Page 61 of Dirty Deeds

“I hate him,” I said to no one in particular.

“Babe, it’s fine.”

It was anything but fine.

The reporters continued to fire off question after question, most of them unintelligible and Brent didn’t respond to a single one. He just stood there, flashing his megawatt smile, waving to the people. It was sickening.

Then Elliot stepped back to the podium.

“Mr. Matthews won’t be taking any questions. Under his doctor’s advisement he will be heading home to take it easy for a couple of days. We’ll see you next week on the campaign trail.”

He went to usher Brent away from the podium, but the sound didn’t cut and suddenly we could hear all the questions the reporters were asking.

“Mr. Matthews do you have any comment on your business partner’s attack? Is there any correlation?”

“Mr. Matthews what does this mean for your ex-wife? Will she still be involved with Frankie’s House?”

“Does she still support your campaign?”

“What does she think about your girlfriend?”

Brent brushed Elliot’s hand away and turned back to the podium, adjusting the microphone to his height. He stared directly into the camera and said, “Danica and I will always support one another. She may no longer be my wife, but she’s always been my anchor and that shall remain true until the end of time.”

I thought things couldn’t get worse, I guess I was wrong.

About an hour later, Enzo showed up at Ro’s. I guess he surmised I was on the verge of another meltdown, so he left work early. I’m not going to lie, as awful as I felt, I was relieved to see him. He called his attorney. She gave him an update on the status of case and according to Enzo, she wasn’t all that concerned with Brent’s stunt. I don’t know if he was just telling me that to calm me down or what, but I decided not to press it.

We didn’t go out that night. Instead, we camped out at Ro’s, ordered pizza, and watchedYellowstone.Enzo had never seen the show before and me and Ro were always down for repeats.

“The daughter reminds me of you,” Enzo said to Ro. “Everything that comes out of her mouth is pure gold.”

I don’t know how I never made that connection. Ro was definitely a lot like Beth Dutton.

We got through two episodes before Wolf called Enzo. He stepped out of the living room to take the call. When he came back, his mood was obviously altered and not in a good way. I asked what was wrong and he just kind of brushed it off, saying his father was on the rampage. I knew it was because of Brent and I couldn’t help but feel guilty.

Ro excused herself a little while later, telling us we could stay as long as we liked, but she was drained. I had completely pushed the stuff with Derrick to the back of my head after the news conference. It was one disaster after another, and I just couldn’t wait for the day to be over.

Enzo and I didn’t stay long after that. We tried to watch another episode, but neither one of us were really paying attention. Since I had my own car, we said goodbye at Ro’s. I got in my car, and he got into his truck. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off between us but it had been a long day and chances were I was overreacting, so I let it go.

About halfway home, I realized he was following me. I didn’t call him out on it, though and when I pulled into my driveway, I got out of my car and walked to my door like he was sitting in his truck across the street waiting for me to go inside.

I locked up and went straight to my bedroom. I didn’t even bother changing before I threw myself on the bed. I was dozing off when my phone rang. It was Enzo.

“Hello?”

“I wanted to apologize,” he said roughly. I couldn’t imagine what there was for him to be sorry for, he was entitled to have an off day, especially after all that transpired. “This shit with Brent is getting to me. I don’t trust him, Danica, and neither does my father. He thinks you and I should cool it for a while, and not because of the case, although I’m sure that has something to do with it to.”

I can’t say that I blame Wolf, but I was confused. “Well, if not for the case, then what else is there?”

“You.” He sighed heavily into the line, clearly frustrated. “For fuck’s sake Danica, I watched the fucking replay of that prick’s conference. In not so many words, he told the whole fucking world you’ll always be his.”

I didn’t get that from Brent’s statement, but before I left the hospital he did say that it wasn’t over between us and eluded to the fact that he was the one calling the shots.

“I know you don’t see him as a threat, and honestly, I don’t know why. The man tried to fucking choke you. I don’t care if he never laid a hand on you before that moment, he put his hands on you that night and it should bother you.”

“It does,” I defended. “But you were there, Enzo. He didn’t hurt me because of you.”

“What if I wasn’t?”

---