Page 6 of Takedown

“It’s going to be okay. I’m going to evict him. You’ll talk to Tina tomorrow, and everything will be fine.” Jason pulls back and cups my face.

I hug him again, relieved and comforted by his words, even though I know deep down, things won’t be that simple.

“You can’t evict him, babe. He pays on time, he hasn’t violated the lease, and he’s not doing anything illegal in the apartment.” Alex shrugs. “I looked all of that up before renting my old condo.”

I sag against Jason, and he holds me tighter. A hiccup escapes, and the tears start to fall all over again. “What am I gonna do, Jason?” I whisper. “Just another Mellie fuck up.”

“You were never a fuck up, Mellie. Everything will work out.” I let out a sniffle and nod, unsure of what else to say or do.

“I’m gonna go to bed. I already interrupted your night enough.” I look at Alex, who’s wearing a long silk robe, barely covering her belly. I rub my hand over her and the baby kicks. “My niece is active tonight,” I say. She kicks again, and I relax for the first time since I woke up in that hotel room in Vegas.

“Yeah. She’s the reason I couldn’t go to Vegas,” Alex says. “Go to bed, and we’ll go see Tina together tomorrow, okay? It will be fine.” I hug my brother and sister-in-law one more time, walk to the back of the apartment and step inside my bedroom.

I moved here with Jason only a few months after he bought this house. He met his wife soon after, and even though I’ve offered to move out, they asked me to stay. And since I love living with them and my niece, I’ve stayed. Now I realized I should have left. I can afford it, but I love being part of a family, and staying allowed me to save money for my own house .

Adam has always been in the background, though he’s never been more than a nuisance, asking me out and scaring my dates away by intimidating them. I’m not blind or immune to his looks or that body of his. I’ve spent enough days watching him work out shirtless in the backyard to be completely familiar with his six pack, but he’s not what I’m looking for in a boyfriend.

I never missed the lustful glances or the possessive attitude, but what I said to my brother tonight wasn’t true; I never felt unsafe or afraid. Not until I woke up yesterday morning and was faced with the consequences of our actions.

4

It took me twice as long to fall asleep last night. I couldn’t calm down after the ugly confrontation downstairs. It was a foregone conclusion that she’d fight, but I was not expecting outright denial and blatant lies. Even now I feel the sting of her betrayal for going behind my back to have me evicted. As if that would erase the fact that we’re bound together for life now. It was impulsive, but I take marriage seriously. Despite being raised by a single mother, I’ve always respected the sanctity of marriage. It doesn’t matter that I never had my parents as an example.

Not even my morning workout can relax me like it normally does. Instead of working out for one hour, I’ve been going at it for two in the hopes that some of the stress would leave my body. But I’m more wound up now than I was when I woke up two days ago to find her gone. Now she thinks she can hide from me one floor below behind her brother. Yeah, he’s her brother, but I’m her husband.

My legs feel like lead on the stationary bike, but I pedal fast enough to make this feeling of despair evaporate, but it doesn’t work. I stop abruptly, suddenly too overwhelmed to continue. My breath comes out in short pants as I reach for my gallon of water. The loud knock on my door finally forces me off the bike. My chest and back are coated with sweat and my shorts are so damp, I pull them up while I jog to the front door. It’s not six in the morning yet, which means there could only be one person outside my door.

Jason doesn’t bother with any pleasantries when he barges inside my apartment. I move out of the way, lean against the wall, and cross my arms.

“I need to get ready for work, Dupree.” I rub a tired hand over my face. I’m not in the mood for a confrontation this early. At least not with him.

“You think I don’t?” His tone is sharp today. He’s been irritated with me before, but never angry.

“Get on with it, but just so you know, you can’t evict me. I pay rent on time, and I haven’t done anything to violate the lease.”

“I can ask you politely to move out,” he counters.

“And I politely refuse.”

“What’s your game here, man? Did you get my sister drunk so you could trick her into marrying you?”

I walk away from him before I do anything I’ll regret. I remind myself that Jason and I are family now, but his words are like a slap to my face.

“I don’t have to trick a woman into marrying me,” I retort.

“No, you don’t, but I also know my sister has turned you down many times, yet the second you both end up in Las Vegas, she comes back married to you. I knew something was off the minute I saw her yesterday morning.” He walks over to where I am and points a finger to my face. I have about two inches on him, so I take a little pleasure in having to look down at him right before I swipe his finger away.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re not going to stick your finger in my face or give me orders. I would never take advantage of your sister or anyone else. That’s not who I am, and you’re not going to come in here and tell me about me and my wife.” My voice is sharper than I intend, but I’m tired of being the bad guy in this situation.

“Then explain how this happened.” He’s not backing away. In fact, he comes closer. He shoves me against the wall and gets in my face. I wouldn’t have to hit him hard to get him to back away, but that’s probably what he wants. It’s what he would need to evict me and it would piss off my wife and push her further away from me.

“I could do that, but I need to speak with your sister first. In fact, scratch that. She’s the only one I need to talk to, but I can’t do that because she’s always hiding behind you.” I manage to slide away from him, walk to my coffee maker and pour each of us a cup. I take out the cream, and Jason helps himself.

“Has it ever occurred to you that she’s the one who wanted to marry me?” I ask.

“Is that what happened?” Jason asks. He shakes his head and says, “No, that never occurred to me because it’s a load of shit. You planned this, didn’t you? Why?”

“Has your sister ever done anything she didn’t want to do?” He doesn’t answer so I take that as a victory. “Exactly.”

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