Andy Barber - Duplicity 💜

Chapter 8

Allison sat next to Jacob at the kitchen table on Friday afternoon when she heard the front door open and Andy came into view. He avoided her gaze, looking at Jacob. "You ready to go fishing tomorrow bud?"

Jacob grinned and nodded, looking up at Andy, "yeah dad. Can't wait." He looked from Andy to Allison, sensing the tension as he looked back at his work. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."

Allison sighed as Jacob got up, leaving her alone in the kitchen with Andy. "Andy."

"No." He ignored her, going back to the foyer to put his coat and shoes away.

She followed him, "Andy, we need to talk about this. Please."

He shook his head, "are you sleeping with him?"

"God, no! Of course I'm not Andy!" Allison groaned, "it's just you Andy. I love you. What Neal and I had was over long before I met you."

"What you had?" He stood up from the bench, "you were with him?"

"Yes. But like I said, it was long before you Andy! I love you, not him. Please. We have to talk."

She reached for him but he pulled away from her.

"I'm tired of everyone lying to me, hiding things from me. You, Laurie, Jacob. I can't take it."

"Andy. I'm not trying to hide anything. I'm trying to talk to you. You're pushing me away."

He sighed, shaking his head, "I just need some time, please. Can you go?"

Allison hesitated, but finally nodded, "fine. Come over on Sunday? When you get back from fishing? I have to talk to you about something."

Andy sighed, "okay. I will. I promise."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Allison sat on her couch late Sunday morning, drinking her coffee as she read. She heard a knock on her door, knowing Andy would just come in. She sighed, setting her stuff on the coffee table before opening the door to find Laurie in front of her. "Laurie, what are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?" She pushed past Allison without waiting for a response as Allison scoffed.

"Okay then." She crossed her arms, "what do you need?"

Laurie shrugged, looking around the apartment, "I wanted to talk about you. About Andy."

Allison groaned, "I don't think that's a good idea. You can talk to Andy about it."

"No." Laurie shook her head, "I want to talk to you about it. I want to know how you can possibly think that it is okay to get involved in a relationship with a married man. So involved that you have his baby."

Allison felt her face get hot with embarrassment, "how do you know about that?"

Laurie scoffed, "I saw you come out of the doctor's office. Does Andy know?"

"Not yet. No. I was going to tell him today. And you've had your chance to fix it with him. But he isn't in love with you anymore Laurie, if he even was." She sighed, "don't become the cliched crazy ex wife. Just let him go to be happy. So then you can move on and be happy too."

"No!" Laurie raised her voice as she approached Allison, making her take a step back from her. "No. He's mine. Jacob is mine. They are mine! Not yours, not anyone else's, and I will do whatever I have to do to insure that they stay that way. That they stay protected, and mine."

Allison shook her head, "you sound crazy! Seriously, he's moved on already. And no one is trying to take Jacob from you. I never would, and neither would Andy." She went to the door to open it, but Laurie beat her, standing in front of the door, "just go Laurie."

Laurie shook her head frantically, "no. We're not done. I protected Jacob, and I need to protect Andy, from you."

Allison paused, seeing Laurie's eyes get dark. "What do you mean you protected Jacob? Protected Jacob how?"

"No. No!" Laurie shook her head again as she shifted nervously on her feet. "You can't trick me Allison. I've gotten away with it once, I can again."

Allison felt her stomach churn as her heart began to race, "got away with what?" She hesitated at Laurie's frantic movements, "did you kill Ben?"

Laurie didn't answer, instead she pulled a knife from her jacket as she saw Allison put her hands up. "You know it goes in like butter. You would think there would be more of a push back. But it slices through flesh like butter."

Allison's eyes started to get heavy with tears as she tried to back away, feeling Laurie bury the knife in her stomach, just off center. She clutched her stomach, falling to the floor as she heard Laurie laugh.

"You're not good enough for Andy. He's mine."

Allison couldn't respond as she felt the blood on her hand, feeling dizzy as she closed her eyes...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Andy drove Jacob home on Sunday afternoon to find the house empty. He went up to his room to take a shower quickly before putting on some clean clothes. He found Jacob in his room, playing video games. "I'll be back. I need to talk to Allison about something. I'll be back as soon as I can, okay? I'll try to call your mother to see where she is."

Jacob nodded, shrugging, "okay. I'm fine dad."

Andy knocked on Allison's door, not hearing anything as he went to unlock the door. He found it already unlocked, raising suspicion because she always had her door locked, even when she was home. He opened the door slowly, seeing the blood on the floor first, Allison on the ground, passed out with a stab wound in her stomach. "Oh my god!" He pulled out his phone, calling an ambulance as he knelt on the ground beside her cold body.