ou hate me. You’ve always hated me, you and your wife both. The only reason you talk to me is so you can see me fail, and it’s not because I’ve done anything wrong. It’s because your ass is jealous because I’m rich. You’re just like everyone else.”
“You think it’s because of the money?” Andrew was on his feet and in my face.
“Yeah, I do, and I know about Elizabeth.” He shook his head like he was ready to punch me. “She’s been threatening to leave your ass since before Haylie was born, because you’re too lazy to get a real job.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah, because I’m a fucking man, and you’re an overgrown child sitting behind a computer staring at all the women you can’t have.”
Andrew’s face reddened in anger. “Why were you in the bathroom for like an hour at my barbecue with your girlfriend? Why do you always have a fucking boner? You know why we hate you?”
I clenched my fists.
“Because you don’t believe in love,” he said.
“Yes, I do.” I gripped the table so hard my knuckles were white.
“Then how come every girl I’ve seen you with has a fake pair of tits and a bad facelift? You think I don’t know what you do? Everyone knows that you pay women to have sex with you, and you’ve been doing it for years. You’re sick, Jake. You could have trillions of dollars, and every single car in the world, and that still won’t make up for the fact that you’re a self-centered pervert that’s incapable of loving anyone other than yourself.”
I threw a right hook straight at his nose and winced at the sound of the bone cracking. He stumbled backward, and he collapsed in his seat. He cradled his nose while I stood there trembling. I couldn’t look at him, so I turned around and walked back into the ice cream parlor to get some napkins.
His face and hands were covered in red when I walked out and threw the napkins on the table. “I am not incapable of love. You can find your own fucking way home after that shit. And I’m having your car towed, just for fun.” I turned around to walk off. “And you don’t know what I’ve been through, Andrew. You don’t have any right to judge me.”
“Nothing did this to you, Jake. You’re a predator. Not a fucking victim.”
“I am not a predator! It’s that bitch, Mildred.” A wail erupted from my throat. “She did this to me.”
“Mildred? Like, Mildred Mildred? The babysitter?”
I gave him a dangerous look.
“Jake… You’re not saying…” He went silent.
“Yeah, I’m fucking saying. The fuck else did you think it was?”
“She did something to you?” His voice was choked with emotion.
“That’s all you get. After all these years of nothing but resentment and scrutiny. Motherfucker, you want to call me a predator?”
“I was wrong. We were all wrong. Don’t listen to anything they say. If this is what she did to you, then yes. You are a victim in the worst possible way, and I cannot apologize enough for the things we’ve all said.”
I shook my head. “That doesn’t mean jack shit now, does it?”
“Then I’ll defend you.”
“I’m not talking about the family,” I raged.
“Oh? Then what?”
“What do you think, man? She ran off. She won’t answer any of my calls or texts. Mercedes is gone.”
“Mercedes? What happened to Maria?”
“Her name is Mercedes.” I took a seat across from Andrew. “Her hooker name was Maria.”
“You fell in love with a hooker.” Andrew laughed.
“Hey, screw you. You don’t know anything about this crap. I’d never get with a hooker; not like you mean. She joined an escort service thinking that it was a courier service. She had no idea what she was getting into. I was her first trick—ever. She didn’t belong. She didn’t have surgery or a crack pipe in her bag. She was a good woman in a bad situation, and she never wanted me to pay her. She just wanted to be around me, and I wanted to be around her. So I stuck with her for a while, and it just happened.”