AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He told me that you slept with him a couple weeks ago.”
“What?!” This gets me frantically pacing the room, wondering who I can trust and who believes what.
The instant I stop and whirl in Levi’s direction, he pipes up. “I didn’t believe him Fiona. I heard your story loud and clear…I know he’s a liar.”
“Damn right he’s a liar! He’s a sick psychopathic maniac and he’s out of control!” I heave and pace in silence for another minute…trying to formulate, through my veil of rage, where exactly all this is going. “So I suppose he’s talked my father into leaving me out of my inheritance then?”
“I don’t think he even had to. I’m sorry Fiona.”
“Sorry!? Sorry? Me too Levi! Oh let’s see…I’m only about… three million dollars sorry! Oh what was I ever thinking? Daddy was never gonna leave me that money anyway! Tell me something new Levi! Huh? Tell me something new!”
As my breathing escalates into one smooth, rolling, smothering seesaw, the room begins to darken. The red I saw only moments before is a dull gray by the time I look around and notice I’m on the carpet. Holly is beside me, rubbing my arms.
“Fiona,” she cries when I look up at her, “I’m so sorry this is happening. It’s so terribly wrong and you don’t deserve any of it.”
“It’s okay,” I eke out, gathering a little strength to sit up. “I really did know I was destined for the smallest portion of that inheritance. If anything.” I sit, gathering my bearings, while Holly rubs my back. “It’s that Quade claimed I slept with him…ewe! I don’t even know how to even begin to deal with that one! You know, Levi, that he physically manhandled me that night, that he came onto me in such a fashion as to indicate he was planning to take advantage of me.” That last phrase fizzles into a sob and Holly pulls me against her, holding and rocking me quietly.
“I know Fiona. I didn’t for a moment believe that Quade was telling me the truth,” Levi says, joining in the back-patting.
He goes to fetch tissues, as I continue to cry for a couple more minutes. I accept them, blow it all out, and then pull away enough to look Holly in the eyes.
“I’m okay,” I say, offering her a half smile. Then I reach out to Levi and pull him over to us. “I’m sorry buddy. I wasn’t yelling at you. I was just…yelling.”
“Don’t mention it,” he responds, handing me a glass of water.
The three of us rise and relocate to the couch. “So, the million dollar question, no pun intended, is…am I going to get to keep my business? If we were never legally divorced, which we weren’t, and the law is on his side, and he’s unabashed about claiming I’m still with him…and two-timing him, no less, then what have I got? What exactly have I got?” The tears pour forth once more, as I grapple for the tissue box.
“Did you know he’s been pumping iron?” Levi carefully asks, after allowing me to calm down for half an eternity.
“Seriously? Yeah…I mean he didn’t tell me he was, but it’s fully apparent. Don’t you think?” I can only hope Levi’s question was rhetorical.
“I guess so,” he replies. “But did you know he’s also been fooling around with some kind of roids?”
“What?” This sounds staggeringly unlike Quade. But then, nothing should still surprise me.
“Yeah, he was cryptic about it, but he mentioned some testosterone boosters. Things I’m unfamiliar with.”
“Well that would explain why he suddenly looks like a dorky, balding action-figure.”
“Oh no,” Holly adds, as if she’s just heard the most calamitous news of the night. “Fiona, do you remember my old friend, Isobel, I introduced you to at an open house a few years ago?”
“I think so, vaguely.”
“Well her husband of fifteen years got into bodybuilding and started taking some sort of testosterone boosters…it completely changed his personality.”
“Really?” I ask with fascination.
“Yes, completely. He started having an affair with a female bodybuilder, left his wife and three kids, became hostile and emotionally abusive. Totally different person than the guy she’d always known. She was devastated…turned her whole life upside down.”
I don’t know whether I’m more horrified or relieved that we’ve found a potential explanation for Quade’s changes. “Well maybe you should tell him he’s destroying himself,” I say to Levi.
“Believe me, I mentioned that whatever he’s taking… which sounded like an entire cocktail of different things… could be dangerous or change his personality. But he didn’t take the hint.” Levi stops talking and rubs his forehead.
“Could change his personality?! The guy’s a maniac!” Suddenly my irritation is mounting again.
“I know, I know,” Levi responds in a placating voice. “But you didn’t really expect me to come out and say that to the guy, right? I don’t exactly see that as productive.”
“So he doesn’t have any clue that he’s morphed into an asshole?” I ask.
