A Valentine Valentine's

Squick alert:

Contains sibling incest. Other triggers include attempts at stalking, gun violence, gaslighting, harassment, and suspension of disbelief. If this makes you uncomfortable, you may want to skip it.

All characters engaging in sexual activity are well over the age of eighteen or the age of legal consent in your jurisdiction, whichever is greater.

This is a work of erotic fiction. The persons and events depicted herein are therefore fictional and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, and/or events is coincidental and unintentional.

Opinions expressed herein are those of the characters, they're people, too.

##########

I knew it was coming. Hell, I told Remy where they could find me. I was still surprised when the young woman stepped from behind the towering plants in the lobby as I walked toward the elevators.

"Daniel Valentine?" She stopped just out of arms reach, watching me carefully.

"Yes?" I had been expecting some tough biker-looking guy, not someone who looked like they should have been in homeroom in middle school.

"You have been served, sir." She stuck out her hand with a large Manila envelope.

"Okay." I took the envelope from her. "Do I need to sign anything?"

She seemed surprised by the question. "If you don't mind." She offered the clipboard she had been carrying under the envelope.

I took it from her and signed my name in the indicated place. "There you go."

She filled in the date and time, signing her name on the bottom. "Appreciate it, Mr. Valentine. Thank you." She walked out through the automatic doors and into the parking lot. At least she didn't tell me to have a nice day.

I stood in the lobby for a little while, staring at the envelope in my hands. Ten years. Over, just like that.

Except that it hadn't been just like that. I could trace the beginning of the end back at least two years. Maybe we were just doomed from the start and I wasn't smart enough to see it.

I tucked the envelope under my arm and headed toward the elevator. For a change, I had one to myself as I pressed the button for the fourth floor.

Lydia, the receptionist/secretary, looked up and smiled as I opened the door to our suite. "Good morning, Dan."

"Morning, Lydia." She handed me a couple of messages as I walked past. It looked like everybody was here this morning in time for our status meeting.

As I sat down behind my desk, I turned the chair to look out the window and pulled out my phone.

She did it.

The text seemed to write itself.

Leigh didn't take long to answer back with a frowning emoji.

You okay?

Yeah. Gotta find a lawyer.

At least I knew who to ask.

My sister replied with a simple broken heart emoji. Leigh hadn't really been all that fond of my soon-to-be ex-wife. I expected at least a little gloating but I was glad she hadn't.

Since I still had some time before the meeting, I called our business attorney to see if he could recommend a divorce lawyer. He could. He gave me the name and number of a friend from law school who practiced family law.

I made a quick call to arrange an appointment for tomorrow. He asked me to scan everything I had been given for him to look over before the appointment.

I did that immediately after I ended the call. A quick read showed she was asking for one of the cars, the house, and one-half of my share of the partnership, along with half of our liquid assets.

When we formed the partnership, we had agreed with our attorney when he recommended we divorce-proof it. Remy had signed an agreement to accept fifty percent of the cash value of my share in the event the marriage was dissolved, if awarded by the court.

That was the only thing I planned on fighting. I didn't care about the rest of it. Without a job, she would have to sell the house or spend a considerable chunk of the money to pay off the balance due on the mortgage. That would be her problem.

At five minutes to ten, I headed to our conference room. By five after, everyone was present and I started it off.

"Good morning, everyone. Remy filed for divorce, I was served this morning. I let our lawyer know already."

A chorus of "Shit" and "Damn" followed. I continued. "I'll do what I can to keep it out of the office. I think she's willing to be reasonable and hopefully, we can get it over with quickly."

We then moved on to business and finished up a little after eleven. As the meeting broke up, everybody offered their sympathy and encouragement. It wasn't the first divorce we had been through and it probably wouldn't be the last.

I skipped lunch, I didn't feel like even looking at food. I answered a few emails and had Lydia proofread them before hitting send. I spent some time on a proposal we had pending, making a note to have one of the other partners go over it. I wasn't in the best frame of mind to be working but I needed to be doing something.

It kept me from wondering if things would be different if I had been a little more interested in what she had been doing. Remy had a long history of jumping from interest to interest, and I naively assumed her obsession with some alien conspiracy theory was no different.

I wasn't happy when she either quit or lost her job but I wasn't terribly concerned. We were making all the payments, we had food, and she would move on to something different eventually.

When she started taking money out of savings, that got me interested in a hurry. She was contributing to an "expeditionary fund", approximately one thousand dollars a month. When I suggested counseling, she suggested I go fuck myself because she wouldn't be until I got off her case.

I did some checking around and found out that this outfit was an actual organization and that they weren't doing anything blatantly illegal. She wasn't being coerced or misled in any manner. She wasn't mentally incompetent, she did the day-to-day things she needed to. There wasn't any kind of intervention I could do. Her family was no help whatsoever.

When I tried reasoning with her, she gave me an ultimatum. Get with the program or get out.

After making some alternative financial arrangements, I got out. We were doing nothing but fighting practically every waking moment anyway.

Leigh's husband Scott was out of town for a couple of weeks so I stayed with her. I had a business trip I needed to make and I would be leaving for a week before he returned home. He was leaving again the day I got back. I would take that time to borrow Leigh to find a new place to live.

I took a wrong turn out of habit when I left the office at the end of the day. I drove around the block and headed in the right direction after catching myself. Leigh and Scott lived in one of the upscale neighborhoods on the opposite side of Phoenix than our more modest neighborhood. It was a longer drive, giving me more time to think.

I could accept the reality that not everyone was going to believe the same things I did. Remy was always different, it was something I liked about her. She would make me think. This alien conspiracy stuff was just way out there. The simple truth was that I didn't give a shit about aliens. It wasn't my problem to solve. I had enough of my own to work on.

Remy, for some reason, couldn't or wouldn't let it go. By the time I figured out there was a problem, it was too late. I wasn't sure there was anything I could have done to change the outcome but I still felt guilty for not trying sooner.

I pulled into the garage of the huge ranch style house, next to Leigh's Mercedes SUV. Scott's purple Hellcat took up the other spot. My little Mini looked like a toy compared to the other two.

I made sure the door closed all the way, it hadn't been used much until I started staying here and sometimes hung up on the way down. Their HOA was death on that shit. Doors were supposed to be closed at all times.

The SUV was still radiating heat as I walked by so she had apparently just gotten home herself. Sure enough, she was putting groceries away when I walked in. She stopped what she was doing to give me a long, tight hug.

I hugged her back. She smelled like lilac scented wet dog. Today must have been animal rescue day. I breathed in deeply, there was something about it that made me feel better.

"You smell like wet dog. Is that a new perfume?" I couldn't resist taking that shot.

She sniffed her sleeve. "No, I don't." She lifted the hem of the shirt to take another sniff, showing me her smooth stomach. "Oh. It was bath day."

Leigh was still a looker, even in her mid-thirties. She wasn't as curvaceous as Remy, few women were, but my sister could hold her own in any group.

"What happened, they ran out of towels and used you instead?" I let her go and she lightly slapped my chest.

"No. You try giving a bath to a dog that doesn't want one." She huffed, pretending to be insulted. "Finish putting this away, please. I obviously need a shower."

"I can just take you out back and hose you down." I tried to swat her on the ass with a baguette but she danced out of range.

"Yeahno. Be right back to start dinner." She disappeared around the corner, headed toward the master bedroom.

I found myself smiling as I finished putting the groceries away. We were always teasing each other good naturedly as kids and that's what I apparently needed right now. It sure beat screaming and yelling at each other.

Leigh was back in about thirty minutes, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts. I hung out in the kitchen, mostly getting in the way and giving her hell. She just gave it right back.

Over dinner, she told me about her day. Since her marriage to Scott five years ago, she had stopped working, with his encouragement, and gotten involved in volunteer work to occupy her day.

They didn't need the money. Scott worked as a sales representative for a medical device manufacturer. He had been born to sell and he loved it. He had been a top producer from day one. Even the people at Corporate called their sales award the Scott Hardesty Trophy.

Leigh loved Scott, even if she didn't love the amount of time he spent traveling. He was really good about being home when it mattered but he rarely took time off. Leigh kept herself busy with her volunteer work, she loved helping people and animals.

Before my separation and pending divorce, I tried to get together with Leigh at least once during the week and once over the weekend, whether Remy wanted to join us or not. Leigh sometimes felt lonely in their huge house. The few days I had been here seemed to improve her mood considerably.

My mood wasn't that great most of the time. Despite everything that had happened, I still had feelings for Remy. I wasn't going to allow myself to be emotionally manipulated. When she started withholding affection to get what she wanted, I think I knew we were done. It took her giving me the choice of dealing with it or leaving for me to be certain we were over.

Being served just drove a stake right through the heart of what was left of our marriage. The business was the only thing I wanted to keep. I suspected she was just trying to maximize the amount of cash she could get. She didn't seem interested in returning to work, although she had been quite good at her job. There was still twenty plus years left on the mortgage and there was enough in savings to pay it off but she would have next to nothing left.

Buying her out per the agreement would put her roughly in the same financial position with the house paid off. It would take some time to pay it back but it was worth it to me, if it became necessary.

We made it through dinner without discussing Remy or the divorce. I helped put leftovers away and clean up. We moved to the den with our coffee.

Settling in, she sounded apologetic as she turned on the TV. "Do you think you're going to feel up to going tomorrow night?"

"Sure. I told you I would." The women's shelter was holding a fundraiser that Leigh had helped plan. It would be more fun than sitting at home all night, thinking about my failed marriage.

"I don't want you to do it if you need some time to yourself."

"Getting out would be good for me, Leigh. We stopped doing things as a couple a while ago and it gives you an excuse to bail early if you want." About the only thing Remy hated more than going to one of these fundraisers was my going without her.

Her political fundraisers were different, of course. I had been expected to attend those, regardless of any other obligations I might have. Once she was unemployed, she would complain every time I went with Leigh to one of hers.

"We won't stay too late, I promise." Leigh found a movie and started it. "Too much fun and excitement at your age could be hazardous to your health."

Leigh was eighteen months older than I was and lived for reminding me of it. "Yeah, yeah. You'll crash before I do."

She laughed. "Probably. They tend to wear me out." The movie started and she became engrossed in it while I read. When it ended, she got up to visit the bathroom and grab something else to drink.

I picked up the empty coffee cups and rinsed them out. Instead of going back to her usual spot on the sectional, she sat down next to me. "I'm sorry."

"I know." The two women had always had an uncomfortable relationship. They got along but it sometimes felt like they didn't want to.

Leigh laid her hand on my forearm. "If you need to talk, Danny, I'm here. I can't imagine how you feel but I know it helps to get it out of your system sometimes."

Leigh and my mother were the only two people I tolerated calling me Danny. Remy always used Daniel, she thought Danny sounded childish. The rest of the people I dealt with used Dan.

"I know. Right now, I'm still trying to figure out how I feel." Leigh dealt with this stuff and worse all the time at the shelter. I didn't think I needed to bring it home and dump it on her. I also knew she was right and if things got too bad, I'd say something.

She squeezed my forearm and settled in next to me to watch one of her true crime shows. When the show ended, I stopped reading when I realized she hadn't moved. At some point during her show, she had fallen asleep leaning against me, her hand still on my arm.

I gently nudged her awake. "Show's over."

Leigh's face turned a cute shade of pink. "Sorry." She straightened up quickly and started the recommended show on the screen. "Ate too much for dinner."

Twenty minutes later, she was back. This time, I left her alone. The show was actually interesting, going over a local case from a few years ago that I vaguely remembered. Her weight felt nice against my side.

When the show ended, I gently shrugged my shoulder to wake her up. She leaned into my arm with more of her weight and mumbled something under her breath.

"Leigh. Show's over. I'm going to bed." I pushed back against her.

"Stay here, don't wanna get up." That mumble was a little clearer.

"Can't. I have an early appointment with the lawyer." I was going to have to drive downtown, which was not my favorite thing on a good day. I wanted to try to get there early.

"Fuck that bitch," was what it sounded like she said. She finally moved, sitting up straight and yawning. "I guess I should go to bed, too. 'Night, Danny."

We turned off the lights and she headed for the master suite. I had chosen the bedroom furthest from them to stay out of the way. I checked to make sure the alarm was on and went to bed.

I was up at five. After turning off the alarm, I made the coffee and had a couple of bananas for breakfast. I really wasn't in the mood for anything else.

I was out the door at seven with all the stuff the attorney wanted me to bring. Our business attorney had given me a heads up that Al Jauregui was, in his words, "a little weird" but was totally ruthless when it came to representing his clients.

Al was already in his office when I arrived. He sat thoughtfully, taking notes and asking occasional questions as I related the details of the last couple of years.

When I finished, he sat for a moment and then asked, "What are you expecting to get out of this?"

"I'd like to keep the business. She can have everything else."

"You need to be very sure about that. The judge assigned to this doesn't like surprises, especially involving property division. Changing your mind later isn't going to go over very well."

"No problem. How long do you think this will take?"

"As long as it takes. People do some strange shit when it comes to divorce." He leaned back and shrugged his shoulders. "Losing sucks and nobody wants to be the loser."

Al fiddled with his notepad. "I know the opposing attorney, he's a straight shooter. If she's cooperative, it shouldn't take that long, hopefully less than six months. There's no kids involved, which is a plus."

Al went on to explain the process, emphasizing that Judge Abernathy didn't like surprises or outbursts in his courtroom. I needed to let him know when I planned to be out of town for scheduling hearings, the judge liked having the parties present in the courtroom and he wasn't fond of remote proceedings.

He stressed the importance of staying the hell away from Remy and the house. I needed to preserve a record of texts and voicemail messages someplace besides my phone. Since I had been paying the bills and managing the finances, I needed to keep the status quo until further notice.

Al believed that under the current circumstances, I would be required to pay temporary support. I had figured that out already.

We went over what his fee did and didn't cover and I signed the representation agreement. I would stop at the bank and get a cashier's check to bring when I came back to sign the answer, which I could do Monday.

From Al's office, I went to the bank and then to work. The day went by uneventfully, catching up on reading and emails. I ended up leaving around four, wanting to get a quick shower and shave before heading to the fundraiser. It was going to be one of the more formal type, lots of speeches, awards, and rubber chicken.

Leigh wasn't home yet so I made myself a quick sandwich. We wouldn't be eating until late and my stomach was already starting to complain. I left a sticky note on the covered dish on the table in case she wanted the other half before we left.

Leigh came home right as I had gotten out of the shower. I didn't see her, I just heard her announcement, a garbled thank you for the sandwich, and she had disappeared into the master suite before I made it out to the den.

It was a good thing I was sitting down when Leigh came out into the den a little after six. I was sitting in the spot I usually read in, reading a draft of a proposal for one of the other partners. I didn't hear her walk in.

"Well, what do you think?" Leigh's voice startled me.

When I looked up, the vision left me temporarily speechless. This wasn't the first time I had seen my sister dressed formally, I had accompanied her to functions before, but...holy shit.

Her hair was up, a few whisps framing her face. With the exception of the dark red lipstick and the eyeshadow, it didn't look like she had put on makeup. Modest-sized sapphire and diamond earrings swayed gently, occasionally giving off a little sparkle.

The dress was a showstopper. Deep blue, it was made of a knitted material that looked like it had been form fitted onto her but still soft enough to move in. The neckline was also modest, showing off her neck and ending a little below where her cleavage began. A sapphire and diamond pendant on a silver chain sat perfectly placed in the expanse of skin in between.

The dress hugged her waist and flowed over her hips, ending at around mid-calf. She had a pair of open-toed sandals in one hand, almost the same shade of blue as the dress. She had gotten a manicure and pedicure, the polish color matching her lipstick.