“And you won’t. If any of you want to talk with her, you go through me,” I said.
“You aren’t actually her husband, Everett. Get a grip. You don’t have to protect her. You also don’t have to worry about any of this. We can get you—”
“An uncontested divorce where assets are evenly split between what I came in with and what he came in with,” Andrea said.
I whipped my head around to take her in as her body leaned heavily against the doorframe of her bedroom. I watched her turn her eyes to my brother as a grin spread across my cheeks.
“Yeah. We’ve been talking about it,” she said. “Now I want all of you out. Now. And if I have to ask again, the police will be called and they can escort you out for me.”
“Andrea, I can fix this. Give me a second,” I said.
“I have no doubt in my mind you will, Everett. You’re an incredible man. But you won’t fix it here. You won’t do it in the only place I’ve called home since I left for college.”
I watched tears rise in her eyes before she quickly wiped them away.
“I want you all out. Gone. And I don’t want Lucas or your father stepping back into my apartment ever. And if they do? I’ll be calling the police,” she said.
“Don’t worry. Everett won’t be back either,” my father said.
“You have no right to speak on my behalf regarding where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing,” I said.
“Well clearly, you need someone to. Because the last time you took control of your life, a mansion burned down and you got married,” Lucas said.
“I didn’t want to go to Vegas in the first place, you nimrod! Maybe the next time I don’t want to do something, you won’t be so damned pressed to make me do it!” I exclaimed.
“The two of you! You’re done with this bickering,” my father said.
“Then maybe you should provide a better role model for them to emulate,” Andrea said.
My father’s eyes widened as he slowly panned his head back over to her. Andrea scoffed and shook her head, acting as if my father’s retribution meant nothing to her. It was the first time I ever saw someone treat him like that. Speak to him like that. He was so used to being the dominant party in the room. The one everyone listened to. And here he was, being shunned by a woman three times younger than him and at least half his height. I could have drawn her into my arms and kissed her right then and there. But I knew she wasn’t okay. I watched her retreat into her room after the stare-down with my father, and she closed her bedroom door. Leaving myself, Lucas, and my boiling-angry father standing in the middle of her living room to exit out the way my family had barged in.
“Lucas. Everett. Out. We aren’t done with this conversation,” my father said.
“Far as I’m concerned, we are,” I said.
“Yeah, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Lucas asked.
“Yes. I would. And I don’t see why that’s a bad thing, asshole,” I said.
“We’re done with it when I say we’re done with it. Now the two of you? Get your asses outside,” my father said.
“Andrea?”
I heard Lucas scoff as my father rolled his eyes.
“Yes?” she asked from behind the door.
“I don’t want you to worry about a thing, okay? I’ll get this all sorted out and we’ll talk soon,” I said.
I pinned my father with my eyes as a sniffled emanated from behind the door. It broke my heart. I wanted to run to her. To scoop her into my arms, pull her close, and kiss the top of her head. I wanted to toss my brother out the window and punch my father in the face. Never in my life had I been so livid with them. What were they, animals? My hands clenched into fists as sniffle after sniffle fell against my ears, and I watched as my father’s eyes flickered toward her closed bedroom door.
“Yeah. Revel in it. Good job, Dad. You made a young woman cry for no reason,” I said.
“We need to leave,” my father said.
“No fucking kidding,” I murmured.
I didn’t want to leave Andrea while she was crying, but it was the only way to get my family out of her apartment. I held the door open as my father and Lucas barged out of her apartment, then I looked back at her bedroom door one last time. Memories of the night before rushed to my mind. How soft she felt beneath my fingertips. How easily she had molded to me. How I whipped her around and took all of her in the palms of my hands and how I fell asleep with my cock still sheathed within her warmth.