What We Owe

Chapter Twenty Three

The next morning, I was up before Dex and slipped out to the porch. I fished the paper out of the neighbors trash, a new cigarette back between my lips. I signed on the empty line, straightening the papers as good as I could. I looked at it, holding it up.

Good enough.

I shoved it in an envelope and handed it to Paul, the original envelope with it.

"Are you sure you can get it there before one PM?" I asked.

He nodded, shoving the money I had handed him into his pocket. He held the envelope in his hand and turned to walk down the side walk. I sat back on the step, pulling my sweater in to warm my body from the morning chill.

I blew the smoke out, watching as it disappeared in the wind. I felt nauseous, and let it come up. I stood back up and heaved into the trash can over the fence. There wasn't anything in the garbage can of any value anymore.

Mr. Albretch walked out with his pocket sized Pomeranian. He watched as I threw up in his trash can. I wiped my mouth and smiled at him, waving when I was done. He glared at me and watched as his dog pissed on the lawn. I flipped him off, not caring is he saw or didn't.

I sunk back down on the doorstep and took one last hit from the cigarette. I put it out, blowing out the smoke from my lungs. I opened up the pack and pulled out another.

It was around seven thirty in the morning, plenty early enough to be chain smoking. I looked around at the other brownstones, the morning fog slipping away over the roofs. I chuckled at how eerie they looked, matching my twisted and dark mind.

I heard the door of the neighbors close and I saw the Albretch's porch and lawn now empty. I hoped they would come over later and bitch. I would love to put Mrs. Albretch in a choke hold until she begged for me to stop.

Jesus Christ, I was on the verge of needing to be committed somewhere.

Once my third cigarette of the morning was done, I went back inside and started making breakfast. I was in one of Dex's shirt and his underwear. He was still up stairs sleeping, I could hear his snores from the opened bedroom door.

I pulled out every ingredient known to man and started cooking. When I say I could get food poisoning from PB&J, I meant it. I was trying to embrace my new life and cook Dex some breakfast before we had to go down to the courthouse. As long as my papers were delivered, I could legally marry Dex and officially be a Hayes. I called the lawyer listed on the papers and made sure he would be able to expedite the finalization of it. Stefan's money was infinite, the request was like asking anyone for a penny.

I turned on music and banged my head to the sounds of screamo coming from the speaker. I sang along to the song I had played over and over since I had been back in Chicago. I pulled the pan from the stove and turned, seeing Dex sitting at the counter. I jumped and dropped the pan.

"Fuck!" I yelled, leaning down to pick it up. The music stopped and I looked to see Dex at the counter next to the speaker. He had an eyebrow raised, smiling.

"Death metal at sunrise?" He asked.

"You know, just getting an early start." I said, shrugging as I set the pan back on the stove with the destroyed omelet in it. He came behind me and hugged me, kissing my neck.

"You smell like an ash tray." He said, pulling away. I turned.

"Better than the vomit I disposed of in the Albretch's trash can." I said. He shook his head, smile gone. I was trying to start a war with them. I needed the entertainment, but Dex despised it.

"Are you okay? Seriously?" I rolled my eyes and turned back to the stove. No I wasn't okay. The fact that he needed to ask pissed me off. I pulled the pan from the burner and walked over to the trash, stepping on the foot peddle and opening the lid. I turned the pan and let the destroyed food fall into the basket. I walked over and turned off the burner.

Dex let out a sigh.

"You know, I hadn't brought up that night for a reason, right? I'm okay if you want to wait to get married." I lifted myself up on the counter. He wasn't okay that night, but now he decided to be patient and understanding? It irritated me. He walked around and stood in front of me. I kept my legs closed so he couldn't stand between them. I rested my hands on the counter.

"I'm fine, seriously." I said, mocking his tone. "If you're getting cold feet, then we can wait. I just figured, why not, you know?" I looked at him and he softened.

"Claire, I've wanted to marry you for almost a decade. I'm not getting cold feet." He mocked me this time. "I just want to make sure you're okay." The fact that I was so obviously not fine and a simple lie could convince him otherwise, showed me just how much he wasn't my person. He didn't know me better than a stranger would. The second my mood switched, Stefan knew. Dex came to me and kissed my cheek, jerking me away from the thought.

"Let's go grab breakfast before the courthouse, okay?" He smiled at me.

"Okay." I said back, jumping off the counter, going to get ready for my second wedding this month.

We got to the courthouse and I sat with my hands in my lap. Dex grabbed one, putting it to his lips. People walked by us, giving us polite smiles.

"He should be ready any minute now." He said. I was getting impatient. Stefan got someone to marry us in an hour, why the hell was twelve hours too much to ask for? I looked at Dex and his gaze was set on something behind me. He stood, tense and anger took over all his features, radiating off of him.

"What's wrong?' I asked, looking up to him. I stood and turned to see what he was looking at.

The face staring back at me almost brought me to my knees.

"Stefan." I said.

With a devious smile, he took a step towards me.  "Hello, wife."