The tears rolled down her face as she smiled tenderly towards me. Getting up, I grabbed a tissue for her and placed it in her hand.
“As you know, I have never been married myself, but I guess it’s hard work. Sometimes you go through the rough times in order to test out your relationship. You two have been married for so long, there’s bound to be ups and downs.”
Wiping her tears away, she sniffled and nodded. “Yes, you’re right, of course. Thank you.”
Patting her shoulder, I shook my head. “No problem at all. Now, do you want to stay for a bit, have another drink until you feel a little better? I don’t mind.”
Cynthia shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I’ve kept you long enough as it is. I feel a lot better now anyway.”
“Are you sure?” I know I’m a lot of things, but a heartless bastard isn’t one of them. Cynthia was one of those ladies my father used to always tell me about. She deserved my respect, and she deserved special care and attention from that stupid fuck of a husband of hers.
“I’m sure,” she said, getting up. “I need to go and meet the girls anyway. They’re at a birthday party and should be expecting me in a half-hour.”
Getting up, I placed my hand in the curve of her back and walked out of the door with her. “Thank you,” she said again, turning before she left.
“Anytime, Mrs. Carmichael, and say hello to the girls for me.” She smiled, got back in her car, and drove off.
As I watched her drive away, Humphrey suddenly appeared beside me. “Dean, Scott rang about ten minutes ago. He told me to tell you the papers were all ready to be signed and that they are with your lawyer.”
I nodded. “Thanks, Humphrey. I’ll go call them both now.”
I walked back into my office and shut the door. I made the phone calls to Scott and my lawyer, Louis, and everything seemed to be going as scheduled. I was pleased about that. I was pleased about a lot of things right now.
The next phone call I received, I answered with relish. I knew it was Jimmy and I knew it was about Tyler.
“Jimmy, what you got?” I asked eagerly. I heard him hesitate and I knew there was something wrong. “Don’t fucking tell me she’s gone somewhere else that freaks you out? What is it this time? The fucking puppet show?” I knew I was being sarcastic, but fuck that shit.
“Um, what exactly does this girl mean to you, Dean?”
My posture straightened, ready to fucking strike. “What the fuck does that mean, Jimmy? Spit it out.”
He sighed and I knew it wasn’t a good sigh. “I followed her, her hot mate from work, and that other guy she works with to Buddies. They’ve been dancing there for a couple of hours and getting more and more drunk.”
The more he talked, the more I could feel the anger rising. If some fucker had dared to lay a hand on her, I’d kill him with my bare hands and think nothing of it.
He sighed again and I knew this was where I would receive the killer punch, whatever it was. “Tyler was dancing with that guy from work…Ian, his name is.” I knew all too well what his fucking name was. “Well, he’s been feeling her up all night, but that isn’t it, Dean. He kissed her.”
Chapter 33
Tyler
Shit, I was fucking wasted. Fuck knows what the hell I was doing. I’d been at the club for about three hours, and all we’d done was drink and dance our asses off. Ian was doing his usual feeling me up thing he did on a regular basis. It bothered me, but it also bothered me that my stranger wasn’t here tonight. It was probably because he couldn’t hide himself so well here now, but it still pissed me off. Ian would only get suspicious if it didn’t let him do what he usually did. It was only when he rammed his tongue down my throat that I finally had the momentum to push him away with a playful swat. Ian just laughed, and I carried on dancing with Louisa. She was just as drunk as me and looking forward to going home to Peter tonight. Poor Peter!
Time flew by and it wasn’t long before I was on my way home, slurring the words of my address to the taxi driver. The driver looked a little apprehensive, but took me home anyway. His taxi was safe. It wasn’t until I got home and lay on my bed that the room suddenly started spinning.
That was enough to have me running. I was really going to regret this in the morning. I threw up all the contents from my stomach and then some. I couldn’t remember the last time I had gotten myself into this state.
Never again.
Pulling at the toilet paper, I suddenly realised that my stranger wasn’t around at all today. My toilet roll was in the same position I left it in. Strange how that really pissed me off. In my drunken haze, I felt a little uneasy about that prospect.