One Night Stand With My Husband’s Brother

The bartender poured her drink into a glass, picked up the glass with a professional delicacy and delivered it to her side of the table. Selene did not so much as look at him, not even to commend his effort.

She reached for the glass and drowned the sour liquid down her throat with one swift gulp. She dropped the empty glass on the table before she glanced at the gold customized Rolex wristwatch that adorned her left wrist.

Forty-five minutes, she hissed. Tapping her right foot on the ground, visibly restless, she continued to look at the door of the bar, then around her, just to see if the silly man had crawled into the bar while she was looking away from the door, and was currently searching for her.

There were only a few people in the exquisite lounge, so he shouldn’t have been so hard to find. The fact that he was, only meant he had not arrived yet, and Selene’s patience was currently hanging on a thin thread, which five more minutes of his absense was sure to snap.

Selene tore her eyes away from the door and peeped into her phone. Still not a message or missed call from him.

“When is this bastard going to arrive? How can he keep me waiting for almost an hour for fuck’s sake?” She hissed underneath her breath. She thought of calling a waiter for another drink, but decided against it. She needed to be in her clear mind when she faced the bastard.

A disgruntled sigh escaped her lips as she reclined into the couch, crossed her right leg over her left and buried her eyes into the screen of her phone.

“Selene?”

She jerked up at the sound of the voice, looking up to find Jeffrey with sunken eyes and his hair in a disheveled mess, and not the sexy sort.

Selene shifted uncomfortably in the couch as he settled in next to her. She was the first to get to the bar, but the stench of whiskey that oozed from him was repulsive.

“Holy Moses!” She exclaimed, ever so dramatically.

“You look like you just stepped out of a zombie movie.” She continued, her scrutinizing gaze drinking in his sorry sight.

Jeffrey turned to look at her, he shrugged his shoulders before he reached for her empty glass on the table.

“I would have preferred being a zombie in a world filled with zombies to my current reality. This is a much worse nightmare.” He tried to drink the drop of whiskey that remained in her glass, but she seized it from his hand and dropped it beside her.

Selene’s eyes glanced around the room, trying to make sure no one had seen him embarrass her.

Jeffrey scoffed and threw his head backwards, leaning further into the sofa.

Selene rolled her eyes.

“Oh! Stop sulking. You’re not the only one affected.”

“Am I not?” He snapped, slowly tilting his neck to look at her.

“Are you affected, Selene? You divorced Chase, didn’t you? Do you love Chase?”

Selene hissed and shook her head. Her silence was a loud enough answer for Jeffrey.

“You don’t.” He concluded.

Selene, on the other hand, stared at him with amusement lurking in her eyes. Surely, she had not just heard him utter the word, love. The man wouldn’t know love even if it slapped him in the face.

“And you love Mackenzie?” She asked, chuckling.

It was only when she caught sight of his love struck eyes that she bursted out laughing, holding on to her stomach.

“Oh! Please, Jeffrey, cut it out, okay? You can pretend around everyone else in this world, but you can’t do that with me.”

Jeffrey frowned as he watched her laugh him to scorn. He pulled himself up and turned fully to look at her.

“You see, this is the problem with you, Selene.”

“Oh, come on,”

“You don’t ever know when someone is actually being serious, because you are so fucking twisted. Your brain, your mind, it’s so fucked up.”

Her laughter ceased immediately. She narrowed her eyes on him, and Jeffrey leaned back once more.

“I’ve had and heard enough, okay? We didn’t come here to share each other’s feelings, did we?” Jeffrey continued.

Selene have a mock shudder, as though the thought of sharing her feelings was abominable.

“Of course not. We have to do something. We cannot let Chase and Mackenzie shame us this way.”

“Chase has more power though.” Jeffrey chipped in. It was a realization his mother opened his eyes too, and even if he did not want to say what his mother’s plans were, he had to remind Selene of that fact as well.

“All I just want is Mackenzie, and the kids too.”

Selene groaned and threw her hands into the air dramatically. She could not phantom the depth of Jeffrey’s stupidity. It seemed to deepen with every passing second.

“The kids are not yours, dumbass! Don’t you know what’s happening? Can’t you see Jeffrey? The DNA results clearly show that Chase is the father of the kids, and they are real!” She paused her speech and sat up, hoping he would take her more seriously when she was staring into his eyes.

“I have seen Chase’s son from afar, and he is the exact replica of Chase. You do not even need a DNA test to know it’s his son once you see him!”

“But I was married to Mackenzie when she got pregnant ” It was Jeffrey’s turn to snap, and Selene shifted backwards.

“My mother went to see the doctor, and Mackenzie told him not to tell anyone about the pregnancy. So you see, she did not even intend to tell Chase about it.”

Selene blinked twice, utterly in shock by what she had heard. She gasped and melted into the sofa.

“Oh my God! That Mackenzie! She’s a fucking sly bitch!” Selene clenched her fists as she raged.

“If she wanted to keep it a fucking secret, she could have done so till she goes to her fucking grave. Why couldn’t she just stay the hell away from all of us?”

Jeffrey groaned and raised his right hand to his head, caressing his forehead with his fingers to ease his headache. He paused and turned to look at her once more.

“Why am I here, Selene? All you have done is complain. You are yet to suggest a solution.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“A solution?” Selene scoffed bitterly and sat up to look at him.

“I want to make Mackenzie’s life miserable.”

Jeffrey fought hard not to roll his eyes.

“There is already someone working on that. What else do you want to do?”

Selene corked her left brow in query.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s none of your business, Selene.”

“But I want to play a part.” She pushed further, moving closer to him.

“Allow me, Jeffrey.” She continued, reaching for his right thigh. He moved away from her and Selene sighed.

“Why are you so keen? We both cheated too, didn’t we? We’re not any saints, Selene.”

She blinked twice, staring at him with disbelief laced in her eyes, as if she could not believe he was the one speaking.

“Have you gone all soft, Jeff? Do you have any idea what an evidence means? The absence of evidence is the evidence of absence! Evidence erases arguments, Jeffrey. There is no evidence of what we…” She allowed her index finger to travel in the space between both of them.

“… did, but there is evidence of what Mackenzie and Chase did. Not just rumors, not pictures or videos, but two children, Jeffrey. Two healthy, living and breathing children who look exactly like Chase!” She scoffed and looked away.

“That isn’t fair. If Mackenzie was going to play the game we played, she should have erased her own evidence. Since she couldn’t, I’ll do it for her.”

Jeffrey sighed and looked away from her.

“When you have something, let me know. Maybe then we can exchange information. But you mustn’t touch Mackenzie or the children.”

He rose from the sofa and turned to her.

“Do whatever you wish to do with humiliating her, but don’t touch her life or the life of the kids. If I’m going to have the last laugh, I’m going to need to have her in her arms while I laugh.”

Without waiting for another word from her, Jeffrey turned his back to her and walked away.