Hanging on, Till Death do us part...

Chapter 15

I have vacuumed the carpets, mopped the floor and the lasagne is just about ready. I hop in the shower, throw on a pair of washed out jeans and decide to go with a button up blue collared shirt. Kate has always loved the colour blue on me.

Tonight needs to be a good night. I need to somehow tell Kate that Rob is not the person he is pretending to be; my trip to Durban confirmed my suspicions and I have to get Kate away from him, I need to get him away from my children. Kate seems to have already fallen for this guy; the way she defends him, the way Zoe speaks of him, he has gotten under all of their skin and I have to stop it now. There is no time for games, no time for sappy gestures of love.

However I decide to do this, I need to be careful. I can't push Kate away and risk not having her in my life. I never wanted her away from me; I never wanted our children to grow up seeing mommy and daddy not get along. I want to enjoy a relationship with her, even if that means just friendship, but I am afraid that if I approach this the wrong way, she will deny me even that. I'm also sitting with the other side of this equation, Rob. I still don't know what it is that he knows and if he does know about the murder then I not only risk going to jail for the rest of my life, but I will lose Kate and my girls forever.

I should have fucking killed him on Friday night and gotten rid of him the same way I did Matt. I should have turned around walked to the kitchen, fetched a knife and fucking stabbed him to death. This man has turned shit completely upside down for me and I don't even know what his fucking deal is.

The phone call he made to me on Sunday night, while I was getting ready for bed replays in my mind and send shivers down my spine,

"Hello?"

"Hello Bryce."

"Who is this?"

"Ah you don't recognise my voice?" He is teasing me.

"Robert. What the fuck do you want? What fucking game are you playing?"

"Oh so you did recognise me? I am sorry I didn't stand to greet you the other night. I was slightly pre-occupied. I'm sure you understand?"

I sat up in my bed ready to grab my keys and drive to his house to beat the shit out of him, but I don't know where he lives, I don't know where he works, I don't know shit. I took a deep breath.

"Rob, what do you want from me? What do you want from Kate?"

"Nothing Bryce. I don't want anything from you. All I want is for you to watch as I destroy everything that you love, the same way you destroyed everything I loved."

"What the hell are you talking about? I didn't destroy anything of yours? I haven't fucking seen you since college Robert!"

This man is fucking crazy.

"That's right, you haven't seen me since college, but you somehow managed to pop back into my life and again fuck everything up for me?"

I stood up and looked out the sliding door into my pitch black garden, running my hands through my hair.

"Rob, I don't know what you are talking about? Please, please can you just stop this little game that you are playing. Leave Kate alone, leave my kids alone. I haven't told Kate anything about you. Fuck, I left you alone on Friday, I didn't interfere with your evening."

"Ok Bryce, you continue acting as if you don't know what I am talking about, and I will continue fucking with Kate."

Jesus, this guy is driving me crazy!

"Ok Rob, seriously, you must want something. What is it, money? Will money make this go away?"

His laugh makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.