Married Men (33 page)

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Authors: Carl Weber

BOOK: Married Men
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“Mr. Duncan, you’ve got a problem,” the male officer informed me when he came out of the house ten minutes later. From his tone I was sure he was about to arrest me.
“Did she tell you what this is all about, Officer?”
“Yes, she did.” His serious look turned to one of compassion. I was just hoping it was me he was feeling sorry for.
“Mr. Duncan, if I were you, I’d pick up all my stuff, put it in my car, and give my wife a few days to cool off.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? What’d I do?” I was not in the mood to play a guessing game.
“Maybe this will jog your memory.” He handed me a picture that made my knees give out.
“Wh-what the hell is this?”
“It looks like you having a really good time with three women, and none of them is your wife.” The officer tried not to laugh, but I don’t think he could help himself.
“I’m glad you find something funny, Officer, ’cause that’s not me.” He took the picture from me and examined it again.
“I don’t know, sir, but I see a pretty strong resemblance between you and the man in the photo.” I snatched the picture back.
“It looks like me, but it’s not me!” I insisted. “It can’t be me.”
“Look, Mr. Duncan, if you wanna insult my intelligence, that’s fine. I’m not married to you. But your wife has a dozen of these pictures in there, and most of them are worse than this.”
“From where? Where did she get them from?” I felt like grabbing him and shaking the answer out.
“We didn’t get into that, but she is adamant that you’re not coming in the house.”
“Oh, she’s gonna let me in that house.” I took a step toward the house but he stepped in my way.
“If I were you, Mr. Duncan, I wouldn’t push it.”
“Hold up! You mean to tell me I can’t go into my own house?”
“Mr. Duncan, I’m not telling you what to do. But if the two of you continue this redecorating plan you have”—he glanced at the lawn—“I’m going to have to arrest one of you for disturbing the peace and possibly domestic violence.” There was no smile on his face. He was dead serious, and something told me I was the one who would end up in hand-cuffs over this.
“Wait a minute. You’re gonna arrest me? I haven’t done anything. She’s the one throwing things out of the house!”
“Look, I’m just doing my job, and my job is to put an end to this.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “Now if you’re saying your wife’s the aggressor, that’s fine with me. But I’m telling you from experience if she walks outta here with bracelets on, she’s gonna blame her arrest on you, and your marriage seems to already be in a heap of trouble. Take a good look at that picture. If the roles were reversed, how would you act?” It didn’t take a brain surgeon to realize he was right. If I couldn’t get her to calm down, I was gonna have to go.
“Yeah, I know, Officer. But I need to talk to her for five minutes. After that I’ll leave.”
“Okay. Lemme talk to my partner. I’m not gonna promise anything but I’ll see what I can do.” He handed me the picture and walked back inside. I took another look at the picture and tried to imagine when the hell this could have been taken. I felt like I was in the fucking twilight zone. But before I had enough time to really make sense of the whole situation, Diane walked out of the house, followed by the two officers. Her hair was a wreck and mascara was smudged all over her face. She looked like I felt. Like shit.
“What do you want, Wil?” She folded her arms and huffed. I could tell she was trying to prevent herself from crying again. Hell, so was I.
“Diane, I swear to God I had nothing to do with those pictures.” I could see her eyes get small with anger, and the female officer placed her hand on her shoulder to calm her.
“You see this?” She ruffled through the pictures and flicked at me one with a woman’s face an inch from the man’s penis. “That’s your birthmark, motherfucker.”
I had nothing to say, so she continued. I hoped it was making her feel better, ’cause it sure wasn’t doing much for me.
“And that’s your wedding ring!” She threw another picture and I could hear the white cop chuckle. “How could you do this to me, Wil? How could you do this to us? You son of a bitch!” Tears rolled down her face and I swear to God I could feel her pain. I reached out instinctively to hold her but she slapped my hand away. She sobbed on the shoulder of the female cop.
“Di, I swear to you, baby. I don’t know anything about these pictures. I love you so much. I would never do anything like this to you. Please, baby, you gotta believe me.” I couldn’t help myself. Tears began to spring from my eyes too.
“I hate you, motherfucker!” She turned her back to me, and then suddenly she was in my face. A second later I felt the sting of her heavy hand slap my face. The officers tried to stop her but she got off two more blows before they could grab and pull her off me. “I hate you, Wil! I hate you so much! I can’t believe you did this to me!” She was kicking and twisting so hard to get at me she almost broke free.
“I didn’t do it, Di. I swear to God I didn’t do it!” I dropped to my knees and watched them drag my wife into the house. “Baby, please believe me. I didn’t do it! I swear to God I don’t know anything about these pictures.” I could hear one last “I hate you” as the door closed.
A few minutes later the male officer walked out of the house.
“Mr. Duncan, would you like to press charges?”
“No, Officer.” I stood up, trying to compose myself.
“I didn’t think you would. Look, the law says that one party has to leave during any domestic dispute of this caliber. I think it best that you get your stuff and go. Maybe give your wife a call tomorrow when she’s calmed down.”
“Yeah, okay, Officer, I’ll leave. But I want you to know I’m telling the truth. I don’t know where those pictures came from, but I’m gonna find out.” I bent over to retrieve my belongings from the lawn. It took me an hour to get all my stuff into my car.
After I packed up all my stuff, I drove over to Baisly Park and sat by the lake. I loved that park, mainly because I’d had so many good times with Di there. We’d shared our first kiss there and that’s where she first told me she loved me. I’d even proposed right on the lake in a paddleboat. Whenever she was mad at me or we had problems, I’d go there and think. Most of the time I’d be reminded of the good times we’d shared and how much I loved her, then end up going home with some flowers or candy. A few times she even came down there and apologized to me. But that wasn’t gonna happen this time. Not until we straightened out this whole picture deal.
I sat by that old lake and fed the ducks for almost two hours, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened to my life. I’d worked so hard on my marriage over the years that it just seemed impossible that something like this could fuck it all up in one day. And what I hated most was that the whole thing was so out of my control. I studied the two pictures that Diane had thrown at me plus the one the cop had given me.
Damn, that was definitely me in those pictures. I just couldn’t figure out how the hell someone could take a picture like that without my knowledge. Then it came to me. The only naked women I’d been around anytime recently were at Allen’s bachelor party. And I had definitely been drunk enough that night to have a few holes in my memory. Kyle said that I’d passed out. The only question was how the hell did I end up with these girls doing this to me? Somewhere in the back of my mind it dawned on me that the only person mad enough at me lately to do something like this was Jay. What I couldn’t figure out was why he would do it. It was one thing for him to ruin his own marriage, but why ruin mine? Even if I had to drag him to my house to straighten this whole thing out with Diane, he was gonna explain this mess or I was gonna die trying.
27
 
Kyle
 
Allen and I came back from the game, welcomed by Val, who was in my kitchen preparing dinner for us. I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She was stirring sausage and meatballs into a pot of sauce, and the whole apartment smelled like an Italian restaurant.
“Mmm, that smells almost as good as you do,” I whispered, kissing her neck. She lifted the wooden spoon so that I could taste the sauce. My girl could cook. A tiny bit of sauce fell on her shoulder and I licked it away. “Mmm, tastes good. But not as good as you.”
“You so crazy.” She laughed, turning her head to kiss my lips. “How was your game?”
“It was okay.” I picked up a piece of garlic bread from the counter and took a bite. “I just wish Jay had come with us instead of using the game as an excuse to see some girl.”
“You know Jay is not gonna change, Kyle, so stop thinkin’ about it.”
“Yeah, you’re right. It’s just that he’s getting too old for this shit.” Val peeked in the living room at Allen, who had settled in front of the TV
“Where’s Wil? I thought he was having dinner with us,” Val asked.
“Wil had to leave the game in the second inning.”
“How come? Is everything all right?”
“I’m not sure. It had something to do with his wife Diane. I should try an’ call him now.” I took a step toward the phone.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Val turned and held on to me. “You’re not going anywhere ’til I get another kiss.”
“Do I look like I have a problem with that?” Before I could kiss her, there was a knock on the door. “Yo, Al, will you get that for me? I’m kinda busy.” I kissed Val without waiting for an answer. After a few minutes pressed against Val in the kitchen, we headed into the living room to see the back of Wil’s unmistakable bald head. He was sitting across from Allen on the sofa.
“Hey, big man, you’re right on time to eat. Val’s making pasta and the sauce is the bomb. Wil, you hungry?” He didn’t answer me. That was a definite indicator of a problem. Wil wasn’t the kinda guy to ignore you when you were offering to feed him.
“Hey, Val, why don’t you go in the bedroom for a minute?” I gave her a peck on the lips and gestured for her to give us a little privacy. She was not a happy camper at all, but reluctantly did as I asked.
“Hey, Wil, everything aw‘ight at home?” I was standing in front of him now. He looked like he was about to cry so I asked him again. “Wil? You aw’ight, man?”
“No, I’m not all right! But everything’s gonna be just fine once Jay gets here and I can kick his fuckin’ ass. He’s still coming over here, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, he’s coming over.” I took a step back and turned to Allen. By Wil’s tone, both of us knew he was serious. Hell, I’d known him thirty years, and although he was known for his sudden outbursts, I’d never seen him this upset. Whatever Jay had done must have been pretty damn serious.
“What’d Jay do now?” I sat down next to Wil and couldn’t believe what I was seeing. He was actually crying. I don’t think I’d ever seen him cry. I snapped my fingers at Allen to hand me the box of tissues on the end table. “Here, big man.” I handed him a tissue and he wiped his eyes.
“What’s the matter, Wil? What’d Jay do to you?” Allen leaned closer for a response. Wil sniffled a few times then wiped his eyes again before speaking.
“That sneaky son of a bitch set me up. Can you believe it? I don’t know why, but he’s trying to ruin my marriage.” Wil slammed his hand on the coffee table so hard I could hear the wood crack. “I don’t fucking believe this! I swear ta god, I’m gonna kill that son of a bitch. I’m gonna kill ’im!”
“Hold on there, big man. First of all, let’s put this talk about killing people to rest. You ain’t gonna kill nobody. At least not while I’m around you ain’t.”
“You got that right,” Allen added. “I don’t plan on going to no funerals and I’m damn sure not visiting anybody in jail.”
“Now where in the hell did you come up with the idea that Jay is setting you up? I know you two haven’t been getting along but you know he wouldn’t do that kinda shit.”
Wil rolled his eyes. “What makes you so sure of that, Kyle?”
“ ’Cause he ain’t that type-a guy. That’s why. He’s an in-your-face kinda guy. Not sneaky.”
“Please, Kyle,” Wil laughed cynically. “You ain’t saying that shit when he set your ass up with that condom and panties a few years back, did you?” He stared at me and waited for an answer, but he knew I didn’t have one. “Uh-huh. I guess you forgot about that, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, I did forget that. But just because he set me up doesn’t mean he was tryin’ to set you up.”
“Oh, yeah. Then why did he give these to my wife?” He reached into his pocket and handed Allen and me each a picture.
“Oh shit,” I muttered under my breath as the seriousness of what was on that picture hit me. I looked toward Allen with disbelief. He lifted his picture for me to see, and his expression matched mine.
It had been almost eight weeks and I’d completely forgotten about the pictures we’d taken at the bachelor party. How the hell did Diane get ahold of them anyway? Damn, maybe Wil was right. Maybe Jay did set him up after all. Fuck, maybe he set us all up. A well-placed phone call could have easily set this whole thing in motion.
No, Jay wouldn’t do that,
I told myself over and over again. He’d tried to talk us out of taking the pictures in the first place. Hell, there were twenty guys in that room. Any one of them could have done this.

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