Page 82 of Succeeding Love

Arlene had been hovering, making a nuisance of herself in the office. It’s becoming increasingly annoying. Her attempts to get my attention have become disgracefully pathetic, and sometimes even degrading. The fact that I left my wife for her sickens me more and more each day.

Now, I have to sit beside her in a packed courtroom until it’s our turn to appear before the judge. If it wasn’t for our client paying the firm an arm and a leg to have both of us there, I would have called in sick and let Arlene do it herself.

I used the excuse of having a headache to avoid small talk with Arlene as she tried once again to ask what I was doing after work. I remained friendly and professional to our client, but was dreading this entire ordeal. An arraignment for something trivial like this is not usually in my job description, but high-profile clients don’t care.

Arlene kept trying to press up against me, tangling her leg with mine until I moved it, or stretching awkwardly to lean over and breathe on my neck. It was getting beyond irritating, so I had to eventually move over to the other side of our client, muttering an excuse about wanting her to feel supported on both sides. I added in some nonsense about keeping her protected from the true criminals, which earned me a grateful smile from our client, but a vengeful glare from Arlene.

I didn’t care. She was becoming a pest. Whatever I saw in her before was no longer there. Her desperation destroyed any attractive qualities she once possessed for me.

As we sat and watched, the pleas of the offenders called first. No one enjoys these types of court hearings. Everyone had already come to court ready to argue, and watching the judge flippantly hand down rulings without caring much for the backstories the offenders prepared builds the adverse tone in the courtroom. Things can get heated pretty quickly.

A man with DUI charges was next to appear before the judge. He started in on the judge before his lawyer even got to his feet, complaining about having to pay for an Uber because of his suspended license. The judge was merciless because of the man’s combativeness. Eventually, the man lunged for the judge, resulting in the entire courtroom erupting into chaos.

A woman screamed, and babies started wailing as people jumped away from the first few rows. The two bailiffs rushed to contain the man, but he was large and started throwing punches at them.

One bailiff had the offender by the elbow, trying to pin him, but the man kept throwing him off. They fought for about thirty more seconds before the judge’s chamber door swung wide open and the last person I ever wanted to see came barreling in.

My wife’s boyfriend, Vin, I believe, was his name, was in a pair of slacks and a polo, not your typical bailiff attire, but he had the look of someone in charge. He had on some sort of utility belt with a handgun and compartments for other gear you would see a police officer typically carry. No one but a qualified security personnel or officer could be in the courthouse with a weapon,which had me wondering why Vin was there. I thought he was in the military. Did he work for the city somehow?

He made quite an impression, storming over to the offender and throwing him on the ground like he was nothing more than a sack of potatoes. He came in so fast that the man didn’t have time to react any more than let out a scream as he was tackled.

Vin dug his knee into the man’s back, then had both hands secured in one of his hands within seconds. His bellowing commands to “stay down” and “comply” could be heard clearly by everyone. The man had a fearful expression, and I couldn’t blame him. Vin could exceedingly overpower him, or any other man, for that matter.

A fact that had me vastly irritated and somewhat afraid. I had a wave of fear pass through me, watching. I was suddenly thankful I didn’t challenge him yesterday out on the street.

The collective gasps in the room turned into applause as Vin placed the man in handcuffs. He hauled the offender up to his feet like the man weighed nothing. He forced the man to stand as the two bailiffs collected themselves. One hand was on his neck and the other held the cuffs.

After making sure everyone else was fine, Vin escorted the offender out with the bailiff.

“Wow,” our client whispered loudly, with a hand covering her mouth. Her eyes were wide with excitement. “I bet he can toss a woman like that, too. Lucky her, whoever she is. I’m jealous.”

That brought back one of my nightmares from last night, making my head pulse painfully as my chest tightened. Fay was atiny woman. Her boyfriend was a giant. The difference between him and me made it so much more painful to imagine.

“No kidding,” Arlene scoffed, staring after my wife’s boyfriend, too. “I think I know him.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “You know that man?” I pointed in the direction he had left. “How?”

Her eyes sparkled, a smug grin lifting the corners of her red lips. “Oh, I just ran into him by chance last week. Maybe I should ask him for drinks to thank him for his service here today? He didn’t have a ring on.”

“Like that would have stopped you,” I scoffed.

Our client’s eyes widened, and I realized too late that I had said that in the wrong company.

“I mean, because the man was clearly, um, her type,” I tried to cover for myself.

“I think that man is every woman’s type,” the client laughed, biting her lip as she stared into space.

Our client seemed satisfied with that excuse, but Arlene most certainly did not. She didn’t bother me after that. She just glared and huffed at me until we left.

I didn’t have the mindset to care about Arlene’s feelings. As I drove home that evening, images of my wife being tossed into bed haunted my every thought.

I stopped by the liquor store once more to pick up another bottle. It was going to be another sleepless night.

Wrong Snake

Arlene

How dare he. How dare he treat me this way?

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