Plain Gold Ring Pt. 03

John glances over Sam's shoulder and catches a quick movement in the window. Someone is watching.

"Just stay away, John," Sam says. He gets in his truck and waits for John to step back before driving. He doesn't speed off until John shakes himself from his trance and returns to his side of the street.

Every time she looks at Maggie, her eyes are puffy and red, yet she always manages a smile for June. Even after her blowout with Sam. June hates that she is the cause of all this strife.

A few days after the whole unpleasantness occurred, June and Maggie are in the kitchen, silently preparing for dinner. It's much like the night that everything went to shit. Sam went to the store for a couple of things and wouldn't be back until later. That is the only reason June is out of her room. If it were up to her, she'd move out and away from her asshole uncle who'd made such outrageous and humiliating claims that she can hardly stomach him.

June can't stand the quietness anymore and turns to look at Maggie. ""He can't seriously think John did anything to me when I was underage."

She finishes cutting an onion. "Of course he believes it. He wouldn't be being such a..." She sighs and rubs her belly. "He's being so difficult because he thinks it's true."

"How could he think that?"

"June, I wish I had an answer for you." Maggie leans against the wall and shuts her eyes. She looks beyond exhausted. "It doesn't help that I didn't tell him about your recent little fling with John."

"It's none of his business."

Maggie opens her eyes. "He's my husband. I should have told him. He probably would have known how to handle it better than I did." She puts her hand on June's face. "It doesn't mean that he's not acting like a dick."

June smiles in spite of everything. "He is, right? And for the record, you handled it fine."

Her aunt smiles and squeezes her hand. "He could have at least asked for the truth before assuming everything, but Sam is very protective. If he thought for a minute that a predator was sniffing around you, he would do all that he could to protect you. He must feel like he's failed."

"He shouldn't have yelled at you."

Maggie shakes her head again. "No, he shouldn't have, but that's my business." She looks June over. "Why don't you go stay with Lisa for a few days? Get away from all this shit."

"I don't want to leave you."

"I'm a big girl," she says with a smile. "I love that pigheaded dick. It'll all work out."

June hates seeing the broken smile on her aunt's face, almost as much as knowing who put it there and why.

"Melissa," June sighs. "It's all her fault."

"No," Maggie whispers, "it's not."

"Are you still blaming John? Or are you blaming me?"

Maggie hugs June and then returns to cooking. "I'm not blaming anyone. I just wish..." she trails off with a shrug.

Sam slams the door as he comes into the house with no groceries. He addresses Maggie, and Maggie alone. "I had to stop at work. I'm heading to the store now. You sure you don't want to come with?"

Maggie ignores him and throws the onions into the pan. He stands up straighter and tosses June a look of pure... hatred? It couldn't be hatred. Sam isn't allowed to hate her. He marches back out and June runs after him. It's time to set everything straight.

Then she hears John's voice, and like the weak little girl she is, she runs to the window and peeks out. He's not saying anything important to Sam, but he looks worried. Tired.

And then Sam says something too low for June to hear. He gets in his truck and disappears down the block only when John is back on his own property.

June is aware of Maggie hovering behind her. "I should have told Sam he was wrong," she says to her.

"You tried. He'll figure it out himself."

June's fingers tighten on the curtains. "I should have tried harder. This is ridiculous! I can swear up and down to anyone who will listen that John didn't think of me at all until his wife cheated on him." Her eyes are wet. "Can't you see what Melissa is doing?"

"Of course I can." Maggie's voice is sharp and quietly furious. "Sam can't right now."

"I'm tired of Sam," June says.

"Sometimes you get tired of people you love. Doesn't mean you don't love them anymore."

"Melissa did this to get back at me. I know it."

Maggie touches her stomach and not for the first time, June is overcome with guilt that she's putting her aunt through so much so late in her pregnancy. She wishes she could spare her from Melissa, but she can't. Melissa annihilates whatever is in her path as completely and without thought as a virus.

"I need to go talk to John. I need to let him know what Melissa is doing."

Maggie doesn't look surprised. "It won't help. The man was blind to her for years."

"He's not blind to her anymore," June says, and she steps out into the summer afternoon.

It seems like all John does is blink when Sam flies off. He had never imagined that Sam would take his relationship, or whatever you wanted to call it, with June well, but he'd never envisioned it actually going down before. It amazes him when he thinks about it that he never, ever thought of June Silva in that light until he realized he was married to a completely heinous woman.

"John?"

He blinks again and June is standing in front of him, dressed simply in shorts and a tank top. She looks much more fragile than he remembers. "June."

"My uncle found out about us."

He nods and looks down the street. "I figured."

"Melissa told him."

John whips his head back to stare at her. "What?"

June tells him briefly of what happened, Sam's ride with Melissa, his tirade when he came home, his belief that John had touched her before she was of age.

"It's sick," June says when she's finished. "He thinks Aunt Maggie knew about some of it and deliberately kept it from him. He's furious with the both of us. I feel terrible because Maggie is so pregnant and defenseless right now." She rubs an angry tear away. "I hate him so much for all of this, but I hate Melissa more. She did this on purpose."

"She told him I messed with you when I was tutoring you?"

June's blue eyes meet his. "Yes."

Maybe he stood in the sun too long. Maybe he worked for longer than he should have. He suddenly feels like he might faint. He leans against the lawnmower and stares at nothing. No, the real cause is the poison he's yet to get out of his system: Melissa. He thought all of this was over. He thought that Melissa was out of his life. She isn't. She might never be.

What a nightmare.

And what's worse is that she's violating their agreement. He would just have to go and remind her.

"I'll take care of it," he tells June.

She looks frightened, but she manages to tenderly smooth back his hair. "Are you sure?"

"I'm the only one that can stop this. Before I know it, the entire fucking town will think I molested you."

Tears fill her eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"I am, too."

"I wish things could have been different between us."

He tugs on the end of her hair, glinting gold in the sunlight. "I don't deserve it, but don't give up on me yet."

*****

He knows where she's staying. He's met Karen a few times. He's never liked her; she always looks him up and down and gives him a speaking glance to let him know she finds him lacking.

He drives too fast over there, not even caring if he gets pulled over. He would tell the officer the truth and ask him to honestly tell him he wouldn't be speeding, too.

The bitch. That fucking bitch. He wants to strangle her. He wishes he could go back in time and erase her. If there was a way to do it, he would. He feels like their marriage is a black hole in his past, and if he thinks about it for too long, he'll be sucked in, so he deliberately refocuses and thinks about June.

He feels terrible that June is involved in all of this. She didn't ask for it and certainly didn't deserve it. She's a fucking angel in comparison to the repugnant cunt that he married. He's not one to use the c-word lightly, but he can't think of anyone who better fits the term.

John hustles up Karen's driveway and tells himself to ring the doorbell. If he just barges in, he wouldn't put it past the two bitches to have him arrested.

Karen answers the door and he can tell by the dimple in her cheek that she knows about everything. They have probably been waiting for him to arrive with martinis in hand.

"This is a surprise," she laughs.

"Get Melissa." He's afraid to talk to Karen too much, afraid he might rip off her laughing face.

She opens the door wider. "Why don't you come in?"

"Get Melissa," he repeats.

Karen looks him over, and like always, shakes her head a little. "Melissa! It's John."

His wife appears a moment later, looking spectacular in a red bikini. Her nails are freshly painted and her hair looks professionally done. He would not be surprised if she didn't get ready just for this occasion, the sick bitch.

"John? What's going on?"

"Step outside. Right now."

Karen laughs again. "What are you going to do, fight her?"

"I want to talk to her outside. It's none of your business."

Karen opens her mouth again but Melissa slides past her with a meaningful glance John can't begin to interpret, not that he fucking cares.

The door clicks behind her and she leans against it with a smile. "You could have called. You must have wanted to see me."

"I heard about your play with Sam Patterson."

Melissa's eyes light up. "Play? What play?"

"You violated our agreement."

She shrugs a shoulder, looking entirely unconcerned. "I only said he should look out for June." She eyes him carefully. "Am I wrong, or are you suddenly ready for a long-term commitment?"

"It's none of your fucking business what I am ready for. I see you for the filthy, rotten, vile piece of trash that you are. You're garbage, Melissa, through and through, and if you think I don't know what you're trying to achieve here, then fucking think again."

Melissa bites down on her perfect and red lower lip. "I have to confess, John, that I'm completely lost."

"You violated our agreement." He steps closer to her so that they're breathing the same air. She has to tilt her head back, something he knows she hates. "I'm going to fight you in court. For everything. And if you think you're going to still be standing after all that, with your nails and hair done and an ugly smile spread across your face, then that's just hilarious." He points at her. He knows she hates that, too. "I'll destroy you." She breathes out against his mouth and he smiles. "Still lost?"

"I'm not the child predator here, John."

He moves back only so that he can laugh. "If you think for a second that anyone is going to buy your story, then try it. See if you can do it." He points at her again. "No one will believe it because it's not fucking true."

Her teeth are so, so white when she smiles. "I can make enough people believe it."

"Fine. So maybe you can. What will you have won at the end of that, Mel?" He rubs his face, suddenly tired of the whole thing. Tired of her. "How's your vet?"

She freezes, then relaxes against the door. "He's fine."

"Good. Seems to me you have better things to do than mess with me." He watches her carefully with a half-smile. "Or do you?"

She straightens her shoulders. "Of course I do."

John looks her up and down. "Prove it." He waits until he's at his car before calling, "You know, you look uglier every time I see you!" He opens the driver door and pauses. "And older!"

"You have him right where you want him!" Karen laughs, and Melissa knows it's true.

Karen pours Melissa another glass of wine and sits back on the couch. "So, what's the next step?"

There are many next steps Melissa could take. Whisper too loudly about John at the grocery store. Drop a story with one of the wives she knows. Fuck with Sam again. The last one would be the most exciting.

But she can't get John's words out of her head. What would she get out of messing up John's life that she didn't already achieve? She's already wasted enough time and there are more men out there. God, she's bored thinking about John and June fucking Silva. She's tired of those goody-two-shoes assholes who are too stupid to figure out that the whole goal of living is to get what you can out of others, who don't get that their principles and morals are thin and easy to be penetrated.

It would be fun to annihilate them, she thinks, but she's tired.

"I think I should get out of town for a while. See what's what."

Karen nods like she expected she might say that. "On to bigger and better?"

"You got that right," Melissa says, clinking her glass of wine against Karen's.

Melissa goes to bed that night and she doesn't dream. When she wakes up, everything is clear.

Let John live out his fantasy. He almost deserves it. As for June Silva?

Let her get trapped with John. Maybe they'll have a few babies, and they'll never know the glory of owning another person, of tasting raw desire and power. June is too stupid to know what to do with it, anyway.

And a life without all that? It is far more punishment for June Silva, Melissa thinks with a grin. Let her have John.

She rests back onto the pillows, satisfied that it isn't as if she's lost this round. She's won.

"Let the children play," she whispers to herself.

He speeds back home, a kind of clarity taking over that he's never known before. He has fucked up so many things and he's tired of it.

He parks in front of June's house and races up to the front door. Sam is home and this is overdue.

John rings the doorbell and waits. A flicker past the glass, and then the door opens. Sam stands there, his entire body rigid and ready for a fight. If he needs it, John is prepared for it.

"Melissa is fucking with your head," John says bluntly without a hello. It wouldn't do to beat around the bush, not about this. "I care about June and I have always cared about her, and I would never do a single thing to hurt her. I never fucking touched her, not until..."

Sam doesn't appear to be listening, but John presses on.

"I'm sorry, man. I can't imagine what you think of me, but you have to know... have to know that I care about June. A lot. I'm not just using her."

At that, Sam explodes. "Not using her? Fuck you, John."

"She's a grown woman and..."

"No," Sam interrupts, a big hand held between them. "No, she isn't. She might look like one. She might be of age. But she's not."

"That's not fair to her."

"Have you been fair to her?" Sam swiftly asks. He looks away down the road and crosses his arms. "She told me everything. I came home after she talked to you. She told me," his eyes swing to John's, "everything. She thinks she loves you. She thinks you're fucking worthy of that."

John is weak, exhausted, boneless. "I have to talk to her."

"No," Sam says, but he doesn't look hostile anymore. He almost looks like he pities John. That might be worse. "What you need to do is figure your shit out. You're a goddamn mess, and if you keep doing this, you're no better than her. Than your wife."

John takes a step back. It would have been better had Sam struck him. "Excuse me?"

Sam shrugs a shoulder. "I'm not wrong. I have been wrong about a lot of things and I hurt my wife and my niece, but I know I'm not wrong about this. You're using her, man."

"Sam..."

He cut John off with a loud sigh. "I can call June down here if you really want me to, but I think deep down inside you know I'm right. Can you really swear to me that you're right for her right now? That you're ready for that? That you won't fuck her up and hurt her? Because I don't think you can. I think you're going to break her, and maybe it's all of Melissa's fault that this shit started, but this one? This one will be on you."

"Sam?" a voice calls from inside. June's.

"If you can promise me that your shit won't taint her, I'll call her down here." Sam stares at the ground. "I won't give you my fucking blessing, but I will try to understand. Only if you can promise me that you won't hurt her."

"No one can promise that," John says.

Sam finally meets his eyes and that same transference of knowledge passes between the two men. John's not ready, and he might never be. And he'd just drag June down with him.

"Sam!" June calls again.

"Doesn't have to be the end," Sam says, pity painted across his face. "Doesn't mean you might not find your way back together. But not right now. She is in school. She has goals and dreams and her own life to fuck up. She doesn't need your help with that."

John takes a step back. And then another.

He doesn't remember getting home. He just remembers downing a few beers and the distant lonely hum of his TV.

*****

One year later...

She takes a bite of the peach. Its juices drip down her chin, and she is drenched in sunlight as she stands in a flowing white dress. If she's aware how seductive she looks, she doesn't show it. John suspects she has no idea.

He sits on his stoop and wonders if she ever thinks about him anymore. He still catches glimpses of her here and there—her laughing outside with friends, coming home from classes, playing outside with Maggie's baby. The glimpses burn but they're worth it. He misses her, and he misses something he never had.

He hopes she doesn't think about him anymore. And he prays she does.

She came knocking on his door a few times the last summer, the knocks growing fainter and sadder with every visit. John swears he can still hear it, sometimes. Then, she gave up. She moved on. It hurts him, but not as terribly as he expected. Sam was right and John is okay playing the asshole in this pantomime if it means he's sparing her.

Still. That peach. The dress. Her wild blonde hair, longer than he remembers, glinting in hazy afternoon sunlight. Bees dripped in gold buzz and zigzag around his overgrown lawn, and he thinks he should probably cut it, but then he might have to say hello to her and he's not sure he's brave enough.

Maggie and Sam walk outside with the baby and spot John from across the street. She waves and he's too polite not to wave back. Sam even gives him a nod. He guesses he's forgiven. His eyes move back to June and he startles when he sees she's staring at him.

She says something to Maggie and then crosses the street, all the while nibbling on that fucking peach. She stops a few feet away from him and gives him an appraising look.

"I heard a rumor," she begins. Just like that, as if they had just spoken yesterday.

An ember of attraction is stoked inside his belly, and though he knows he shouldn't, he smiles and leans forward. "That's what this town is known for."

She doesn't smile back. "You're selling it. The house."

He looks back at the house and nods. "Yeah. Not a lot of great memories here, unfortunately."

"But you're not leaving town." The sentence is said flatly, but he recognizes it as a question.

"No. I'm moving to an apartment."

Her big eyes take him in and shine in the bright sunshine. "A fresh start."

"Yes. Something like that."

She sucks on the peach and he fights the urge to stare at her swollen wet mouth. He can't help himself.

"I'm surprised you're talking to me. Is it because I marched over here and made you?"

"It's because I want to," he replies honestly.

"Sam told me what he said to you." Her eyes sweep over him.

"He did?"

"To spare me the humiliation of coming here again, I suspect."

He rubs his face. "I never meant to hurt you, June."

"I know. You were going through a lot."

He regards her carefully. "So were you."

"Ha! Nothing like you were going through."