Pax

 

Pax was sitting on his couch, halfway through a bottle of bourbon when there was a loud, sharp knock on his door. “What!” he yelled before getting up. If it was just some random salesperson going door-to-door, he was going to be pissed. He needed to wallow in his feelings for a while. If he couldn’t be with Jessica, he had to be alone.

 

But a few seconds later there was another knock on the door, louder and more insistent. Pax groaned and got to his feet, putting the bourbon on the ground next to his couch before he stumbled over to the door, swinging to open to reveal his landlord, Arnold.

 

“The fuck do you want?” Pax spat, wavering a little on his feet as a result of the alcohol he’d pounded down his throat over the past hour.

 

Arnold stared at him a moment before reaching into the pocket of his coat and pulling out several sheets of paper. “I’ve got some things to show you.”

 

“I haven’t been late on the rent, so I’m pretty sure you’re legally obligated to leave me the fuck alone,” Pax said, barely keeping his voice above a growl. He needed to take his anger out on something or someone, and Arnold was as good a target as any.

 

But Arnold looked undeterred, offering forward the pile of papers for Pax to take. “Have a look,” he said, leaning against the frame of Pax’s door.

 

Pax dropped his eyes down to look at the papers, his heart jumping up in his throat as soon as he saw the pictures printed on the front. It was him and Jessica. Naked, in bed together. Kissing.

 

“What the fuck?” Pax muttered out loud, sifting through the papers to see shot after shot of the two of them making love. He remembered it vividly. It was the night Gary came by Jessica’s apartment, the night they’d moved from fucking to something else. Something more tender and soft. Something scarier than anything else Pax had done before in his life. And now there was evidence of it. “Where did you get this?” he demanded, looking back up at Arnold.

 

“That’s none of your concern,” Arnold said casually. “What you should be worried about is Gary. He’s seen these pictures, and let me tell you, he isn’t happy.”

 

Pax shoved the pictures into Arnold’s chest, pushing the smaller man out of his doorway. “Get fucking lost. You think I care about what your little boss thinks? He’s nothing.”

 

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Arnold said, shaking his head. “You might be able to take Gary in a one-on-one fight, but let’s be real here, that’s not what’s going to happen. He’s going to run all over you, use everything he’s got. I just came by here to warn you, man. And maybe give you a little friendly advice, as well.”

 

Pax narrowed his eyes, his blood rushing in his veins, ready for a fight.

 

Arnold pressed on. “Look, this isn’t your fight. You just got caught up in the crossfire. Gary loves Jessica. He’s obsessed with her, and he’s never going to back off. Believe me. And anyways, it’s not worth it for you to get involved in this mess. She’s just a common tramp.”

 

A common tramp? Those three words set off a fire inside Pax’s brain, obliterating all his thoughts except the need to smash Arnold into a pulp. He roared loudly and pushed his body through the doorway, launching a hard punch right at Arnold’s face. “Fucker!” he shouted as he swung again, this time landing directly on Arnold’s nose.

 

“Shit, man!” Arnold cried out, clutching at his bleeding face. “Wow, you can really throw a punch.”

 

Pax was about to sock him again, this time aiming for his stomach, but the odd lightness of Arnold’s tone stopped him. When Arnold pulled his hand away from his face, Pax saw that he was smiling, almost beaming despite the blood trickling down from his nose. “What the hell is going on here?” Pax asked.

 

The next second, a familiar-looking woman stepped out of the shadows of the hallway outside of Pax’s apartment. It took him a second to place her, but then he realized who she was. Macie. Jessica’s best friend.

 

“Hey, Pax,” Macie said with a smile, reaching down to pick up the fallen pictures that Arnold had dropped a second before. Without looking at them, she folded them in half and tore them up, four times in a row until they were in tiny pieces. “Can we come in? I need to throw this out.”

 

Pax was so confused that he didn’t know what to do, but he must have been standing aside with enough space anyway, as Macie and Arnold pushed past him to walk into his apartment. Macie walked over to the nearest trashcan and dumped in the remainder of the pictures, all at once. “Arnold, shut the door, okay? You never know who’s listening in.”

 

Arnold gently pushed Pax to the side and did as Macie instructed before going over to stand by his girlfriend. “Sorry about the pictures. But we had to be sure you cared about her.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Pax asked, his brain still not totally computing what was going on.

 

“Jessica,” Macie said. “I had to make sure that you really cared about her, so I took those pictures the night Gary showed up. Originally, I didn’t know if you were coming, so I figured I’d just take pictures of Gary to try to prove to the police that he was stalking her, but then you showed up. I had a feeling you cared about her, but I needed to be sure. And now I am.” She smiled at him, her eyes glowing with happiness.

 

Pax was still utterly confounded, and a little part of him wanted to resist and say that no, he didn’t care about her, not really. But the stinging sensation on his now-open, bleeding knuckles told him otherwise. “Okay, but why? Is this just an elaborate way of screening all of Jessica’s sexual partners or…?”

 

Arnold laughed and shook his head. “We’ve got a proposal for you, Pax. But fair warning: it’s pretty fucking dangerous, so think about it before you answer.”

 

“A proposal for what?” Pax asked.

 

Macie cleared her throat and stepped forward. “To get rid of Gary. Once and for all. You interested?”