FicWad

I took one final look at my husband and smiled. Shit, he looked so cute sleeping with his mouth open. It was still early so I decided to let him sleep while I went to visit Alicia. When I had called she said she was up and in need of Starbucks. This was a feeling I totally understood. Since the nearest Starbucks was just two blocks away I told her I would grab two white chocolate mochas on my way over. I wanted to visit with her so I could assure her and Mikey that Gerard was okay. Oh and yeah, I wanted to return their movies. Well, most of their movies. I kept one of the special DVD’s. I figured Gerard and I might want to watch another movie tonight.
Standing in line waiting for the coffee I head someone call my name. “Jenny.” I said happily. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m staying with my mom and dad until the tour starts back up.” We exchanged a quick hug. “So what are you doing here?”
“Gerard and I have an apartment a few blocks from here.” I told her happily.
“Really? That’s cool.” She titled her hand slightly careful not to spill her coffee and looked at her watch. “Hey I gotta get going. Maybe we could meet up for lunch sometime.”
I liked that idea. You still have my cell number?”
She nodded, “Yeah, I’ll give you a call in a couple of days.”
“Great” I said meaning it. Alicia and Christa were really the only female friends I had so adding another to my list of friends was important.


“So, how was your first night in your new place?” Alicia asked after taking a drink of her mocha and smiling like she’d just had sex.
“You mean how was it after the drama?”
She nodded, “Actually I wasn’t gonna bring that up unless you said something first. “How is Gerard?”
“Sleeping like a baby when I left him.” I knew she was waiting for the real answer, “He’s okay. He left the drink on the bar and walked out with me.”
“Mikey was so worried. He wanted to go down to the bar to see if you found him. I told him to let you handle it. Was that the right thing to tell him?”
I nodded, “Yeah, thanks. I knew if I needed Mikey I could count on him but I wanted to handle it on my own.”
“I’m glad it worked out. He’s lucky to have you.”
I smiled, “I’m lucky to have him. He’s strong, we’ll be okay.”
Alicia nodded, “I’m glad you two have each other. I’ve worried about him for years. When he first saw your picture I just had the weirdest feeling. It was like fate had a plan for the two of you.”
We drank our coffee in a comfortable silence for several minutes. Finally Alicia spoke again, “So when do I get to see the new apartment?”
“Whenever you want. We ordered a lot of stuff yesterday and some of it’s gonna be delivered this afternoon.”
“I heard Gerard tell Mikey you guys were sleeping on the floor.”
I laughed, “Well we bought one of those blow up mattresses. It was nice. Just being in a place of our own.”
My cell rang. “Morning” I said happily seeing it was Gerard.
“Hey, I woke up alone.”
I grinned, “I left you a note.”
“Not the same as waking up beside you. When you coming home?”
Hell, hearing him say home made me giddy. “Soon. Alicia and I are just getting our morning fix of mocha.”
“I need to go out for a couple of hours and I want to make sure you’ll be here in case the delivery guys show up early.”
“Where are you going?” He hadn’t said anything last night about going somewhere today.
“Just got some things to do.” He said. I picked up on the fact his voice sounded strange.
“Well I need to talk to you before you take off.” I lied. “See you in a few minutes.” I disconnected before he could say anything.
“This was a short visit.” Alicia said with a frown.
I tried to cover the fact that I was going home to find out where my husband was going. “Yeah, but think how close we are now. Maybe this afternoon you and Mikey can come by and see the place.”
“If he ever gets out of bed.” Alicia said rolling her eyes. “He’s like this every time after a tour. He’ll fucking sleep all day if I don’t wake him up.”
“So go wake him up” I said standing. “Oh, yeah.” I pulled open my bag. “Brought your DVD’s back. Thanks. Some of them were very educational.”
Alicia took them from me. “Hey, you kept one.”
“Only one. Gerard and I might watch it tonight.”
She laughed, “So you guys watch one of these last night?” She held up the two porn movies.
“Well we started one.”
“Rock Hard Rock Star?”
“How’d you guess?”
She looked down at her cup of coffee. “Gerard likes that one. He used to date the purple haired chick in the movie.”
I sat back down, “What? Are you serious?”
Suddenly she looked up at me and laughed, “Totally got you.”
“You bitch that was not funny.” I reached across the table and smacked her arm.
“You should have seen your face.” She was laughing so hard I couldn’t help but laugh too.
“This means war Alicia. I’m gonna get even.” I stood back up. She followed me to the door. As I started to pull it open she gave me a hug.
“Let me know if you need anything, okay? I mean it.”
Her concern touched me. “I know I can count on you.” I hugged her back tightly.

Gerard was standing by the door wearing his jean jacket when I walked into our apartment. I threw my arms around him. I don’t know what came over me but suddenly I was kissing him. When I tried to deepen the kiss he resisted. He took a step back. I must have looked hurt, “Glad to see you.” He said, “But you’re not getting me back in bed.”
I pouted, “I wasn’t trying to get you back in bed.”
“The way you were kissing that is exactly where we would have ended up.”
I reached out to him, “Is that bad?”
“Oh, not bad but I’ve got shit to do. I’ll be back soon.” He started towards the door.
“So where are you going?”
He turned to face me. “Out.”
I crossed my arms and glared. “Out? Does this out have a name?”
His temper flared, “Shit, we’re married not chained together. I don’t have to tell you where I’m gonna be every fucking minute of the day.”
I was shocked by his outburst. “I was just asking.” I said softly.
“Well don’t.” he walked out and slammed the door. Before I could even react he walked back in. “Fuck, I’m sorry. Look I’m going over to the house. I’m gonna paint over the shit on the walls. It’s not like I can hire someone to do it. I don’t want anyone else to see the word ‘murder’.”
Fuck, I had totally put all that out of my mind. “Can I come with?” I asked in a small voice.
“Laura, I’m trying to keep you away from as much ugliness as I can. I’m not trying to be mean to you.”
Walking over to him I reached out and grabbed his hand. “Remember the ‘for better of worse’ line? When I said, “I do” I meant it. Don’t shut me out of anything. Let me stay at your side.” I looked into his eyes, “It’s where I belong, and it’s where I want to be.”
He was silent a moment. “Come on.” He sounded tired. We walked out of the apartment holding hands.

We stopped and bought black paint and brushes on the way to the house. The nearer we got his mood darkened. “Look, I just wanna get in there, paint over the shit and get out.” He stopped at a red light. “And I don’t wanna fucking run into Helen.”
I had already thought about that possibility. “She probably will come over when she see us.”
“She ain’t gonna see us. I’m gonna park a block down from the house on the side road.”
So he had already thought this through. “Okay.” I said slowly. “Guess we go in the front door.”
“Yeah, if we stay away from the side she shouldn’t spot us.” He sighed, “This is just so fucked up. I’m tired of all this shit. Sometimes I wish I could just burn the motherfucker to the ground.”
Yeah, I had the same idea already. “Don’t let it get to you.” I said softly.
Once more his temper flared, “How the fuck could I not let this get to me? Someone knows what happened in that house. There are only four of us who know the truth or should I say there should only be four who know the truth.”
I sat back and closed my eyes. In truth I didn’t want to go back in the house any more than he did. As we got closer I started to worry more and more. It was hard for him to go in the house before. How would he handle it now that he had just recently quit drinking? I opened my eyes and glanced over at him. He was scowling. No other way to describe his look.
We reached the house and he parked where we had discussed earlier. He grabbed the paint can and I carried the bag with the brushes. We went in the front door as planned. Neither of us spoke until we got to the lower level.
“Fuck” he exclaimed when he saw the words on the walls.
I remained silent trying not to say anything that would cause him to turn his anger on me. He stood shaking his head. Finally he set the paint down and started towards his old room.
“Let me paint in there.” I said suddenly. I didn’t want him to see the angry red lettering.
He turned to me. At first I thought he would argue but he finally nodded, “Fine, I’ll work out here.”
He opened the can and poured some of the paint into a plastic bowl we found on a shelf. Carefully I walked to his old bedroom, afraid I would spill the paint. Not sure why I was worrying about it because paint had already been splashed on the rug. Was I neared the room I felt my heartbeat quickening. I took a deep breath and walked in. Everything looked just how I remembered it from my last visit. I walked toward the door that hid the word Murder and pushed it open. The air left my lungs and I stumbled back spilling the paint in the process.
“Laura?” Gerard called out. He had heard me drop the bowl. He rushed into the room. I turned to him and saw the horror in his eyes.
There on the wall was a large photo of Merri. Her eyes had been scratched out and a knife pierced the photo. The knife had been savagely plunged through her chest. Gerard stood staring at the photo, not blinking.
I watched as he slowly moved towards the photo and angrily gripped the knife. With one yank he pulled it out of the wall. We both watched in a horrified silence as a red substance flowed down the wall. Blood, it looked like blood. I pulled my eyes away from the sight and looked over at Gerard. He stood there grasping the knife that was dripping red. Suddenly the room began to spin. I heard Gerard saying my name and then the darkness overcame me.