“You still look the same.” She mused, “I always thought that betrayal would have a—" her hand circled in a searching motion "—an obvious 'look'… that love just blinded us to the evil of others."
I had no idea where she was going with this and kept my mouth shut.
"But even though I know what you did—" she snorted dryly, "saw it with my own eyes, you look like the same to me.”
She furrowed her brows her confusion evident on her beautiful face.
I felt a cold sweat break out on the back of my neck.
“I wonder if that just means I’ve always been blind to who you really are?” She looked away from me, and her eyesdrifted aimlessly around the yard.
She wasn’t really asking me, my input wasn't wanted or needed, she was simply talking outloud. Being the coward that I was, I was grateful that she didn’t expect a reply.
What the fuck would I even say?
“Are you sure you want me to go?” I could hear the whine in my voice and cringed.
“Yes.” She didn’t elaborate or put any emotion into the word. She was simply confirming that my leaving was what she wanted.
“I’ll let you know where I’m staying after I get a room.” I crouched down beside her chair and tried to reach for her hand. She pulled it away with a look of disgust.
“Please don’t.” she murmured and looked away. I swallowed hard but stayed crouched. She had never resisted my attempts to grovel before.
“Don’t tell you where I’m staying or don’t touch you?” I questioned. I had a feeling she meant both.
“Both.” It was barely a whisper, but she said it just loud enough where I could hear her.
I nodded and looked down at the boards of the deck.
“I’m so sorry I hurt you.” I finally said and waited a few seconds before meeting her eyes again, “I know you don’t believe me, but I love you.” Her eyes bore into mine before they drifted over my shoulder to that cursed hot tub.
“Ok.” She sounded exhausted and slowly rose to her feet. She drifted back into the house, and I followed behind, watching as she set her empty cup in the sink. “I’m going to lay down. Lock up on your way out.” She picked a spot on the wall over my shoulder to stare at while she spoke to me. “I don’t need you to tell me where you wind up.”
“Melanie, I will give you tonight, but after work tomorrow, I’m coming home to fix this.” My words came out harsher than I had intended, but I was starting to get frustrated by her apathy.
She didn’t reply and disappeared up the stairs without a single glance back at me.
· · - ·?· - · ·
A hotel close to work had a luxury suite available, and while the plan was to convince my wife to let me come home the next day, I still booked it for the full weekend just in case.
I texted Melanie the hotel and room number for where I was staying— a text she left unread.
Angela hadn’t stopped trying to call me, so once I was settled in the room, I started doing some damage control and called her back.
“Benji, where are you?” she demanded.
“Angela, I’m staying at a hotel for now.” I kept my voice gentle.
All week, I had been handling Angela with extreme care while I tried to figure out how I was going to get rid of her. Even before Melanie had gotten back things had started tounravel.
Peter had been suspicious when my wife couldn’t get ahold of me, the guys didn’t know where I was, but his secretary had been able to hunt me down. He had been watching our interactions all week and even questioned me outright on why I had stayed behind when my family clearly needed me.
It was true that I had an important client who was only going to be in town Monday, but I could’ve followed my wife home afterwards. I wanted to, but I was too worried about leaving Angela behind unsupervised after how angry she had been over me leaving her condo to comfort my wife.
She had hidden her craziness well— until the moment I told her that I had to go. Right before my eyes, she transformed into a massive problem.
“I have to go; my wife needs me.” I mouthed to Angela as I finished buttoning up my pants.
