Mr. Big Love (Mr. Big 2)

"You fucking bastard," I said. "You cheating sonofabitch."

He turned around, and his expression was almost comical if I hadn't been so angry. He held up his hands, key fob in one and his suitcase in the other.

"Luke, I can explain," he said but I wasn't going to let him bullshit me.

"You have two choices. You can go home now and confess to Dana that you have been cheating on her, promise that you'll never see another woman again and that you've learned your lesson, or you can just leave now and never try to get back together with her. You still have to be a father to James, but you'll get a divorce."

He frowned, and I could see he didn't appreciate me giving him an ultimatum.

"What Dana and I do in our marriage is none of your business," he said and put his hand on the door handle.

"She's my only blood relative left alive. Her happiness is my business and if she knew you were a fucking cheat, it would break her heart." I placed my hand on his door, preventing him from easily opening it. "We're going to talk first and you're going to answer my question. What are you going to do? It's either you tell her, or I do. Which will it be?"

Then he shoved me with his shoulder, trying to get my hand off his door. "Fuck off."

I resisted and he dropped his suitcase and grabbed hold of my shoulders, shoving me aside. "I said, fuck the hell off. It's none of your fucking business!"

"Answer me!" I put my hands on his door once more, trying to prevent him from getting inside. A couple of people stopped on the sidewalk and were watching us struggle.

Then, Eric punched me. His aim wasn't all that good, but his fist did connect to the side of my jaw with enough force to knock me back and my hand came off the door.

"Hey, hey, hey!" one of the male bystanders called out. "Stop it."

I shoved Eric, pushing him against the car. "Answer my question! Will you tell her or is it going to be me?"

He reared back, intending to punch me again, but luckily, he wasn't all that great a fighter, and I dodged his fist. We grappled like two wrestlers, and struggled with each other, each trying to gain the upper hand, until we fell to the ground, with me on top of Eric. He managed to land a punch in the fray, and I tasted blood, and in my anger, I landed a good one on him, knocking his head sideways.

A passing patrol car stopped, its siren sounding, lights flashing. A police officer and his partner tried to separate us, but neither of us were cooperating, and several times Eric tried to hit me, but managed only to shove me with his shoulder. I tried to pull away from him, but he wouldn't let go. After a brief struggle, the police officers managed to pry us apart.

The officer who had a grip on me, pulled me away from the curb where the other officer held Eric back.

Officer Delgado, the police officer who had a hand gripped tightly on my arm, called in for backup, and then the other officer took Eric into their police car, pushing him down into the back seat, the rear passenger door still open. Officer Delgado, a youngish man in his thirties, read me my rights and handcuffed me while he did. I stopped resisting at that moment and sighed heavily.

Delgado had me sit on the curb and wait for another patrol car to arrive.

"He started it," Eric yelled from the back of the patrol car.

"He threw the first punch, Officer," I said to Delgado, my pulse still racing. "I was merely trying to talk to the cheating sonofabitch."

"You two lovers?" Delgado asked, shaking his head.

"What? No, no," I said and shook my head. "He's my brother-in-law. I caught him cheating on my sister. He had a woman up in a room in the Lowell," I said and gestured to the hotel entry with my chin. "I confronted him and demanded that he come clean to my sister. She just had a baby for fuck's sake," I said and when I saw his frown of disapproval, I cleared my throat. "Excuse my language."

"He's your brother-in-law?" Delgado asked, glancing over at Eric.

"Yes, unfortunately. I called him earlier to ask him to meet me and I was waiting outside the hotel. I saw him come out of the hotel with a young woman and send her off with a suitcase. He had his own suitcase, so I knew they'd been staying together. I approached him to merely talk with him."

"He accosted me!" Eric shouted from the police vehicle. "I want to lay assault charges. I was only defending myself from his aggression."

"He punched me first. I was merely trying to talk to him, officer. I never laid a hand on him until after he punched me."

"But you waited for him outside the hotel."

"Yes. I did, but only to talk."

"Looks like you broke his nose," the other officer said. I glanced over at Eric, who had smear of blood below his nose.

"I had to defend myself," I said, although I realized I really didn't have to punch Eric. I could have stopped it then and there and walked away.