A Wedge Between Pt. 5 (Final Chapter)

A Wedge Between Pt. 1

A Wedge Between Pt. 2

A Wedge Between Pt. 3

A Wedge Between Pt. 4

“What are you doing here?” Stodler asked.

“My private dick saw everything and I thought I could help” she answered, feeling victorious. “Is the old man really dead?”

“I don’t know, but I think so” he answered.

“And the dumb bitch? Looks like you haven’t taken care of her yet.”

The last sentence hit Stodler like a ton of bricks. He realized just then that Isabel was a problem that had to be dealt with.

“Isa, honey” Stodler kneeled down and took her hand. “We’re gonna get through this, right? You can be quiet about this?”

Isabel snapped out of her catatonic like state, turned her head to Stodler and said “Fuck you, you’re gonna rot in jail” She tried to pull her hand away to stand up but Stodler tightened his grip.

“No, my love, it can’t be like that. I’m sorry”

Isabel let out a shrill scream that was cut short. Blood sprayed the wall behind her. She slumped over. Stodler turned to see a smoking, silenced .40 caliber in the dectective’s hand.

“This is gonna cost you, miss” the detective said to Amanda.

“I’m good for it, besides, the bill is only going to get bigger. I’m going to need you to clean this up” Amanda replied.

“Consider it done” the detective said.

Stodler was relieved. He had seen his future come to an end only to have it resurrected by the hand of the detective. Stodler and Amanda ending up dating. Amanda eventually threw Stodler away when she became bored with him. Stodler was none the happier, he was with her more out of self-preservation anyhow. In the years after the incident, Stodler graduated top of his class and enjoyed a successful career in politics. In two decades he ran for a Senate seat. He won.

A Wedge Between Pt. 4

A Wedge Between Pt. I

A Wedge Between Pt. 2

A Wedge Between Pt. 3

“What have you done?” Isabel cried.

“I dunno…I went blank. I wasn’t in control” Stodler answered.

“We have to call an ambulance, the pol…” she said before Stodler interjected.

“NO! We have to figure this out first” he said, visibly shaking all over.

“What’s there to figure out? My father needs help!” she barely got the words out through heavy sobs. She knew her father was beyond help and she saw Stodler through different eyes. He was a monster to her now.

“This can really fuck everything up I’ve worked for, so far” he said.

“What are you even saying?” she said as she reached for her cell phone. Stodler promptly slapped it out of her hand.

“Let’s calm the fuck down here. We can take care of this. Together. I hope.” Stodler started to become eerily calm.

Isabel could only cower. She was truly afraid of Stodler. She was now looking for a way out of this alive.

“He was going to ruin us anyway. This is for the better. We can hide the body. Nobody will know” Stodler said with a wild look in his eyes.

“Monster! Who are you?” Isabel shrieked, snapping out of her trance.

Just then an Audi pulled up and immediately turned off the headlights. A pretty young woman and a balding man with a pot belly got out. The man was so sloppy about concealing his weapon, the hand grip of his .40 caliber Glock was showing above his waistline.

Stodler went to the window to see who arrived. “What the hell?” was all that he could mutter. The new arrivals didn’t even get to knock on the door, Stodler opened it before knuckles made contact with the wood.

“I bet your glad to see me” the woman said. She surveyed the room. She saw a broken table, a dead man and an almost catatonic woman on the floor.

“I haven’t seen you since high school” Stodler said, searching his mental data base for a name. He finally came up with one, “Amanda?!”

 

A Wedge Between Pt. 5

 

 

A Wedge Between Pt. 2

A Wedge Between Pt. I

Amanda had gone to high school with Stodler. She lost her virginity to him. She has never gotten over him. Her sole obsessive purpose in life was to get him back. She enrolled in Brown just to be close to him. Stodler had no idea she was going to attend Brown. For Stodler, Amanda was just a high school fling; he had politely rejected Amanda’s attempts to take their relationship to the next level. Amanda was unrelenting.

When she found out about Isabel, she took the news so poorly that she had to go home for a week to recover. Amanda, though not to the extent of Isabel, was of means as well. She was used to always getting what she wanted. She was set on getting Stodler.

She hired two private investigators. One was to trail Isabel and the other was to delve into her life, past and present. The former was used for masochistic indulgence. She basked in the jealousy of seeing her beloved in intimate situations with another woman. The latter provided her with much needed intel that could destroy the relationship between her obsession and her newly found rival.  Each was worth every penny.

She put together a packet of lewd photos and reports of Isabel and Stodlers’ nightly activities and sent them off to Isabel’s father. Even though she clearly had enough dirt to bury the couple, she continued to dig. She let go the detective who was researching Isabel’s background but kept on with the detective who was trailing the couple and taking photos.

Her thirst for the painful pictures was insatiable. She knew she could call off her dog. She knew it was not only unnecessary at this point, but might actually be doing her harm. But like a true addict she woke up saying to herself, “Yesterday was the last day, today I stop”, only to find herself dialing the detective as if working on divine auto pilot.

As the couple grew closer and happier, Amanda grew angrier and more unwound. She was no longer attending classes. She spent her days poring over the detective’s bounty from the night before. Although she was self-aware enough to feel herself becoming unhinged, she felt powerless to stop it.

A Wedge Between Pt. 3

A Wedge Between Pt. 1

Frank Stodler, mostly known as just Stodler, met Isabel during his first week of attending Brown University. Isabel’s family tree has roots that burrow into Brown’s soil before the Civil War. Stodler, on the other hand, was the first in his family to go to college. Isabel came from a long line of money and privilege. Stodler came from a long line of poverty and struggle.

Stodler was able to go to Brown due to a generous benefactor from his home town. Every year, the benefactor choose one extraordinary and needy student and paid for four years of college. This year his generosity would be tested. Brown is much more expensive than the usual state schools or community colleges he was used to paying for.

Stodler fell in love with Isabel the moment he saw her. He left their first meeting floating in thin air, getting a boost higher every time he mouthed her name  “I S A B E L ”. The name echoed in his head. The best or worst part, depending on the point of view, was that this was his first time in love.

As months passed by, their relationship progressed. Isabel fell just as hard for Stodler as he had for her. They were practically inseparable. They only parted when Isabel spent time with her friends and family. She told Stodler a healthy relationship needed some separation to flourish. The separation that Isabel required grew so radical that Stodler became suspicious.

Stodler’s suspicions were somewhat confirmed. Though he thought Isabel was ashamed of his social status, she really wasn’t, but word of their romantic bond could never be heard by her father. Her father wouldn’t accept her dating anything less than a future senator; and even that was aiming low in his estimation.

One afternoon Isabel’s treachery was discovered. She explained herself to Stodler. He took it well. In fact, knowing that they would have to be a little sneaky excited Stodler. He took pride in knowing he was “sticking it to the man” while “giving it to his daughter”. Little did he know, he was playing with fire.

To be continued….

A Wedge Between Pt. 2

A Wedge Between Pt. 3

A Wedge Between Pt. 4

 

The Number

As they lay in their post coitus embrace, Bruno sensed that something was awry with Alexandra.

“Is everything all right?” he asked.

“Yeah” she said without conviction.

“No, really, tell me. What´s wrong?” he insisted.

“You really wanna know?” she asked.

“Yeah, you can tell me anything” he said.

“Ok, well me and the girls were talking the other day about our boyfriends. The subject of the number came up” she said

“The number?” he asked.

“Yeah, the number. How many people you’ve been with, the number” she said almost irritated by his ignorance of the matter.

“That´s what you girls talk about when you get together” he laughed.

“What’s so funny?” she said with a twisted face of anger and disgust. “It´s serious stuff.”

“Easy babe” he said while running his finger down her arm affectionately, trying to get her to calm down. With this she jerked away created a space of at least a foot between their naked bodies.

“Don’t touch me. I gotta know. You are the only guy that I have ever cared about. I need to know. What´s your number. I need to know how many girls the first guy I ever fell in love with slept with!”

Bruno’s head was spinning. Though he felt highly attracted to Alexandra and enjoyed her company, it’s only been three months that they have been seeing each other. The L word had not even entered his head.

“Slow down, babe. Where is all of this coming from?” he asked.

Alexandra was now crying. “I never loved anybody so I never cared before. It bothers me so much to know that someone I love fucked a bunch of dirty whores”

Bruno was already making plans in his head to delete Alexandra from his phone and block her from his Facebook. But first, he needed to think his way out of this very moment.

“What if I told you, that you were the only one” he trailed off and came back with “that I cared about? Huh?” he thought a little humor would lighten the mood.

“TELL ME! How many whores have you fucked, Bruno?” she screamed.

Bruno stammered, “I really don´t know, I haven’t kept a real count.”

“Oh my god! You’ve fucked so many girls you don’t even know how many there were?” she said.

“No, it’s not like that, I just don’t know. I’d have to think about it” he said.

“Get to thinking” she said.

Bruno thought of a number that he thought she would except and calm down. “I think five”.

“It can’t be only five! If it were only five you would not have to think. You would have known five without thinking!” she said.

“No, five. I just never stopped to think before, that’s all” he said.

This seemed to calm her a little. “Only five? Really?”

Bruno saw that it was working. “Really” he was frantically thinking of how he could extricate himself from her bedroom without bringing on another wave of rage.

The Alexandra said “Do you love me?”

This caught Bruno completely by surprise. He saw that she wasn’t stable and he didn’t want to raise her ire so he lied “Of course. These past months have been some of the happiest of my life”

“Do want to be with me forever?” she asked.

“Of course I do” Bruno said hoping that she couldn’t sense how far from the truth this statement was.

“Then you know what we have to do to be together?” she asked.

“No” he replied.

“We have to kill those dirty whores who you fucked” she said as she stared at the ceiling, mascara staining the sides of her face making permanent black tears.

Bruno’s mind went blank.