Better Man

Caroline shut the door behind her, arriving home to Tre's silent house. Claudia was at work and Frankito was in school, being that he was in the kindergarten now. Therefore, leaving The Sinners' frontwoman home alone. She walked into the kitchen and set her purse down on the counter as she helped herself to a glass of milk from the fridge, but then not even bothering with a cup as she drank it straight from the carton.

She put the carton back, wiped the corners of her mouth and began to dig through the contents of her purse for her stick of lip balm. And as she applied a thin layer, the sound of tires screeching into the driveway made her jump.

Caroline turned her head just as the front door opened and slammed shut, followed by heavy footsteps coming down the hall as Tre appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, scowling most dangerously at her.

"Tre, you scared the shit out of me," she muttered, capping the stick of lip balm and placing it back in her purse.

"I bet I did, you fucking slut!" he snapped.

Her eyes immediately widened as she swallowed back a lump in her throat. "Wh-what are you---"

"Don't you dare play anymore games with me, Caroline. I'm sick of your bullshit." He stepped closer to her, rather menacingly, his blue eyes turning to ice. "All these lies about just being friends with Mike, huh? Well, since when do 'just friends' fuck each other? Huh? Tell me that, Care. 'Cause I am really tired of this shit."

She could feel her face get flush and her heartbeat speed up as she fought for what to say. "T-Tre...I'm not..." she began but Tre was seeing so much red that he grabbed her arms and held her in his grasp as he stared her down.

"Why the hell would you go behind my back and fuck my best friend, Caroline? How long has it been going on?" he demanded, giving her a slight shake.

"Tre, you're hurting my arm," she grimaced.

"Answer me."

Her chin and bottom lip quivered as she kept a calm expression. However, her eyes said otherwise. And the longer she put off answering, the angrier Tre seemed to be.

"Fuck, Caroline!" he shouted. "Fucking answering me! How long have you been letting Mike fuck you?"

Her nose turned a shade of red and she felt tears sting the rims of her eyes as she opened her mouth to respond. "Si-si-since...N-new Years," she replied, stuttering a little, flinching at his response would be.

"For two months?" he questioned.

Caroline nodded her head.

"I don't believe you," he bit out through gritted teeth. The look he gave her was like cold daggers. A look that could kill. He was kinda scary when he was furious. "Wanna know why I don't believe you? Huh, do you? Because you've been lying to me this long. What reason do I have to trust you?"

"Because I'm telling you the truth."

Tre shook his head. "Uh uh. No more lies, Caroline."

"I'm not lying," she growled, finding her metaphoric balls, although it was said through tears rolling down her cheeks. "But I'm sorry," she insisted. "I'm sorry I cheated. I'm sorry I lied. I'm sorry..."

"Sorry doesn't cut it anymore." Tre let go of her arms and took a step back. "I loved you so much. I gave you a fucking year of my life."

"I gave you a year of my life, too!"

"Bullshit!" she snipped. "At least half of that year you spent so fucking gone, up here," he pointed to his head. "I'm lucky if I got six months out of you. Everything changed around August, which is why I don't believe you weren't cheating on me then, too."

"I wasn't cheating on you then."

Tre glared. "Yeah? Then what the fuck were you doing?"

"Nothing. Nothing happened till New Years."

"Still don't believe you," he commented. "What happened in August that changed you? And, come to think of it, it wasn't that long after when you got pissed off at your sister for sleeping with Mike. What, were you jealous? You wanted Mike to yourself?"

"That's not it."

"Then what is it, Caroline? What the fuck changed you?"

"Everything changed everything!" she shouted.

"That makes no fucking sense," Tre scoffed bitterly. "Though, I guess I should be glad I had a good run with you. Lord knows you were a good lay, if nothing else."

Scowling, Caroline slapped Tre so hard across the face. He pulled back, slightly stunned, and in anger, he backhanded her across the right cheek. She stumbled back into the counter, fresh tears stinging her eyes and pouring down her cheeks.

Tre didn't even bother to apologize at his own harshness. Especially when he grabbed her purse in one hand, and her arm in another, dragging both out of the kitchen and into the front hall.

"Get the fuck out of my house," he ordered. "I don't wanna see you anymore right now."

Caroline's body wretched as a sob shook through her body. Tre let go of her so roughly, tears brimming his own eyes, that she fell to her knees. He dropped her purse to the floor as well and pulled open the front door.

"Get out," he repeated, his chin quivering.

Caroline was so stunned by everything that had just happened so quickly that she could barely stand up with her purse. Her body shook as she stumbled through the door and Tre slammed it behind her and the sound of it locking made another sob escape her lips.

Fumbling with her keys, she made it inside her car and started the engine with shaky hands. Slowly she pulled out of the driveway and took off at a slow speed down the road.

Leaving Tre to stew in his anger, grief and betrayal, alone in his house.

* * *

Laying tiredly on his couch, watching a bit of QVC, Mike yawned as he suddenly heard his doorbell ring. And before he could sit up, he heard the door click open and footsteps walking through his front hall.

"Hello?" he called out, standing up in time to see Caroline appear in the doorway, looking like hell warmed over.

Her mascara had completely run, with black streaks down her face and she had a red mark across her right cheek. And, well, she looked like shit. Plain and simple.

"Oh god, Care, are you okay? What happened?"

His arms wrapped lovingly around her body, pulling her close. She pressed her face into his shoulder and openly began to sob for a few moments until she was able to catch her breath.

"Why're you back so soon, babe? You just left here about an hour ago. Did you leave something here? And why are you crying?" He knew his questions must've come off as bombarding, but he was worried about her. "Caroline, honey...you can tell me what's wrong..."

"Tre kicked me out," she blurted.

"What?"

"He found out about us. I don't know how, but he did and he was yelling at me, wanting to know why, and how long it's been going on. And when I told him since New Years, he said he didn't believe me."

"Oh, shit," Mike grimaced. He lifted her face up with both hands, brushing his thumbs gently on her cheeks. "Why's your right cheek so red?"

Caroline swallowed a lump in her throat and licked her lips. "He said that at least I was a good lay, if nothing else. So, I slapped him," she admitted. "And then he slapped me back."

They locked eyes and she reached up and kissed him. Mike could feel the desperation in it and he pulled away, still holding her face in his hands.

"He had no right to slap you," Mike insisted.

"He was just so mad at me. I've never seen him that mad, and I hate that I made him feel that way; that I've hurt him," she whimpered. "I cheated on him, Mike. I betrayed and lied to him. He can't ever forgive me, and I don't want to lose his trust anymore. But I don't know what to do anymore."

Mike knitted his brow and pressed his lips against her forehead, and then against her red cheek. The sob that shook through her, put a bit of a strain on her heart as she pulled away from him abruptly.

"No, no...I can't do this anymore. I can't do any of this anymore," she muttered suddenly. "We can't do this anymore. I can't...I can't..."

Mike's eyes widened, a bout of fear washing through him. "What do you mean?"

He'd thought that perhaps if her and Tre were over, that he could have her exclusively. But now she didn't want him at all?

"I'm going on tour next week and the last thing I need is to take this drama with me," she replied. Caroline shrugged, dropping to the couch. "I guess I shouldn't have come right here. It only makes everything more complicated. And maybe...maybe it would've been best if I never became friends with you. With Tre. Maybe then I wouldn't be in this situation. I didn't want my life to get this complicated. I just wanted me and my band to make it..."

She rested her face in her hands, letting her shoulders hunch.

"Caroline, please..." Mike began to plead, crouching down before her and facing her. He placed his hands on her knees and stared at her, swallowing his own lump in his throat. "Please don't give up on this. On us. I can't lose you."

"I'm sorry, Mike. I'm so sorry." She lifted her face out of her hands.

With the roller coaster of emotions Mike had been feeling since he fell in love with her -- pining, included -- he couldn't help but feel an odd flutter in his heart. Like a small chest pain. Maybe it was just his heart breaking at her trying to break up with them, to distance herself from him.

His breathing picked up, as a wave of panic washed through him. "Please, Caroline. Please don't end us."

"I have to. I...I can't do this anymore. Try looking at it from my point of view, okay? I love two men, and I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, and now one of them threw me out because I hurt him for loving the other."

Mike began to nod in understanding, but understanding didn't keep him from starting to cry. He wiped his eyes and looked down at her feet, dipping his head as he did so.

"But I love you..."

"I love you too, Mike. But I can't do this."

"I can't lose you, Caroline. I love you," he cried.

"Please, don't do this," she begged. "I-I can't. I gotta go. I've got to find someplace to stay tonight and it can't be here."

"Yes, it can," he argued, standing up with her as she moved to head back to the front door. "Don't leave, Care. Please."

She moved about in the front hall, nervously. "I have to."

And, without another word, Caroline let herself out, still clearly a wreck, but desperately needing someplace that was else to go in order to figure out what she was going to do.

* * *

Mike was sure that what he was experiencing, as soon as Caroline left, was a panic or anxiety attack.

His heart rate felt like it was going a mile an hour and there was a sort of uncomfortable pressure in his chest. He felt a little dizzy, so he sat down in order to calm his nerves.

But he wasn't given enough time to calm down properly. Not a half hour later, his front door opened and in walked Tre, like a bat out of hell.

Mike jumped to his feet, began to say something but Tre swung his fist and punched Mike in the jaw before the bassist got a word out. Mike stumbled back onto his couch as Tre picked his friend up by the shirt collar.

"That was for fucking my girlfriend!" Tre released one of his hands from Mike, but only to punch the older man in the nose this time. "And that's for betraying me, who's supposed to be your best friend!"

Tre let go of Mike, taking a step back and clenching his fists at his sides. The blue-eyed bassist was barely back on his feet when he found some energy to take a swing at Tre, connecting his fist to the shorter man's jawline.

"What was that for?" Tre demanded.

"For punching me!" Mike shot back, holding his hand under his nose as he felt the oozing warmth of blood dripping from a nostril.

"You deserved it, you asshole. You fucked my girlfriend!" Tre shouted. "Friends don't fuck their friends' girlfriends!"

"I didn't mean to hurt you, you fuckass," Mike muttered. Then added, "I love her."

"You what?!" Tre barked.

"I love her!" Mike shouted, loud enough for the universe to hear. "I've loved her before you even met her," he growled out, biting his lip as he felt a sudden sharp pain spasm in his chest. "You got to her quicker because I was unsure if she'd like me the way I liked her, and you fucking got there first."

"So you thought you'd maybe pay me back by fucking her behind my back?"

"This had nothing to do with you."

"Caroline said it began on New Years," Tre muttered. "What went down on New Years, Mike? Just a kiss? Did she give you a blow job?" The drummer paused. "Did you fuck her?"

"No, I didn't fuck her," Mike insisted. "I made love to her."

Tre socked Mike in the jaw again. "You motherfucker."

Retaliating, Mike tackled Tre as soon as he regained his composure; the two of them trying to get each other in a headlock. Fortunately for Mike, he was more nimble than the shorter, stockier man. He pinned Tre to the floor and straddled his hips as he gripped Tre's wrists to keep him from punching him again.

"I love her, and I will never stop loving her. Even if I never get to see her again or hold her in my arms again or share my bed with her again...I will not stop loving her. Do you understand?"

Tre wriggled underneath his best friend, throwing the older man off. Tre climbed to his feet.

"Yeah, I understand," Tre nodded. "I understand you are no longer my best friend."

Mike looked up at Tre in surprise, his face falling.

"D'you understand that?" Tre added. "You took my girl, I take away my friendship. You," he pointed his finger down at Mike. "Can fall off the face of this earth for all I care."

With that, Tre stalked off toward the front door and slammed it behind him. At the sound, Mike winced, trying to get back up to his feet while dealing with the heavy pressure he still felt in his chest. He was starting to break out into a sweat, thinking that maybe a glass of water would help. As he walked into the kitchen, rather zombie-like, Mike's left arm felt slightly numb. He clenched and unclenched his left hand a few times, but the moment he grabbed the cup from the cupboard, a jolt of terrible pressure and burning in his chest caused him to drop to his knees and keel over.

He cried out in pain, his right arm clawing at the floor to pull himself up, but it was like his entire body was stiffening up to the horrible pain. It seemed to spread to his back, neck, arms...

Panicking slightly, Mike fumbled as best as he could to pull his cell phone from his pocket and flip it open. Rolling painfully onto his back, he dialed 911 and placed the phone to his ear.

"911, what's you emergency?" came a female voice.

"My chest...it hurts...I-I need...I need an ambulance...please..." Mike pleaded, which was followed by a groan of pain. He swore he was seeing stars in front of his eyes. The woman asked for his address, and he rattled it off as she told him to hang on the line, that paramedics were on their way.

But everything went black before Mike could hear the rest of what she said.