Laurence wondered how you could fix something that had been broken from the start.
He loved Sally. He really, really did, and had been in love with her from the day he met her, but he couldn't ever figure out how to express that to her, and he had certainly never figured out how to make her love him in return. His work as her agent had been a way to help her out and get closer to her, but it had honestly done the opposite.
When his relationship with her was based on business, he could only treat her as a business prospect, and the longer that went on, the harder it became to treat her like a lady. Still, he loved her, and hoped for a day when she would be his.
So when the time came for them to quit on the costumed adventuring, he decided to make his move. He hoped that if he could trap her in a marriage of convenience, if he could convince her that it was the best next step, then love would grow and their marriage would become a real one, a happy one.
But it was broken from the start, and he was away on business so much, and the only thing different from before the marriage was that now they lived together. There was nothing between them even resembling love, and as long as he was away so often, he could not learn how to show his wife how he felt.
That night was going to be different. He knew that it was, he had resolved to make a change. He had been able to end his trip a little early, and he planned to surprise Sally, make it the best night of her life.
After finding a place that was still open to buy flowers, he headed home. When he arrived, he was surprised to see the light still on in their bedroom. It was so late that he had assumed Sally would be in bed. He had been planning on sliding in besides her, taking her into his arms, and waking her up with a kiss. Perhaps then the mood would be right and they could finally consummate their marriage.
Laurence entered the house as quietly as he could and put the flowers in a vase on the kitchen table, for Sally to find when she woke up the next morning. He made his way upstairs, pausing when he heard the voices. His hands shook as he willed himself to move forward, in spite of what he knew he was going to find.
It was worth than he thought.
There was a bouquet of flowers on the floor, piled with the clothes of Laurence's wife and the man she was in bed with. Sally was on top of him, arching her back and moaning as she fucked Eddie Blake.
"You like that?" she cooed. "You like taking it from me like that? Mm, that's right, take it!"
"Yeah, baby, you know I do," he said, voice sounding just as blissful as he looked. But then his eyes opened and he saw Laurence in the doorway. "Oh, shit."
Sally looked down at Eddie in confusion for a moment before following his gaze and turning around. "Oh, shit," she echoed.
"What the hell is going on here?" Laurence shouted, though it was abundantly clear what was going on.
Eddie, who seemed to have regained his composure, gave a lazy smirk as Sally jumped off of him and began to frantically dress herself. "What's goin' on, Larry? Didn't expect to see ya tonight."
"You- you-" he sputtered, so angry, so distraught he could barely form a sentence. "You keep your hands off my wife, you sick, you vile-! Was the first time not enough for you?! You had to finish the damn job?!" Even as he accused the man of this, he knew it was not true. Anyone could tell from Sally's positioning, from the things she said to him, that she wanted this. Eddie had not attacked her again; she had willingly given herself over to him.
"Calm down, buddy," he said, still with that lazy smirk. He got up slowly and deliberately, a direct contrast to Sally's panic.
"Eddie, stop," she said. "Don't make things worse than they are..."
Her lover laughed and said, "Sal, I kinda doubt things could get any worse." He pulled on his pants and shrugged on his shirt.
"No," said Laurence, "I don't think they could. Get the hell out of my house, and don't let me see you near my wife again!"
"C'mon, Larry, let's not-"
"I said get out!" he screamed, pointing to the door. He was not in the mood to hear whatever excuses this monster of a man would make; he was not in the mood to hear what his wife would say either. All he could think about was how this was supposed to be the night everything changed for the better, and instead, it had been the night he discovered just how broken his marriage really was.
I mean, how much must Sally hate me if Eddie Blake is a better choice?
"Fine, whatever. I'll leave you guys to it," Eddie grumbled, stalking out the door. Sally and Laurence stood in silence for a moment, until they heard their front door slam. She looked down and whimpered.
"You mind telling me why you're fucking a goddamn rapist?" he asked, his voice sounding much more calm than he felt.
"Larry, I'm sorry," she said, not meeting his eye.
"Yeah, I bet you're plenty sorry you got caught," he snapped. "So, what, you marry me and won't even touch me, but him? He's fine to fuck? A man like that was a better choice than your own husband?"
"It's...it's not like that..."
"Then, please. By all means, tell me what it's like. Because from where I'm standing, none of this makes any damn sense! I cannot even begin to understand what the hell was going through your head."
"He was...he's different now," she said softly. "He was...gentle with me, not like before. He's different."
Laurence scoffed. "And that made it a-okay to cheat on me, then? If you were that hard up for sex, you could have come to me. How long has this going on?"
"It hasn't!" she answered quickly. "I mean, it was just tonight. He came by, and things just...happened. Tonight was the first time."
He was not sure that he believed her. "It was the last time, Sally. I won't tolerate you seeing other men behind my back. I mean, Christ, I know what everyone else says about you, but if I knew I was marrying a slut..."
Again, she whimpered, and he felt bad for that. This was far from their first fight; even before they were married, they had their arguments. But she had never been like this before. Sally was not a submissive woman, she fought back and she fought dirty. She must feel really bad about the whole ordeal to sit there and take it.
Even as angry at her as he was, Laurence still loved her. He still wanted to work things out with her, to fix this broken mess, and he felt bad for saying something like that to her. She was apologetic, at least, and maybe, just maybe, this had been a one time thing, and he could heal the loneliness that had driven her to it.
Her eyes were still trained on the ground, and she suddenly bend over, picking up the bouquet that lay there, now crushed from getting shifted around with the clothes. She stared at it wistfully, and Laurence's heart broke all over again.
"You know," he said, "I bought you flowers too."