SAM
WITH THE TASTE OF LIZA still in my mouth and my body alert and thrumming from a weekend spent fucking her in my bed, up against walls and over my kitchen sideboard, it was with disgust that I watched that despicable husband of hers jump out of his VW, bounce across their driveway and into their house. I’d done my research on this fucker and I knew about him. His drinking, drugs, womanising… all of it. So, it was to my complete surprise that a guy twice his size walked into the house after him and proceeded to kiss him up against the hallway wall, before they’d even shut the door.
How did Liza not know yet? She would have told me if she knew because she kept nothing from me. She’d told me things she’d probably never even discussed with Gage, such as her desire to become a writer and the fear she’d never get chance – not with Gage berating her every time she picked up a pen and paper.
“Come and chill out,” she told me he’d say to her. “Don’t worry about it, we’re good. You don’t need to work again.”
It was about controlling her, for sure – making certain she had no hope of escaping him with a well-paid job of any sort – pure and simple. This guy wasn’t worth shit, not as far as I could tell. Between him and my father, there was no difference.
I doubted Liza would ever leave him and that was completely unacceptable in my eyes. It was our time, finally. She loved me. I’d always wondered if she did – because I’d always loved her – and it was wonderful to finally know she felt the same way. Nothing was going to get in our way anymore.
It was an unexpected, blissful bonus that he was gay. Easy. I only needed ammunition to get rid of him. I left my vehicle and walked up to the house. I couldn’t hear a thing. Lifting the letterbox, I still couldn’t hear anything.
I looked around me, doubting their neighbours were home. Gage’s over-confidence with his lover convinced me of this, too. Everyone on their street would be out working during the day – doctors, teachers, bankers, solicitors – their neighbours had money. Besides, there were plenty of trees around, sheltering people’s houses, providing the privacy people with money crave.
I tried the door handle and it opened. My heart pounding, I crept indoors and pushed the door closed behind me. There were pictures on the walls of the children, going up the stairs and all over the downstairs hallway too. It was clear Liza’s priority was the children, but if the past weekend had taught me anything, it was that Liza had a secret yearning for sexual love too, more than anything else.
As I crept further into the house, the noise became audible. The audacity of him was unbelievable. It wouldn’t have surprised me to discover this was a regular thing – daytime fucking – which made me wonder whether he had her phone tracked, so he knew where she would be at all times and would always know if she was heading back in this direction.
I reached the kitchen and on the table was a bag full of pills and a bottle of vodka with the lid off. Lifting the bag to inspect it, it looked like roofies, but I couldn’t be sure.
They were quiet for a few minutes, then they put some music on.
I crept up the stairs and edged my way towards the master bedroom. The door was only open a sliver, but I could see them, sucking each other off.
I silenced my phone so they wouldn’t hear the camera click, also careful to turn off the flash. With the music and their lust keeping them distracted, I snapped as many photos as I could, then withdrew, creeping back down the stairs. I left the house as quiet as a mouse, then slipped back into the driving seat of my car, parked across the road.
It was clear Gage was deep under, mixing roofies with alcohol to get absolutely smashed all the time.
How did Liza not know? Maybe he was drunk so often, she couldn’t tell the difference between sober Gage and drunk Gage.
I sat in my car for a while, sinking into my seat.
Marvin emerged around an hour later and Gage waved him off from the door, unashamedly stark-bollock as he did. I doubted he could see me across the road, sat in my car behind tinted windows, also protected by shadows the trees were casting all around. Marvin walked to the end of the street and was met by a taxi which appeared, just at the right time.
Gage went indoors and I observed as he moved from one room to another, stumbling around. In the kitchen I watched him down more vodka, before hiding the bag of pills on top of the kitchen cupboards, high up and out of reach.
I checked the photos I’d just snapped on my phone. I had plenty of ammunition and felt satisfied. I just needed to work out my play. Send these anonymously to Liza, or just tell her the truth? I never imagined I’d show up today and discover Gage to be so fucking duplicitous. I’d had no plans beyond doing anything more than trying to sweet-talk him into letting Liza go. Clearly, if he had any shred of decency, he would have let her go long ago.
I drove off and decided I’d set up a fake Facebook profile, then send her the pictures that way. I’d give it a day or two, though. Just enough time to make sure this was the right thing to do.
A DAY LATER, the shocking news came: Gage had died after choking on his own vomit. I shelved the photos and started to panic. What if someone had seen me hanging about outside his house? All sorts started running through my head. I felt guilty by association. I’d carried guilt like this all my life.
So, when Liza asked me to organise the clean-up, I decided to do it myself, just in case there was any nastiness to be dealt with. I could then personally eradicate any fallout which might have hindered Liza’s recovery.
I scrubbed her en suite from top to bottom and checked all around the house for any pills he might have left hidden. All I found was a load of anti-depressants he’d never popped the foils on. Clearly, he’d been medicating in a different way – with pills, booze and sex with Marvin. I wouldn’t have put it past Marvin to have come back for the roofies at some point, maybe. Marvin was as buried in this as Gage was, clearly. Addicts will lie about anything and everything just to keep their hand in.
I found his phone and discovered he had been tracking Liza, as I thought. Bastard. Checking where she was at all times, no doubt.
I knew Liza better than anyone and I knew she wouldn’t understand that he’d risked his life for a good time. Not only risked his life, but the safety and security of his kids, too. Clearly, he’d grown up in a particular world and had found it difficult to escape.
I decided to delete all the messages on his phone between him and Marvin. Finding out he was gay would probably destroy her just as much as his reckless behaviour. Despite being beautiful, and sexy as hell, I knew she doubted herself and probably always would. I knew she’d view his death as a direct consequence of some lacking of her own – such as not loving him enough or something. My beautiful girl needed building up but she’d married entirely the wrong man for that.
I would keep Gage’s actions to myself forever and a day: that he’d risked everything for a quick afternoon high.
Liza was pure, through and through, and found it hard to understand people who weren’t. Her heart was gold. She loved fiercely and completely. Through my eyes, she was the most perfect creature on earth and I would never love another woman. She was it.
I swept the truth under the carpet, for her, nobody else – and I would protect her heart, no matter what, for as long as she would let me. I would give her a story close to the truth, but I would never, ever tell her about the gross negligence of a husband disrespecting his wife, family home and position in society. A supposed role model? In actual fact, he was a disgrace.
Liza, my beauty, reminded me so much of my big sister… strong-willed, dignified and good.
If I had it my way, she’d be my wife within the year and we’d have loads more babies together.
The only thing was, I knew she’d need time to heal – and so for now, helping her heal would be my one goal in life – and the rest would follow.