AUTHOR'S NOTES:
This chapter is the final of this series, but it is long. I normally would have split this up into two more chapters to make each one quicker reads, but I sense that most of you would like a conclusion to this here and now. So, I stuffed it all into this chapter.
I want to thank all of you who were patient with me during this story. I also want to thank those of you who sent encouraging emails to me.
Synopsis of the last five chapters:
Chapter One:
Regina went away on a vacation with a co-worker; Brian. She was trying to escape the despair that she felt in her marriage, which came as a result of Lee's earlier infidelity. Though she was conflicted about her choice, she had sex with Brian. Naturally, she returned home to a hurt and angry husband. After an argument, Lee stormed out.
Chapter Two:
Regina had a talk with her sister in which she was forced to think about her insecurity surrounding not being able to have children. This was exacerbated by the fact that Lee mistakenly impregnated the woman he cheated with. This was the rage that pushed Regina to make the impetuous, ill-fated decision to run away in the first place. Being confronted with her rage made her rethink her marriage and wonder if it was worth it.
Meanwhile, Lee was dealing with his own issues surrounding the situation. He felt guilty for his own infidelity yet was angered by his wife's. His own was a bad choice made at a weak moment. His wife's was a calculated, planned out process. He too was on the cusp of the decision of determining if the marriage was worth salvaging.
Chapter Three:
After her talk with her sister Trudy, Regina was finally ready to begin building a bridge across the gap of communication that had been severed. However, Lee was still dealing with his anger. He wasn't ready to talk.
The latter part of chapter one and the entirety of chapter two happened on the day Regina returned from her trip, so chapter three found the two trying to navigate their way around each other the next morning as they prepared for work. The communication barrier continued to grow.
As the two went their separate ways to work, they had different experiences. Lee found that he needed a day off to process things. His best friend, Daryl, offered him a place on his couch while he got his head on straight. When Lee went home to pack a bag, he found Regina's bag that she took on her weekend trip. The contents of that bag held evidence that made Lee feel like she was trying to replace him. It broke something inside of him, and he decided to make this temporary hiatus a little more permanent.
Meanwhile, Regina's work day was filled with her trying to come to terms with her conflicted feelings regarding Brian. He pursued her relentlessly. His confidence that he was better for her than her husband made his pursuit justified; at least in his mind.
She came home that evening to find that Lee had left her.
Chapter Four:
For the first time, the couple had face life without the other person.
Regina coped with Lee's absence with mixed feelings. She was relieved to have some breathing room away from him silently judging her on how she was dealing with her issues, yet she missed him immensely.
After repeated attempts to talk to him, she finally got him on the phone. The conversation was an honest one, but not one that put the couple in the best place to move forward together. After it ended, Lee stopped taking her call.
She also had to deal with her feelings about Brian. He was not letting her go and was making it very difficult for her to concentrate on fixing things with her husband. He felt entitled to her love; like he deserved it.
But that wasn't his choice to make.
Meanwhile, Lee was dealing with his past actions. His mistakes held grave consequences for his life, but it also brought the gift of a son. The realization that he was going to be a father started to dawn on him.
It was time for him to grow up. He made a vow to his unborn child to do everything in his power to give him the best life possible. Keeping that vow became the most important thing in his life.
Chapter Five
Fate gave Regina the opportunity to talk to Lee after months of his absence. She jumped at the chance, only to make the horrific discovery about where he was spending his free time. Nevertheless, she cornered him and began the process of starting a long overdue dialog.
Unfortunately, there were troubled waters ahead. In the process of starting anew, a chain of events started; events that would have lasting consequences. Fate brought Lee and Brian together, face to face, and gave them ample opportunity to air out their differences. The inevitable confrontation happened, and it left a battered Brian in the hospital and Lee in handcuffs.
Once Lee was released from jail on bail, Regina became even more determined to improve their communications and start bridge-building. One thing led to another, and the raw physical attraction between them manifested itself.
Simply put, they fucked.
Once the adrenaline and hormones died down, the two of them were left with the overwhelming task of trying to figure out how to proceed next.
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Brian groaned in pain when he lifted the eyepatch to see how his eye was doing. The harsh fluorescence of the bathroom light was too bright for it, even after two weeks of healing.
His retina was pushed in by one of that asshole's punches. The doctors weren't sure to what degree the eye was damaged. They said it could take anywhere from a week to a month to heal. Obviously, his healing curve was on the back end of that diagnosis.
His reflection sent a surge of anger through him. The swelling had gone down, but his face was still extremely discolored. He looked like he was recovering from face-lift surgery. On top of the horrific bruises, his jaw was re-injured. Coincidently, the first time it was fractured was also behind some bitch he was screwing.
How did he managed to have boots down in Kuwait during the gulf war and escape with no injury, yet require not one but TWO extended hospital stays behind fucking some guys' wives?
A better question was what kind of punk bitch throws a cheap shot and then keeps hitting a guy after he is unconscious?
Humiliation was now his bedfellow. Over and over, he relived that horrific beating that he took at the hands of that gorilla. Like game film, his mind re-watched the fight, analyzing his mistakes. How could he not see that punch coming? It was practically moving in slow motion. How did he let yet another jilted husband get the best of him?
The worst part was before he could even come to terms with his public disgrace, it became even more pubic. The internet is like ambrosia. It takes the finite life of a small, insignificant moment and transforms it into an immortal event. Anything embarrassing caught with a cellphone will never be laid down to rest. It will be shared, edited, and reshared until the entire world is laughing at you.
After it was all said and done, Brian's fifteen minutes of infamy haunted him from cyberspace. He was even a fucking meme. The most imaginative video clip started with him and Lee arguing. It showed Brian standing back with a cocky smirk as he asked, "Who the fuck are you?"
A dramatic voice excitedly cut in with, "Look out! It's John Cena!"
The clip then skipped to Brian getting body slammed by Lee. It was superimposed over a flashing screen, and it was set to John Cena's theme music. It even had fake crowd cheers.
It had over two hundred thousand views in a week. What's worse; it would have made him laugh hysterically if it wasn't about him.
That only amplified his anger.
A sudden knock at his front door made his head jerk as it swung in the general direction of the sound. The movement brought more pain to his eye and reminded him of his body's new limitations. With a growl of frustration, he walked over to his front door and peered out the little peep hole.
A woman stood outside of his door; a beautiful one in fact. He wasn't keen on inviting her in, however. Instead, he dropped his head and groaned with irritation. He had half a mind to pretend not to be home and leave her out there.
If any other woman with looks like her graced his hallway and asked for entry, he would have eagerly swung the door open. But in this time and space, there were two factors that made him wish she would disappear.
The first being the fact that he needed a break from ALL women. They were nothing but life-draining trouble.
His heart, whether he wanted to admit it or not, could not take another romantic interaction with females. He wasn't even sure he could get it up right now to bed one.
And even if he could gather the mental and physical energy to fuck, that brought him to the second reason why this woman's sudden appearance wasn't welcome. She was probably the only woman he would never sleep with under ANY circumstance.
When Brian didn't answer the door, the woman on the other side said, "I know you're in there. I can hear you breathing."
It still took him another few seconds to weigh his options before he unlocked the pad lock and the chain bolt. The door opened just wide enough for him to peek out.
"If you're here to try to save my soul, don't waste your time. Satan just dropped off the check. You probably passed him on the way up."
