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I sat down next to her on the bed and kissed her on the lips trying to calm her down. I cradled her face in my hands and forced her to look me in the eyes. Immediately, I could feel her muscles relax.
“Don’t worry,” I whispered. “Everything will be okay. I’ll take care of this, okay?”
“Okay,” she said taking a deep breath.
We both looked up as the elevator in the hall dinged, and there was a knock on the door. My heart was racing, and I kissed her deeply one last time before walking out of the bedroom and closing the door behind me. I smoothed down my hair and did another quick look around the living room to make sure everything was cleaned up. I walked over to the door and took in a deep breath, pulling the door opening and smiling big as Dean appeared in front of me.
“Hey, man,” I said happily. “This is a nice surprise. Come on in.”
“Thanks
,” he said looking worse for wear. “I’m sorry to barge in like this.”
“No, man,” I said. “You’re fine. What’s going on?”
I led him over to the couch, feeling like he had something pretty serious to talk about. At first, my heart began to race, but then I realized if he knew anything about Ava, he would not be calm like he was. Instead, he looked hurt, almost betrayed, and I could tell from his red eyes that he had not slept the night before. He sat on the couch looking around the room but not actually seeing anything. He put his elbows on his knees and hung his head down, shaking it back and forth.
“What’s going on, Dean? Is everything okay?”
“I caught Lindy fucking the pool boy last night,” he said, choking up. “I just walked in and found them together. It was fucking terrible.”
“Holy shit, man,” I said sitting down next to him. “I am so sorry. That’s fucking horseshit. After everything you’ve done for that woman, and she does this to you?”
“I know,” he said weepily. “We fought all night and then I left. I didn’t really know where else to go. I couldn’t tell Ava, not yet. It would break her heart. So, I came here.”
“You made the right choice, Dean,” I said, glancing over at my bedroom door.
“I don’t even know what to do at this point,” he said taking in a deep breath. “I’m completely lost. I never thought I would have to go through this. I mean, I knew other guys who had gone through it, but I really thought it would never be me. Not Lindy.”
“Absolutely,” I said, shaking my head. “You’re a good man, and you’ve always been there for your family. It was your biggest sacrifice.”
“I just don’t know what happened,” he said, putting his head in his hands. “This is really messed up.”
“What can I do?”
“I don’t know where to go,” he said. “Would you mind if I stayed here for a few days and cleared my mind. I need to figure this all out before making some rash decision.”
Fuck. Instantly, my stomach dropped, knowing Ava was in the other room, probably heard all of it, and I was going to have to get her out of the apartment without her father seeing her. How did I get myself into this shit? Of course, I couldn’t turn the man down. He was absolutely devastated, and we just got our friendship back on track after about a decade of fighting and bickering. I patted him on the shoulder and looked around.
“Of course, you can,” I said kindly. “I have a guest bedroom with its own bath, and I’ll get you a visitor pass so you can come and go as you please. You can stay here as long as you want.”
“Thank you,” he said with a sigh. “You’re a real lifesaver. I know we just started our friendship over, but it's really great of you to be there for me like this.”
“Always,” I said, nodding my head.
I had to think of a way to get him out of the apartment for a while so that Ava could make a break for it. This was not what I’d had in mind when I woke up. I was planning on fixing us a nice breakfast in bed and just relaxing with a lazy Saturday that I’d hoped to stretch to a lazy Sunday. We could eat, make love, take a nap and do it all over again, really relax and have an amazing time. I knew, though, that this was going to affect Dean hard, and he needed a place to be.
“Hey, man,” I said, a solution popping into my head. “It’s early, but do you want to go get a drink?”
“Hell, yeah, I do,” he said, brightening up.
“Awesome,” I said with a sigh. “Let me change and brush my teeth, and we can head out. You just make yourself at home.”
“Alright, man,” he said, leaning back.
I jumped up from the couch and hurried toward the bedroom, only opening the door a sliver before scooting in and closing the door softly behind me. Ava was sitting there in the bed, a look of bewilderment on her face. She was dressed and clutching her coat, shaking her head back and forth. I sat down next to her and pulled her into my chest. I didn’t know what she knew at that point, but I had to figure out a way to tell her.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I know this is crazy.”
