Double or Nothing Pt. 04

After everything was said, the judge brought everything back into focus.

"Mr Morrison, with everything that has been said here today, your client should understand the seriousness and evidence that has been presented today. So how does your client plead?"

"Your Honour, at the insistence of my client, I am entering the plea of not guilty." The dickhead's cousin looked away from everyone as he said it.

No one said anything. Everyone thought he would plead guilty and throw himself at the court's mercy. Aim for a reduced sentence. How he could believe he was innocent and walk away was beyond me. For a moment, I tensed and could feel myself getting angry. Melody and Harmony tightened their grips on my hands; Melody leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

"It's okay, our love, let it go. We're here for you," she whispered.

With effort, I did.

"So noted," the judge responded. "I must admit that I am somewhat surprised, Mr Morrison, Dr Morrison, I shall review all evidence and based on the conversation today, I will make my recommendations for trial. "

"Bail will be set for Dr Morrison at two point five million dollars. In addition, Dr Morrison will be required to surrender his passport, submit to be fitted with a GPS tracking bracelet and will be required to check into the department of corrections once a week until the case is resolved. Based on the evidence presented, I would also note that I do not believe that Dr Morrison is a serious flight risk or likely to re-offend."

The judge looked at Dr Dickhead.

"Dr Morrison, do you understand and accept these conditions for your parole, and I would like to hear the words from you, not your council?"

He stammered, "Ye...Yes, Your Honour, I accept and understand the terms."

"Good, now in closing, I have one more comment, Dr Morrison. It relates to this whole matter from the start of your affair with Mr Other's wife till now, are you listening?"

We all were listening with rapt attention.

Dr Dickhead gulped, "Yes, Your Honour, I'm listening."

The judge leaned on his bench a little and stared down at Stephen Morrison like he was a piece of dog shit that had been sitting on his lawn for a week. "Based on what I have seen and heard today, I would usually put a restraining order in place against you, to stop you coming within one hundred meters of Mr Other or his family, but I'm not going to do that, do you know why?"

"No, Your Honour," he replied nervously.

The judge smiled, and it wasn't friendly, "I'm not because Mr Other has shown that he can hold his own against you even under duress. On the contrary, he has stated here today that he wants nothing to do with you, so I suggest that any time you see him turn the other way and walk away, else you end back in the hospital."

The dickhead gulped and nodded. He also turned very slightly to look at me. I caught the look and winked at him but said nothing. The judge sat back and nodded.

"I would note, Dr Morrison, that you have ninety days to amend your plea. If I were you, I would seriously consider your options? After the ninety days, a court date will be set based on the plea at that time. This hearing is adjourned."

We all rose as the judge left. Dr Dickhead was escorted out the small door with his two counsels, including his cousin, lastly followed them, Carol glanced back briefly at us.

Afterwards, we sat at the coffee shop outside the court in the winter sun. It was now early afternoon, the breeze was light with a soft chill, and we enjoyed a late lunch.

Harmony looked at Kim, "So, how did we go?"

"Pretty much as expected, your man, though," Kim looked at me. "He did extremely well."

"He's good like that," Harmony explained like it was common knowledge.

"Hey, I almost lost it when dickhead entered that no guilty plea!" I complained.

"I know, baby," Melody said, "but you had us there."

I leaned over and kissed her, then leaned the other way and kissed Harmony, "Thank you, my beauties, I must admit it felt good giving it to Carol, new life, new job, and I l must admit, I enjoyed the raised eyebrows around the room when I mentioned girlfriends!"

"Fiancées, you mean!" Harmony said.

"Yes, fiancées, sorry girls still getting used to that, but soon it will be wives!"

Melody giggled; Harmony looked at me, thinking, "I know our love," She paused, "So I take it Carol was the woman down the front sitting near the dickhead that looked like her head was going to come off and do a full three-sixty as you spoke?"

"Yeah, that's her!" Kim replied for me.

"Pfft," Harmony snorted, "I didn't get a good look at her, but she certainly lost out big time."

We all laughed at my expense for a while, my phone buzzed, and I saw it was a message from one of the last people I expected, Carol.

[ Terry, I know that you don't want to talk. However, I would like to see you about some things. Would you be able to meet me on the courthouse steps in 15 minutes? ]

I frowned, and Melody noticed, "What is it, babe?"

I showed her the message, then Harmony, then Kim.

"Surely she gets that I don't want to see her. I'm sure I said that in front of everyone, including her today?"

"I know, baby," Harmony cooed. She looked at me thoughtfully for a minute, then looked at Melody, then Kim. They both nodded. "However, I think you need to go over there and talk to her. Just keep your cool and think of us if you need to."

"And don't forget, you can always walk away," Meldoy added.

I couldn't disagree with my girls when they knew I needed closure. So, I sighed and couldn't see that they were wrong.

I met Carol a little after fifteen minutes later on the courthouse steps.

"Hi Terry, you're looking good." She started awkwardly.

"Carol," I nodded at her.

"Come on Terry, that's your only words to me after fifteen years of marriage, I know I hurt you, but it's been two years now; surely your anger isn't as strong towards me?"

I looked at her for a moment. Every move, every conversation over the past few years had a plan. But, for the main part, that agenda always centred around money. I set my jaw and gave her what could only be described as a judgemental, unbelieving look.

"Carol, how I feel towards you doesn't matter, and I know you didn't ask me here to find out how I'm doing. Since you left me, you haven't bothered to ask me once, and I never thought for a second this conversation was about how I feel, so what's this all about?"

She looked taken aback for a moment, shocked that I would be so deadpan. Then, she lifted a gentle hand to her chest, trying to affect sympathy.

"Terry, have I been that heartless?" She tried to affect a sorrowful look, but I wasn't buying.

She continued trying to be personal, changing the topic. "So it sounds like you are dating again. Was it one of the girls I saw you with within the hearing?" Carol asked. She must have missed the plural word in the hearing that everyone else heard.

I felt my face harden. I didn't want to talk to Carol about this, "Yes."

She nodded, getting a little lost in her mind as she worked towards what I believe was asking for something. "That's good, and you're now a quality manager, not a plumber. That's a good trade up, isn't it?" she said more to herself than me. Her hands started fidgeting as she looked at me.

I sighed. "Carol, Like I've told you before, I'm not interested in telling you anything about my life. I've told you that I had a chance to be happy and with very few exceptions..." I trailed off and gestured at the courthouse, trying to get her to see my interactions with her and her husband were the one black cloud still hanging over my life. "Now tell me, what is this all about? Why did you want to see me?"

She sighed.

"Terry, because of you, we don't have any money coming in. Sure, we have the basics covered by Stephen's trust, however with his bail and parole, it wipes out over half of the fund available, and we're having to get a special release just to do that."

She looked up at me.

"I was hoping that you would be open to reconsidering giving me Mackenzie's university fund so we could ensure we have money for things."

I looked at her dumbfounded for a minute, or it might have been longer because Carol had to prompt me. This woman was living in a different universe. She really had no concept of the pain she had caused or concept of when to quit.

"Terry, did you hear me? With everything happening and us not having as much money coming in, I wondered if you would consider letting me have Mackenzie's university fund?"

I started to smile, and Carol did too for a minute, then she lost the smile as my smile turned into a big open mouth smile, then I started laughing. That moved into a big hearty laugh the that built from my diaphragm, causing tears to gather in the corner of my eyes. Carol became embarrassed, so I stopped laughing and guided her over to a wall on the courthouse.

"So, Carol, let me see if I have this right, your pathetic shit of a husband steals you from me trying to give you the 'good life' as you call it. Convinces you to betray me and adopts my daughter, spinning the same bullshit to her, and like the total back-stabbing bitches you are, you both leave me without warning."

I continued.

"He threatens me with your blessing, then when he gets the opportunity tries and almost succeeds to kill me. Leading us here!"

I gestured to the courthouse we were standing in front of.

I started counting off on my fingers. "Because of all of this is he's going to be fired, will never practice medicine again, or even hold a job in any medical field again. In addition, he is likely going to spend the next twenty or so years in jail, thanks to his actions.

"And now you want me, the person that you all wronged, the person you abandoned for money, to give you money that you don't deserve because you think it's my fault and I have a duty to you, correct?"

She squared her shoulders and looked at me with a small amount of arrogance. "Well, I wouldn't put it quite that way, but essentially correct, if not for me, then do it for your daughter. Mackenzie and I have a certain standard of living to maintain, and with Stephen unable to work due to you, yes, that's what I want."

I looked at her, stunned. "Carol, if you were anyone else, I'd say you're batshit crazy!"

"But I'm not, Terry, you know that." She smiled, thinking I was, at last, coming over to her side.

"I know Carol, and knowing you and every conversation we have had in the last two years, I can say you're a certifiable fucking lunatic!"

She lost her smile, then stepped back, and I laid into her.

"Your fucking standard of living means nothing to me. When we were married, we made do with a very happy bottom line; our necessities were met every month." I started talking with my hands. "You've just told me how much your fuckwit of a husband has in his trust, and for the average person, even after bail, that should be more than enough to get you thought until you can find a job." She baulked, "Yes, a job Carol, you remember what it's like to have to work to live?"

"However, it now sounds like you and your daughter are not happy with working like us mortals do. But, again, what you want isn't yours. You didn't work for it, and you in no way deserve it."

I was getting upset. I tried to breathe.

"Now, your fucking fat assed, pathetic excuse for a husband tries to murder me in a hospital, and you have the gall." I drew in a tight breath and glared at her throwing the dickheads words back at her. "No, you have the fucking audacity to ask me for money so you can buy more fucking useless designer clothes or other useless shit!"

The old anger was back, but then I recalled the transcript that Kim showed me, and I settled myself and changed gears while Carol stood looking a little panicked.

I smiled, "Carol, do you know why your tiny dicked husband hates me so much?"

While I was scolding her, she looked at her feet like she had the last time I gave her a serve. But now, she looked up at me.

Her voice was quiet, her eyes questioning. "No, not really. Stephen never really told me, but he would get upset any time Mackenzie or I mentioned you. It happened a lot more in the mornings."

I laughed, "Carol, are you aware that you talk and move around in your sleep?"

Her questioning gaze intensified, her head cocking to the side. "Of course, Terry, you have known that since high school, but what that has to do with anything?"

"Carol," I repeated, "You talk and move in your sleep. When we were married, you would often speak your dreams. Your dickhead of a husband was getting to hear your dreams at night."

"So?" she barked, perhaps a little embarrassed. "That has nothing to do with why he..." She trailed off.

"That means nothing," she looked up at me with the most honest questioning, searching look I had seen on her face in years. "I mean, Stephen couldn't have heard that could he?" I don't know if she suspected I knew anything or had put two and two together; I didn't care. It was time for her to feel some pain.

"Yes, Carol, your asswipe of a husband, hates me and tried to kill me because when you're asleep, in your dreams, you dream of coming back to me. You dream of me accepting you back then fucking you senseless. You dream it so much and so often that you finger yourself to orgasm while you are asleep. In your dreams, you tell me what a mistake you made and how tiny Stephen's cock is.

"You do it so often that one day after you did it again while he was listening and hearing you finger yourself, he saw me in the hospital and couldn't take it anymore. So, the poor pathetic moron snapped, trying to kill me." I clicked my fingers in a snap in front of her eyes.

Watching her face, realising what she had done was dawning on her like a sunrise. Watching her horror was like therapy.

I dropped my voice low and quiet. "Carol, Stephen may have made me a clueless cuck for almost two years while you had your affair with him. But from the day you left me, you've been so sexually unsatisfied that you keep dreaming about me fucking you, of us making love as we used to as I would leave you panting, that sheen of sweat across your brow following your multiple orgasms.

"You recall the feeling of my cock pounding you, how I would eat you till you came hard and loud. You're so repressed now that you miss my mouth on your breasts and the kisses that I gave you as we spooned in the morning, my hard cock against your thighs as we said the words that lovers do."

The look on her face was beautiful anguish and surprise, arousal. I leaned into Carol and in a low soft sensual voice.

"But for Stephen, he's a knowing cuckold to your dreams. He knows that he will never be able to please your body as I can. So, he will be chasing a sexual dream he can never live up to!"

I stood back, and I felt calm for the first time since this whole mess started. Carol was panting slightly, lust written in her eyes.

"Terry...." Carol wasn't sure what to say.

I stood back. "No Carol, no more, you threw me away for a dream. Now those dreams have turned on you and shown the fuckwit you threw me away for what a pathetic loser he is. Go back to your loveless marriage and regret everything that you threw away. Goodbye, Carol!"

Before she could say anything else, I turned and walked away. I was not tempted to look back; I felt good. I had a smile on my face. I didn't care about her at all.

My good mood lasted quite a while after that. My relationship with the girls continued to deepen and mature, our wedding plans progressed nicely. Work was going well, and I felt I was getting in the groove of managing quality within Delotiz Inc.

My birthday came along, and the girls took me out for a fancy dinner, then out to one of the local clubs for dancing. To say the three of us where the focus in the club was an understatement. The girls dressed up in matching skin-tight green dresses, their hair done up, making them look like a couple of models straight out of a fashion magazine. They dressed me in a form-fitting navy-blue suit with an open shirt, doing my hair up and making me feel like I was a million dollars.

Three times that night, guys came up to me asking for drugs. Each time was when the girls excused themselves to go to the bathroom. I asked the second guy why he thought I would be selling drugs after I turned him away. His response had me laughing for the rest of the night.

"Dude, you have two of the most amazing looking women hanging off you tonight. They haven't got eyes for anyone else but you. We'd kill for just a look from them." He then looked at me appraisingly. "And lastly, you are dressed and built like you own the fucking joint, so we just assumed."

I have to say my ego had a significant boost for the rest of the evening. We kept dancing till the early hours of the morning. Then, after the club, when we got home, my girls looked after me three times before falling asleep in a tangled mess.

I didn't get anything from Carol or Mackenzie for my birthday, no messages, no card, no well wishes. But just as in previous years, I didn't expect anything. I suppose I held some hope after my last chat with my former daughter, but it was a lost hope. However, when her birthday came a few days later, I thought I would try to reach out. I had the number that she texted me from during her mother's initial separation and divorce. So, I tried to call after lunchtime in my office. It went to voicemail.

"Um, hi Mackenzie, it's dad; well, I suppose it's just Terry these days." Stumbling in my voicemail, I wasn't sure what to say, so I kept going.

"Sorry, this is hard for me. I know today is your birthday, so I thought I would take the opportunity and try to connect with you. I'd like to see if we could rebuild something following on from the last time we spoke in person." I paused a minute. "Our lives have gone in different directions, but I do miss my little girl, I miss our time together, and I miss being able to spoil you just a little bit here and there." I paused again. "Anyway, I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, and I hope you have a great day. Bye."

I hung up and sat there for a minute. Melody walked in a moment later and sat down on my lap, wiping away a single tear I didn't even know was there.

"What's wrong, baby?" she asked, concerned.

"Nothing, oh, I just tried to call Mackenzie to wish her a happy birthday, it's today, and I just thought there might be a chance to open up communication," I told my fiancé.

She caressed my cheek, "Aww baby, you are the most amazing man I know. Even after everything they have done to you, you are still willing to put yourself out there for your daughter." My phone chimed, "See, that's more than likely Mackenzie thanking you for your message."

I looked at my phone, and it was Mackenzie, but it wasn't to thank me.

[ Fuck off and die, asshole, you put my father in jail, my mother is distraught after talking with you, and you call to try to make it like you want to reconnect with me, you disgust me! ]

It was followed up a moment later with another text.

[ If you want to do something for my birthday, give me my university money so I can at least buy myself something I want for my birthday. Otherwise, keep being an asshole of a sperm donor! ]

I was appalled, but then the final message came in, putting the final nail in the coffin of the relationship with my daughter.

[ You know what, asshole, don't give me anything for my birthday, just like the last few years. I'm old enough now that I will sue you for it, so get ready because I will sue you for everything you've got, Fuck You!!! ]

I dropped my phone, slid back into my office chair, Melody still in my lap.