Asad (different, huh?) Also- keep in mind Mr. Jefferson is the attorney from ch. 34, go re-read if u need to!
Anthony Jefferson threw back his shot glass, easily the tenth of the night that was still young. He slammed it back down with a smile, angling his body towards mine.
"It's been a while, A," he said, slinging an arm around my shoulders.
"It has," I agreed, "how have you been? How's the wife?"
"Hm." He leaned back and puckered his lips out. "I've been fine."
I chuckled and took a shot. "Good to hear."
"How about you? How have you been?"
"Can't complain," I answered, "money, cars, booze, women."
He chuckled. "You know I'm drunk, right?"
"I'm very aware," I muttered, winking at the bartender as she slipped another shot my way.
He shrugged. "Yeah. I was kind of drunk before I got here."
"Wouldn't put it past you, J."
"You know," he slurred, "you're so free."
I braced my elbows on the bar. "What's that mean?"
"You can do whatever you want," he muttered, "whoever you want, and you don't even have to feel bad about it!"
I nodded. "This is true."
"But me," he said, "oh, God, I hook up with one woman and feel terrible."
I looked up from my drink, hesitantly looking over at him.
"And this woman," he trailed off, "I mean, it's happened before, like a long time ago. But it just recently happened again, and shit."
"You cheated on her?" I asked. I couldn't quite wrap my head around it. Why would he cheat on his wife? They'd always been so in love, so sweet and loving towards eachother. Not to mention she was absolutely stunning.
"Yep! Believe it or not. I know, I know, Alice is stunning and precious and wouldn't ever do anything like that to me, but I don't know, I guess I just got lonely!"
He'd downed enough shots to be delirious, so I took everything he said with a grain of salt.
But could he really make that up?
"Who was it?" I asked, leaning back in my chair. I folded my arms over my chest and awaited his answer. I probably knew her, considering most well-to-do people in Seattle ran together.
"Hmm," he mumbled, eyebrows furrowed together. "Oh, yeah! How could I forget! It was Alessandra King. Duh."
My eyebrows slowly came out of their furrowed state as I leaned forward. "Tell me you're lying?"
"Mm mm!" He shook his head, "no, no, I'm not lying. Why would I lie about that?"
He let out a laugh and I clenched my jaw, holding a hand out to the bartender. She was desperate to get me drunk.
"We're talking about the same Alessandra King, right? The Alessandra King that's married to Santiago King?" I asked, bracing my elbows on the bar.
There's only one Alessandra King in Seattle.
"No, we're talking about the other Alessandra King in Seattle. Yes, we're talking about the same and only Alessandra King. And they're not married anymore, so."
I wasn't sure if Anthony knew that Santiago and I were as close as we were. I told Santiago everything.
And I knew I had no choice but to tell him this.
~*~
Santiago
I woke up to the sound of my door being damn near beaten in. I stood, rubbing my eyes as I stumbled over to my dresser.
It was nine o'clock in the morning, so I'd assumed it was Adora coming over. I didn't think anything of it.
But she has a key.
I shrugged it off. I slipped on a black shirt and jeans, walking downstairs.
I opened the door to find Asad standing there, a guilty look on his face.
"What did you do?" I deadpanned, and he invited himself inside.
I turned around as soon as I closed the door, leaning against it. I folded my arms over my chest with furrowed brows.
He let out a sigh and braced his elbows on the counter. "We've got to talk, man."
"Listen, if it's about Adora, you called it."
His eyebrows furrowed, he shook his head. "What about Adora?"
"Nothing. What were you saying?"
He shook his head, holding his hands out. Asad talked with his hands, and I found it rather hysterical. "Okay, so you know Anthony Jefferson, yeah?"
"Divorce attorney Anthony Jefferson? Yeah, of course, why?" I asked, bracing my elbows on the counter.
"Okay, so he and I, we're acquaintances. We go for drinks every once and a while, just have fun, you know?"
I nodded. "Okay? I feel cheated on, but alright."
Too soon to joke about being cheated on, don't you think?
He brushed off my comment. Asad never turned down the opportunity to joke around, so I felt my concern growing. "So he was batshit drunk last night. Like, came drunk and had twenty more shots."
I lifted an eyebrow.
"And you know people spill shit when they're drunk. Like, confidential."
I urged him to go on, nodding as I chewed on my bottom lip. He was taking his precious time with the story, I was a get to the point kind of man.
"San, I'm procrastinating telling you because I don't want to be the bearer of bad news."
I had an inkling as to where this was headed, but I didn't want to actually admit it.
"Just say it, A, stop beating around the bush."
"He and Alessandra, man."
I couldn't have been surprised. I was sure she had a parking spot at every man's home in Seattle by now. "Well, I don't claim her as my wife anymore, so good for them?"
I walked over to the fridge and Asad shook his head. "You're missing it. This happened before."
I looked over my shoulder at him, slowly pulling a water out.
"This was before Mateo, man."
I felt an unwelcoming anger rush over me and I attempted to sweep it under the rug.
"I can't say I'm surprised," I said, slamming the fridge shut.
Asad shook his head. "You can't act so stoic all the time, San. I know you better than anyone. You might want to put on a tough act but I know it's there. You're hurting, but you just don't want to say anything."
I nodded, my jaw taut. "Yeah, you're right."
I stormed towards the door and pulled it open, walking to my workshop. I grabbed a few pieces of wood from my pile, angrily throwing them on the ground.
"San, what are you doing?"
I ignored him. I grabbed a can of gasoline and a lighter, dumping the gasoline on the wood before lighting it up.
"Santiago-"
I brushed past Asad and back inside the house, angrily walking upstairs. I ripped Alessandra's closet open, grabbing every trace of her I could find. I threw the heavy load over my arm, jogging downstairs.
Asad's eyes went round. He ran after me, grabbing my arm. "Hey, man, it's o-"
"It's not okay!" I yelled, throwing the load into the fire.
"It's not okay, Asad," I said, "it is not okay."
About that time, a red Mercedes pulled up and I knew exactly who it belonged to, considering I'd bought it for her.
I shot Alessandra a smile as I leaned against my car, and her eyes went wide at the sight in front of her. "What the hell are you- Santiago!"
She ran over to the fire, her mouth gaping open.
"How does that feel?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.
"You're insane!" She screamed, very obviously fuming.
"You want to talk about being insane? You get off on lying to the boys and teaching them that it's okay!" I yelled, "you are a terrible human, Alessandra!"
"You're doing the same thing with that babysitter of yours!" She spat, "I bet they would love to hear about it. You're lying to them, telling them that she stays over because the roads are bad when really she's over doing you favors!"
"You can keep her out of this," I cautiously responded, making Alessandra drop her bag. I gripped my hips and watched her walk towards me.
"Stop acting like that!" She screamed. She grabbed my arms to shove me back, but just let out a sob.
"Stop acting like what, Alessandra? Like nothing bothers me?" I sneered, looking down at her.
"Yes!"
"It doesn't bother me!" I yelled, "I should've expected it, you've always had a problem with not being able to keep your legs closed according to every goddamn man in the city!"
I didn't realize what I'd said until I'd said it.
I hadn't noticed the boys standing at the door, either. I looked over at them and sighed, making Alessandra sniffle.
"If the boys grow up like you, I'll be damned, Santiago King."
She wrapped her arms around the boys' shoulders, pressing kisses to their temples.
"I'm not going to keep lying to them. You can go back to Mateo now, or Anthony, I'm not sure which one you prefer."
Freddy's eyebrows went into a deep furrow and he looked up at her, slowly backing away.
Alessandra looked down at them, tilting her head over. "C-"
"They're not dumb, Alessandra."
"Okay," she said, nodding, "then how haven't they caught onto the fact that you're with Adora?"
The boys just looked over at me and I felt my blood begin to boil. I took a step towards her, my eyes narrowed.
"Did you just call my sons dumb?"
The grin on her face disappeared. "I d-"
"You're going to wish you would've said something different when in fifteen years, they're more successful than you'll ever be. When they make their own business from scratch. It's in their DNA."
She looked over at the boys. "B-"
"You can see them on the weekends, they're mine through the week," I adamantly stated, gripping my hips.
And with that, I brushed past her and back into the house.
~*~
Santiago
I continuously found my eyes landing on the boys, just waiting on them to dive into a conversation that I wasn't even halfway ready for.
But they never did. They looked as content as they could be, casually watching TV like nothing had happened.
I couldn't expect them to fully understand. They were five, and this was all new to them. Even I couldn't understand.
"Hey, what do you boys want for dinner?" I asked, finally earning both pairs of eyes.
They both shrugged and shot me grins, making me sit between them.
"I think we need to talk."
They both nodded, eyes glued to mine.
"Is mommy marrying uncle Mateo?" Josiah asked, his eyebrows in an innocent furrow.
I chuckled. "No, no, or at least I don't think so!"
They both giggled and I smiled at the two of them.
"But papa, you're so much handsomer than uncle Mateo!" Josiah smiled up at me and I laughed, wrapping an arm around his neck.
"She can't have two husbands!" The boys giggled and looked at eachother, making me smile a soft smile.
"Well, mommy and papa aren't really married anymore," I quietly muttered, rubbing their heads.
"Yeah, because you're with Addy!" Freddy responded, earning a pout from Josiah.
"I'm not with Addy," I said, shaking my head, "mommy says things that aren't true sometimes."
"Yeah," Freddy said, "but that's not a lie!"
I smiled down at him. "Yeah? How do you know, big shot?"
"Well, I mean, Addy is really pretty! I saw you hug her the other day, and she's so nice! She always takes really good care of us."
I knitted my brows together.
"I can give Addy to you, I guess," Josiah said, "I think I need a girlfriend my age!"
I chuckled. "You guys like Addy, don't you?"
"We love her!" They answered, smiling up at me, "don't you love her, papa?"
And I, Santiago King, froze at that very question.
~*~
hiii guysss ☺️☺️
hope you enjoyed this chapter! I really enjoyed writing it, because a lot happened and I love drama AHAHAHAHA
anyways! have you guys started on your one-shots yet? I seriously can't wait to read them 😍
just to remind you : it started on November 15, ends on December 10! if you have any more questions please feel free to ask or check past chapters :)
ok. I'll leave u with some pics of mom & dad ;)