Ann blushes and I realize that I shouldn't describe everything so graphically.
"That would freak anyone out," she says, with a gentle tone to her voice.
"I instantly knew that her only agenda wasn't just to get fucked. She was creating a scene where my involvement would be questioned no matter whether I touched her or not . . . her word against mine. She’s going to twist this to make Ava hate me. Everyone already knew I was on the edge."
"What do you mean?" Ann asks.
"Think about it . . . as soon as my girl leaves, I finally succumb to Chloe and allow her to fill my void. My past history would not make this implausible. So I reacted the only way I knew how . . . I needed to get away to a place she wouldn’t track me down."
"And you found yourself here. You were smart to get away." She says quietly. "Oh Max, don't worry; you're safe here."
Later that night I’m stirred from a deep sleep with Ann’s soft voice calling me.
"Max, I've got Ava on the phone. Are you awake? Can you talk to her?"
My eyes pop open. Ava? My best girl . . . my everything. I reach out in the darkness and Ann places something cool in my hand. I realize it's my connection to her, and I press it up to my ear.
"Ava?" I whisper.
"Oh, Max," she gasps.
I can hear that she's broken. I can hear the tears and I desperately want to reach through the phone and hold her, assuring her that everything will be all right.
"Don't cry, baby. Please don't cry."
I'd give anything to have her here with me again.
As she talks her words wrap around and soothe me, but when Chloe comes up I picture her brown eyes narrowing with rage. My girl wants to protect me. I hear the fierceness in her voice. If Ava had been in Malibu earlier . . . oh God, I don't want to think about what would’ve happened.
"I'm going to get on the next plane, Max."
"No, baby." When I hear her talk about rushing back to take care of me, I realize that I need to protect her too. Her future is at her fingertips, and it's brilliantly bright.
"I'm all right," I whisper. I want to convince her, even if I can't convince myself.
I shift in the bed and look toward the stripes of silver light shimmering through the blinds. The quiet stillness of Ojai's nightfall creates an open stage where each word and idea becomes bigger.
"I love you, Ava."
"I love you too," she responds with tenderness in her tone.
Sometimes I can smell her fear, the crushing of her heart when she thinks I won't wait for her. If only she could see that I would wait for her forever, I could endure a thousand starless nights if I knew I would one day wake up to her light.
Cas
I know the minute I hear Ava's voice. I can feel it in my gut. My son is in trouble.
I guess I was half-expecting a major fallout when I learned that the love of his life was leaving him. I know she's moving to the other side of the country for a job, and she thinks they can work it out, but she's blinded by love and hope and forgetting how fragile Max really is.
Honestly, I've been worried since Ava told me about the move. He thinks I don't care about him, but I do. I knew it would kill him, but of course none of us could have factored in his crazy ex-girlfriend showing up at the worst possible time.
I wish they had told me about stalker-Chloe sooner so we could have spared them both this agony. The removal of annoyances like Chloe is simple when you've got money. Repairing the emotional trauma of her actions—a lot more complicated.
So Ava tells me Max has escaped to Ann's, the closest person to his mom that he could get. I've always loved Ann, but she babies him just like Liz did.
I remember when Max was a small boy, if anything freaked him out he would run and hide. It made me fucking nuts. When Liz used to send me out to find him I would insist that I was going to beat some sense into him for hiding from us, but she warned me if I did, she would take him and leave. She was like a lioness when it came to protecting the boy. I was convinced back then that's what made him soft.
Max would find the strangest places to hide—storage sheds in neighboring yards, abandoned plastic playhouses, under the drape of a covered ping-pong table. Sometimes it would take hours for us to find him. I would yell until I was hoarse, and yell every kind of horrible threat but he would remain hidden, until one of us would find him, curled into himself in the shadows. Once home, dark disturbing drawings would soon follow. The kid worried me . . . a lot.
I was so humiliated to have such a sissy, sensitive boy. I knew he was doomed as soon as the other boys figured out how weak he was. And Liz just made it worse with her babying. She was the first one to figure out the Aspergers: his extreme sensitivity to loud noise or too much stimulation, his appalling lack of social ability, his unending obsession with his interests. Hell, the other boys would be playing baseball in the street and he'd be lying on the floor studying old art books that Liz had collected.
I wondered what was wrong with him . . . he was so damn different. I was disappointed that I couldn't take him to football games and guy stuff. He and his issues became the sole focus of Liz’s attention. I threw myself further into my work to avoid my disappointments. We all paid dearly for that mistake. The money and extravagances just got bigger but our relationships got smaller. That's when Liz and I really started drifting apart until we were eventually strangers in our own home.
So years later when Max went to that stupid art school I was relieved that he finally got a girlfriend . . . finally something normal out of that kid. But why did it have to be that crazy Chloe? I saw the writing on the wall first time I saw them together. Sometimes the real pretty ones are the most messed up, and Chloe certainly lived up to that theory. She almost ruined him entirely. It took someone as brave and believing as Ava to finally give him a chance at real love, and now he's losing it. It's fucking heartbreaking to even think about.
So once again he's hiding. But this time, I'm handling it my way, and things are going to be different.
I look at the expansive view out my office window, my gaze scanning from Santa Monica to Downtown L.A. as my ideas take shape. I turn my chair away from the city view, and toward my desk.
"Sarina, come in here, ready to take notes."
Moments later she’s sitting before me, her pen perched in her little hand. She's so damn cute.
"First clear my books for the rest of the week. I'm leaving in a few minutes to get Max in Ojai."
I notice her eyebrows lift, but she doesn't say a word.
I look down at my watch. "Call Jackson and tell him I have an emergency, and he must meet Max and I at three P.M. We'll come to the law firm, then arrange a time in the next hour when I can call him and prep him for the meeting."
"When that’s done call Evelyn, and tell her Max and Ava are flying to Paris on Sunday. I want their seats upgraded to First Class. Have her get them a suite at the Plaza Athenee—the one I like that has that great view of the Eiffel Tower. That will also go on my bill. I'll find out where Max is booked and have her cancel it. There are other details too, but I’ll follow up with you later."
I lean back in my chair and ponder the reality that none of these actions make any impact on the bigger picture of Ava moving to New York. Just when I'm wondering if this is going to help, the big idea comes to me so hard and fast it takes my breath away.
"Sarina, new idea to add to the list . . . Max and I need First Class tickets to JFK on the red eye . . . tonight."
As I speed along the freeway toward Ojai, I have to admit that I'm impressed that Max is singularly devoted to Ava. I'm not sure if I could’ve walked away from a very sexy woman making a pass at me in my studio no matter how nuts she is. Of course, he’d have paid dearly if he'd fucked her. But I think with my cock when I'm in those situations. And that's why I'm alone now, without a good woman by my side.
My mind wanders over my past and I'm reminded that I'm nothing special in that regard . . . a man who cannot resist s
eduction is all too common. For all my bravado, I’ve never questioned that I’m part of the weaker sex. My inability to resist a beautiful woman ruined the two most important relationships of my life. And my inner rage over this fuels my determination to protect Max from losing everything.
A few minutes later Sarina calls to hook me into my call with the lawyer. I have complete confidence in Jackson. He’s gotten me out of a lot of hot water. He's the best . . . and he should be, for what I pay him. Always efficient, he leads me right into the issue as I explain Max's nasty problem.
"I can't stress the urgency more, Jackson. I want a very swift and heavy-handed resolution. The damn bitch needs to be vacuum sealed in a rocket and shot into space before the end of the day."
"What are you suggesting Cas? You know our limits."
"Don't worry, I'm just making my point. No laws will be broken, we can just edge along the borders alright?"
"Don't worry, Frank has his instructions. The restraining order will be here before you are. When we are done with her she won't know what hit her."
"That's what I'm talking about Jackson. That's why you guys are the best."
It's a good thing Ava called ahead because when I ring Ann's doorbell, I'm not exactly embraced by the welcome committee. The look of anger and mistrust in my son's eyes says it all. Who the fuck do I think I am, to suddenly sweep in out of nowhere like I'm going to save the day?
Even Ann looks irritated. But I can never begrudge Ann because so many of her looks and mannerisms remind me of Liz. Like Liz, she would do anything for my son.
I’ll also never forget the words she gave me at Liz's memorial . . . my most painful, yet precious gift.
"Liz wanted you to find your happiness, Cas. You know she never stopped loving you. She did until the very end."
I carry those words with me every day and they give me strength.
I'm here for him, Liz. I'm going to take care of our boy.
"Come on, Max." I say with a commanding tone. "We're heading back to L.A. We’ve some business to take care of."
Max
Ava.
The sudden appearance of my father has only one explanation, and that’s the only reason I hug Ann goodbye and follow the beast to his ostentatious Bentley. Ava has a plan, and I have faith in her.
We’re on the 101 heading south, before he finally speaks.
"So, Chloe’s back, huh?"
Ah, so the expert on deranged, sexy women is going to needle me about my ex?
"And? . . .” I'm too tired for any of this.
"She needs to be gone."
I laugh, and it sounds weird. I can't remember last time I laughed.
"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up."
"I'm going to help you, Max."
"Why?"
"Because I want to. I know I'm thirty fucking years too late, but I still have a few years left, and I want to be a part of your life."
"Well, you're thirty fucking years too late."
I watch him bristle, the color moving up his neck and over his ears.
"Okay, I deserve that and more. But can we take this one step at a time. Can I just help you get rid of Chloe?"
"Ava put you up to this," I state, knowing he would have never come otherwise.
"That girl loves you so much. She would do anything for you. And yes, she called me asking for help. But you have to know how damn smart she is. She called because she knew I could fix it faster than anyone else, and this needs to be fast."
"Help?"
"Yes, but even more important. She knew I would want to."
We’re gliding down the stretch of hills that lead you out of the farmlands of Oxnard and begin the descent towards the urban sprawl of L.A. The morning mist still lingers as the sun fights to break through.
If he thinks he can help me, I'm not going to make it easy. I'm not going to hold back.
"I have a question that has been on my mind. Did you ever fuck Chloe?"
His head jerks toward me, and I can see the answer in his eyes.
"Hell, no. How long have you wondered that?"
I scrape my fingertips along the surface of my jeans.
"I guess I started wondering about everything after what happened with Andrea."
I see his shoulders slump. "I deserve that. Yet another one of my jack-ass mistakes."
"That wasn't very fatherly behavior when you married the girl I was dating."
"No it wasn't. I lost all my dignity there, and I'm still paying for it dearly, believe me."
"Why did you do it?" I surprise myself by asking. I've hated him for so long I never wanted to know the truth, suspecting it would only make it sting more.
"You know I think with my cock. When she tracked me down after you guys broke up, and asked for my help convincing you to go back with her, I fell for it, hook, line and sinker. She was a great actress, real Oscar potential there."
"Broke up with her? I never broke up with her. I was still fucking her until she disappeared for a few days. I got worried so I called her work and was told she was on her honeymoon."
He grips the steering wheel so hard his knuckles go white and I realize his sting must not feel too good either.
"Crazy bitch," he hisses under his breath. "I had no idea." He turns towards me for a second before he looks back at the road. "Did you love her?"
"Hardly," I admit. "But I did love my cock in her mouth. She had exceptional oral skills."
"That she did," he sighs.
"For what it's worth, I'm really sorry, Max. It is one of the greatest regrets of my life. She was not worth destroying whatever relationship I still had with you."
"Yeah, well, this is a little too new-agey for my cynical soul, but Mom told me once that regrets make your head hang low as you stumble backwards. Instead she told me to look up and always move forward."
There’s a heavy silence as we both consider that Mom surely wanted us to understand this if we have any kind of chance at a relationship again.
I look out the window noticing the menagerie of cars. Everyone's headed somewhere: they rush to jobs, and obligations; some head to an empty house, or are greeted with the agony of a silent stare. We are all moving forward, heading somewhere, whether we want to or not. But there are the lucky ones who rush home to love, which for me is all about a beautiful girl who always greets me with open arms.
Fuck the fear. It is time for me to look up and move forward.
I'm going to make you proud, Mom.
Cas
"Max, it's been a while," Jackson says as he shakes my son's hand.
I notice Max straighten and return the handshake earnestly. He's trying.
"I'm just sorry it's under such circumstances," Max says.
"But that is why we lawyers exist. If the world were perfect, and ex's weren't trouble, I'd be out of work."
"I guess so." Max offers a sad smile.
I sit back as Jackson and his younger associate Colin, prompt Max for the phone call. They ask a few questions which he answers thoughtfully. I'm relieved he’s taking this as seriously as he needs to. The last thing we want is for this to backfire.
I hold my breath when they finally dial her. I'm never nervous, so the feeling surprises me. Jackson gives a thumbs up when she picks up the call.
I watch Max intently as Jackson motions for him to speak. Damn, even in distress he's a good-looking kid. Despite his challenges, he has made something of himself. He's a big artist; he's stayed away from drugs, and maintained the house in Malibu. And to top it off, now he's in love with the right girl. His mom would be so fucking proud . . . if only she were here to see it. She would love Ava so much.
I'd give anything for her to be here again.
Max
"Hey, Chloe." I keep my voice even and blasé, as I've been coached. The less I engage with her, the better.
"Max," she purrs. "I'm so glad you called, I've been waiting for you. I was so disappointed when you had to rush away from our meeting."
Jackson explains the legalities, that due to her threatening behavior, actions will need to be taken. The bitch must really be hungry because she stays on the line with the hook of actually connecting to me again dangling in front of her.
"You know Max, all of this bullshit isn't necessary. I just wanted to see you in person and talk to you. There's so much I want to say."
"Well, I'm just not interested in talking Chloe, I waited a long time to hear from you and frankly, I just don't care anymore."
"I never stopped caring about you, wanting you," she offers, her voice as false as the fake tits I used to encounter in my dark, pre-Ava days.
"I'm head-over-heels in love now, with the woman I'm going to marry. She's the best thing that ever happened to me and her happiness is all I care about. Your stunts are just an aggravating annoyance."
Her tone immediately shifts to ugly. The veil of false kindness has been pulled away.
"If your relationship is so great, why is she leaving you?"
I freeze, my heart pounding. I want to kill that bitch. How dare she say anything about Ava. I feel the fury sizzle across my skin.
There’s a shift in the room. I notice my father lean forward in his seat, as if he's going to jump in. Jackson raises his hands, both palms facing me, and lowers them slowly in a calming gesture. I take a deep breath.
"You don't know our plans, Chloe, and you are the last person on earth I would share them with. Besides you have a lot of fucking nerve to talk about anyone else leaving. How many years ago did you disappear without a word?"
She ignores the obvious and tries another tactic. "She's cute Max, in a mousey way. But I know you. You need a real woman who’s attentive and can really satisfy you. Give me a chance to remind you what you've been missing."
Work of Art ~ the Collection Page 78
