Page 64 of Just Desserts

At this point, I don't think she would bother to piss on me if I was on fire. It ripped me apart. I knew we were done. Everything around me told me we were done and there was no coming back but I couldn't accept it. It hurt too much. I spent the last week alone, my last time in this house. All of my possessions were reduced to the suitcases stacked in front of the door.

A bottle dangled from my hand as I walked around the now empty house, any trace of my life with Isla wiped away. It all felt like a fever dream at this moment. This time last year, we were all together, Isla at my side and Alyssa across the table with friends and family around us.

Was that when this all started? When did Alyssa start dangling herself in front of me? The coy looks, the lingering touches. I can't even remember the exact moment anymore, I couldn't remember when or why I gave in. I remember the rush, the feeling of danger heightening desire during those first few trysts.

In a strange way, the affair with Alyssa only increased my yearning for Isla. Having the two women, so different from each other, was intoxicating. Desires I never knew I had came out and I could lean into them depending on who I was with. I was living a double life and I felt on top of the world. Now it was burnt to ash under my feet and I had no choice but to crawl back to the devil herself to start to climb my way back up.

Alyssa. The thorn in my side. The albatross around my neck. All my problems began and ended with her. She owed me. She invaded my world and systematically tore it apart. The leastshe could do was give me a place to crash and a warm body to use until I could get back on my feet. Especially if she insists on keeping that baby, she'll need me to be on my A game. I could use that, it's the least she owed me.

Alyssa

Late Sunday afternoon, after another weekend spent completely alone and I was feeling awful. The emptiness of my apartment, lack of contact from family or coworkers, literally no acknowledgement from anyone was wearing on me. I felt like a ghost, like I didn’t exist. When there was a knock on my door for a moment I thought it would be my mom.

Maybe she was stopping by because she missed me, maybe she wanted to be a part of her grandbaby’s life. With renewed energy, I hopped up from the couch and opened the door without checking the peephole. Swinging the door open in excitement, I stopped short when I came face to face with Jonathan.

He looked terrible. His clothes were stained and wrinkly, his hair was overgrown and he hadn't shaved in days. He looked bloated, like his head was too big for his body and there was a stale odor of alcohol emanating from him. Wrinkling my nose, I eyed the suitcases he had next to him. Without waiting for me to invite him, he pushed past me dragging his luggage with him.

He tossed the cases in front of the couch before plopping down. He dug into the side pocket of one of the bags and yanked out his Jim Beam, drinking straight from the bottle. I closed and locked the door behind me and walked up to him, yanking the bottle from his hands.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" I asked.

I had a feeling I knew why he was here, but I wanted him to say it. I need him to understand that he was crawling back tome. That if he wanted to stay here he was beholden tome. The way he was acting right now, well lets just say he was not getting off to a good start.

"It's only proper for us to live together if we're having a baby. I need to go to the appointments, make sure you guys are alright. Isn't that what you want?" He slurred.

I knew he was just saying the right things, I knew he was here because he had nowhere else to go. Part of me wanted to kick him out, let him flounder on the streets. Go crawling back to his parents and Isla on his hands and knees. As tempting as that sounded, in the long run it would benefit me more to have him close where I could keep an eye on him.

"Well how responsible of you. Color me shocked. There are some ground rules if you're gonna be living here though. You're gonna clean yourself up and you can put your clothes away like a grown ass adult. As for the baby and doctor's appointments, you're not going anywhere near them until you prove to me that you're really in this for good.

“You can't hide from me Jonathan, I know all your secrets. You think you can just use me, that I owe you somehow? Forget that right this second. I want you to remember, I want it to be the last thought in your head before you go to sleep and the first thought when you open your eyes. You came to Me. I am the one helping you. You owe me. Now, get in the shower, you smell like shit." I said, taking the bottle of whiskey with me as I walked away from him.

He stood up and headed towards the bedroom where the full bathroom was located. I cleared my throat as he passed his suitcases, making a pointed face towards them. With a beleaguered sigh he dragged them into the bedroom, stackingthem neatly against the far wall. Before he could head to the shower I stopped him.

"Are your work suits in one of those?" I asked, pointing at the luggage.

"Yeah, why?" He asked, hostility in his tone.

"You need to take them out and hang them up. There's enough gossip going around at work, you can't risk your job any further. You're going into the office tomorrow and you're going to wow everyone. You will convince them it is the best day of your life, I don't care what you have to do but you will make it right.

“We need HR off both our backs and until the money from the sale of your house goes through, you're in no position to lose your job. We have a baby to think of. Now pull out your suits, if they're too dirty we'll get them to the dry cleaners but you're spending the rest of today drying out and getting ready to act like a fucking adult tomorrow."

His face grew redder the more I talked and I watched as he visibly swallowed any response he may have. Whether he liked it or not, he knew I was right. Rumors were rampant about his sudden vacation request, there were wild stories getting tossed around. Did he fly to Turkey to get hair plugs? Did he have a secret second family he was visiting? Was he in rehab? It was not a good look and the longer he avoided the office the more scrutinization I was under.

"I'll take care of it." He muttered, weaving his way to the bathroom.

Once the door closed behind him I went to the luggage, knowing his drunk ass wasn't going to get much done. I opened the first one and found several suits thrownhaphazardly in with boxers, socks and ties. I pulled the suits out and laid them on the bed. They smelled clean but were clearly wrinkled. I hung all of them up but two, leaving those out for the iron.

Then I hung up his shirts and ties. I put his shoes at the bottom of the closet next to mine and cleared out one of the top drawers of my bureau for the rest of his clothes. The more clothing I pulled out of his case, the more hidden bottles became visible. Mini bottles like from airplanes mixed in with fifths and pints.

I pulled them all out, laying them on the bed. I checked the pockets of all his clothing as well as the hidden pockets of his briefcase for any contraband I might have missed. I found a bottle of sleeping pills as well as a flask to add to the stash. Once that suitcase was emptied I shoved it under the bed, pulling the next one towards me. I opened it to find a mess of items from the old house, stacked on top of each other in no order that made sense.

Collectables from his failed marriage. I rolled my eyes, he truly was spineless. I did a quick search, found a few more bottles then zipped that case shut and pushed it under the bed. I took all the bottles to the sink and drained them, leaving the empties on the counter for Jonathan to see. I put a quick dinner together, chicken and rice, hoping it would sober him up without upsetting his stomach.

From the looks of it, Jonathan had been surviving off nothing but liquor the last few days. While dinner cooked, I ironed one of the suits I had pulled out along with the few shirts that were clean enough for Jonathan to wear. Sitting down at the table, we both silently started eating our meals. Once I saw he was indeed eating, I started the next phase of my plan.

"You're done drinking. I went through your shit, so don'tbother looking for your stashes there. I can tell you don't have any sort of plan for the foreseeable future, so we're going to take my lead on this." I looked up to make sure he was following me. He had a sour look on his face but was very much paying attention.

"Like I said, you're going into the office tomorrow. You are going to quell all the executives' worries, you are going to be the most charismatic you have ever been in your life." He frowned but didn't interrupt me.

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