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“How the driver of that car was acting still concerns me, though.”
“It does me too and I plan to ask my neighbors if they know anyone who drives a red Audi. Whether they do or not, I’m gonna stay watchful. I swear, what happened at the Galleria parking lot and then this today has just…”
“Unnerved you to the max?”
“It’s pissed me off more than anything and now, thinking about if that’d actually been Avery who stopped in front of my house earlier—well, I wouldn’t have had a problem handling anything she dished out.”
“I know you wouldn’t have.”
“My concerns, though, would’ve been how she knew where I lived, why she was at my house and what her next crazy move was gonna be.”
“I thought you were gonna say you’d be worried that she’d found out about us.”
“That’s a given in all of this and the last thing that I want to happen because if she did find out, then I have no doubt she’d make things even more hellish on you—even though she has no right to cast one stone.”
“She can’t make it any worse than it already is.”
“Oh, but she could, by deciding to file for divorce from you and also custody of Malcolm because of our affair.”
“The way I feel about that is this: I dare her to go there. If she were to, then she’d have a legal war on her hands because I’d bring out not only all the evidence that I have of her volatile and adulterous behavior, but I’d also have Justin, Avery’s immediate family, and her closest friends subpoenaed to court. Even though I still don’t believe doing all of that would sway a judge to award me full custody of Malcolm, I would still fight until there was nothing left of me.”
“I know you would fight until there was nothing left of you, Zac, but I don’t want you to ever have to do that and the only way to keep it from happening is for Avery to not find out about you and me. I believe if she did, then she would file for divorce from you and custody of Malcolm. She’d do it to punish you because you fell out of love with her and in love with someone else who loves you unlike she ever could. She’d punish both of us but it’d ultimately be you and Malcolm who pay the price and I couldn’t live with that. It would devastate me.”
“Stevie, listen to me. Avery isn’t gonna find out about us. She is caught up in her own world out there in west Texas and doesn’t give a shit about mine and Malcolm’s here in Dallas. Are you listening to me?”
I cleared my throat. “Yes, I’m listening.”
“But do you hear me?”
“I do. I really do. I just wish Avery would go away for good. Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t wish her dead. Okay?”
“I know you don’t. You’re not that kind of person.”
“I just want her to get on with living her fucked up life somewhere else and with someone else. Justin or whichever poor soul she can sucker into putting up with her bullshit. I don’t care. I just want her to move on so that you and Malcolm can move on with your lives and live in peace. No more back and forth wondering if and when Avery is gonna come back home and start another war so she can run off to Lubbock yet again. It’s such a messed up cycle.”
“That has benefitted her and also allowed me to remain a full-time father to Malcolm. It’s just the price that I have to pay for marrying Avery and also having a child with her.”
“It’s not the only price that’s being paid.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m paying a high price for getting involved with you.”
“For falling in love with me? Isn’t that what you meant to say or did you forget that part?”
Zac’s tone of voice had just gone to a stern level that I’d only heard him use once, and that was when he and I opposed each other on the Ferguson case in court. He wasn’t standing in front of me where I could see his face but I already knew what his expression was like right now. His dark eyebrows were knotted up, his blue eyes were angry and his nostrils were flaring. And the expression on my face? It matched his, and not because of Zac’s tone of voice. It was due to the last thing he’d asked me.
“I didn’t forget anything,” I said, biting back my anger.
“Well, to me, there’s a big difference between saying you’re involved with someone and saying you’re in love with them. It’s the difference between fucking them and making love to them.”
“I’m well aware of that.”
“Then tell me that you’re in love with me and not just involved with me.”
“No, I’m not telling you a damn thing because of how you’re being about this. It’s ridiculous and you knew exactly what I meant a minute ago.”
I spat the words to Zac because I felt like he was backing me into a corner and trying to force me to say something that he already knew was true. I wasn’t into this kind of dominance from him and would never tolerate it.
