Tangled Web

Duane Lee's POV:

For two days I sat in the hard plastic chair of the Hospital's waiting room; I had managed to sleep for an hour here and an hour there. Mostly I just stared at my brother. He was the reason we were here. Whether he meant to or not, he pushed his wife down those stairs and for that I could never forgive him.

"I wish you would stop fucking staring at me." he says from across the room.

"I wish you wouldn't have put Mila in the hospital." I reply, crossing my arms.

"Mr. Chapman?" a doctor asks, closing the waiting room door behind him. My brother and I both stood up.

"Mila is awake now. She's still very weak. But she's asking to see - " he hesitates, glancing down at the chart. "Duane Lee?" he says, looking back up. I smirk at my brother and follow the doctor to Mila's room where he leaves me alone with her. Sitting down in the chair next to her bed, she looked so fragile just lying there hooked up to all those machines. She raised her head to look at me; trying her best to manage a smile.

"Hi Princess." I say, stroking her hair.

"I lost the baby." she says weakly as tear after tear run down her cheeks. "God is punishing me because I didn't love it."

"No...no, not at all. What happened wasn't your fault." I tell her, trying my best to comfort her. I bit down hard on the inside of my lip to keep my own tears from coming, so much so that I could taste the coppery tang of blood. I wanted to be here for Mila; be strong in her time of need.

"I shouldn't have kept a secret from Leland. I should have told him, none of this would have happened. I'm a bad wife and mother."

"You're none of those things Mila. I can assure you of that...listen; you don't have to figure everything out right now. Just get some rest and when you get out of here we can put this puzzle back together."

I stand up next to the bed; I didn't want to stay too long. "I'll always be here for you Mila. I love you."

A week later Mila was able to come home; because the stairs were carpeted she only suffered minor injuries and a concussion from the impact. The loss of an unborn child, however, was something entirely different; I didn't know if she would ever recover from that.

"I've got most everything packed." Leland tells us as he comes down the stairs holding a large box. Mila nods her head; she couldn't even look him in the eye. They decided it would be best if they separated for a while. He was able to rent an apartment not far from the house; he would still be close to the kids that way.

"I'll be by on Friday night to pick the kids up..."

Mila nods again; still staring at her hands, turning her wedding ring around and around her finger. I knew her heart was breaking; she loved my brother more than she could ever love herself. The front door closes and she lets out a shaky breath.

"Do you know what I want to do this weekend when he picks the kids up?"

"What?" I ask carefully, almost afraid of what might come out of her mouth.

"I want to get drunk. So drunk I can't see straight. I don't want to be able to stand up at the end of the night."

"You know what?" I say, sitting down next to her "I can handle that request. I will be your personal bartender...whatever you want; Duane Lee will make you." I say with a big smile.

Leland's POV:

I slowly climbed the stairs to my new apartment; my heart was breaking with every step I took. Propping a box on my leg, I tried to open the door with my other hand. After several attempts I gave up, throwing the box down.

"Oh let me show you the trick to opening these stupid doors." A warm voice says from behind me. She takes the key from my hand and pulls the door, turning the key at the same time. "There you go..." she says handing me the key.

"I'm Amy. I love across the hall from you."

"Oh...I'm Leland." I say extending my hand to shake hers. She was beautiful; there was no denying that, she had long brown hair and eyes that would light up the night sky.

"Need some help with your boxes?" She asks politely.

"I don't have that many, but if you don't mind, I would appreciate it." I tell her. For the next few hours Amy helped me move in and unpack my boxes. I learned that she had move to Hawaii from England a few months ago to start a new life.

Starting a new life seemed to be the new thing to do.

Saturday Night:

Duane Lee's POV:

I was making Mila's fourth fruity drink of the night; I was on my third beer, she was giggly and I was becoming overly loving and touchy.

"Duane..." she calls in that sing song voice from the living room. "I'm thirsty." She says giggling like a little girl.

"I'm coming silly girl." I say handing over the drink as I sat down closer to her than I probably should.

"I'm hot." she says fanning herself.

"Yeah you are." I say, leaning into her, making her laugh even more. "Why don't you take some of those clothes off..." I whisper as I slide the strap of her tank top off her shoulder, kissing it softly.

"You are a bad, bad boy." she says looking up at me, biting her bottom lip. Another giggle escapes her pouty lips.

"I want to kiss you." I whisper, as I slide the other strap of her tank top off.

"Kiss me right here." she says pointing to her neck. "Mmm" she moans as I lean in, placing a soft kiss in the spot she directed me too. "Now," she says, licking her lips; "Get me the tequila, some limes, and the salt..."

"Body shots." we say at the same time.

We made our way to the bedroom; I pushed her gently down on the bed. "Oh.. you like to play rough." she whispers, pulling her tank top off, revealing a hot pink lacy bra.

I let out a shaky breath, licking my lips.

"Me first!" She smiles and pulls me down onto the bed and comes to straddle my waist. Her cool hands slide underneath my shirt, across my stomach and up to my chest. A wicked grin comes over her face. "We need to get you out of this shirt." she moans.

I did as I was told and removed my t-shirt. A look of satisfaction shown on her face as she reached for the salt, tequila and wedge of lime from the nightstand. Lowering her head, she licked a trail from my stomach to the base of my neck and sprinkled the salt across it. I bit my bottom lip in anticipation of having her tongue trailing across my body again.

Grabbing the bottle by the neck she takes a long drink before licking the salt off my chest and squeezing the lime in her mouth. "Ah...That was everything I wanted it to be." She says triumphantly.

I sat up, pulling her body to mine as she straddled me. I licked the valley between her breasts, sprinkled the salt and repeated the process of taking a shot. "And that was everything I wanted it to be." I moan, leaning in to lick her salty skin once more. She wraps her long legs around my waist and leans in to kiss me forcefully on the lips, grabbing a hand full of my hair in each hand.

"I forgot how much I liked you." she murmurs in my ear before nibbling my earlobe.

Her body was smooth; soft as my hands roamed and rediscovered all the hidden treasures she offered. My right hand slips under her bra, massaging her breast, pinching and twisting her hard nipple. Throwing her head back in appreciation, her long brown hair brushes my thighs making me harder than I already was. As easy as it would be to take advantage of her drunken state, I promised myself I would take my time; I wanted us both to be sober and clear headed.

The next morning:

Leland's POV:

I was getting the kids ready to go back home when there was a light knock on my door. I swung it open and Amy, my next door neighbor was standing there. "Good Morning." I say, smiling at her.

"Hi... I'm so sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you were going into town today? My car broke down and I need to get some groceries, would you mind giving me a ride?" she asks.

I smiled, more than I should have; I really couldn't help it, she was beautiful. "I don't mind at all, if you don't mind going with me to drop my kids off?"

"Oh, you have kids?" she asks surprised.

"Yeah, I've got three... well five really."

She laughs, looking a little confused, "Which is it? Three or five? Or is it that there's so many it seems like five?"

"It's five." I say with a laugh. "I've got a fourteen year old son, nine year old son, two six year old twin girls and a four year old boy." I tell her, trying my best not to leave one out.

"Wow. Sounds like a house full"

"It's not too bad really... my wife stays home while I work. I owe a lot of credit to her."

She looks slightly disappointed. "You're married?" she asks, trying to play it off.

"Separated." I reply, slightly disappointed myself. I loved Mila, but my mind and heart weren't cooperating with each other and I didn't know what to think about everything that had happened between us lately.

"Daddy, do we have to go? Can we stay with you?" a small voice says behind me. I turned around to find Kaiden standing there, looking up at me with those big brown eyes.

I turned to Amy, "Sorry." I whisper, turning back to Kaiden, I picked him up introducing him to my new neighbor.

"Laney, Olivia, get your bags it's time to go." I yelled over my shoulder a moment later.

"My girls" I say patting them on the head as they clung to my side, wrapping their arms around my legs; staring up at Amy.

"Hi girls, I'm Amy, I live next door to your dad."

The girls didn't say a word; they just clung tighter to my legs. I knew they were old enough to understand what was happening between their parents, that hurt me more than anything. "We're gonna give Miss Amy a ride to the store."

Fifteen minutes after leaving the apartment I pulled into the driveway of my house, my brother's car was sitting there. I shook my head but didn't say anything out loud. "Come on kiddos, let's get you inside."

Amy helps me get the three kids and their things out of the car and into the house. I opened the door with my key and found my brother standing in the kitchen, drinking coffee in his boxers. Amy glanced at me, raising her eyebrows, new to my situation she knew something wasn't right about that. "Can you show Miss Amy your bedrooms while I find mommy." I say pushing the girls toward their room.

"What are you doing here brah?" I asked as I started up the stairs to my former bedroom.

"Why are you bringing another woman here brah?" he asks sarcastically as I reached the top of the stairs.

I opened the bedroom door to find a huge mess; an empty tequila bottle lying on its side, limes and a shaker of salt lying next to it on the nightstand and Mila passed out in the bed. She was laying sideways, her hair fanned out to each side, still wearing a hot pink bra. I couldn't bring myself to lift the cover to see if she was wearing panties.

I ran a hand through my hair and sat down on the side of the bed. She mumbled something and rolled over, facing me. I reached out, pushing her hair away from her eyes; my heart skipped a beat knowing my brother had just gotten out of my bed with my wife.

"Mila." I say, shaking her shoulder. "Wake up."

She groaned and opened one eye, staring up at me. "Leland?"

"I came by to bring the kids home."

"Oh, okay." she says taking in a long, deep breath.

She slowly sat up, pushing her hair back. She looked rough; tiny blue bruises were forming on her chest, a few bite marks trailed along her neck. It made me sick to my stomach to imagine what might have gone on between them.

"What the hell happened in here last night?" I ask, picking up the empty liquor bottle.

"Um...tequila shots..lots of drinking. That's about all I remember." she says weakly; pulling the sheets over her chest. "Let me get dressed and I'll meet you downstairs."