“And next thing I know, she’s touching my dick. She reaches inside my shorts, pulls it out, goes to her knees and gives me a blowjob, right there in the family room.”
I’d shove that bitch off me so fast if she tried something like that. I know I would.
“Nothing happened for a long time after that. At least another year, maybe almost two. Until the time I stayed in the guesthouse when we were in Maui for Thanksgiving that one year. Remember that?”
Barely. I spent most of the trip in a sunburned, drunken haze.
“You were in the main house with the rest of the family. She offered up the guesthouse to me so I could have privacy, which didn’t make sense. You were the one who brought, like, four friends. You guys needed your space, but I wasn’t going to complain.” He takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. “She’d come to the guesthouse every night and toy with me. Flirt, touch me, test me, kiss me, then leave me just when shit got good. Drove me insane.” Park drains half his beer and I watch him in silence.
The way he’s talking, it’s like he actually enjoys his sexual relationship with Diane, which is blowing my freaking mind.
“Spare me the details,” I finally say. I don’t need to hear about blowjobs and her teasing him. In fact, that’s the last thing I want to hear. “Are you two currently—seeing each other? Or was that kiss I witnessed just a one-off?”
“We’ve kept up the affair pretty steadily for the last year,” Park says, his voice nonchalant, like his crazy story is no big deal. “It’s not like she’s the only woman I’m seeing, though. There are others. There have always been others.”
“Why are you doing this anyway? Are you trying to get back at Dad for something? Trying to take everything that belongs to him? His wife, his business?” I ask.
Park messes with the edge of his napkin, his gaze locked on the table. “I don’t know. It was just…something to do, I guess.”
“Something to do.” My voice is flat, my thoughts going haywire. “So there’s no reason at all? You’re just messing around with dad’s wife because it was something to do? What the actual fuck, Park?”
“I can’t explain why I did it. I’m messed up, okay? After Mom died, I felt lost—”
I interrupt him. “So did I.”
“Yeah, but you were allowed to cry out for your mommy at night. I wasn’t. Dad told me I had to be strong, because I was the oldest. I couldn’t cry.” Park’s gaze grows distant as he stares out the window. “And then Diane came into our lives, Dad treating her like she belonged with us, that she was a part of our family, and I was so confused. I didn’t want her there. She wasn’t our mom. She was a stranger. He just…replaced Mom with Diane.”
I remember feeling the same exact way too. One minute our mother was there, the next she was gone, and then a few minutes later, Diane moved in.
“I’ve always resented him,” Park continues. “Everything he tells me to do, I want to do the opposite. I’ve only been towing the line the last couple of years because I want the company. I want to take over, and he wants to retire early so he can get a few years of travel in with Diane before he kicks the bucket.”
“So you take his wife, his company, his life. Is that your plan?” When Park doesn’t say anything, I keep talking. “Because that’s a messed up plan, Park. It’s not going to work. He finds out you’re banging Diane, he’ll take the company away from you. For good.”
“That’s why he’ll never find out.” Park smiles, then finishes off his beer. “You can’t tell him, Rhett.”
“I won’t,” I say, though honestly, he doesn’t deserve my silence. But he’s my brother. I’m loyal to him, I’ve always been loyal to him. He’s taken care of me since I can remember. Helped me with homework, sometimes even helped me cheat. Gave me girl advice, beat up that kid who tried to bully me in the seventh grade, and he let me crawl into bed and sleep with him for the first three months after Mom died.
So yeah. Park has been there for me as long as I can remember.
But so has Dad.
Our server appears with our sandwiches and we remain quiet as she sets the plates in front of us. Once she’s gone, I start talking again. “What about Diane?”
Park has already started eating. “What about her?” he asks, his mouth full.
“Do you trust her? Do you believe she’ll keep her mouth shut?”
Park sends me an are you kidding look before wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Absolutely. That bitch has it made. She gets to spend all of Dad’s money, travel the world and bang me on the side. She’s not about to ruin that by confessing her love for me or whatever to Dad.”
“Does she love you?” I can’t imagine real emotions playing a part in this weird scheme, but they have been doing this for a while. Could they actually care for each other? “Do you love her?”
“No. Yes. I don’t know.”
He’s not going to give me a straight answer. Maybe that’s because there is no straight answer. The line has blurred between those two, and now that line is so blurry, they don’t know what’s right or wrong anymore.
Am I making excuses for them? Probably.
“Listen, I don’t want to be a part of this—situation,” I tell him. “Don’t ask me to lie for you or hide something for you. I can’t be involved any further than I already am. And I don’t want Diane to know you met me for lunch today. I don’t even want you to mention my name to her, okay?”