It was late in the evening and Bev, Eddie and I were having drinks in my hotel room. Mike had gone back to his place but assured us that he would see us again before we left. As for Ben, he had to get back to work and kissed Beverly goodbye. She was going to live with him once she was done here with us and we were thrilled for her. Bill was too but I could tell that he was disheartened by her choice, and he'd gone back to his wife whom we could only assume he wasn't overly happy with.
"So," Bev smirked, "tell me a secret."
"What do I get out of it?" Eddie replied suspiciously.
She shrugged, "I will tell you guys one."
"Doesn't really seem worth it," he brought a bottle of beer to his lips and took a mouthful.
"Suit yourself, losers," she smirked, "so what are we going to do the next few days?"
"Whatever the hell we want."
Eddie was looking off across the room and Bev squinted at him, "what's on you mind, Kaspbrack?"
He smiled sheepishly, "nothing, just thinking of home."
"You miss it?" She asked and I looked towards him, interested in his response.
"No... it's not that. I got a message from a friend of mine asking me to drop some paperwork over to him, he said he didn't realise I would be back so soon..."
Bev and I frowned at him and he sighed, "he said he saw me in the car with my wife driving towards the house... which means she's with someone else."
"Someone else? Her?" I scoffed, "she's not exactly Marilyn Monroe."
He ignored my comment "I saw messages on her phone before but never asked her about them. I guess I'm just too much of a pussy."
I put my hand on his-out of Bev's view-and he sighed, "I guess I'd just rather not have known."
"We should go to your house!" Bev exclaimed, "she can't do that to you, what a bitch..."
"Yeah," I added, "why the fuck would she think that's okay?"
He shrugged, "I've suspected it for a while... she always threatens to leave me so I guess I should have seen it coming."
I clenched my fist, squeezing his hand tighter and he flinched away a little, careful not to let Bev notice, "how can you think that any of this is your fault? She's supposed to be loyal to you, that's what marriage is about! What a fucking bitch!"
"Its okay, Richie... honestly, it is. I never really wanted to be with her anyway... it's just a little humiliating."
"A little humiliating? Dude, she's making you a joke! It's not fucking on! Fuck her!"
"Calm down, Richie," Bev tried but I shook my head.
"Fuck this." I stood up and made my way out of the room, the others standing up as well.
"Where are you going?" Eddie called after me but I hurried down the stairs.
He caught up to me as I got outside and spun me round to face him.
"What's going on?"
"What's going on?" I blinked in disbelief, "we're all sitting here while your fat-fuck wife is screwing some other guy, that's what!"
"Rich... I... I kissed you... haven't I cheated on her?"
"You knew she was cheating on you before you kissed me-"
"Does that make it right?"
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I was too angry with her to think... but I guess Eddie had a point. He hadn't been a loyal husband even if she did cheat on him first.
"Okay. You're right. I'm sorry."
Eddie took my hands in his, "You wanna come back inside? Try and forget I said anything about this?"
"What I want to do is go and pay your whore of a wife a visit and tell her exactly what I think of her."
"Maybe tomorrow," he smirked, "but for now will you come back in and drink with us?"
"On one condition," I said in a hushed tone and he tilted his head. I didn't say anything more, just leaned towards him and pressed my lips against his. I held his face in my hands and I felt his fingers on my waist. It felt more comfortable this time and less wrong. I actually let myself enjoy it for a moment and managed to ignore the feelings telling me that I shouldn't be doing it.
I let him go before I got carried away and he looked at the floor, then back to me.
"Will you come inside now?"
"Well it's a bit forward, but if you insist..."
He laughed loudly and shook his head, "just get back in there with Bev, dumbass."
"Okay... thanks."
"For what?"
I shrugged, "following me out here... calming me down... I don't know. I forget how to do that sometimes."
"I know you do, Richie, you haven't changed much since we were kids."
"I'm going to take that as a compliment."
"You... shouldn't..."
We laughed as we walked back inside, "Eds?"
"Yeah?"
"I think you need to confront your wife."
"I guess I should..."
"Bev and I can come with you, you know for back up."
"You don't mind?"
"Of course not. You'd do the same for me, right?"
"Yeah I would," he smiled and took my hand, "come on trashmouth, let's go finish our drinks."
I hid a smile, "okay."
