“The way you are. Why does everything have to be so difficult?”
“Why is this difficult?” I ask. “You asked me if you could kiss me and I said no.”
“That's not what I'm talking about and you know it,” he says. “I want to get close to you. I want to fuck you. And you? You don't want that?”
I shake my head no.
“Why not?”
“I didn't want to marry you, Franklin, but you insisted. So, here we are. I'm your wife. You asked me if you could kiss me and I said no. Now it's up to you.”
“What is?” he asks.
“Will you kiss me despite the fact that I said no?”
He glares at me. His brows furrow and his irises become tiny like pinholes. I can feel his rage building and I take a deep breath and prepare myself for impact.
“What the fuck?!” Franklin roars.
He raises his hand in the air but instead of hitting me, he punches the wall. I flinch and move away from him. He catches me and pushes me up against the wall.
He puts his hand around my neck and squeezes.
I start to gag.
I can't take a breath and my head starts to feel like it's about to explode. When everything begins to go black, he lets go and I drop onto the floor.
“You're a fucking bitch, you know that? One of these days you're going to get what's coming to you!”
Franklin raises his hand again and I lift my arms to block his blow but instead of hitting me, he hits the pillow.
When he leaves, Franklin slams the door on his way out. Through the tears flowing down my cheeks, I look over at the dresser.
There, right next to the vase with freshly cut roses, I see that he has forgotten his Starbucks cup.
I force myself to my feet, still shaken, and carefully place the cup into a Ziploc bag that I fish out of my purse.
20
Aurora
I meet up with Jackie the following day. We meet up alone without Henry and that’s at my request. It’s a nondescript diner, one that I chose because no one I know ever goes here.
I get here early and take a seat. I’m hungry so I order a stack of pancakes. The waitress is a tired woman in her forties with thinning hair and sallow skin. She offers me coffee with free refills but I opt for an Earl Grey instead.
Jackie arrives a few minutes late and apologizes profusely. I wave my hand at him and tell him that it doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t. I like having this time to think. The diner is empty since we’re meeting at the dead time between lunch and dinner when few people bother with restaurants.
“Why isn’t Henry here?” Jackie asks, getting right to the point.
I swallow hard and look up at him. His eyes are weary and he looks like he didn’t sleep last night.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
He nods and says, “I don’t look that great, do I?”
“I didn’t mean anything by it,” I say.
“I worked on a stake-out all last night following this husband who has been screwing around on his wife. She knows he’s doing it. I know he’s doing it and yet I couldn’t catch them in the act.”
“Maybe he’s not?” I ask.
“Let me tell you, around 6:30 this morning after sitting in front of the building for five hours, I started to think that, too, but then I saw him come out of a one-star hotel with his arm around his girlfriend and he gave her a big wet kiss right for my camera.”
“I’m not sure if your work is extremely interesting or extremely boring,” I say, taking a sip of my tea.
“A little bit of both.”
My pancakes arrive and it’s way more than I can eat. Luckily, Jackie is happy to oblige. He puts a few on his plate, smothering them in maple syrup. I bite into mine completely dry.
“No syrup for you?” Jackie asks.
I shake my head no.
“To answer your question,” I say, “things are a little bit complicated now but I wanted to get you this cup. It’s in my purse.”
“You got it? Already?”
I nod.
“That was fast.”
“I want this to end sometime soon. The sooner the better.”
“Everyone does but that’s not how investigations usually go.” Jackie takes another big bite, chewing with his mouth open.
“You don’t like me, do you?” I ask.
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“I’m giving you this investigation on an open platter. I’m doing everything and you seem to be…inconvenienced.”
“It’s not that,” he says, narrowing his eyes. “I appreciate you doing all of this.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“You. You and Henry,” he says after a long pause.
“How’s that?” I ask.
“You come from a different world and we both know that and he knows that but there’s another part of him that sort of doesn’t.”
I look down at my fork and watch the light streaming through the window bounce off one of the prongs.
“I don’t owe you an explanation,” I say.
“No, you don’t.”
Still, I feel the need to continue.
“I never kept any secrets from him. He knew who I was and I knew who he was. We tried to make it work and we still want to.”
“Aren’t you married?” Jackie asks.
“I know but I’m not married-married. It wasn’t my choice. Didn’t Henry tell you?”
“He did but I don’t believe him.”
“I don’t know what I can do to convince you.”
“What happened to your face?” Jackie asks.
My heart skips a beat but I don’t let it bother me. I’m wearing a lot of makeup and I have camouflaged it well.
“Nothing. Why?”
“Did Franklin do that?” Jackie asks. “Is that why you’re after him?”
“Franklin and I aren’t together. This whole marriage is and has been a lie from the beginning.”
“If that was the case, then why would he beat you up?”
“Are you seriously asking me this?” I lean over the table and hiss at him. He nods.
“Franklin is fucked up,” I say after a moment. “Why else would he wanna make a deal for Tate Media and include me in the process? I’m not with him. I just have to be with him and you need to do your fucking job to make sure no one else gets hurt.”
Jackie narrows his eyes and leans back. He watches me. He assesses me, trying to figure out if I’m telling the truth.
“I had no idea that you suspected me of anything,” I say after a pause.
“I do,” he says nonchalantly. “You’re one of the 1% of the 1%. You’re the whole reason this country is so fucked up. I don’t know what your angle is but I know what people like you are capable of and that’s pretty much anything.”
I shake my head, unwilling to believe what he’s saying.
“So, why the fuck are you here? I mean, if you don’t believe me, if you think that I’m just playing a game, why are you even helping?”
“I’m here for Henry. He asked me to help so I’m here.”