Dom
I SIT OPPOSITE Chloe and Mr Richards. Chloe looks uncomfortable and I question whether I should leave them alone. The resounding ‘No,’ I get from her has me staying in my seat though.
‘You okay?’ I ask her.
‘Mm.’ She nods and her father awkwardly starts to tell us how he’s associated with Patrick fucking Smith.
‘It’s a short story really and not a lot to tell.’ He pauses while he takes a sip of his beer. ‘He was in a lot of gambling circles when he was in the States.’ He shuffles in his seat like he’s uncomfortable ‘He moved around from state to state and obviously I came across him more than a few times. He’s an arrogant bastard and he got himself in a lot of skirmishes, with a lot of bad people.’ He wipes his brow and takes a gulp of his beer. ‘He won big one night and asked me what he should do with his money. I told him to quit while he was ahead and pay his dues to whoever he owed.’ He shrugs his shoulders and continues ‘He didn’t like that idea so I suggested he invest it, make more off it that way but, he would still be in debt. He liked the sound of that and I left him having won myself that night and thought nothing more of it.’ Another gulp of his beer. ‘A few months later word on the street was he was coming for me on account of that bad advice.’
‘So you didn’t steal his money?’ Chloe asks.
‘No, I’m not a thief, Chloe.’
‘And that’s what brought about him kidnapping Chloe?’ I ask.
‘Yes, he lives here, but like I said I never expected any of this to affect Chloe.’
Chloe looks like she’s in pain.
‘Hey, sweetheart you okay?’ I cup her face and look her in the eyes. Nodding she shifts a little in her seat.
‘I think I need to lay down.’
‘I think you’re right, come on.’ I lift her into my arms and walk her to the bedroom, laying her down, while her dad stares from the open door. ‘I’ll be right back with some water okay?’ I pass him in the doorway, he says nothing but looks at me strange. I fill a glass and get some ice from the freezer making sure it’ll stay cold for her. As I get back, he’s sat on the edge of the bed stroking her hair. I’m not sure how I feel about that so I push whatever the fuck that is back down and place the glass on the nightstand by the bed. I kiss Chloe on the head and motion for him to follow me out into the other room. He does without any hesitation and I close the door as he passes and follow him down the hall back to the kitchen.
‘You want another drink?’
‘Yeah why not, thanks.’ As I take the lids off of two bottles of beer and hand him one, I watch as his hands shake slightly.
‘Okay, so how about we cut the bullshit and you tell me what really happened.’ He looks at me like he might lose his temper for a split second but then dials it back.
‘What are you talking about?’
‘I know damn well you just fucking lied to her face. I’m not an idiot, no-one travels across the world to fuck with someone’s family over bad advice. How much did you take from him?’ He has the audacity to look hurt over my questions.
‘It’s not what you think, I didn’t steal his money.’
‘So what did you do?’ He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes when he exhales.
‘I fell in love with his daughter.’ That is not at all what I was expecting. Not. At. All.
‘His daughter? Wait he has to be younger than you? How old is his daughter and please tell me she’s a fucking adult?’ I cringe when the words leave my mouth because if he doesn’t give me the answer I want I might kill him myself.
‘Of course, she’s a fucking adult. What do you take me for?’
‘How old is she?’
‘Nineteen,’ he mumbles as he starts picking at the label on his bottle.
‘You’re a fucking idiot, not to mention perverted, how fucking old are you?’ I ask him, annoyed. Now don’t get me wrong, by nineteen I was sexually active, and so are most girls that age BUT it’s usually with guys of a similar age, not double that and then some.
‘It doesn’t matter because I love her.’
‘You sound like a fucking teenager, Mike. She’s younger than your own daughter!’
‘They marry them off from the age of fourteen anyway.’ He thinks that excuses him. They’re gypsies. So not only has she gone off with a man almost triple her age but she’s had sex before marriage and with a guy who isn’t a gypsy traveller. No wonder Patrick is pissed. They disown their kids for less.
‘So my best friend died because you couldn’t keep it in your pants.’ I growl. ‘And you’re in love with this girl and hoping your daughter won’t find out?’
He nods. ‘I don’t want her to judge me for it.’
‘Too late.’ A voice comes from behind. Chloe dashes down the corridor to our bedroom, and I shake my head at him in disgust.
***
Chloe
I go into the bedroom and slam the door shut, following it with a punch to the white wall next to it. Pain radiates through my hand, but right now I don’t even care. I can hear Dom yelling at my dad down the hall but the anger raging in my head isn’t allowing me to hear what’s actually being said. I’m so fucking mad. How dare he put me in this situation over a fucking teenage girl. That’s gross and I’m beyond ashamed of him. I don’t blame Patrick for going after me but at the same time, he should have just dealt with him one on one. There was no need for anyone to get hurt, especially murdered.
‘Chloe, unlock the door.’ Mike—yes, right now he’s only Mike to me—says through the door. I know I shouldn’t open it and let myself calm before having this confrontation but I’m just too pissed to wait.
Swinging the door open I hiss, ‘What the fuck do you want?’
‘Can we please just talk Chloe?’ His eyes plead for forgiveness.
‘What the fuck could you possibly say? That you made the decision to screw a girl that’s younger than your own daughter and you’re surprised when her father targeted you, you really didn’t expect that DAD?’ I’m so mad that I can’t help the spittle that flies from my mouth as I yell at him. ‘What would you have done if the situation was reversed, DAD? You going to tell me that you would have been okay with a fifty-eight year old man boning me?’
‘Calm down, Chloe. You don’t understand. I love Charity. I can’t help that and there’s nothing that can be done to change that. You know I’ve not let anyone in since your mom passed and then she came walking into my life and I just knew. We were meant for each other.’ My stomach churns as his words hit. Is he fucking for real right now? Has he lost his ever-loving mind. Bile rises in my chest and before another word can be said, I make a beeline towards the bathroom and lose what little bit of food I had in my stomach.
‘Get out and don’t fucking come back until Chloe says otherwise.’ The front door slams. I rest my head in my hands. ‘Honey are you okay?’
‘I don’t know where that came from. I’m sorry.’
‘You have nothing to be sorry for, love. You did nothing wrong and you had every right to say all those things.’
‘No Dom, I’m sorry that Zoe’s gone for these reasons. It was bad enough to begin with, but his reasons make it even worse.’ I gasp trying to bring air into my lungs before continuing. ‘He ruined all our lives.’
‘One thing good came from all of this, babe. We found each other.’ He turns me and wraps me in his arms. ‘We’ll get through this, Chloe, I promise.’
‘Dominic, I…’ Just as I’m about to tell him I love him, my stomach flips again and I turn and dry heave into the toilet, although I have nothing left to bring up.
‘Come on, I have a glass of water in the room. I think you need to lay still a bit longer.’
I straighten up and he follows behind as I head back into bed. ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me, it must just be everything going on.’ Dom pulls the sheet up over me and sits on the side of the bed. ‘I really am sickened by everything that’s happened. What should we do, Dom?’
‘Andre should be here soon…’
‘You’re still going through with your plans?’
‘Yes, Chloe. He’s still out there coming after us. This has gone too far and it needs to end.’ His thumb caresses my cheek as he brushes a piece of my hair behind my ear.
‘But now that my dad is here, can’t he just handle it?’ I question.
‘It’s still going to be the same outcome, Chloe. Your father made it perfectly that he’s not going to stop seeing Charity.’
‘Do you think Andre knows the whole situation?’
‘I’m going to assume so, babe. Andre is your dad’s man, not mine.’ Reaching over he grabs the glass of water off of the night stand and takes a sip before handing it to me.
‘I know I’m pissed at him right now, but I should at least talk to him again before you guys head out, don’t you think?’
‘You can do whatever you’d like, babe, but I’m leaving with Andre when he gets here later. This really does need to end and I need to get Nan out of that care home.’ He unknowingly begins to rub the Chinese script of his nan’s name on his forearm.
‘How can I get a hold of him?’
‘Andre or your dad?’ His brow quirks in question.
‘Mike, my dad.’
‘You may want to check in the driveway.’ Leaning up, he pulls the string on the blinds until he can see to the outside. ‘Yep, I was right. I never heard a car pull out.’
‘Okay, I’m going to go brush my teeth and then talk to him.’ I hop up off the bed leaving Dom still sitting on the edge. I’m determined to try to fix what I can. Or at least force my dad to fix this fucked up mess he’s put us in.