Author's Note: Okay, really, really don't tar and feather Heero (or me). He's got a temper, and ya gotta admit, things look pretty bad for Duo. Just...trust me that this'll work itself out. And, once again, I have to thank Kaeru Shisho for invaluable advice on this chapter, and a few choice ideas and lines! Love ya!
Heero's POV
The Wedding Planner Part 53
Betrayal
I told Wufei to leave me there at the airport, when it became obvious my lost luggage wasn't likely to be found any time this century. He had things to do, and I was determined to browbeat the airline staff until someone gave me a definitive answer.
"Are you sure you don't want me to wait?" he asked, trying not to yawn with weariness.
We were both dead on our feet from overwork and jet lag; but there was no reason for him to suffer along with me. "I'm sure, Wufei. Pargan can bring the limo around as soon as I have an answer from these incompetent twits about how long it might take to retrieve my suitcase from the flight to Tahiti."
He tried not to smile, and ended up smirking. "At least your luggage got a nice trip out of the deal."
I shot him a glare that was half-serious. "You can leave any time now."
He clapped me on the back. "See you at the office on Monday, Yuy. We'll get right to work on your life crisis then, okay?"
"By then I should have resolved the main issue," I reminded him. We'd discussed this over several meals and through some long evenings of work, and come up with a plan of action. I was going to break it off cleanly with Relena, and then get my act together and see if I could make Duo understand that while it seemed like I was only breaking up with her in order to be with him, in actuality, it would never have worked out with Relena and me. Frankly, I'd never been able to trust her, and my violent jealousy drove her crazy. We'd been doomed from the start, with or without Duo's intervention. If only I could make him see it that way.
Wufei nodded, understanding my tension as we touched upon the stressful subject. "I hope that goes well," he offered with genuine concern. "You know you can call me any time, right?"
"I know. And thanks."
He headed off to the parking garage, and I leaned against the claims counter, waiting for the clerk to return with the printout of my form. With little else to do, I dialed Relena's cell phone, only to get a voice mail saying she'd be gone all day with her wedding planner.
And then I remembered that Relena had said something very vague earlier in the week about spending Friday with Duo to go over some details for the wedding. Yes, the wedding I was planning to cancel. As I said before, I needed to have a heart to heart talk with my fiancée...and soon. It was high time I let her know once and for all that there'd be no wedding.
Meanwhile, I really needed to get through to her to have her send Pargan to pick me up. Isn't the whole point of a cell phone that you can take it with you when you aren't home to receive a call? So why did Relena's seem to be turned off?
I felt a bit awkward having to call Duo's cell phone to reach Relena. In fact, it was painfully awkward. I'd left that pleading message on his answering machine less than a week earlier, and didn't know what his response might be. What's worse, I couldn't even mention it with Relena probably standing a couple of feet away from him.
I imagine the call was no less awkward for Duo. He'd already expressed plenty of guilt over our relationship. Standing next to Relena while talking to me had to be excruciatingly uncomfortable. I figured that was why he cut the conversation short.
When neither Relena nor Duo called me back, I began to wonder what in Hell was going on. And as I thought about it, I remembered Duo had told me that Quatre Winner would take care of any loose ends that came up. So why was Relena with Duo at all?
I thought perhaps Winner would have an answer for that. Maybe Duo was filling in for him. I even started calling his office, but hung up the before the call was picked up. No--calling Winner was over the top. I didn't want to involve him, too. Or did I?
Now I was second guessing myself!
My train of thought was briefly derailed by a clerk who came over to hand me a printed form. "Here's your copy of your claim, Mister Yuy. As you can see, the expected turnaround time for your luggage is twenty-four hours."
I looked down at the paperwork with a scowl. "Twenty-four hours? Can't it be intercepted at a layover?"
"Unfortunately, it will have to go all the way to Tahiti before they can tag it for the return trip," she said with an apologetic shrug. "But they'll do it the moment the flight lands, and get it on its way."
Resisting the urge to crumple the useless piece of paper in my hand, I glared balefully at her. "Will you call me when it gets here?"
"Actually, we'll have someone bring it out to you," she promised. "They'll call first, of course, just to make sure you're home. And then they'll deliver it right to your door."
Small comfort when my favorite electric razor was tucked in that damned bag. But I drew a deep breath, willing myself to remain calm. "I suppose that will have to do," I said stiffly, folding up the claim form and tucking it into my pocket.
~*~
Since Relena had still not called me back, I decided to just head for the estate to wait for her to get home. I wanted to know what had required her to spend a whole day with Duo, after he'd told me he had nothing more to do with planning my wedding.
I'll admit, I wanted to see Duo, too. I wanted to see him even more than I wanted to see Relena. Maybe if I saw him face to face, I'd be able to tell if my apology had been accepted or not. The brief phone call had told me nothing.
Come to think of it, he'd been rather evasive on the phone. Now that I thought about it, it seemed rather odd that he hadn't just put Relena on. I mean, what was the big deal? All I needed was a minute of her time. Even if Duo was trying to keep me at a distance because of our feelings for each other, he could have at least taken a message.
I hailed a cab, wondering what was going on, and why Duo hadn't at least called back to tell me why Relena didn't.
I was beginning to get a bad feeling about this.
It didn't help that the taxi I hailed was driven by a man who spoke little or no English. He couldn't seem to grasp the location of the address I gave him, and blew right past the exit to Relena's estate.
We ended up going an extra five miles up the highway to the next exit, before we were able to turn around and retrace our path. If he thought I was going to pay for the extra miles, he'd be in for a nasty shock when (and if) we reached our destination.
I tried one more time to dial first Relena's cell phone and then Duo's; but now neither of them was answering. And that only worsened my unease, as jet lag, exhaustion and stress caught up to make my imagination run wild.
~*~
By the time the cab pulled up in front of the estate, I was wound so tight I could barely sit still. I glanced around the yard, but saw nothing amiss. Walter's station wagon was there, and Duo's Jag wasn't, which meant Relena and my lover were probably still out somewhere.
I paid the fare, tipped the driver very sparingly, and grabbed my carry-on case, heading up the walkway.
Walter opened the door before I got to it, his face looking startlingly pale. "Thank goodness you're here, sir!" he said, waving me inside with an urgent gesture.
"What's wrong?"
"It's Miss Peacecraft, sir...she's absolutely disconsolate."
"Because--?" I prompted, frowning questioningly at him.
"I'm not entirely sure," he said, taking my suitcase and setting it aside. "She's in her room, Mister Yuy. If you'd please come with me, perhaps you could get more out of her."
I had no idea what he was talking about, but I followed him towards the staircase. "Could you fill me in a bit, Walter? Exactly what went on here?" I asked as we went upstairs.
"She and Mister Maxwell had some sort of--altercation."
"Altercation?"
"I arrived home perhaps half an hour ago, and the Jaguar was parked out front. I heard raised voices from around back, so I started for the terrace. And then Mister Maxwell stormed around the corner, nearly running right into me." He gestured vaguely. "Miss Peacecraft ran after him, yelling something about him 'never working in this town again,' and he called her a--a--"
"A what?"
"Um, a--a slut, sir."
"What?!" I stopped in my tracks, and Walter turned to face me, looking half troubled and half angry.
"A slut."
"I heard you the first time," I said flatly, glaring. "Why on Earth would he call her something like that?"
"I don't know, sir. But it was evident they'd been--fighting."
I couldn't help but wonder if Relena had found out about Duo and me. I felt a moment's panic, wondering if Milliardo had heard my message on Duo's machine and told his sister. Shit! If he had--and she'd confronted Duo--I couldn't even begin to guess what might have happened.
Well, actually, I could guess. Knowing how much Duo hated to lie, I suspected he'd have come clean if accused of having feelings for me.
Damn Duo and his honesty anyway! If he'd told Relena about us, she'd probably thrown a fit. I'm sure "L2 whore" and a few other choice insults would have been hurled...and as polite and charming as Duo usually was, I didn't know exactly how much abuse he'd take from her, after some of the things he'd said at the engagement party.
"Is Relena all right?"
"Perhaps you should see for yourself." Walter tugged me along down the hallway towards Relena's room.
"See what, Walter? Just tell me!"
"Well--Miss Peacecraft has a rather nasty bruise on her cheek."
"From Duo?" I couldn't believe he'd have hurt Relena. It was completely out of character for Duo--totally unbelievable.
"I don't like to jump to conclusions, sir. But Mister Maxwell was quite furious when he left. And there was lipstick on his cheek."
"Duo hit her?"
"Again, sir, I hate to make assumptions. But to all appearances--yes, he did."
"Lipstick?" I asked, belatedly wondering how the hell lipstick might've gotten on Duo's face.
"Yes, sir."
I was lost. I couldn't begin to guess what had transpired on that terrace that might have resulted in a shouting match, Duo hitting Relena, or him ending up with lipstick on his face. It made no sense at all.
But when I tapped on the door and stepped into Relena's room, I felt an immediate rush of sympathy for the girl huddled there on her bed, a comforter wrapped around her and an ice pack held to her face.
"Relena?"
She looked up with puffy, red eyes, a tear-stained face, and a dark, spreading bruise on her left cheek. She broke into renewed sobs at the sight of me. "Oh--Heero--"
I went to her side, slipping an arm around her slender, trembling shoulders, and she buried her face against the front of my shirt, sobbing helplessly. "Shh..." I soothed, patting her back reassuringly, while every protective instinct in my body surged to the front. It just tore my heart out seeing her so traumatized. I was used to seeing her calm and composed, or petulant and manipulative; but I'd never seen her completely falling apart like this.
"Relena, what happened?"
She cried harder, shaking her head and mumbling against my shoulder.
"'Lena, I can't understand a word you're saying," I told her carefully. "What happened today? Was Duo here?"
She nodded, not raising her face, but drawing a shuddering breath and launching into a fresh spate of crying. She was barely coherent, sobbing so hard I could only catch about a third of the words that tumbled from her mouth.
"Relena--who hit you?"
"D-Duo--" she choked out between sobs. "He was gonna tell you--cheated on you--an' I begged him not to--b-but he was s-so angry!"
"Duo?" I was absolutely horrified. I never would have believed Duo had it in him to hit a woman, no matter how mad she might have made him. "Duo hit you?" I was really having trouble getting past that.
She nodded, crying harder into my shirt.
If Walter's description of the events hadn't matched Relena's so closely, I might have hesitated--but clearly, she and Duo had argued, he'd hit her, and he'd stormed away. And from the little I could get from Relena, before they'd fought, they'd--had sex? As little sense as that made, it seemed to be true, and I felt a blinding rush of betrayal and hurt.
Duo had cheated on me.
Relena's infidelity barely registered--but the fact that Duo had cheated on me with her just about took my breath away. I pried Relena off my chest, pulling the comforter around her shoulders, and pushing her back onto her pillows. Then I stood up, feeling a burning need to release the pain and anger that was building up inside. "I'll be back later, Relena."
"W-where are you g-going?" she asked, looking up at me and clutching her blanket a little tighter.
"To Duo's apartment."
"B-but--"
"He fucking hit you, Relena. I don't care what else happened! He had no right to hit you!"
"But it was an--"
I stalked out before she finished her sentence, brushing past Walter in the hallway. "Walter, get the family physician out here to look at Miss Peacecraft's cheek, please. And call Milly in to prepare some tea and look after her?"
"Yes, sir. Where will you be?"
"I have to pay a visit to Mister Maxwell," I ground out between gritted teeth.
~*~
The ride to Duo's apartment took about half the time it should have, as I broke speed limits and traffic laws at every juncture. And my temper hadn't cooled one iota when I arrived; rather my rage seemed to have intensified as I drove...thinking about Duo's flirting, his teasing mannerisms...how he'd so easily won over first Relena and then me.
Those thoughts just fueled my fury at the idea that in the end, he'd seduced her and threatened to tell me. Was this some kind of payback for the engagement party? His way of showing me that no one fucks with Duo Maxwell and gets away with it? I had no idea what prompted his actions--only that what he'd done was inexcusable. No matter how much I'd thought I loved him, I couldn't explain all this away.
I took the stairs two at a time, and pounded on his door. "Goddamnit, Duo! Don't even try to pretend you aren't here!" I'd seen both the Jeep and the Jag in the parking lot; I knew damned well he was home.
He opened the door to his apartment wearing jeans and a faded tee-shirt. His braid looked damp, as if he'd just come out of the shower, and he had a puzzled look on his face. "Heero? What the hell are you doing here?"
How dare he act surprised! Did he think just because I didn't love Relena that I didn't care? "You hit Relena!"
He nodded his head, running a hand back through his damp bangs. "Well, yeah--but in all honesty--"
My fist struck him squarely in the face, and slammed him back against the door frame. He let out a startled oath, reaching up to cup his bloody nose in his hands
"Wha' th' fuck--?"
My second punch took him in the ribs, doubling him over; and for good measure, I threw a third one into the side of his head, knocking him against the wall, and sending him to the ground, still cradling his injured face.
"It wasn't enough for you to seduce me away from Relena? You had to fucking cheat on me too--and then threaten her? Hurt her? What kind of lowlife bastard hits a woman?" He didn't respond, except to mumble another curse into his hands, trying to pull his legs up under him so he could sit up. But I wasn't really looking for an answer anyway. "If you ever lay a hand on Relena again, I'll fucking kill you!" I swore, turning on my heel and walking away before I could break down completely and tell him how much his betrayal hurt me.
I'd thought lashing out at Duo would make me feel better, but as I slid behind the wheel of my car again, I just felt empty and desolate inside. God, I'd loved him. I'd thought he loved me.
But apparently the casually uttered phrase had meant nothing to him.
And neither had I.
TBC...
Back to Snowdragonct's Fanfictions Page