keep it down-?" Priscilla asks irritably, only to widen her eyes. "Wait a minute… Collin?"

"Huh?!" Collin asks, looking behind him. "Wait a minute! Priscilla?! I-If this is you, then who was sleepin' in here?"

"That's my sister, Katrina. She's seven years younger, but looks almost as old as I am. And the only way to tell us apart is by eye-color. Crazy, right?" Priscilla quips.

"Not only that, but I'm the one who called you here," Katrina speaks up.

"Ah, so it was you I was speakin' to." Collin snaps his fingers in realization.

"Wait… what?" Priscilla asks. "But… but why-?"

"I'd suggest you let him tell you," Katrina cuts her sister off. "He says he's taken everything you've said about him into consideration, and he has something important to talk to you about."

"Oh, alright," Priscilla sighs. "Let's get this over with, why don't we?"

"Okay, so here's the thing..." Collin replies, leading her out into the hallway and leaving the door cracked behind them.

With the two out of the picture for now as they sort out their differences, I take the opportunity to climb back onto the bed, sitting next to Katrina in the process.

"Soooo… you contacted Collin and had him come over here?" I ask her.

"Yep," Katrina nods. "I'd be lying if I said things went exactly as I planned, but yeah."

"Okay, but uh… why'd you do it?" I continue.

"Because from the moment Priscilla started stayin' wit' us, I knew she was into you. She kept on talkin' like one a'them adult film stars and wouldn't stop gawkin' at'cha behind your back," Katrina explains. "I'm the only family member who knows about her marriage, so I figured I'd call her husband over before you two got too attached."

"Still doesn't explain why you blew up at me despite knowing damn well what Priscilla's intentions were," I keep prying.

"Well how was I supposed to know she'd go as far as she did? As far as I was concerned, you looked like you were in on it too. I also had no idea Collin would mistake me for his wife either. I'm really sorry for how everything turned out, but I couldn't think of a better way to intervene," Katrina explains further.

"Ah well, mistakes always happen," I shrug. "Now let's hope he's able to keep her away from me for good."

"...And after I went through all that trouble to better myself, I was so excited to tell you the good news. I managed to locate you here after stoppin' at your mom's, and when I heard you were stayin' with this Mark guy, I was worried I'd lost ya'," we hear Collin say upon tuning back into the discussion.

"What?!" Priscilla gasps in disbelief. "Collin, I wasn't cheating on you! I just came here to visit my sister, and I'm just living in one of the guest rooms here temporarily until my room at the local country club is ready!"

I briefly get an urge to butt in and blurt out that Priscilla is lying about cheating on him. But I decide against it, seeing how she's clearly expressed shame for her actions, and the fact that I'd really hate to ruin this touching moment.

"You think I would just go and do that?! I know I haven't always approved of your actions, but I wouldn't dream of turning on you like that! If I didn't love you, I would've thrown you out and filed for a divorce years ago! But yet I didn't," Priscilla continues. "I kept choosing not to, because I kept seeing potential in you. And seeing how you went through all of that self-betterment just to impress me is just another reason to keep you around, Collin."

"Yeah. Well... my apologies for the disturbance, and I'm especially sorry that I waited five years to improve myself. So... Priscilla Giuseppe Vicciotelli... I have to ask you this," Collin replies, dropping to one knee and taking Priscilla's much smaller hand in his own, stroking it delicately with his thumb. "Will you stay married to me?"

"Don't worry, Collin. I'd be honored to spend the rest of my life with you," Priscilla replies with complete sincerity.

Collin stands back up and the two engage in a deep kiss. Katrina and I sit on the bed to watch them, alongside our thankfully unharmed dogs. Before long, Vladik enters the room and squeezes around the couple, his face covered in bruises and bloodstains, and his hair and clothes slightly disheveled.

"Did I miss anything?" he asks with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"No, not really," I reply.

"Just a happy ending," Katrina adds.

"All I remember is seeing some large man bend the bars on the gate as if they were made of rubber, and slip through the hole, before coming to the door," Vladik replies. "Seeing how he must have been in an urgent situation, I thought I'd let him in, but then the last thing I remember is his massive fist plummeting right onto my head while another one flew into my face."

"Well that's an issue for another day. No one was seriously hurt, and Collin got what he wanted, so no worries, right?" I ask as we all watch Collin and Priscilla continue to kiss.