“Why did you marry her? Like… if you never loved her, then why did you stay?”
“Because of you,” he says. “I wanted to be close to you. I thought being with you was out of the realm of possibilities, but I was willing to take whatever I could get. I just wanted to be close to you,” he says.
“You were willing to sacrifice your happiness just to be able to be close to me?” I ask and he nods. “That's the sweetest thing I think anyone has ever done, Dante.”
“You have low standards then,” he laughs and holds out his hand for me to take. When I give him my hand he kisses it softly. “I love you, Ava. I have for a long time, and I’m done hiding behind excuses on why not to tell you. I’m not asking for anything other than a chance to make you happy.”
“You do make me happy,” I say. “And it’s confusing… but I love you too.”
“You don’t…”
“The quickest way to piss me off is to not believe me when I say something. You should know this,” I say.
“I know,” he smirks. “Just afraid it’s not actually real, ya know?”
“Do you want to know what I love about you, Dante?” I ask.
“I do,” he smiles.
“You are sensitive and have emotion but you’re protective,” I say. “You have real emotions but you're not afraid to hold me down and fuck me until I can’t breathe. You are all-consuming, but you make it feel so fucking good. It’s comforting to be considered but also controlled. Ya know?”
“It’s funny you say that, because emotion is why your mother is mad at me half the time,” he says quietly.
“She’s done a lot of damage to the both of us,” I say as I kiss his hand like he did me before resting it in my lap.
He unhooks my seat belt and pulls me into the center seat. I put my seatbelt back on and lay my head on his shoulder.
It should feel weird to be sitting here like this with him, but it’s not. It feels like this is how it should have always been. I think back to all the times we spent alone together and how attentive he’s been to me. He’s always bringing me food and water. He is always making sure I’ve taken care of myself. He’s never been like a parental figure but more like a best friend who genuinely cares about me.
We keep following Mom on the GPS. She stops for a while at a restaurant, so we are able to catch up to her within a quarter of a mile. When she stops for gas, we park around the building out ofsight. Eventually, she pulls up to a house. It’s getting dark out, so we shut the lights off and park a block away.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Let’s do it,” he smiles.
We walk up to the house, and I have my phone out, ready to take pictures of anything we catch her doing. Right away we see a man answer the door, so I take a video of them kissing on the front porch. Once they are inside and the door is shut, we sneak up to peer inside a window. “Damn. She works fast,” I say as she climbs into the man’s lap. They are pawing at each other and as things escalate, clothes come off. We take pictures and video up until the point that they start to fuck. We then move to the front door and listen. We wait until the point that they are both loud before I throw the door open.
Mom is quite literally bouncing on this guy, and I still can’t see who it is but when mom turns, I burst out laughing.
“Do you know him?” Dante asks.
“That’s Danny,” I say, still laughing.
“What the fuck are you two doing here?” Mom snarls.
“Making sure he doesn’t have to pay you alimony,” I smile and hold my phone up to snap another picture with Danny’s face this time.
“You are a conniving little bitch,” she snaps and gets out of Danny’s lap before pulling on his shirt. “Go ahead and try me. I’ll take everything.”
“Oh?” Dante asks. “Like what?”
“The house,” she says. “Your car. Half of your paycheck.”
“We have you on camera cheating,” Dante says. “You don’t get shit.”
“I’m entitled to…”
“To nothing, you gold-digging bitch,” I yell at her.