“Ally Cat, come here, baby.”
I look around the corner just in time to see Evan Carr pull Ally—my Ally—into his arms. He touches her wild, red mane like he’s afraid it’ll bite, his brow furrowed at its newly freed state.
“Wow, you look…different.” He assesses her clothing, her sun-kissed skin, her swollen lips, still tingling with the taste of me. Ally returns his stare with bewilderment.
“Evan…Evan, what are you doing here?”
“I missed you. And with the scandal surrounding this Justice Drake guy, I knew I needed to bring you home.”
By now, the other housewives have trickled in, and while Diane tries to usher them back into the great room, her efforts are futile. The damage is already done.
“Scandal? What are you talking about?” Ally frowns. It doesn’t look right on her, and something within me shudders at the sight, longing to trace her lips and ease them into the smile that I know and love.
“The guy’s a hack, Ally. A fraud. He fooled us all just to get in the pants of dozens of innocent, unsuspecting women.” Evan flippantly runs a hand through his tousled, dirty blonde hair as if he isn’t defaming my character and my business.
“You know that’s not true,” Ally replies sternly. She pulls her wrists from his grasp.
Evan moves in close as if he’s about to kiss her, yet stops just a millimeter away from her lips. “Yeah, but we have company. And we want to make this good for them, right?” Then he places his lips on hers, just as a camera whirs and a blinding flash covers the room in fluorescent light.
Evan brought the paparazzi.
This f*ck
er is doing this for publicity. Not because he loves and misses his wife. Not because he is concerned for her and the welfare of ten other women. He’s doing this all for press.
A cameraman steps out from behind a pillar and snaps several more shots of the couple, as well as the interior of the house.
“Where is this Justice Drake anyway?” he shouts, drawing more eyes and ears. “Where is the big, bad, sex doctor now?”
It takes everything in me not to step out from the shadows and confront him. To show him just who the f*ck
I am. But that’s exactly what he wants. He wants that reaction, so he can bank off of it. I can see it now. Evan Carr exposes sexual predator, Justice Drake. f*ck
that. I won’t feed his little shit show.
“Leave him alone,” Ally commands, nervously looking around. “Just…forget about him. I’ll go get my things and we can go.”
She pushes away from him and begins to make her way to the staircase, towards me. I can see the trepidation in her eyes as she scans the hall. Maybe she’s worried I’ll see her with her husband. Maybe a tiny part of her feels like she’s betraying me by being with him. Or maybe the worry etched in her face is a result of her shame. I don’t know and I don’t give myself time to debate the whys and hows, before my hand is grasping her elbow just as she slips past me.
“Justice, what are you-”
“Don’t go.” The words are out before I can stop them. And they keep coming, all my doubts and discretion smothered in desperation. “Don’t leave with him, Ally. Stay with me. Please. You don’t belong with him.”
Her animated eyes search the hopelessness in mine. “I can’t just… What are you saying?”
I take a step toward her and grasp both her shoulders. It’s now or never. If I don’t try, I’ll never get another chance. “I’m saying that I don’t want you to go. Ever. I’m saying that I can’t live without the sun shining down on my face, and I can’t dream without the stars kissing me goodnight. I can’t be without you, Ally. So...here we are: your two choices. Pick me. Choose me.”
I don’t even realize that the entire room has gone silent, save for my determined breaths and the sound of my heartbeat racing out of my chest. But when I hear his voice, I know that my plea has been heard loud and clear.
“What the hell is going on here?”
I feel Evan approach behind me, but I don’t turn around. My fixed gaze is still trained on Ally, waiting for an answer, a sign. Anything that’ll tell me that she’ll stay.
“Evan,” she breathes, though her eyes are on me. “Evan, I, uh-”
“Is this him? Is this Justice Drake?” he spits, his words laced with accusation and amusement. I feel him right behind me, and I know that I have to show myself. I can’t stay hidden in the shadows any longer.
Had this been a cheesy sitcom or soap opera, this would be the part where the camera would fade to black for commercial. Or maybe this would be the end of the episode, leaving viewers on the edge of their seats, ensuring that they tune in next time.
But this isn’t TV. There are no closing credits to follow the look of pure shock and disgust on Evan Carr’s face when I turn to face him. No heart-racing cadence plays in the background, signaling the transition into a nail-biting climax.