Igniting the Wild Sparks (59 page)

She whispers, “He and Cara.” I guess he did tell her about the kiss. He’s such a
n asshole for kissing that dick cozy, as Morticia would say—actually saying something funny for once in her life.

“What about them?” I guardedly ask. I don’t want to volunteer any information and make her more upset.

Her whisper is quieter. “I… I walked in on Cara giving him a blow job.”

My heart stops.

What. The. Fuck?

I sit up. “What?” My mind is a clusterfuck
, a flurry of non-activity as I absorb that bombshell.

Wilder actually did that…with Cara?

Take a number, Morgan Yates.
I’m
going to fucking kill him.

I have to chew on the inside of my cheek to not say what I really want to say. I steadily ask, “You saw that?”

Crying, she nods against the pillow. “Yes. He said he thought I was breaking up with him because he said no to my proposal.” No surprise there he said no.

“So…he thought stickin
g his cock into the nearest port of call would solve his problems?”

She yells, “Exactly! I’m so stupid! I trusted him, Greg!” She sniffs and the bed vibrates
more as she cries harder.

Lying back
down, I put my arm around her and softly say, “I’m so sorry, Hadley. I didn’t think he’d… Wow. I can’t believe he did that to you. I thought he really loved you.”

“Me, too. He says he does. He
claims he was in so much pain because he thought I was leaving him and he wanted to forget. Do
all
men do that?”
I
wouldn’t have! I would’ve
fought for her. I would’ve
married
her. Damn it.

“No. Not
all
men are sleazy like that, Hadley. I promise.” Shit. That douchebag makes the rest of us look bad.

“You’re right about what you said. He told me he’s been trying to
get me pregnant.”

“Oh. What if you are now?”

“I don’t know. He proposed to me last night. Several times.”

“After he polished Cara’s tongue?”

Hadley marginally sits up, putting her hand over her mouth and garbling, “Oh, God, Greg. I’m going to puke.”

“Oh, fuck. I’m sorry.” She settles back down and I try another version. “
He had the nerve to propose to you after turning yours down and then you catching him with…?”

“Yeah, but it was after I
threw my key and ring at him, kneed him in the balls and punched him in the face. So, I think it was a genuine proposal.”

I loudly laugh over her and snort.
“You did that? That is fucking badass, Hadders!” She lightly scoffs at me. It’s close to a smile, so it’s a start.

“What did you tell him? I mean, I guess the cops weren’t called to your engagement party.”

“I told him we’re done. We were outside and he was screaming for me. He was
bawling,
Greg. I’ve never seen him like that before. I’ve never even seen him
cry
before. It was so sad, even though he brought it on himself. I actually felt bad for him.”

“Maybe he is sorry. When he wasn’t jealous, I thought he was a nice guy most of the time. Cocky, but nice.” Why
in the fuck am I defending that assbag?

“Did you really have to say
that
word?”

“Oh. Shit. He’s egotistical.”

“A little, but it’s all an act. He’s really a scared little boy who has no confidence in his relationship with me. No matter what I told him, he believed you and I were having an affair.”

“It must be all the times I grabbed your ass or tongued you in front of him.”

“Must be.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I miss him already. I can’t just stop loving him. I can’t turn it off like that. I thought he was my soulmate. My epic love.”

“I don’t get how he could cheat on you.” I’m still flabbergasted.

“He said he was dying without me. Well, I’m dying without him. What am I going to do?” She rolls over and looks at me with tear-filled eyes. “What if I am pregnant? I’d tell him. He’d be in my life forever then. How do I not love him? He’s all I ever wanted. I want to forgive him. What the fuck is wrong with me? I caught him cheating on me and I’m still in love with him.” She shakes; full-on crying again, yelling behind her hands, “I’m such a whore like Cara!”

I pull her to me and hug her. “No, you’re not! You’re right. You can’t just turn your feelings off. I know that. It’s okay if you still love him.”

“I want to
hate
him! I do for what he did to me! But, then I still love him so much! I miss him!” She clutches onto my Journey shirt and shakes her head against my chest. “He said he was thinking of me the whole time, even though he tried to forget me. He didn’t think it was cheating because he thought we broke up.  He swore he had never cheated on me before.”

I don’t know if I should tell her about the kiss. Maybe he did tell her. I’m guessing it kind of pales in comparison.

I need to talk to him prior to kicking his ass.

Hadley stayed in bed the rest of the day and night Tuesday. Mor
ticia texted me, saying Wilder’s neighbors saw them fighting in front of his apartment. Sounds like what Hadley described. I told Morticia what they were fighting about. A
mistake
doesn’t quite describe the regret I feel for telling her. She is obscenely upset. Shit. That wench gets back from her pre-honeymoon thing Thursday. I’m sure the shit is going to fly for Wilder then. May God be with him because if she gets to him first, she’ll torture him and make his death painful.

Wednesday, I got
Hadley up and made her go to work with me, at least try to work. I told her I’d take her back to my place if she couldn’t get through the day. Val has been awesome, as usual. I filled her in on what’s going on, to an extent, leaving out the gory details. I’ll let Hadley tell Val what she wants, but mostly I felt awkward talking about the misdeeds of our coach’s penis to Hadley’s boss. I only told Val that they broke up after he said no. Val was so dejected. As she cried and hugged me, she said I was a
good egg
. Not sure why me telling her a sad story about our friend makes me
any
kind of egg, good or otherwise. She said Hadley didn’t need to worry about vacation days, telling me to do whatever I need to do to help Hadley through this. As will Val. I know Val loves Hadley. Everyone does. I offered Val to take my vacation days I have saved to use for Hadley, but she laughed at me. I didn’t think it was funny. I was serious.

I check on Hadley often. Or pretend to not check on her. I take the long way to the restroom, the copy room,
and the kitchen. I visit her office to check on the scenery more often
,
and
accidentally
dial her extension and then chatting with her, making up funny happenings going on in the alley below my window.

Before lunch, my phone vibrates. I pick it up and see a text from none other than Finn Wilder.

-----------------------------------------------

Can you get Hadley to meet me at

Chimborazo? She won’t answer my

emails or return my calls. Liberty statue.

12:00.
Please, Greg. I need to talk to her.

I love her.

-----------------------------------------------

I reply back that I’ll try to. Shit. Why am I helping that fucker?

Knocking on
Hadley’s doorframe, I ask, “Yo, what up, hoochie?” She tolerantly glances at me, but then back at her computer. Still not in a joking mood. Can’t say I can hold that against her. Poor Hadley.

I sit on the edge of her desk, crossing my arms. I happen to notice the pictures of her and Wilder are broken and in the trash. Great. How do I approach this now? I don’t want to
not
tell her he wants to see her. She’s been lied to enough.

I lick my lips and clear my throat. “Um, Wilder texted me. He wants to see you.”

Her ponytail flips around before her head does. “No! I can’t see him. He’s been calling me nonstop.” Her hands start shaking and she agitatedly bounces in her chair, looking around. Scattering papers on her desk until she finds her phone, she picks it up and briefly looks at the screen before she yells, “I don’t want to talk to him ever again!” Suddenly, she wings her phone across the room where it smashes against the wall, breaking into a bunch of pieces. Nice throw, Hadders! I think she could step in for Crick or me with no problem.

I look from the wreckage
and then to Hadley. “So, I’m taking that as a no?”

“Oh, my God! My phone!” She jumps up and runs over to it, crying hysterically
as she picks up the pieces.

I laugh and stand. “Wow. You just put
that
one out of its misery. Now try throwing Morticia like that.” Her shoulders jump with her cries. She is
unquestionably losing it. I walk over and kneeling next to her, I put my hands on her shoulders. “Hadders, it’s okay. It was old. It was its time to go. It’s a part of the beautiful cycle of life.”

Frantically shaking her head, she
argues, “No! How will I talk to him?”

I sigh. “Hadley, you just said you don’t want to.”

She swings her arms and ponytail crazily. “I might change my mind!”

“We’ll get you a new phone. It ain’t no thang, chickadee. That one was a piece of shit anyway. If you want to talk to him in the meantime, you can use my phone.”
She wails louder and I look to Val’s office for assistance, but her door is closed. “Come on. It’s okay.” Hadley puffs air fast, covering her face to hide. I curl her into my arms and she cries into my shirt. Fuck. She’s not going to make it through the day.

After getting her calmed down enough to sit at her desk, I text Wilder back telling him she’ll be there. He’s not going to like what Hadley looks like now.

Walking up to little Lady Liberty, I see Wilder standing in front of the railing, looking out at Richmond. He’s wearing a gray T-shirt and long, dark blue nylon shorts. Ugh. He looks like he’s going to the gym. Well, maybe he was.
I
would never leave the house looking that bad. I guess he has that hard body to maintain for Cara. What a canoe.

When he hears my footsteps, he turns around,
appearing sort of optimistic, but when he sees it’s me, his shoulders hunch and he mopes.

I keep my distance from him like he’s a
wild animal that will do something unexpected, like feeding my nuts to angry rodents. Well, he did stick his peter into the jaws of a cock-eating vampire. That was pretty unexpected.

I walk to the railing, turning to face him as I hold onto it.
Upon closer examination, he looks worse than his clothes do. The most obvious thing I see is that he’s wearing glasses. Did not know that he did. Different. Behind his glasses, his eyes are bloodshot and swollen. His hair is also all over the place, his beard is filling in, his shoulders are drooped, and there’s no smile. Finn Wilder usually has a hint of some sort of smile, be it cocky, teasing, friendly or his ridiculous gross-in-love smile he only gives to Hadley. Yuck. Now, he looks like a broken man. He should be. The next thing I see is his key necklace. Something catches my eye. Hanging on the chain next to his key are Hadley’s ring and key. That scores a few points with me.