||Pretenders||☄️

(139).

"The Worse"

           Alicia stepped into their home, leaned on the door and took in a deep breath. She recalled all that she did the previous night with someone she wasn't supposed to talk to. She was surprised Maxwell did not push her off when she got closer to him. She was famished he still smiled at her like she didn't hurt him badly two years ago. He had let all these past mistakes go and freely smiled at her and even comforted her when she needed it. She had thought Maxwell would cuss at her like his usual old self but he was composed, handling their situation like a mature person.

       "You're going to keep standing there?" Theodore asked few steps away from the kitchen and she gasped.

       "You're back?" She nervously asked. "I thought you said you'll be back tomorrow?" She stuttered. Theodore walked closer to her.

      "Where did you spend your night? With Dawn?"

      "Uh, yeah." She cleared her throat and looked away. "So, how did the meeting go?"

      "Fine. Did Dawn drop you off?" He asked again.
Alicia took off her heels, looking elsewhere to answer his question. "No. She uh, had something to do this morning."

      "Really?" He helped her unzip her dress from behind.

       "Yes. What time did you get home?"

       "Last night. I wanted to surprise my wife because she complained of sleeping alone." Alicia turned to him and he wasn't smiling. "Come on Alicia. I know you were not with Dawn. I drove to her place last night." She gulped down and looked away again. "Where did you spend the night? At the hotel?"

        "No. I uh, Dawn and I drove to uhm, your brother's company. She was supposed to get something from there and we ran into Max."

       "So you ditched Dawn and hanged out with him instead?" His question was a calm one. "Alicia, you ditched Dawn to hangout with the guy you've been trying to stay away from?"

        "I wanted us to talk..."

        "About what Alicia?! What more do you have to say to each other? He's the reason you badly wanted to come back, right?"

       "You know that's not why we're here..."

       He cut her off again. "Then tell me why the heck you chose to spend the night with him. Alicia what is wrong with you?" She stepped away from him and he grabbed her hand. "Do not walk away from me when I'm talking to you. Do not try to avoid this."

      Alicia slapped off his hand angrily. "You're scared aren't you?"

      He smirked. "Scared of him? You must be out of your goddamn mind!"

     "You're scared he is going to tell me what you really did that's why you've been trying so hard for me to avoid him."

      "What the fuck are you talking about?"

      "Piper," she started and his face started paling out. "You pinned her death on him so I could hate him and be with you instead. You lied about this just so you could have me and when he asked you to tell me the truth, you lied instead, making him think you had told me the truth. How could you?"

      "It was the wrong place to talk to you about that."

       "No it wasn't Theodore!"

       "It was!" He yelled back at her and took in a deep breath. "I didn't want to ruin your day for you and he did at the end of the day. The whole reason I didn't want us to ever come back here again was because whenever he's around, a whole lot of shit happens. You met him when I was away and look at what is happening right now. He always causes a mess and acts like he's the victim. Alicia you met him for one fucking day and he's already trying to ruin our marriage."