(Complete) The story of the third Hayes brother.
Stuck in a loveless marriage, Trey Hayes bears the guilt of sending his brothers away. Secrets about his brother's hasty departure and his lack of apology are not the only ones he keeps.
When his...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Seven years later...
Trey came home to an empty condo. It was rare for Jessica to return home before him. He was just as glad, because he preferred to be alone. She was probably screwing some fool. She screwed him, but not in the sexual way.
For seven years, he had been living with the guilt of driving his brothers away. Never once did she have sympathy for him. She was a cold-hearted bitch who refused to divorce him, because she wanted his name and money to advance her career. A divorce meant she would release photographs of Tommy and Tori. He had seen them and they were real and explicit.
He threw his keys in the bowl on the table and picked up the mail left by the housekeeper. He flipped through the envelopes - electric bill, invitation, credit card offer, health insurance. He opened the invitation. It was from Celia Whitby, so Jessica would want to attend and force him to play doting husband all night. He put the electric bill in his laptop bag, so he could pay it online later and opened the envelope from the insurance company. It was an explanation of benefits, but he wasn't aware either of them had been to a doctor. He read the services twice just to comprehend them. He looked at the date of the procedure. It was when Jessica was supposed to have been away at a conference. It was so rich. One item, she was holding over him to prevent him for divorcing her was a girl's abortion, and in his hand was proof she had an abortion. It was further proof of her infidelity, because it had been years since they were intimate, the same number his brothers had been gone.
His first reaction was to confront her, but after a scotch, he decided to hold on to the information. It might work to his advantage one day. He put the document in his laptop bag. He had a safe place for it in his office.
Gritting his teeth, he heard the garage door go up. It was earlier than usual, and he didn't look up from his laptop.
"Celia's having a party! We can't miss it." He nodded. She smiled. "Did you eat?"
"Uh, huh." He had a can of soup, but it was fine since he had gone out to lunch.
She sat down next to him. "What are you doing?"
"Working." He didn't like her trying to get his attention. "What is it you want, Jessica?"
"We never see each other anymore."
"Because you're always out screwing around."
"You have a vivid imagination. You should have been a novelist."
He laughed at her ludicrous statement. "I'm too busy trying to make partner."
Jessica was very disappointed he wasn't a partner in his firm.
"Maybe if you spent less time providing your services for free, you would have made it by now."
He wouldn't argue with her. His firm encouraged pro bono work, so he had assisted many low-income individuals with their divorce. Many of whom would have stayed married otherwise. He believed in marriage, but he enjoyed saving people who were stuck in loveless and often unsafe marriages. He couldn't get out of his own, but it was his penance for the damage he caused his family.
