The drive to Portland happened without an issue, the roads were remarkably calm on this Saturday afternoon. As agreed, Lex had dropped me at my place, and after I'd profusely apologized again for ruining our weekend together, we had parted with a kiss. I had quickly gone up to remake my bag with less lingerie and more actual clothes. Since Tammy wasn't home, I'd texted her to explain the situation.
During the entire ride, my rage against Stefano hadn't diminished. On the contrary. Not only had the asshole threatened my Kate, but he'd also ruined what would have been a perfect weekend of sex, bonding, and watching movies with Lex. The fucking dream. But instead, I had to come down to Portland to take care of the problems he had caused.
Now, as I was making my way through the familiar streets of my birth city, I realized I'd missed it. In a little over two months since my move to Seattle, I hadn't even taken a weekend to come back here. I'd talked with my parents, abuela, and Kate a lot, but hadn't been back.
I parked in front of Kate's place, a small suburban house in the neighborhood we had grown up in, and quickly exited my Ford before taking my bag in the trunk and locking the car. The few steps to the patio were quickly climbed, and as I was about to knock, the door flung open.
Kate was standing behind it, her eyes red and puffy, wearing a pair of pink pajama shorts and an ample white top. As soon as we saw one another, we fell into each other's arms. A series of sobs suddenly overwhelmed her, and I held her tighter in my comforting embrace. We stayed like this for a while as I whispered reassuring words in her ear.
"I'm so sorry this is happening to you, Kay. I swear he won't get away with this. I'll take care of it."
Little by little, her anxiety decreased until her breathing came back to normal. When I sensed she was well enough, I let go of her after one last squeeze. We moved inside, and she locked the door behind us.
Her house wasn't overly large, although she had two bedrooms and a home office, but it was very nicely decorated. Kate had a whole Scandinavian aesthetic going on, with soft and elegant pastel tones. I'd always found her place to be soothing and homely. It was clearly a woman's house, but it wasn't overly girly. Although I wouldn't come up with an interior like this for myself, I found it to be very suited for her personality.
"I'm so sorry you had to come," she told me, a disappointed expression on her face.
"It's okay. Lex was fine with it. He practically wanted to drive me all the way here," I reassured her, remembering how he had kindly offered the option, upon remembering the pile of rust I would be driving in.
"I didn't know who else to turn to. I didn't want to tell anyone. I was so worried when I received his text."
"It's okay, I'll always be here for you, blondie," I insisted.
We moved to her living room and sat next to each other on the light teal sofa. I was just settled when Mr. Fluffybutt came from his hiding spot to greet me. The old, overweighted, and lazy Persian had been with Kate for over sixteen years. He was her loyal companion, the one male in her life who'd never leave her. He and I had a love-hate relationship, in the sense that he'd never really liked me since that time I had woken him from a nap with a garden hose.
But over the years, he'd grown fonder of me, and his old rancor had shifted into indifferent acceptance. Nothing too crazy, though. So when the white furball came to me directly on my lap, I was properly shocked. Unsure what to do of this unusual display of affection, I turned to Kate, stunned.
"Yeah, I told you he wasn't doing great lately. Him coming to you like this is more proof of that," she said with a hint of humor in her voice.
"No, it's just taken him fifteen years to forgive me," I countered, petting his soft fur. Mr. Fluffybutt laid down on my thighs and started purring, the sound of it appeasing. Remembering we were in a crisis, I turned to Kate. "What does Stefano want exactly?"
"He wants to see me, to get back together. He said sleeping with that woman meant nothing to him, and I'm overreacting. It's been like this for weeks now, but I'm done with the asshole. This is just more proof of how much of a jerk he is."
"I swear, babe, I don't know how you do it. You always pick the worst possible guys."
"They aren't like that at first. They are perfect, kind, considerate, and charming. But then it shifts; so slowly you barely realize it. And when you do, it's too late, you're dating a possessive jerk. Stefano was the best guy I'd ever dated. Until the point he wasn't. He was so good with me at first. He treated me like a princess, and I still can't believe it's the same man who's doing this to me now. It started with the tiniest remarks, and it ended with him sleeping with another woman and blaming me for it, pretending I wasn't 'available' enough..."
"Yeah, that's narcissistic pervert 101. They hook you, and then they slowly destroy you. You need to find yourself a solid and decent man."
"I'm trying, you bitch," she retorted, a faint trace of humor in her voice. "We can't all be as lucky as you and end up working for Mr. Perfect."
I blushed slightly, secretly enjoying how she naturally assumed Lex was now my solid and decent man. I had told her some of the evolution, but she didn't know yet I was madly in love with him. Hell, I'd only realized it yesterday. She didn't know how obsessed we were with one another, and how incredibly well things were going.
"I don't think he'd be perfect for anyone. Just for me. And we were talking about you, it's more important right now."
"Oh please, I just need a distraction for a few minutes. I've been thinking about Stefano all afternoon, and I need to change my mind a little. We'll get back to it later. So, how is it going with Alexander?"
"It's fine. Great, actually. Things are super easy and natural. But it wasn't all smooth and easy, you know," I reminded her, feeling almost guilty to have this much luck when she was at her lowest. "Your advice to sleep with him to get him out of my system backfired monumentally."
"Of course it did, you idiot."
Stupor made my jaw drop as I watched her smug expression. It was as if she'd known all along this would be the natural outcome of my adventure with Lex.
"But— you— you said it would work," I stuttered, half amused and half scandalized.
"First of all, I said it might work. Secondly, I said whatever you needed to hear to take that leap. I saw you two together, and I just knew there had to be more to this."
"You manipulated me?"
"A little bit. I just know how blind and stubborn you can be, you cretin. I really didn't want you to miss the opportunity."
"So you made me sleep with him?"
She snorted, unimpressed. "I didn't make you do anything. I suggested it, and you very much went for it, on your own. Why are you even arguing about this? Are you pissed that I pushed you to try, you ungrateful brat?"
Because she was absolutely right, I didn't even bother arguing. Seriously, I should actually be kissing her feet for throwing me into Lex's arms like this. I shook my head with a humbling smile.
"Now, thanks to me, you finally have a good boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend."
"Oh, is he already your fiancé?" she teased.
"Will you just shut up," I protested, my face heating up. It was ridiculous how when we were together, our personalities regressed a few years back, to our weird and awkward teenage selves. Kate stayed silent for a moment, studying my face carefully. Oh, no... She was onto something. Before I could figure out what it was, her face lit up.
"Oh, my God... You're in love with him."
It wasn't a question so I didn't answer, and I didn't deny it because it would have been pointless. Kate knew me too well for me to even try to lie about this. Her expression changed, and she looked at me with tenderness. "Have you told him yet?"
I shook my head, wondering if I should mention I'd been very close to a few times. But I'd always been the kind of person who wore her heart on her sleeve. My reluctance to express to Lex such an important feeling would certainly raise questions. I didn't want to tell her I was worried he didn't love me back, that it would scare him, that he'd just remind me he wasn't the relationship type...
"Are you planning on telling him at some point?" Kate carefully tried. I nodded, and she gave me an understanding smile. "When?"
"When I'm sure."
"Of what?"
"That he feels the same way."
"Aw, Deedee... I only saw him that one time, but I'm pretty damn certain he must be in love with you by now. Last time he was already quite smitten. And he hadn't even tried your magic coochie yet. He's probably a few days from proposing at this point."
Embarrassed, I threw a pillow that landed right on her face. "You horny bimbo. No matter how amazing the sex is, it doesn't make everything."
"Ah! I knew it. So, how amazing is the sex?"
"Kay, you have no idea. I mean... I've never been like this with anyone. I didn't even know it was possible. Three times last night, and once this morning. And it was pretty tame, given our usual pace. Oh, and you interrupted us in the middle of starting another round."
"Ah, sorry about that," she grimaced.
"It's fine. But, it's just insane. I feel like I'll never get enough of him."
"Yes, it's raw, unaltered passion. I miss that. It was never really like that with Stefano. Or Erik before him. We enjoyed having sex, but it wasn't this pure need."
At the mention of Stefano, we both fell silent, being abruptly reminded of the situation Kate was in. Only the regular purring of Mr. Fluffybutt on my lap continued as I distractedly petted him. The light mood was suddenly gone, and the reality of things caught up with us. Shit, we should try to come up with something.
"I still can't believe this fucking prick filmed you."
"Me neither. From the angle of it, he hid a camera in his bookshelf near his bed, and he taped us having sex. I'm feeling so violated, Deedee. I knew some guys did that, but I never thought he'd be one of them. The worst part is, I believed myself so in love with him, at some point I might have agreed to film ourselves if he'd asked. Can you imagine? And now, he's using this video he took without my consent, which is terrible and illegal, but at least I can't hate myself for allowing him to film it. All I can do is hate myself for dating him in the first place."
"We should have seen it coming. I mean, who wears that much gel in their hair? Clearly someone mentally imbalanced," I declared.
Kate giggled and threw back the pillow in my direction. I whacked it out of the way to avoid disturbing the cat, who was finally appreciating me. She brought her knees against her chest, circling them with her arms, and laid her head on them, turning into a ball. "He did wear too much gel, didn't he?"
"Absolutely. The first time I saw him, I remember thinking you could put a dictionary on his head and nothing would move."
"One of those big ones, with thick pages and hardcovers." We laughed together softly, and silence slowly settled in the room again. "Andy, what am I going to do?" she asked, despair making her voice crack.
"We're going to find a way. We'll brainstorm together and get the video back, all the versions of it, and also make him pay for what he's done to you."
"You know he's made his money suing people, right? He knows the law, and I don't want you to be in danger because of me."
"I won't. You know the law too. We are smart as fuck, we can figure something out." I stopped to think about it for a few seconds. "You've already thought about going to the cops, I imagine?"
"I've seen firsthand how they treat women who come in with a broken arm and a black eye. I don't even want to imagine how little they will care about my case. And Stefano said if I did, he'd put it online and they'd never link it to him."
Somehow, I doubted Stefano to be good enough to cover his traces, but I knew even a few minutes of it on the internet could be enough to damage Kate's reputation and social life. It was so unfair how women got so hurt by leaked sex tapes, when the fucking pigs who leaked them in the first place, and who very much were in the video too, usually came out of it unarmed.
Right now, I was so pissed at the man that the only thing I could think of was to kidnap him, then ask for all the copies of the video or threaten to emasculate him. Then, when he would have given us everything, we'd ripped his balls and dick, anyway.
"My biggest worry is that he's saved it up somewhere and even if he deletes something in front of us, he could still have it elsewhere and use it at some point," I explained. I had no way to know how many copies of it existed. For all we knew, he could even have burned it on a DVD and hidden it in a book.
"Maybe we could—" Kate started before my phone rang in my pocket.
"Sorry," I grimaced, struggling to reach for it, given the obese cat on my lap.
I took it out, but my moving around annoyed Mr. Fluffybutt, who moved to the more immobile couch. My eyebrows came together when I saw who was calling. My mom's face was on the screen, and I thought for a second about declining her call. But I knew how relentless she could be, and she might take it poorly or call over and over until I picked up. I took the call and put the phone to my ear.
"Hola mamà, how are you?"
"Andrea Grace Valentina Walker! ¿Qué hice para merecer una hija como tú? [What did I do to deserve a daughter like you?]" she yelled in my ear.
"What?" I asked, confused. Why was she pissed at me right now?
"Susan just passed by Kate's house, and she told me she saw your car there," she explained. Ah, shit...
With all the stress and the mess it had been, I hadn't told my parents I was coming back. Now, because of Mrs. Temple, that gossipy snitch, my mom knew I was five minutes away from home. Eventually, I would have told them. But tomorrow. Not tonight. Right now, I was here for Kate.
"Mom, I'm sorry. She had an emergency, and I took the road right away. I would have come tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? ¡Por Dios! We haven't seen you for six months, and you are finally back and you can't even come to our house when you are in the neighborhood?"
I rolled my eyes so hard, I was pretty sure I glimpsed at my brain. "Mom, it's barely been three months, and Kate really needed me."
She finally seemed to catch on to how bad the situation was, and her attitude changed entirely. "Oh, no... Is she okay?"
"She will be," I said, looking at my best friend with hope.
"You two are coming home tonight. You'll get a nice, warm meal, and you girls can sleep in your bedroom like you used to."
"Mom, I'm not sure she'll want to go outside right now." Kate understood what was happening, and she nodded enthusiastically, urging me to accept my mom's offer. "Oh, actually, she... wants to come?" I carefully replied. I put the phone on my chest, ignoring my mom's exclamations of joy, and turned to Kate. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, my God. Anything to get out of my head right now. And I miss your mom's cuisine."
I nodded, understanding what she meant. Kate and I had been friends since the second grade. We'd grown up together, and we used to spend all our free time at each other's houses. Until her parents divorced, her family had been my second family, and mine was hers. I was in a lot of Knox family pictures, and Kate was in plenty of ours as well. My mom loved her like her own, and I knew the feeling was mutual.
I put the phone back to my ear, ready to negotiate the modalities of our detention. "Okay, mom, I just arrived from a long drive, so we'll stay here a bit and then come to you."
"You will be just as well here. Oh, Tyler is very happy to know you're coming. Your dad too. And your abuela just pretended she doesn't remember who you are since you never call her."
Knowing she was trying to make me feel guilty enough to hop in the car right now, I clenched my teeth and quenched the heavy sigh that threatened to come out. I did call my grandma every once in a while. Maybe not as much as I should, though. It had momentarily slipped my mind that Tyler lived with them for the time being, while looking for his own place. He'd moved back from New York about two weeks ago, and from what I'd heard from all parties, the cohabitation was going quite well so far.
I looked at Kate, who still needed to get ready, and myself, who was still wearing Lex's hoodie. I hadn't changed out of it at his place, as it was too comfy for me to deny myself this pleasure. Anyhow, I knew the rules of the borrowed hoodie. It was mine now. It was one of the unwritten laws of dating.
"Mom, we'll be here in around thirty minutes. I can't do better than that," I negotiated.
"Okay. I'll prepare your bedroom, and mamà's working on dinner," she explained. Oh, yes! My grandmother's cooking was otherworldly.
"All right. I'll see you then." I hung up and looked at Kate, releasing a small sigh. "We will really need to find a moment to brainstorm."
"I know, and we will. I just want to empty my head for a while. Your mom invited me two weekends ago to celebrate Ty's return, but I wasn't feeling like going out. Stefano had been harassing me all day. Right now, all I want is to eat some of her cooking and have a sleepover at your place like we used to do."
"MC is cooking, actually."
"Oh, Lord. Even better. It'll be like old times," she insisted. "And isn't Tyler home, too?"
"Yes, he is."
"All right, that settles it. We're doing this and pretending we're back to ten years ago, when everything was still simple and fun."
Amused by how excited she was over the incoming evening, I laughed and shook my head. Some time around a loving family would do her good, and I was also delighted to see my parents. Because I knew her so well, it was clear to me that her desire to escape and find distractions was some sort of coping mechanism. She was in denial, trying to pretend like none of this was happening. I would indulge for the time being, as I could sympathize with her desire to feel like everything was fine, even for a few hours. But eventually, we'd have to dive into the issue, because ignoring it wouldn't make it any less real.
I stood up with energy, clapping my hands together. "Okay, get up. We are getting ready, then going to my parents', eating until we have to pop our jeans open, and then, a pajama party."
Kate obeyed without having to faint her enthusiasm, and I grabbed my bag while she headed to her room. As I watched her walk away, my heart tightened.
We would come up with something. I would protect my woman, no matter what.
Stefano had no idea what was coming at him. Well, I didn't either, but I knew it would hurt him, somehow.