Go Me! ENJOY!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part Twenty!
Max couldn’t help but eye his sister warily as they drove towards Jesse’s office. He’d never seen her look so frazzled. Just in the way she had called him and immediately rushed to pick him up had alarmed him.
Isabel was always calm, always collected. She had always been the “ice princess”, never letting anyone or anything bother her. And to see her like this was making him want to freak out as well. He had no idea what was going on.
“Isabel...” he hedged softly.
She was staring straight ahead, hands gripping the steering wheel as they drove towards wherever the hell they were going. Max could’ve sword he heard her mumbling under her breath as she reached up to push stray wisps of her blonde hair behind her ears.
“Isabel, are you okay?”
She looked over, acknowledging him for the first time since he had gotten into the car. “I’m fine, Max. Everything’s great,” she said quickly, eyes darting back to the road. She swore loudly when a car pulled out in front of them, making them stop at a red light.
Max’s eyes were practically out of their sockets as he regarded her. “Where are we going?”
She looked at him sharply, and seemed to consider if she should tell him or not. Waving her hand in a flippant gesture, she tried her best to smile normally. “Oh, I just need to stop by Jesse’s for a second.”
Max nodded, seeing she was obviously unwilling to tell him anymore. He was even more confused, wondering what could be going on between her and Jesse that would make her act the way she was acting. As far as Max knew, they’d never even had a fight.
When Isabel spoke again it took Max but such surprise he jumped in his seat. “So how are things with Liz?”
“Liz? How do you know about Liz?”
Isabel looked at him in confusion, not understanding that Liz wasn’t supposed to be known to the world. Not that Max didn’t want to get on the highest mountain and tell everyone how amazing he felt for being lucky enough to love her and be loved by her. He just had thought it was best to keep things between them more private until everything with Tess was taken care of.
“Just something mom mentioned to me...” Isabel told him warily, obviously feeling like she was treading on a sensitive subject and probably shouldn’t have mentioned anything in the first place.
Max let out a sigh of relief, scared for a second that Jesse had told her about Liz. It bothered him that his mother had said something, but she probably hadn’t thought there would be anything wrong with his sister knowing what was going on.
“Liz is great,” Max told her finally.
He trusted Isabel, trusted that his sister would not say anything about Liz to anyone as long as he asked. And since Max wanted to talk about how much he loved Liz and how happy he was, he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity now that he had found someone who seemed genuinely interested to talk about it.
“How’d you meet her?” Isabel asked, smiling at the look on Max’s face. It’d been so long since she had seen it there and she couldn’t be happier for him. Isabel had always had a feeling that Max wasn’t completely happy with the life he led. It was nice to see that was changing.
“I pulled her over.” Max smiled at the memory of their first meeting, getting lost in his thoughts as he remembered every moment of pure bliss that had followed.
“Do you love her?” Isabel asked after a few minutes, letting Max revel in his cherished moments.
He turned to look at her, the smile so broad on his face it made Isabel join him despite herself. “Yes,” he told her.
There was no hesitancy, no doubt in the way he said it. He was complete, finally whole because of this small girl who had captured his heart. “This is where I’m supposed to be, Iz. When I’m with her...it’s all I need. There’s no where else I can imagine wanting to be.”
Isabel felt tears sting her eyes at his sweet words, but she blinked them back, not wanting to alarm him. Hearing him speak about love, about true love...it was a little too much right now. She had so much on her mind, and she’d been trying for the past two hours to get around it, to avoid it.
But as they pulled up to Jesse’s office, she knew what she had to do.
Getting out of the car, Max came around to Isabel’s side and put his arms around her. “Whatever it is, Isabel, it’s going to be okay. I’m here for you.”
She nodded as she hugged him, pulling him just a little tighter before stepping back and smoothing down her outfit in nervousness. Taking a breath, she turned to face the building, determined. She walked to the front door, her hand hovering above the doorknob for a second before it closed around the cold metal.
Max watched as she pushed open the door, trailing slightly behind her, still unsure of the situation. He was curious to find out just what was going on, and as soon as that was taken care of, he could talk to Jesse about the divorce.
But Max could tell the second they walked into the office that something was wrong. Muffled noises came from one of the closed doors in the back, and there wasn’t a secretary on duty, which normally Max wouldn’t have noticed. The only reason it stuck out was because if there wasn’t a secretary than the office probably wasn’t open, and he couldn’t understand why Jesse would come to work...
Max then took in Isabel’s frazzled appearance and definite out-of-character behavior, and Max knew something was not right.
Isabel seemed to be thinking the same thing, because she walked straight towards the door Max assumed held Jesse’s private office, and thrust it open, not even bothering to knock.
To say it came as a complete shock when he actually saw Jesse and Tess spring apart would be a major understatement.
“What the FUCK is going on here?”
This came from Isabel, who looked so furious Max could practically see the steam pouring out of her ears. But he completely understood. As he looked at the two of them, mixed looks of guilt and smug satisfaction on their faces, Max wanted nothing more than to punch Jesse straight in the face.
It actually didn’t seem like too bad of an idea, and with three purposeful strides, shocking the hell out of the older man, Max’s fist came into contact with his jaw, hard and fast, sending him flying backwards into his desk.
A picture frame of Jesse and Isabel slid off the side of the desk from the impact, the glass shattering as it landed on the floor.
“You fucking bastard,” Max spat, watching as the other man nursed his jaw.
Max looked over to where Tess stood, her haughty expression clouded by a trace of fear that Max couldn’t help but be happy about. He wanted to strangle her, but that was an urge he would not give in to.
Max stormed over to Isabel, who was staring at Jesse and Tess with a mixture of shock, pain, and pure rage in her dark eyes.
“How could you?” she asked finally, her voice low and dangerous.
Max had only seen his sister lose control once before in his life. They had been eight, and Max and Michael had taken her Barbie dolls and cut off all their hair, wanting to use them as GI Joe action figures since their own had drowned in the pond behind their house.
But the anger on that young Isabel’s face was nothing compared to the looks she was giving now. Max swore that if looks could kill, Jesse and Tess would be out of their hair.
Isabel seemed to approve of Max’s choice of action, only disliking the fact that he had gotten to throw the first punch. But she followed close behind, demanding their attention as she strode toward them. “How could you do this?” she practically yelled at him this time, but her voice still showed she was holding onto her last shred of control.
She trembled from the effort to keep herself in check, finally reaching up to slap Jesse across the face as a tear coursed down her cheek. Jesse seemed as stunned by Isabel’s lack of control as Max was, obviously having been expecting her to be calm about the fact that he’d been caught red handed.
Isabel turned to Tess next. “You stupid bitch,” she snarled, all the anger and frustration she knew Max wanted to bestow on the smaller blonde coming out in waves. “Fucking with my brother wasn’t enough for you? You had to go behind and fuck my fiancé as well?”
Tess knew she was no match for Isabel, who was at least a foot taller than her. And the girl involuntarily shrunk back. Disliking the action, Tess straightened, defiance rolling off of her. “I was fucking him when he was just your boyfriend, too,” she replied matter-of-factly, the satisfaction in her eyes completely evident.
Isabel took a step forward, and as Tess shrunk back again, Jesse’s hand closed around Isabel’s forearm.
“Get your fucking hands off of her!” Max exploded, going to his sister’s side.
Isabel’s icy glare stared down Tess for another second before she took a step back. “You’ve been fucking this tramp all along? My brother’s wife! How could you! How could you propose to me?” she demanded, taking the diamond engagement ring off her finger and hesitating.
She didn’t know who to throw it at, the man who had made her a false promise, or the tramp who was obviously desperate for it. She finally flung the ring at the book case behind them, only slightly satisfied when the glass of his framed college degree broke, which knocked over two other items before falling over.
She continued to stare at Jesse, who turned around to assess the damage, waiting for her answer.
“Start talking, Jesse, because none of us are leaving until we know the truth.”
Jesse’s eyes flashed at her words, before he shot a look at Tess. “What do you want to know?” he asked her finally. “How long we’ve really been together?”
He didn’t wait for an answer, though Isabel nodded just the same, her arms crossing in front of her chest, all the hurt and betrayal she was feeling completely dissipating into pure hatred and anger.
“We’ve been together ever since Max and Tess came down to visit.”
Tess chose that moment to speak up. “Why do you think I suddenly became so eager to move her, Max? You didn’t think it was because I wanted to make you happy, did you?”
Max’s jaw clenched in anger. “I’d watch what you say to me, Tess.”
But she continued. “I found a real man, and I knew you’d drop everything to move here if I said so, which is why I decided that I didn’t have to stop sleeping with him. Especially because it was so much fun, going behind your back with the man who was dating your sister.”
Max took a reflexive step forward, his hands clenching into fists at his side as he tried to control himself.
She let out a laugh, before looking to Jesse. “It’s still fun. Only now the truth is out, and there’s no reason for us to hide anymore.”
Max and Isabel watched in horror as Jesse leaned down and kissed Tess in front of them. Appalled by their actions, but immediately worrying about Isabel, Max put his arm on the small of her back, wanting to comfort her.
When they pulled away, Tess turned back to Max. “Sucks to know you’ve been lied to all along doesn’t it? Bet you think it’s going to stop now...now that you have your precious little Lizzie.”
At the sound of her name from Tess’s mouth, Max’s eyes snapped to Jesse’s. There was only one way that Tess could’ve found out about her, now that he knew Jesse and Tess were sleeping together.
And if Jesse had told her, that went against client-lawyer privilege. He wasn’t allowed to say anything. It was that simple.
“How could you tell her that Jesse? I told you that in confidence, not so it could be your damned pillow talk!”
Jesse’s answer wasn’t what he expected to hear. “I didn’t have to tell her.”
Tess laughed again, the sound grating on Max’s nerves. “That’s right, Max. He didn’t have to tell me, because I already knew.”
“How the fuck would you know that?”
The smug look was back in her eyes, mixed with a look of pure delight that Max wanted to smack off her face. She crossed her arms in front of her chest, leaning back as if to prepare herself for the enjoyment she would get out of his reaction when she finally told him.
“Because there’s a lot more going on here than just a simple affair. And your precious Liz has been involved in the whole thing.”
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TBC....
So Be my friend!!
This has been a very LONG and TWISTED road getting this fic completed. I swear it took on a life of it's own!! I couldn't even stop it. Thanks to all of you who read and left FB, and even those of you who lurked. I love you all!! 