Ever After (21 page)

Chapter 28

Nick

Scotty finally knew. She finally was able to have the freedom to go forward in her life without the dark cloud of that monster hanging over her head. But, right now, you wouldn’t know it. She was lying there on my couch, my blanket covering her tiny body, and she was sobbing. Heaving sobs like when she finally got off of that island. All I could do was sit there, on the edge of the couch, and smooth back her hair. I kept kissing her gently, but I don’t think that she noticed. She was clearly in her own world, and I let her be there for awhile.

Truth be told, I knew that this day was coming soon. That was part of the reason why I chose to work late every night this week, when I didn’t have a class to teach. I wanted to prepare myself for the fallout of what would happen when Scotty finally was able to understand that the evil menace didn’t exist for her anymore. I knew that it would be an emotional time. I also expected Scotty to react like this. She cried when she was happy, and she cried when she was sad. She was just somebody who handled strong emotions with tears. I had known this about her for awhile, and I loved that this was her way of handling her feelings. It was cathartic, to say the very least.

So, I worked late all this week, because I wanted to be able to take the entire day off to be with her when the news came down. I knew that she would need that, and I was going to be there for her. I was going to try to make up for the fact that I wasn’t there for her during that other crucial time, by being there for her when she found out about the death of the pond scum.

And, sure enough, at some point, she said that she wanted to go home. She didn’t feel well. I went and told George, and he said that was fine. Scotty was the most efficient intern on the staff, mainly because she was there to work. She didn’t goof off like other interns did. She put her head down and she got shit done. She worked circles around all the other interns, so she had curried good favor with the partners. They therefore didn’t mind her going home with me that morning.

But, halfway through, when we were almost home, she changed her mind.

“Actually, Nick, I’d like to do something else,” she said.

“And what’s that, love?”

“Let’s go to a bar to celebrate. And let’s get rip-roaring drunk.” And then she smiled. It seemed that she was over the initial shock and the initial tears, and was now the point where it had all sunk in. And she was ready to celebrate. And, god knew, so was I.

“That sounds like a plan. Where would you like to go?”

“Somewhere where the drinks are cheap and the music is loud. I just want to be somewhere that I can let loose and feel free. Savor the feeling of emerging from hell. I never thought that it would happen, Nick. I never did.”

So, we had Charlie take us to a dive bar that was in the downtown area of Manhattan. It was the middle of the day, so there weren’t too many people there. Just some regulars sitting around the bar and watching sports, and a few other guys playing pool. Nobody reacted when we walked through the door, although there were quite a few men who I noticed checking out Scotty when she went to the bathroom.

I wondered if we had turned a corner. I was nervous to ask her. She was still so angry with me. She hardly talked to me. Not that I had been home to talk to her anyhow, as I was
working late every night that I wasn’t teaching. I was getting in at around midnight on the nights when I worked late, so we were strangers in our own home.

I had hoped that when this entire Lucas thing happened, and Scotty finally was out from under the threat, she would recover from her anger for me and would see me in a different light.

However, if I thought that, I was soon disappointed.

She had gone to the bathroom, and she emerged, two beers in her hand. I took one from her, and then I put a hand on her leg. She promptly removed it from her thigh.

“Nick,” she said. “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, with me being out with you like this. I haven’t changed my mind about us at all. I mean, thank you for bringing me here, and talking to the partners about my going home today. I appreciate all of that, just like I appreciate what you’ve done for my mother and Aaron. But this changes nothing for us. I mean, it changes everything for me, personally. It’s like, oh my god. I’ve never felt like this before. So cleansed. So alive. So ready to conquer the world. But this changes nothing between us. Our relationship is still very much over.”

My heart broke when she said that, but I refused to let on. I still was hoping, against hope, that she would change her mind and we could be a couple again. But, she apparently wasn’t thinking that at that point in time.

“Scotty,” I said. “I understand. I wish that there was something that I could do to make it up to you.”

“There’s nothing, Nick. And I don’t want you to get the wrong impression about us being out together.”

I nodded, feeling forlorn. I wished that I could tell her the truth. But I couldn’t. There was just no way.

We started drinking shots at one point. She was ordering round after round. What I didn’t notice, after a little while, was that she was drinking one shot for every one of my three. It had been such a long time since I had drank like that. I was always a social drinker. I enjoyed my aged Scotch and occasionally a beer or some wine, but I hadn’t drank to get drunk since my college days.

Yet, there I was, drinking with Scotty that entire day. While we were there at the bar, we played darts and pool. She was surprisingly good at pool, I was finding out. We danced. We played music on the juke box, and then danced some more. At some point, I think that she offered to buy everyone in the bar a drink, and then asked if it was okay if I paid for that. I was, of course, and I figured that she knew that would be the case, or else she wouldn’t have ordered the drinks.

We drank and didn’t eat that entire day and into the night. I knew that Angeline had picked up Aaron, and Scotty called Adele and cancelled her appointment. So, there was no stopping us.

Finally, at around 2 AM, I called Charlie to come and pick us up. I was so drunk that I don’t really remember actually dialing his number, so I was a little surprised when he pulled up on the curb to take us home.

“Hey,” I said, “how did you know to come and get us here?”

“Sir,” he said. “You called me.”

“Oh, I did. Well, good for me.”

Scotty was coming along on the sidewalk, stumbling her way towards the cab. I put my arm around her, and ushered her into the seat.

“Charlie,” I said, “I’m starving. Take us by the Shake Shack on the way home.” At that, I gave him some money.
“Go in there and get two hamburgers and two large order of fries to go. And two strawberry milkshakes.”

“Very good, sir,” he said, as he headed towards that restaurant.

Scotty was sitting in the limo with me, of course, but she wasn’t trying to get close to me, at all. It was clear that she didn’t want to give me signals that all was going to be well with us.

The food came out to us, and we both ate it in the car.

And…that was really the last thing that I remember.

Chapter 29

Scotty
             

Nick and I were sitting in the limo, eating our hamburgers, after drinking heavily all day. I felt badly that I had gotten him so drunk. I mean, I was drunk as well, and it felt great. Absolutely great. I had never felt so wonderful as I did that night. The monster was dead. He was dead. D-E-A-D. Dead. Dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead dead.

So, for some reason, I really wanted to get drunk. To feel my emotions about the oh-so-sad passing of the man who had haunted me for so long. That wasn’t usually my way of celebrating things, but this was so momentous, I felt like it was called for.

I noticed, though, that Nick wasn’t feeling so good. He had eaten his burger and fries, and drank his shake. I did the same with my food and shake.

And then, out of nowhere, he opened up the door and puked.

And I…started laughing. Hard. I never thought that I would see Nick out of control, and it was somewhat thrilling to see. It was a whole other side of him. He had let loose, too, at the bar. He was cracking jokes and dancing. He was entertaining a table full of people with magic tricks that he performed with simple coins and other items. I had a great time with him, and I had to continually remind myself that he and I were not together anymore.

Unfortunately, I still wanted to be with him. I realized, for the first time in days, how much I really craved him. I no longer was afraid about Mr. Lucas destroying me, so I felt that I was perhaps ready to get back with Nick. Because part of the reason why I was so cold to him was because I was just so stressed. That stress was relieved, so I found myself feeling that I wanted to be with Nick again. To feel him on top of me.

But, even in my drunken, deliriously happy state, there was a strong voice that was telling me that he was not to be trusted. That, if he left me when I was most devastated and vulnerable, he might leave me at any time in the future as well.

So, I still kept my emotional distance from him.

Then, we got into the loft that night. Charlie had to help him out of the limo and into his apartment. Angeline apparently had spent the night in one of the guest bedrooms, for she was nowhere to be seen.

And, just like that, in the loft, everything changed.

“Scotty,” Nick slurred, laying on the couch. “Scotty, come here. Where are you? Where are you, Scotty?”

“I’m right here,” I said, as I was sitting right next to him when he was calling for me. “You must be blind.”

“Oh, Scotty, I am. I’m so blinded by my love for you. I’m so completely, totally, head over heels in love with you I can’t stand it. I can’t stand it, Scotty. Can’t stand it. Can’t stand it…”

“Nick, you’re really drunk,” I said with a laugh. “Let me get you into bed. You clearly need to sleep it off.”

“No, Scotty, I have some things that I need to tell you.”

I sat down again and wondered if he was going to confess about how he was going to drug me with that truth serum. But, no, what he was about to say was something that I never could have anticipated.

“Scotty, I love you. And I want you to be my wife. But you need to know something first,” he said. “Excuse me, I have to go the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” At that, he ran into the bathroom and I heard him hurl.

He stumbled back out, and then went to the kitchen sink and took the faucet out, as it was on a snake like handle, and put the mouth of the faucet directly into his own mouth and squirted some of the water into it. He got his shirt completely wet, and so was his face, but he stood back up and started laughing.

“That’s fun,” he said. “Anyhow, Scotty, I want you to be my wife. But you need to know something.” He started to look very serious. “I like boys.”

“What? What do you mean? You’re gay????” Oh, god, I didn’t expect that. At all.

“Oh, fuck no. Fuck no. I love women. Well, I mean, that I used to be a lover of women, until you. Well, no, not a lover of women. I was a user of women. But, no, I’m not gay. I do like boys, though.”

“In what way?”

“I’m bisexual. Ryan and me, well, we used to go at it with each other. Used to. He quit wanting to do that a long time ago, when he found the love of his life. That’s fine, but I liked men and women. But I am in love with you. So, I’ll never cheat on you. With women or men.”

I was shocked, but not entirely upset.

“What are you thinking, Scotty? I’ve wanted to tell you for so long, but never quite knew how. But I do now! So, what are you thinking?”

“You and Ryan?”

“Yeah, me and Ryan. We’re just best friends now, of course, but we used to be a bit more than best friends.”

“Honestly? I think that’s hot,” I said. “I mean, he’s beautiful. You’re beautiful. That’s hot.”

“Oh, thank god,” Nick said. “I had the feeling you’d be cool with that. But, you’re the only one for me. I swear to god.
I’ve had no cause to stray. No desire to stray. I only want to be with you. But I thought that you should know that about me.”

“Okay,” I said. “I think that’s hot. Is that all that you wanted to say to me?”

“I love you,” he said. “I bought a ring about a month ago. I bought a ring, and I’ve wanted to give it to you, but there’s never been a good time. Never a good time. But I want to give it to you, Scotty, I do. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to have my children and I want us to be in the nursing home together, playing shuffle board and listening to Muse together.”

And then he started laughing. “Isn’t that hilarious? When we get into a nursing home, they won’t be playing smooth jazz and fifties sock hop music. They’re going to be playing the music of our youth. Muse. Metallica. Eminem. Isn’t that hilarious?”

I started laughing, too, a little bit. And I was secretly thrilled to hear him say that he had bought me a ring. I so wanted to marry him, too. I did. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t get past the fact that he turned his back on me when I was at my lowest point.

“Nick,” I said. “I love you, too. I so want to marry you, too. But I can’t trust you again. I just can’t.”

“Scotty,” he said. “I had a really good reason why I wasn’t there with you in the mental hospital. I do.”

“Oh, Nick? You told me that you didn’t have any excuse at all. Now you suddenly do?”

“Yes. I was taking care of matters for you. I was taking care of matters, and I couldn’t tell you about them. And I didn’t want to answer questions about it, so I just acted like a shit and I ignored you. I acted like a total shit, and if I could spend every day of my life making that up to you, I will do that. I will do that, Scotty. I love you.”

“What do you mean, taking care of matters?”

He got quiet for a little bit. He got up and started swaying. And then he sat down, and put his head in his hands. “I had to do it, Scotty. I had to. I couldn’t let your life be destroyed like that. He ruined you. He ruined you, and he was going to destroy you. I knew it. I knew it. I had to do something about it. And he never deserved to live.”

What he was saying was sobering me up and hitting me like cold water on the face. I thought that I knew what he was saying. Why he really didn’t seem all that surprised when I told him that I saw the news story on Yahoo! about Mr. Lucas dying.

But I wanted him to say it.

“I did it, Scotty. I killed him. Well, no, I didn’t really kill him. But I made him kill himself. I recorded him confessing to his brother about what he did to you. He did it to you, Scotty, and he did it to hundreds of other girls. Hundreds, Scotty. He told his brother that he had lost track. Hundreds. I made him kill himself. I showed him the video, Scotty, I showed him the video and told him that he was through. That he was heading for prison, Scotty. He was heading for prison, and that he needed to kill himself to put himself and the whole world out of its misery.”

I nodded, and it was sinking in. “Go, on, Nick.”

“Go on,” he said. “Go on. Oh, me go on. Okay. Well, that’s where I was, Scotty. Plotting and planning all of this out with Ryan. Ryan and I, we planned this whole thing out. We planned it for days. We even got some sodium pentothal from one of his old dealers. I figured I would need it for that bastard to confess, but he confessed all to his brother, without my
doing a thing. We planned it for days, and I finally did it. I finally did it, and he did it. He killed himself, and I commanded him to do it. I made him write that letter, and that’s what happened.”

“So, that’s where you were when I was in the hospital?” I asked, feeling suddenly over the moon with happiness. Nick did have a good excuse for where he was, after all! And I also felt so silly for ever thinking that he would do something like drug me with sodium pentothal. I felt positively ridiculous for thinking that. Of course there was a good reason why he was looking into that. Of course.

My love for him started washing over me, and all that I wanted was to tell him that everything was okay. That we were going to be okay. He did that for me. For me. It was such a sacrifice, and he was still trying to protect me. That was why he did it, and that was why he kept it from me.

“Yes, Scotty. Oh, Scotty, I felt like crap about that. I wanted to be with you. I so did. But I couldn’t wait to do it. I couldn’t wait, because, if I did, that bastard would have had the chance to drag you through the mud and ruin you. I couldn’t wait, Scotty. I had to do it. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Scotty. I did it for you. I did it only for you.”

“Nick,” I said. “I forgive you. And I love you, too. God, I love you. I love you so much. More than I ever thought that I could love anybody. I can’t believe that you did that for me. You did that for me. That’s. Well, that’s beyond words, that’s what that is. Beyond words. I don’t even know what to say.”

“Scotty,” he said. “I virtually killed a man. I mean, I didn’t kill him, but I caused his death. I caused his death. I see it, Scotty. I see his corpse. His head that was blown off. I see the way that he looked when he did it. He was a condemned man, Scotty. And I saw him in the last few minutes of his life. In the
last instance of his life. In the last split second of his life. I saw him. I can’t unsee that, either, Scotty. He’s dead. He’s dead because I made him dead. Please don’t hate me. Please.”

And then he started crying. I put my arm around him, and put his head on my lap. I stroked his hair, as he grabbed a hold of my leg and sobbed.

“Nick,” I said. “I don’t hate you. I love you. I love you for a hundred of other reasons besides the fact that you killed that bastard for me. I mean, not killed him, but caused him to be dead. But I really, really, really love you for doing that for me. I. Well, I can’t think of anybody else who would ever do that for me. You saved me, Nick. You saved me from being destroyed. You saved my life. I can have a life, now, Nick, and that’s due to you. Due to you. How could I ever hate you?”

“Oh, god, Scotty, please. Please forget this. Forget you ever heard this. I don’t want you to get into trouble for not turning me in. I don’t want you to be involved with this. I never did. I never did, Scotty. I don’t want you to be in trouble.”

I continued to stroke his hair, as he laid on my lap. “Nick,” I said. “I won’t be in trouble, because you won’t be in trouble. Why would you be in trouble? The news said that there was no suspicion of foul play. There was a suicide note. It sounded like the brother wants to move on. There is no reason why you would ever be in trouble, Nick. So, please don’t worry. And I won’t ever tell a soul. God forbid. You did it for me, so that would be beyond shitty if I screwed you over and told on you.”

And then he looked at me, and his eyes were completely blood shot and bleary. “Scotty, would you please move back in my bed with me? I’ve been so lost without you. That bed. I hate it. I hate being in it when you’re not there with me. I hate it. I want you to be in that bed with me tonight. Tonight and
every night. For the rest of our lives. The rest of our lives, Scotty. The rest of our lives.”

“Oh, Nick,” I said. “I thought you’d never ask.”

We stood up. He put my head in his hands, by placing his hands on my cheeks, and he kissed me. He was drunk, of course, so it was a sloppy kiss. And then he put his arms around me, and held me tightly. “I’m so happy. I’m so happy, Scotty. So happy. I need you, Scotty. I need you to be with me always. Always, Scotty. Always. Please, just come to bed. Don’t bother getting your things out of that other room, you can just get them tomorrow. I want you to be with me tonight, in my bed, with me. With me, always. And forever. Always and forever. Ever after. With me, Scotty. Ever after.”

I smiled, and I leaped up on him, wrapping my legs around his waist. I threw my arms around his neck, and put my head on his shoulder. He had his arms wrapped around me, too, and he was stroking my hair. “I love you, Nick. Now, let’s go upstairs to our room. We’re going to go upstairs to our room, and we never have to sleep in a separate bedroom again. And, I can’t believe this, but I don’t have to worry about that bastard because of you. Because of you. He’s gone. I feel so liberated, so free. So wonderful. He’s gone, and he got his just desserts. And I love you for making him dead, Nick. I love you for that.”

So, he carried me up the stairs. I was afraid that he couldn’t make it, because he was so drunk, but he put one of his hands on the railing. He made his way up the stairs, with my legs still wrapped around his waist, and my head still on his shoulders.