It had simply been
mind blowing sex. Wild, tempestuous, no
strings attached. Or that’s what I’d
thought. But you know what thought did,
don’t you?
She stood in the
middle of my office looking like a petulant child, Aphrodite. My paramour, my Greek goddess of love,
beauty, pleasure, and now it would seem as with the goddess she was named
after, of procreation too. I should have known better than to get involved with
someone so young. Or anyone. I don’t
know what I was thinking.
“What do you
mean you’re pregnant?” My head was
pounding at my temples. I slumped back
in my chair.
“Are you completely
stupid? This is as much your fault as it is mine.” She actually had the
audacity to stomp her Jimmy Choo clad foot.
I only knew they were Jimmy Choo’s because I’d bought them.
“Damnit Aphro,
you knew going into this that I was married and that I have no plans of getting
a divorce. Anyway what about your studies?
Having a baby mid-way through your degree is going to set you back
somewhat.”
“Are you telling
me to get an abortion?” She had a
typically Greek temperament. I watched as she clenched her fingers, her
knuckles turned white. She was itching to slap me, of that I had no doubt.
“No need to
shout madam, and what happened to being on the pill? You assured me that you were. If I’d known that you weren’t I’d have taken
alternative precautions.”
“Oh for god’s
sake Stephen, the bottom line is I’m having this baby and you’ll just have to
deal with it.” She screamed at me.
My heart skipped
a beat as the door swung open. I closed
my eyes and held my breath. It was like
I’d just been caught smoking behind the garden shed by my mother.
“Everything
alright in here?” Thank god for small
mercies it was Andy. He looked at me and
then at Aphrodite with raised eyebrows. “You
two could be heard from the floor below you know.”
Aphrodite had
the good grace to look sheepish. “Sorry
Andy. Please don’t tell my parents about
this.”
I scowled at my
best friend. “Is Cheryl here?”
“No, she had
errands to run. You lucked out on that
front bud. Aphrodite I think you should
leave.”
“And since when
were you my father? Look Steve, come
over tonight and we’ll finish this once and for all.”
“Can’t. I’ve got Sam’s recital to go to. I promised him I’d be there.”
She rolled her
eyes at me and stomped out of the room.
She was a real diva, but her enthusiasm for life and her not
insignificant intelligence had made her irresistible. It was Andy that had introduced her to me.
We’d been going
through a tough business acquisition and it had finally all come together. We’d gone to celebrate at Signature, just the
two of us. We’d always been a formidable
team, even back in the day at high school.
We’d been kings of the rugby field and that had translated into scholarships
to university. The only tarnish to our
magical sheen was that I was the more driven, more ambitious one of our
duo. Andy had always been running just
that bit behind me. Which meant he
worked for me. If he resented my success
he’d never let me know about it.
We’d just finished
our first bottle of Veuve Clicquot, Rose Champagne when she’d walked in. She was breathtakingly beautiful. She was tall and slender with a mass of black
curls cascading down her back. She was
also rather young.
Andy had
beckoned her over. It turned out that she
was a friend of the family that he hadn’t seen in a while.
The evening
concluded with Aphrodite and me wildly consummating our new found friendship. And I was smitten.
*
I was on my way
home when my cell phone notified me of an incoming text message:
Hey bro, sorry to bother you. Do you think you could swing by and give me
hand to move some boxes around my new place?
I tapped out a
response:
Sure no hassles. See you in twenty.
*
“Nice place.”
“Yeah, not quite
as nice as yours, but hey beggars can’t be choosers and it’s mine.”
I nodded. “So
what can I help with?”
He pointed to a
stack of boxes in the corner, a knife was sitting on the top one. I picked up the knife and went to work
slicing the tape open and unpacked the books that were contained in the boxes.
“Where do you
want these?”
He pointed at
the bookshelf he’d just put in place. “Wanna beer?”
“Is the Pope
Catholic?”
Andy laughed at
the worn out quip and handed me a Castle Lite.
“What’s this? You wimping out on me?”
He patted his
stomach and laughed. “No, but I don’t
want to get out of shape.”
“Oh, why? You got a girl I don’t know about?” I gave
him a friendly punch on the arm.
“You could say
that.”
“Is that all you’re
going to say?”
He smiled and
winked at me. “Ja for now.”
“Have you
cleared things up with Aphrodite yet?”
“No she is
refusing to budge. I’m really between a
rock and a hard place with this.”
“Steve just
explain to me why when you have everything, a smoking hot wife, a fantastic
little boy and more money than is fair, you’re prepared to jeopardise
everything for some broke albeit beautiful under grad?”
I shrugged. I didn’t have a good answer.
I packed the
last of the books onto the shelves and noticed the time. “Shit, I better get going before the ball and
chain starts on at me. You know how she
gets.”
Andy seemed to
go rigid. “Cheryl is no ball and chain.”
“Right and when
did you become her Sir Galahad?”
“Sorry bud. I’m just a bit creased right now and I’d give
anything to have what you have.”
When did he become so concerned about not having what I have? I thought I'd done right by him.
*
There was a loud
thumping on the front door. The bedside
clock indicated that it was one thirty am.
What the…
More loud
banging. “Mr. Lawrence, open up.” I swung open the oak double door and was greeted
by blue flashing lights and a couple of uniformed police officers.
“Mr. Lawrence?”
A portly officer asked.
“Yes?” I frowned
at him.
“Please come
with us sir.” He pointed in the general
direction of the police vehicle.
“Hold on just a
bloody minute. Why do I need to go
anywhere with you?”
He looked at his
note pad. “You know an Aphrodite Katsaros?”
“Yes?”
Cheryl walked up
behind me. “What the hell is going on Steve?”
“I don’t know
darling.”
The rotund
police officer answered. “Ms. Katsaros
has been murdered and we’d like you to come in for questioning.”
As the words
crashed out of the toad’s mouth I felt my knees buckle.
*
I’d never felt
as tired as I did that day. They’d
grilled me for hours. Where was I at the
time of the murder? With my wife… You
would say that and she’d alibi you, she’s your wife after all. What was the nature of my relationship with
Ms. Katsaros? On and on with the
questions. I was informed that my
fingerprints had been found on the murder weapon which as far as the police
were concerned, was irrefutable evidence that I had perpetrated this heinous
crime.
The cat was out
of the bag now and Cheryl knew about my illicit liaison. She took it remarkably well. None of the histrionics I’d expected. Quite the opposite, she’d become the ice
queen, frostily stoic but she refused to visit me.
No matter how
much I proclaimed my innocence, I was going down for murder. I was going to have to pay the highest price
there was for what had been an indiscretion.
*
The day of my
trial arrived. The morose grey sky
emulated how I felt. My lawyer had told
me to expect the worst case scenario, life imprisonment. The evidence was stacked against me and the
chief witness, my dear pal Andy had sent me down the river.
I sat in the
witness box and looked out into the courtroom.
Cheryl and Andy sat next to one another.
Hand in hand. Andy lifted Cheryl’s
hand to his lips and kissed her finger tips.
He looked up at me and smiled. The
penny dropped. Oh my god talk about
being blindsided.
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