“Called me this morning and told me he was sick,” Mr. Granger, the owner of the garage explained. “He sounded awful. He’s probably at home, letting that pretty wife of his take care of him.”
Scott forced a smile and nod, then got back into his car. He checked all of Sam’s favorite spots—the pool hall, the bars, the coffee shop. Nothing. As a last resort, he found himself at Mr. Mullholand’s front door.
“Scotty, what can I do for ya today?” Mr. Mullholand smiled.
“I was just wondering if you could tell me where I might find Sam,” Scott answered seriously.
Mr. Mullholand’s face fell, and he shifted uncomfortably. “Why, no, son. I’m sorry but...”
“It’s okay, Dad…” Sam walked up behind his father.
Scott glared at the other man. A million different ways he would like to handle the situation flew through his mind.
“I’ll leave you boys to talk,” Mr. Mullholand gave his son a light push out of the house, then shut the door.
“Tell me…when did you become the biggest asshole in the universe, Sam?” Scott asked scathingly.
“Is she okay?” Sam asked seriously.
“Oh yeah, Sam…she’s great. I mean, ya know, who doesn’t want to be grabbed by throat and slammed against the wall by the love of their love, right? She’s better than she’s been in years. You stupid fuck…”
“I didn’t even grab her that hard, Scott…I didn’t mean to do it…”
“Oh you didn’t grab her hard? Did you see the fucking bruises on her throat?”
“What? No..”
“Yeah. Do you have any idea how disgusted with you I am right now?”
“Are you gonna tell me how she is or not?!”
“Why do you care?”
“Because I love her! She’s my wife, the mother of my son…I care about her…”
“Don’t give me that shit…you’re scared she’s gonna call the cops on your fucking ass…that’s what you’re worried a bout…you don’t give a damn about her.”
“Scott, just fucking answer me…” Sam clenched his teeth, losing his patience with his friends snide insults.
“You want the truth?” Scott brought a cigarette to his lips and lit it. “She’s a fucking wreck. I have never seen that girl so out of control in my fucking life. And it’s all your fault.”
“Why are you here, Scott? To belittle me, yell at me, make me feel worse than I already do?” Sam folded his arms over his chest and kicked at a pebble in the driveway.
“Actually, my original plan was to kill you…however…on the way over here I realized that you aren’t worth the time or energy it would take for me to kill you.”
“That’s great man. What did I do to you?! I turned to you for help and two hours later you show up here, and just treat me like the fucking village idiot…”
“Have you forgotten that I’m Taylor’s friend, too, Sam?”
“You’re my best friend…not hers.”
“Not anymore…I have no respect or time for you any longer,” Scott turned his back on Sam and headed towards his car, but then stopped and turned for a brief moment. “You do realize that you’ve let three people walk out of your life in one day? She’s already left the apartment…she’s taken Draco with her. And you’ll never see my number on your caller i.d. again.”
“Oh, so this is all my fault! Let’s just forget the fact that she’s a nagging bitch that just wouldn’t stay away from me! She’s been going at me for a month, non stop! I lose my cool once, and I’m the fucking bad guy! Again!”
“YOU DIDN’T JUST LOSE YOUR COOL, SAM!! YOU FUCKING HIT YOUR WIFE!!”
“Okay…you’re right…I shouldn’t have touched her. I was wrong, I know that…and I feel like shit…but on the other hand…at least it shut her the fuck up! And you can tell her that too…That bitch had it comin…I’ve put up with her nagging and yelling and suspicions since I was sixteen fucking years old! That’s almost four years worth of pent up emotions and frustrations…and if all she got out of it was a couple of bruises, then she got off lucky!” Sam spat vindictively.
Scott felt his fist clench at his sides, his pulse quicken. He imagined himself beating Sam into a barely breathing pile of flesh. But he caught himself. Instead he took a deep breath and shook his head.
“You are the lowest, most revolting person I have ever met. I cannot believe that for so long, I counted you as a friend…as a brother,” he whispered dangerously, then left Sam standing there, at a loss for words.
“Did you call the police?” Brook asked quietly.
She and Taylor were now on Brook’s mother’s front porch, Draco asleep in his play pen.
“No…I didn’t want to make this a big thing…I didn’t want anyone involved…” Taylor shook her head. “I was gonna just pack up and walk out…stay at a hotel till I found a place for me and Draco…then tell everyone that he hadn’t changed, it was the same old shit over and over again, and I was divorcing him…then Scott showed up, and called you…Don’t take that the wrong way…you know…I mean I’m really glad you guys are around…I’m glad someone cares about me like that…I’d be lost without the two of you…”
Brooklynn smiled. “We love you…we’ll do whatever we can to help you. You just have to ask.”
“How are things with you and him?” Taylor changed the subject, not wanting to discuss her husband any longer at the moment.
“Over…with no hope of reconciling,” Brook explained as she lit a cigarette.
“What happened?” Taylor asked in concern, lighting a cigarette of her own.
“He never got over my cheating on him. He doesn’t trust me, doesn’t think I love him…and that, aside from being it’s own issue, caused other issues. He wouldn’t make love to me since he didn’t trust me, he would freak out whenever I went out with someone other than him…I know it’s better this way, but I just…miss him.”
“You guys are still friends, though, right?”
“No. He hates me. Or he can’t stand to be around me…I haven’t figured out which. The only reason he even called me about this was because it was about you…and even then I can tell he was fighting with himself about it.”
“When did all this happen?”
“Last night, but it’s been going on for months. He’s been pushing me away, we’ve been fighting a lot. A break up was inevitable, I knew it…I just hadn’t prepared myself for it…I’m not ready to let him go.”
“And you think this is really it? You think it’s done forever?”
“I know it is. I can tell by the way he looks at me, the way he talks to me. There’s no lingering emotion left in him for me. He’s over it—me, us. Totally recovered in less than twenty four hours…” she shook her head and wiped a tear away with her hand.
Just then, Scott’s car pulled into the driveway and parked.
“Where’ve you been? What happened?” Taylor jumped up and asked anxiously.
“If you EVER go back to that cocksucker, I will disown you…” he answered seriously, still wound up from his encounter with Sam.
“What did he say?” Brooklynn pressed, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.
“Apparently he thinks that, while he really shouldn’t have hit her, she deserved it anyway—‘had it comin’ to use an exact quote,” Scott replied lighting a cigarette. He then turned his attention to Taylor who had dropped back to her seat on the stoop. “You okay?” he bent down in front of her.
“Dandy,” she smiled weakly.
“Listen, I have to go to work…don’t answer your phone, stay away from that apartment, do you hear me?”
She nodded. So did Brooklynn.
“I’ll stop by after work, which I am now late for,” he glanced at his watch, then looked over to Brooklynn. “Keep an eye on her…don’t do anything stupid, okay…if Sam stops by, which is doubtful, call the cops immediately, then call me.”
Again she nodded. And with that, Scott left the girls sitting there, both with broken hearts, but for different reasons.