Open Door Marriage

by Kai, Naleighna

  Tori looked at Alicia for a minute before tears welled in her eyes. “I want things to go back to the way they were. But since you don’t want me, then I have to move on. Max is it.” Tori folded her arms over her bosom. “So, I’m dropping out of school on Monday. He wants me to be a housewife, to focus on taking care of him. Just like Alicia does for you.” She squared her shoulders. “And he wants to have sex before we get married. We all know I learned my lesson on that one.”

  “How did you even meet him,” Dallas demanded.

  “At a coffee shop not too far from the hospital,” she answered in a low tone.

  Something about those words didn’t ring true, but Dallas was too angry to pull the real answer out of her.

  “Tori, you really need to think about what you’re doing,” Alicia finally piped in, moving closer to her niece, who finally looked her way. “Max is not the answer, sweetheart.”

  Sadness flashed in Tori’s eyes. “I invited you here so I could apologize to you for the way I treated both of you.” She then looked at Dallas. “I wanted you to see that I’ve gotten over my broken heart. Max and I will work things out. And that’s all I’m going to say about it.” She turned her back to them; her shoulders lowered as though she felt defeated.

  Seconds ticked by before Dallas said, “Alicia, take the car and go on home. I need to talk some sense into Tori.”

  Alicia stared at Tori, then looked at Dallas, who only took his eyes off Tori for a few seconds.

  “Dallas, I don’t get a good feeling about this,” Alicia said.

  “Now is not the time,” he said, and his tone caused Alicia to flinch. “Tori’s about to make the biggest mistake of her life. And as her friend, as a man who once loved her, I have to clue her in on some things about Max Eaton.”

  Alicia glared openly at him. “Dallas, I’m going to say this one thing—I’m not going through this back and forth thing again.”

  “Alicia, go home,” he snapped at her, but kept his focus on Tori.

  Alicia snatched up her purse from the floor, and was at the front door in a matter of seconds. She turned in time to see Tori look over her shoulder at her, and the small smile that was on her lips and in her eyes let Alicia know that her suspicions had been right. She’d been playing that “little miss in need of a rescue” character to the hilt.

  Turning back to Dallas, Alicia said, “I’m going.”

  His eyes were softer now when he looked at her. “Thank you. I just want to talk to Tori.”

  “I understand,” Alicia said.

  “Would you mind taking a couple of my binders with you?” he asked. “They’re up in the loft.”

  The moment he took off, Tori stood straight, shedding her look of helplessness, and she smiled.

  “He’ll be home a little later, Auntie,” Tori said in a low, husky voice that was unusual for her. “Actually, much, much later. Endgame, Auntie. Endgame.”

  Alicia saw the gutsy determination in her niece’s eyes and smiled. “Tori, I choose my battles wisely,” Alicia whispered back. “And this is one you might win tonight, but when you think victory is yours, life will snatch it away—especially when you’re coming from a dark place. And this,” she circled her finger in the air, “is going to come back and bite you in the ass.”

  “Oh, don’t be bitter, Auntie,” Tori said sweetly, removing a piece of imaginary lint from Alicia’s dress. “I’ve always known Dallas loved me. Now, I’m about to see exactly how much. I know Dallas better than he knows himself. Why do you think I chose Max in the first place?”

  “Little girl, you don’t know who you’re playing with.”

  “Sure I do.” Tori gave her a winning smile. “No one’s ever told me the truth, but you practically raised me at some point—at least that’s what I think.”

  Alicia gave her a pointed look and said, “But there’s a lot about me you don’t know. And I’m hoping you don’t ever have to find out.”

  Tori’s smile wavered a little.

  Alicia winked before she swept from the condo. She couldn’t shake the feeling that her life was about to change for the worst.

  * * *

  5:57 a.m.

  Dallas had fallen asleep. How, he had no idea, since the last thing he remembered was sitting on the sofa trying to talk some sense into Tori and intercepting every one of Max’s angry calls. She’d fixed him a drink … and well, he didn’t remember much after that. Now, here he was, on the sofa, while she lay in his arms. He was startled, but he knew he hadn’t slept with her. Still, he felt guilty when he looked over at the clock and saw it was almost six in the morning.

  It had been a long and stressful night. Trying to talk sense into Tori when she got it in her mind to do something was like pulling a freight train with two rows of dentures. At least he had extracted a promise that she would immediately end things with Max. Dallas would introduce her to someone he hoped would be as good to her as he had been. She deserved at least that.

  The sun was making a dash for the horizon when Dallas extracted himself from under a sleeping Tori. He hurried from the condo to make it home to Alicia. He walked into the home on Pernell Lane and continued to the living room. With the flick of a button, panels expanded from a hidden place in the wall to block the outside world from looking in. At night, those panels were always drawn, and it concerned him that this time they were not.

  He continued his journey into the kitchen, which was a blend of silver fixtures and shelving to accent the white Formica cabinets. It was a showcase kitchen and the perfect place to prepare the type of cuisine that Alicia favored.

  When he didn’t find her there or in the bedroom, he went to the rear of the house to the sunken pool, only to find the cool aqua waters as devoid of her body as the untouched bed had been.

  The bathroom, done in white Carrara marble, had a large circular window within a wall of heavy frosted glass. She was not soaking in the tub, and Dallas froze at the threshold as reality stabbed him in the heart.

  He didn’t have to do a second sweep of the house to confirm what he already suspected. “I’m not going through this back and forth thing again,” is what she had said when he forced her to leave Tori’s house. Alicia had kept her word.

  There was one more frightening thing that spoke to her state of mind. She had left her painting of him on their bedroom wall.

  Chapter 37

  January 30 – 6:20 pm

  If he had just minded his business, if he hadn’t gotten angry seeing Tori with Max, if he hadn’t sent Alicia home alone, Alicia would still be where she belonged—in her rightful place: in his heart, his home, and in his bed.

  But he had lost her, and now, nothing mattered.

  It had three days since she’d disappeared and he’d hardly left their bedroom. Either he was sleeping in the bed that he didn’t get too many nights to share with her, or he was walking around, trying to remember their moments together, trying to capture her scent. The phone rang, but he didn’t answer. It was either his mother, maybe his father, definitely his coach. But he didn’t care about the outside world. All he could think about was that he’d lost the love of his life—twice. He’d already been given his second chance at love. He knew he’d never have that chance again.

  So when he began to feel weak from dehydration and not even remembering when he’d had his last meal, he didn’t care that he no longer had the energy to move around. That was good. All he wanted to do was sleep.

  But then, he was awakened, and her arms were around him. He couldn’t believe it, she had come back to him.

  “Alicia,” he called, barely able to open his eyes. “You’re here.”

  “Dallas!”

  He must have been delirious. Because though the arms that held him felt like Alicia, it was Tori’s voice he heard. And then, his eyes opened fully. And it was Tori.

  He groaned. “Go away.” He tried to push her, but he didn’t have the strength.

  “Dallas,” she whispered. “You can’t do this. Yo
u can’t give up. She’s not worth it.”

  “Go away,” he mumbled. “I don’t want to see nobody.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “Not until I know you’re all right.”

  “Go away!” he roared.

  “No!” she roared right back. “I’m going to stay right here until either you get over her or grow a pair and get your ass back to work, whatever you can manage to do first.”

  She gripped the edges of his robe and shook him until he was able to look at her. “This melodramatic bullshit right here…that’s for punks. And the Dallas Avery I know, ain’t no punk.”

  She released him and as he fell back on the bed, she grabbed a suitcase from the closet, tossed a couple of his sweat suits inside, packed his toothbrush and a few other necessities, then stood looking down at him on the bed.

  He rolled onto his back and peeked at her through half-open eyelids. “What the hell are you doing? How did you even get in here?”

  “I broke in through your bathroom window. I’ve been calling you and your mother called me.”

  Dallas moaned. “Look, just go home. I’m fine.”

  “You’re not fine. But you will be as soon as you get out of here. This is her domain,” she said, moving back to his dresser. She pulled a pair of boxers from the top drawer and tossed them to him. Then, inside his closet she pulled a shirt and pants off of hangers. “I don’t do my best work in someone else’s territory. Get dressed. You’re coming home with me.”

  He growled, but Tori just stood there with her arms folded, and after a few minutes of the stare-standoff, Dallas gave in. Silently he dressed and then, he let Tori lead him outside to her car.

  “We have to call someone to fix that bathroom window,” she said as she maneuvered her car away from the home. “And we definitely need you to get an alarm. I couldn’t believe it when I broke all that glass and an alarm didn’t go off.”

  Dallas said nothing.

  He hardly talked for the next two days, though he was slowly coming back to life as Tori met his needs. He listened to his messages, the dozens that had been left by his mom (sounding desperate) and his coach (sounding pissed.) Even his agent had blown up his phone, leaving message after message, reminding him of the fines for each of the games he missed.

  He didn’t return any calls, and he hardly talked to Tori. But she was there for him, just like she’d been there for him during those desperate times with his mother.

  A week after Tori found him, he returned to work, showing up for training, then practice, determined to put all of his energy into the game. He didn’t offer any excuses, because he didn’t have any to give. Coach nodded, gestured to the court, and it was business as usual.

  The sportscasters and media was all abuzz about his mysterious disappearance and then his abrupt return. But the main thing everyone agreed on was that Dallas Avery had changed. He was harder, sullen, quiet, driven and it took its toll on the team. He drove them just as hard as he drove himself—and that was a relentless pace. Though they won games, the cohesiveness they once had faltered a little. After a few days the team adjusted to the “new” Dallas, one who had very few words for anyone and very little time for small talk or bullshit.

  He came home and every night, Tori was waiting for him. Dinner on the table. Conversation if he needed it, silence if he didn’t. Her warm body was there, curled up to him at night. She was a different woman, more loving, more affectionate, more attentive. It was even to the point she would give him a hand job or head to make sure that his needs were met and her virginity was kept intact.

  But though he was falling into a comfortable routine with Tori, he couldn’t get Alicia out of his mind. Without telling anyone, he hired a private investigator. But after a few weeks, the investigator found nothing. It was as if Alicia had fallen off the face of the earth and Dallas began to believe that maybe she had finally taken that trip to India and never planned to return.

  So, he turned his focus to who he had at home—Tori. Maybe he was where he was supposed to be. Maybe things had worked out the way they were supposed to work out. Maybe he’d been wrong about Alicia and Tori was really the one.

  Those were his thoughts as he tried his best to push Alicia out of his mind. He spent as much of his free time as he could with Tori, enjoying the way she was with him now.

  There was no talk of their relationship; they were taking it slow, taking it easy and it was weeks later, when one night Dallas was stretched out on the sofa, with his head resting in Tori’s lap, as they watched a marathon of movies, that they finally talked about what had happened.

  “Everything I thought about love was all wrong,” he said.

  She answered him right away. “No, it isn’t Dallas,” Tori said, stroking her fingertips across his lips. “You can’t stop believing in love because one woman broke your heart. True love is out there. You just have to wait for it. You have to know when the time is right.”

  Shaking his head, he said, “There’s no such thing as true love. I’ll never believe in that bullshit again. They can save that for music and movies, ‘cause I’m not buying it.”

  Tori just let their conversation end there and continued to just be a constant in his life. She proved that she brought something to his table—even if it wasn’t anything close to what he had with Alicia. Passion clearly was fleeting, but loyalty and consistency was what he now craved. And loyalty and consistency was what he had in Tori.

  This time, he was the one to propose.

  Chapter 38

  Saturday, June 8—3:30 p.m.

  Dallas, Texas

  Dallas stood next to his father at the front of an archway at the exclusive Towers Club. The place was forty-eight floors above the streets of downtown Dallas, which provided a dramatic backdrop for the type of elegant wedding that Tori had wanted.

  Though Reverend Braxton welcomed Dallas back to the church with open arms, Dallas had only set foot inside the place long enough for Tori to ask him to perform their ceremony. The good pastor had tried to talk Tori and Dallas into pre-marital counseling.

  “Every couple should have it,” the pastor said.

  Tori had nodded. “Let’s do it, baby.”

  “No!” Dallas had exclaimed and then softened his voice. “We don’t need it.”

  Tori had only nodded again and agreed and for a moment, Dallas felt bad. Tori had to know. She had to know that he wasn’t marrying her because he wanted to. It was because she had been there to pick up the pieces when Alicia had shattered his belief in true love.

  “Well, big man, are you ready for this?” Paul Alexander asked, clasping a hand over Dallas’ shoulder. He looked dapper in a black tux, lavender shirt and bowtie.

  “It’s a little late for second thoughts, don’t you think?” Dallas answered solemnly.

  Paul’s smile disappeared. “Never too late for that. If you’re having them.”

  “Second, third, but it doesn’t matter,” Dallas said, focusing on the flowers that had been placed in the ballroom. “Tori signed the pre-nup. She gets the wedding she wants, the husband she wants. I get a wife and a family. Fair exchange ain’t no robbery.”

  “Provided the exchange is really fair.”

  Dallas didn’t have an answer for that. Tori had changed in a lot of ways, and he believed that she was happy. That was all Dallas needed since he’d given up on the idea that he would ever find happiness again. All of his energy went to making sure Tori would have what she wanted.

  That morning, though, he’d had to pray. Before he even got out of bed, he prayed that God would help him to be the husband he should be, the father he would be and a good man overall. He asked God to bless his heart with the kind of patience, compassion and love that would sustain him for the rest of his life.

  And then, he had rolled out of bed and got on his knees when he prayed a special prayer of love and protection for Alicia, that wherever she might be, that she was happy.

  “I want to thank you, Son,” Pa
ul said, pulling Dallas away from his thoughts.

  “For what?”

  “For acknowledging me publicly. You didn’t have to do it.”

  “Yes, I did,” Dallas said, nodding. In interviews since the season ended, Dallas had told the story of finding his real father to the press. It had been received well enough, it didn’t seem like anyone was going to dig too deep in his past. All the stories had been about how much Dallas looked like Paul Alexander. And now today, during the ceremony, everyone—including Paul—would learn that not only was Dallas telling everyone that Paul was his father, but today, Dallas Avery was now Dallas Alexander.

  “Well, it’s about that time,” Paul said.

  Dallas nodded as Paul walked away. When his father cast a worried glance over his shoulder before he took a seat next to Anna, Dallas gave him a gentle smile.

  A scraggily looking reporter had been steadily working the room, but was getting closer to the front with each pass. He kept an eye on Dallas, and for some reason, Dallas didn’t get a good vibe from the man. Why had he been given roving privileges when all the rest of the press had to remain in the rear of the Tower’s main ballroom?

  Dallas left his spot next to six of his tuxedo-clad teammates. “I think it’s best if you leave,” he said to the cagey man.

  “I wanted to speak with the bride, but they won’t let me near the anteroom.”

  Dallas frowned down at him. “Why do you need to see her?”

  “Because we have a little business transaction,” the photographer said in a hushed tone.

  “What kind of business?”

  The photographer first looked left, then right. “I’d rather not say, but she owes me some money.”

  “If you want your cash, you’d better start talking.”

  The man held up a manila envelope. “She owes me for taking these.”

  Dallas honed in on the words Personal and Confidential stamped on the front. “How much?”

  “Two grand.”