The Darker Exterior

Chapter 15

He was far more dressed up than any other guy in the room, with a suit jacket and tie, matching the colors of my dress perfectly. He had all of his signature rings on, his tattoos peeking devilishly out of his sleeves. He was just as attractive as ever. I didn't know whether I was upset at him for not telling me he was going to be here until he showed up, or that he confronted my boss in what would no doubt end up in an embarrassing argument.

 That bastard.

"You know I have nothing to say to you," Ford said, Attempting to stand up and leave. Atticus, however, pushed him back down into his seat, a sickeningly sweet smile farming his delicious lips. 

"While that may be true, it seems, yet again, you have something to say to my girlfriend," he sat down next to me, "which I thought we already talked about. You seemed to understand what would happen if you continued to treat her poorly, but now it seems you need some kind of reminder. So here I am, in the flesh."

Ford scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Don't try this shit with me. You know I'm the one thing you have no authority over. Besides, it's not my fault she tattled on me to you like you're her fucking dad. It's gross if you ask me."

"You're a bratty child, do you know that?" Atticus asks, twisting a ring on his pinky.

"And I'm almost the same age as your girlfriend. Refer to me as a child again, I fucking dare you," he taunted, his eyes darkening. He looked angrier than I had ever seen him, and that said a lot, as I had seen him trash his entire office once in a bout of rage. Although, that rage wasn't directed at me or another human, which was a different category entirely. 

"Keep her out of this. She doesn't deserve to be the victim of all of your tantrums. She does enough for you already. You know you take her for granted in every way. She could do your job with her eyes closed." Atticus responded, the slightest bit of venom dripping onto his professional words. 

"What the fuck do you know about her, you groomer?" he spat, crossing his arms in front of him, "you have to be almost double her age. Is that not were to you at all?"

"What I know for sure, is you like her," Atticus responded, running a hand through his hair.

"You have no idea what you're fucking talking about," Ford replied. Although he seemed so sure, his eyes widened slightly and he began to squeeze his arms so hard the tips of his fingers were turning white. 

"Oh, I do. It was obvious from the last time we talked. You treat her like shit because you're in love with her. You're a twisted little fuck and you abuse the shit out of her in the workplace. And for some reason in your little head, you think she might have a chance at liking you back. That's why you have such a problem with me getting with her. You want to keep her all to yourself. You want to keep her so busy she doesn't have time to interact with anyone outside of work. You want to look like the big top dog. Well, I have a news flash for you," he said, calmer than a frozen pond, "she has a will of her own and she makes choices about who she likes and who she doesn't. She chooses who she wants to be with. And instead of forcing her to be your slave at work, if you tried merely being kind to her, you may have had a chance. But you threw that away, and I know goddamn well, I'm not making the same mistake."

I was blown away by the speech, unsure of how to react. Part of me wanted to kiss him right where we sat or flip off Ford. But the logical side of my brain was more confused than anything else. 

"Wait, I'm confused-" I try to interrupt. I was ignored as Ford responded.

"You've got a lot of fucking nerve coming around here, talking like that, Old man. For someone who was married once, you have a horrible tendency of losing great women. Your wife was an amazing woman and you knew that. You lost the best woman in your life. She gave you everything, you complete Asshole." he said, trying to calm himself down. His knee was bouncing up and down rapidly and he looked like he wanted to scream and cry. For a few brief moments, I felt really bad for him, as he looked like he was on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. 

"She and I split up because we were incompatible. I cared about her, yes, because she did help bring some of the best things into my life, but she and I were never going to be good together and you know that. Bringing it up like this is irrelevant," Atticus responded calmly. I wondered how he could be so calm in this place. If Ford was speaking to me the way he was speaking to Atticus, I would have punched him in the face multiple times already. He might have a knife in the heart at this point.

Or maybe I just have too many violent fantasies. I've read a couple too many mafia romance novels in my lifetime, I guess. 

"Besides, is here the best place to talk about this?" Atticus responds, looking around at the people around us. It was insane to me how none of them had even noticed there was the slightest bit of tension in the air near us. Were they too self-centered to notice it, or was Atticus so good at playing it cool that no one noticed? The only person even looking in our direction was the woman Ford had been staring at the last time we went to an event together. She had dirty blonde hair and was wearing a dress similar in color to mine. When she noticed me looking at her, she turned away abruptly and plastered what I knew was a fake smile onto her face and started talking to another woman who was holding a glass of white wine and looked similar to her in stature. 

"Well you never bother to talk to me in any other setting, do you?" Ford retorted.

"That's not my fault, Mr. Madison," Atticus replied, "or should I say, Mr.-"

"Don't you dare," Ford said, leaning forward abruptly, "You came in here uninvited, bothered my plus one, talked shit to me, and were the disrespectful bastard you always are. And I'm not going to deal with it anymore. I chose not to deal with you a long time ago, and I'm fucking glad I did. I'm not going to let you drag her down the same path you've dragged everyone else down. You're a walking tornado and all you do is leave trails of destruction behind you. Your entire empire is fake, your confidence is fake. You as a person, are fake. You lure people in with your little I'm a mysterious guy song and dance, and you ruin their lives. It's a pattern and you always follow through with it. You may think I'm a bastard, and you may think I have a cold heart, but I am never going to put any woman what you put them through, and that's for damn sure. So make me the bad guy if you want to. Tell everyone I"m a horrible person. tell them I'm too young to do my job. Tell them I'm an abuser. It doesn't matter, because at the end of the day, at least I'm not a lowlife rat like you. I'll always be better than you, your girlfriend, and everyone else in the goddamn room. let that soak the fuck in."

I took a deep breath and slightly raised my voice, "Can someone please just tell me what the fuck is going on here?!"

Atticus turns to look at me, sadness glazing over his beautiful eyes, "I'm so sorry Aurelia, I should have told you a long time ago-"

"Wait, she doesn't know?" Ford asks, looking back and forth between us.

"I don't know what?" I ask, tired of the back and forth. This patronizing was making me want o stab someone for real.

"Ford-" Atticus started. He just laughed. It was a tight and stressed laugh, one full of spite and disbelief. 

"You piece of shit. You've been keeping this from her this whole time? You really are an asshole," she ran a hand through his hair, his face still blasted with disbelief.

"Can someone just please tell me," I nearly whine, desperate to be let in on the secret.

"Aurelia, Doll, maybe we should go somewhere else for this-" Atticus said, softening his tone a bit, placing his hand on my lower back.

"No, I think she should stay right here," Ford said, leaning forward yet again, "Aurelia, this piece of shit has kept a really big secret about himself. I figured he told you already, but now that I think about it, it makes sense. You had no reaction, and you treated me no differently after you two got together."

"Out with it," I spit. 

Ford smiles sickly at me, "I can't believe he didn't tell you. You two definitely fucked and he didn't tell you. You two did ungodly things and he never told you-"

"Ford I swear to God just tell me," I place both of my hands on the table.

Ford smiled and licked his bottom lip.

"Aurelia, doll, your boyfriend, Atticus Gainer," he grabbed my hand patronizingly, 

"Is my father."