Derailed (22 page)

“No fucking way!” (The must be the part where Rival’s thighs are draped around Ritchie’s waist.)

“You are
not
serious, you double-crossing motherfucking…” (That must be the part where Ritchie’s hitting it doggie style.) This Tequila Fireball is simply delicious.

Suddenly Bradly rushes out of the house and into his Porsche, still clutching my phone.

I grab the keys to my car and race behind him. Armageddon has arrived, and I need to bear witness to it. After all, wasn’t it I who engineered Judgement Day? The kids will be fine for a while on their own. If the house catches fire, the smoke detector will wake them up. 

Rival’s finally going down, and imagine,
I
put that nail in her coffin. That
final
nail. Bradley will cut her off once and for all and hopefully, we will never see her face again. Then Bradley and I will have a chance to build our relationship again. Once again, it’s checkmate!

Chapter Sixteen

RITCHIE

There must be about thirty people at the party, most of them friends of Girly, who are right now Gangnam styling it. The music blares, drinks are rolling, and I am absolutely high on life. In fact, I cannot remember when I last felt this happy.

I look at Rival talking to Arena and Bear. She’s responsible for a huge chunk of my happiness. She makes me feel whole, and yes, I know it’s syrupy corny shit, but hey, it’s true. I walk over to her, scoop her up, and carry her off to dance with me. 

“Ritchie, stop!” she cries, embarrassed that everyone is laughing.

“I want you to dance with me in our new house, ’cause I got the moves like Jagger, but you are just jabbering away without giving me any attention. ’Bout time I took control of the situation.”

She laughs and snakes her arms around my neck. “You’re such a baby, you know that?”

“Yeah. My mother always told me that.”

We laugh as we sway together.

“Happy?” I ask.

“Ecstatic!” she says. “How ’bout you?”

Taking her hand, I lead her to a chair, sit down on it and bring her down on my lap. “Baby, I’m like,
totally
complete.” I slap my chest. “Everyone I love is here, my dream home has taken shape, my daughters have full access to their mother, the woman I love tells me she is ecstatic, and will at any moment give me a lap dance...” I nod. “I’d call myself happy.”

She laughs.

“All I have to do is get you to change your surname to MacMillan, knock you up and then –”

She laughs out loud, then plants a quick kiss on my lips. “I love you so much, Ritchie.”

“I love you, Rival.” I pull her down for a longer, deeper kiss.

Suddenly, Rival is being yanked off me. She screams, and I think it’s a joke. Bear must be messing with us, I’m thinking. But it isn’t Bear messing with us. It takes me a few moments to realize what is happening. In front of me stands Bradley, his eyes bulging, his face steaming, and his nostrils flaring. “You fucking bastard!” he screams and slams his fist into my face.

I’m tipsy enough to land on my ass on the floor, breaking the patio chair in the process.

While I’m down, Bradly boots me in the ribs.

“Bradley, stop!” I hear Rival scream.

Bradley ignores her and stands over me, fists ready to strike again. Bear suddenly appears and pulls Bradley away. Slowly, I stagger to my feet, tasting blood in my mouth, reeling from the sucker punch and the booting. Still dazed, I move toward Bear and Bradley.

When I hear Ally and Becky crying, my head suddenly clears. This fucker attacked me in front of my kids? What the hell?

I look at Rival. She stands with both hands clamped over her mouth, a look of horror on her face. “Rival, you okay?” 

She nods, her eyes bulging.  

I look at Ally and Becky in Liefie’s arms, both of them crying.

“It’s okay, Ally, Becky,” I say. “Daddy’s fine.” I look at Liefie’s terror-filled face. “Get them out of here.”

She nods and tries to usher them inside. But they break away from her and rush to grab my legs.

“You were my friend!” Bradley yells, sticking his finger into my face, not caring that my kids are next to me.

“Take them inside,” I shout over Bradley’s yelling to Liefie. This time she manages to tear my girls away from me and drags them inside. Now that they are out of sight, I can handle whatever Bradley dishes.

“I trusted you, and you’ve been getting it on with my
wife
? You betrayed me like that? Huh?”

This guy threatened to send Rival back to Dunhill if she was with another man. Mindful of that, I tread carefully. “Look, Bradley, I’m sorry. It just…fuck, I know this sounds cliché, but it just happened.”

“Oh, yeah. Well, you’re a backstabbing –”

“You weren’t with her, Bradley.”

“I don’t care about that! I
told
you I wanted her back. I
told
you about the ring. I
told
you I wanted to marry her. I told you
all
of this. You
knew
all about it.”

“Yes, but Brad, she and I hooked up long before that, man. I tried to tell you, but you threatened to stop her from seeing her kids, man. What was I to do?”

“I did a lot shit for you, MacMillan. Big shit. I had your back throughout your ordeal. How could you…?” His shoulders drop with disappointment, making me feel like a heel.

“And I know that, and like, Brad, I’m grateful for all that. Seriously, I am. I didn’t plan for this to happen and…as I said, I was there for her, and things just…” I shrug. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I’m sorry.”

He stares at the ground, his teeth gnashing. When he looks up, his eyes are hard and dark. “Fuck you and fuck your apology. I’m done with you. You are
not
my friend. Friends don’t stab one another in the back.”

“See now, I have a problem with that. You didn’t say that when Scarlett stabbed Rival in the back, now, did you? Think about it, Brad.”

“So we’re
admitting
to back-stabbing then, are we?”

“Brad, I swear it happened
before
you came back on the picture.”

“I never left the picture, you dumb fuck!”

“You got MARRIED!”

“And you…you were my best man. You are the person I called when I was arrested. Man, Ritchie, I really thought you were my friend. Man…”

I don’t know what else to say. I feel rotten about…everything. “I’m sorry,” I murmur.

After a snarl and a dismissive wave, he turns to Rival. “I made a mistake and I’m paying for it. Every day, every
single
day, I pay. I want us to be together. We have two kids. Huh?”

“Bradley, it’s too –”

“No, it’s not too late, RIVAL! It’s never too late when you have two small children who need
both
parents.” He takes a step toward her. “They need us
both
. We have to do right with them. Put the past behind us and move on. You and me, we did it once, started with nothing and built ourselves up quickly. We can do it again, baby. Don’t worry about that prick.”

Rival’s eyes dart to me.

I give her a blank stare, curious to see her reaction to his words, hoping she doesn’t fall for his bullshit. After all, Bradley sounds pretty earnest and even broken.

“People make mistakes,” he says. “I made a mistake, I’m human. Do I need to be punished for the rest of my life? Do you want to break me? Cause if you want to, you are doing a good job. I need you.
We
need you. Without you, all three of us, Holly, Phoebe and me, we’re all lost.”

“Bradley, listen to me,” Rival says in a low voice. “You and I need to talk. But not here, okay?”

He cups her face with his hands and looks into her eyes. “I love you. I’ve never stopped loving you. Come with me. Now. Come with me, Rival. Today, now. Come with me.”

“Bradley…I’m…Bradley …” Rival hangs her head.

Bradley lifts up her chin with his fingers and speaks in a soft voice. “Please! I love you, and it’s killing me that we’re not together.”

“Bradley, what about Scarlett?” Rival whispers.

At the mention of Scarlett’s name, his eyes harden and his voice becomes angry. “History! A long time ago. You need to come home to me. Forget all who aren’t important to us, put our children first, and come home with us. Now, this very minute. Soon Scarlett will be history. Say yes. Please. Please say yes. Please!”

Rival turns her face to look at me again. 

Bradley jerks her face to look at him. “Don’t look at HIM.”

“Bradley…” She looks at the floor and shakes her head.

“Say yes.”

Although her shoulders slump, she says nothing. That bothers me. It is time for Rival to remind Bradley of a few pertinent things: he stole her house, he robbed her of her children, discarded her when she fell ill…he never cared when she had no place to stay after she was discharged from Dunhill. Why isn’t she saying those things to him?

I want to shout out to her, but I don’t. No matter how much I love Rival, I need her to choose between Bradley and me without my help. With my arms folded, I watch her silently. 

“Say yes, please!”

Slowly, Rival lifts her head and looks at Bradley. She takes a giant step back, her eyes filling with tears. 

Bradley’s shoulders slump.

“I’m with Ritchie now. I love him and…Bradley, I’m so s…sorry. You need to move on, please. Please Bradley, please.”

I exhale.

Bradley suddenly looks older to me. In spite of everything, I feel sorry for him.

Bradley shakes his head. “You want to be with a man who threw sand in my food, Rival? Who’s robbing your children of a proper home?”

This time, I decide to say something. “This coming from the guy who sent his wife to a mental institution, robbed her while she was there, then abandoned his sick wife?”

“You shut your mouth!” Bradley snarls, lunging to stab my chest with his index finger.

“Bradley stop!” Rival hisses, grabbing his finger and pushing it away.

“Brad,” I say in a calm voice. “I am sorry that you are hurting. I don’t want to fight with you, because I care about you, man. I even accept that sucker punch and that booting I got. But please, don’t touch me again.”

He shoves Rival out of the way and stabs me again in the chest. Rival hurries to plant herself between us two.

“Do you know who I am? That punch that landed you on your arse – consider that hors d’oeuvres. Know what that is? Of course you won’t know, being a security guard.” With a mocking chuckle, he continues reaching around Rival to stab me in the chest with his finger. “Huh, security guard?”

“Go ahead and mock me, mate, but please don’t touch me again,” I warn.

“What’s that you are mumbling? Huh?”

Rival spins around and puts out her hand to stop me. “Ritchie, don’t!” she whispers, her eyes bulging.

“Rival, I don’t wanna, but he’s got to stop putting his fucking hands on me!”

She plants her hand on my chest. “He’s hurting, okay?”

“Okay, I get that, but if he touches me…”

Bradley suddenly grabs Rival and swings her out of the way. So hard, she crashes into some patio chairs.

Bradley and I face each other. In the corner of my eye, I see Bear hurrying over to us.

“That was fucking unnecessary!” I snarl as I duck his punch and rocket him on the face, beating Bear to it. He lands on his lawyer arse. 

Bear gets in front of me. “That’s enough, Big!” 

I nod, walk over to Rival, pick her up, and sit her on a chair.

“Don’t hurt him!” she warns.

Ignoring her, I look at Bradley.

“Ritchie, don’t hurt him!” Rival chants.

“I told him not to touch me,” I mutter as I eye Bradley.

Slowly, he staggers to his feet and advances toward me, a look in his eyes I’ve never seen before.

I brace myself, ready for the punch he’s going to throw, ready to take him on again. Fights don’t scare me, and I’ve never walked away from one in my life.

Bear moves in, ready to prevent us from going at it again.

“Ritchie, don’t!” Rival’s voice rings in the stillness. Why isn’t she telling him not to fight?

“I’m not going to hit him,” I say to Bear as Bradley approaches. 

Bradley stops right in front of me. “You think you can outsmart me, security guard?”

I say nothing.

“Bad move. Monday morning, I will be heading to Bali to represent a certain prisoner called ‘Nadia’ who was busted for smuggling drugs. It wasn’t hers. It was planted in her bag by a certain someone.” He smiles. “New evidence has come to light, and we believe a new trial is in order.”

Even though he hasn’t touched me, I feel his fist in the pit of my stomach. 

“Brad, c’mon!” Bear says.

Brad looks at Bear. “And you…you are supposed to be my friend, yet you encouraged this? You
condoned
this, let him take my wife from me. After all I did for you guys? Huh?”

Bear shakes his head. “Wasn’t like that, Brad.”

“You too will pay.
Mate
. Heaps man. Count on it.”

“You’re my fucking attorney,” I say through clenched teeth. “Attorney-client privilege, remember?” Rapidly, I move my index finger between us. “Remember?”

“Show me a receipt of one cent you paid me to be your attorney. One piece of paper that proves that I was. Huh? I was
never
your attorney. I was Nadia’s attorney, and I’m going to help my client prove who she really is. Maybe request a prisoner exchange? Use every fucking contact I have to help her prove her identity. That’s all I need to do. Prove that Nadia is Olga.”

I’m at a total loss for words. He can destroy me, alright. If Olga gets off or is brought to serve her sentence in Australia, I’m in deep shit.

Thankfully his voice is a whisper or I’d have some serious explaining to do to everyone right now.

He looks at Rival. “Those two girls,” he jerks his chin toward my house, “they’re not his. Are you aware of that? Did he tell you…?”

For a moment, I am so shocked at his words, I just stare at him. Then fury takes over – I lunge at him, ready to kick the shit out of his arse.