AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Fuck a duck. You’re actually taking her side in this? She must be part witch to have cast a spell on you and get you this twisted up so fast, man.”
“I never said I’m taking her side, dammit. I just spent a few minutes doing something Markus should have done a long time ago. It took me all of ten minutes to figure out what the hell is going on. He was either blind or just didn’t give a shit to have missed all of the signs of what she needed to be happy.”
“And just what is that, Dr. Mitchell?”
“Screw you, man. I’m sorry I called.”
“Okay… I’m sorry. I’ll back off. I’ll send Rachel up and we can talk about all of this shit later when you get back here. Good luck, Lukus. I don’t envy you.”
“Thanks. I’ll call you later when I’m on my way back into the city.”
“Later.”
Lukus glanced at his GPS to see how much farther he had to go. He was getting close now and decided to call and let Markus know to let him in.
When the phone rang six times and rolled to voicemail, Lukus lost his temper. “Markus, you’d better be up, sober, and ready to listen. I’m almost there. We have a lot to talk about.” He cut the call off.
Within five minutes, Lukus was parking in the brick driveway of his friend’s mansion. The early spring flowers were just emerging in the landscaped beds lining the wide walkway to the massive front door. Lukus rang the doorbell several times but got no response from inside. He of course tested the door, but it was locked as expected. After knocking on several doors and windows and phoning Markus’s cell phone two more times, Lukus was starting to get worried.
Surely, he didn’t do something stupid.
Before meeting Brianna, Lukus would have been furious at just the thought of his friend harming himself over a woman. But now, having met Brianna, having held her... hell, he could almost understand the temptation…almost.
The next call he made was back to Derek. “Hey man. I need your help. I’m at Markus’s house and he’s not answering. The house is buttoned up tight, but I need to get in. Can you turn off the alarm from the remote access system and send a command to unlock the front door?”
“Sure… hold on. You don’t think he did something, do you?”
Lukus wasn’t about to tell Derek the thought had already crossed his mind. “Naw. I’m sure he just drank like a fiend and passed out. I’ll probably need to throw his ass into a cold shower to get him sobered up enough to even talk to him.”
After a few minutes, Derek was back on the line. “Okay, you should be able to get in now without an issue.”
“I’m going in.” Lukus tentatively opened the front door, holding his breath in case the alarm sounded. He was relieved when it didn’t. “Thanks, man. I’ll call you later.”
Lukus quietly closed the door, taking a few seconds to glance around the Italian marble tile of the foyer with the grand circular staircase leading up to the second floor. The floor plan was open, and he could see all the way through to the back of the house. The whole great room sported two stories of huge windows that looked out onto a fairway of the connecting country club’s manicured golf course. It was the kind of elegant home he’d expected, yet he pushed down his anger that he’d never been welcome there before.
Loud rock music blared throughout the house and Lukus called out, trying to project his voice over the noise. “Markus, where the hell are you?”
As he moved into the great room, he had to step over several broken vases, picture frames, and even a chair that was now in multiple pieces. The mirror over the stone fireplace was shattered.
Lukus finally found Markus sprawled face down on the couch, his left arm hanging over the side. An empty rock glass was discarded nearby. Lukus walked over and gave his friend a poke. “Hey, man. I’ve been calling you. Wake up. We need to talk.”
Nothing.
Time stood still as Lukus waited, holding his breath. Was he breathing? It scared the shit out of him that for the briefest of seconds he actually thought of comforting Brianna through losing her husband. Luckily, self-disgust shoved the vision aside, knowing he’d be lost without Markus, the man he thought of like a brother, in his life.
Don’t be a pussy, Mitchell. Reach out and check his pulse.
Lukus held his breath, afraid he might be too late and even more afraid to examine how that made him feel. When Markus didn’t budge, Lukus squatted down in front of him, tentatively reaching out to do a pulse check. A wave of relief washed over him at finding a strong heartbeat. He roughly rolled Markus onto his side, tapping his face to rouse him. The only evidence Markus even knew Lukus was there was a low groan at being disturbed.
His friend looked like shit. His beard had always grown fast and he now had a full day’s scruff on his strong jaw. Markus’s dark hair looked like it had been through a windstorm and he still had on the same clothes he’d been wearing in court the day before. The only addition to his wardrobe appeared to be dark food or drink dribbled down the front of his wrinkled dress shirt. The normally put-together lawyer was looking anything but lawyerly today.
While Lukus took a minute to glance around the room, he felt Markus push on his leg, moving him out of the way so he could lean over the edge of the couch to puke on the carpet. Lukus managed to jump back just in time.
“Nice. It feels like we’re back in college after one of our all-night frat parties. I would’ve really been pissed if you’d barfed on my favorite boots.”
It took a few minutes for Markus to finish and recover enough to speak. He leaned back against the couch cushions, his eyes looking like they were having trouble focusing on Lukus. His voice croaked when he spoke. “What the hell are you doing here? Did you bring the divorce papers?”
Lukus stood stoic, observing his friend for a moment before answering the million-dollar question hanging between them. Only the heavy beat of Ozzy Osborne disguised Lukus’s own thumping pulse as he had to admit, “No. I failed you. She isn’t gonna sign the divorce papers, Markus.”
