Only Consenting Adults Ch. 07

[Author's note: Trapped by love, Aidan tries one last time to break through with his estranged wife, but it's an uphill struggle. She isn't herself, and Aidan is beginning to suspect why. But how does he save someone who doesn't think they need saving?

This chapter contains depictions of drug use and reluctant consent]

---

ONE MAN ARMY

Aidan found himself wandering, again. He'd left Ant and Theo having breakfast and discussing holiday plans, and had taken to the streets. He knew he was drifting, trying to get his bearings in the city that he knew intimately. There were two places that he wanted to go, the gym and to his old apartment, but it was like they were off limits, the streets around them a no-man's-land that he couldn't cross.

Time and again, it came back to the look in Rosa's eyes in the car at the end. He'd opened his heart to her, confessing that he'd given up Mara because he'd realised that he still loved Rosa. It had been simple and direct, he'd expected something, anything, from his wife in return but had gotten a brick wall. As soon as he'd used the word, Rosa's defences had come back up.

Aidan walked, feeling hollow inside. The dread and excitement of coming back and talking to Rosa again had now been replaced by a numbness and a slow realisation that perhaps she had really moved on. What if there really was no way back? What then?

But there was another possibility, lurking in the shadows. Davey's face came back to him, showing a side of Davey that, as his friend, Aidan had seen only very rarely. Davey was a few years older, used to dealing with situations, a self-proclaimed self-made man in property after inheriting his father's business. Davey could be charming, good fun, easy going, but there was also a ruthless streak. People who got on the wrong side of him tended not to fare so well.

That was where Aidan was now, on the wrong side. It didn't matter that Davey was fucking his wife, or spending time in Aidan's apartment. What mattered to Davey was discovering a challenger for Rosa's affections. He played to win, and he usually did. Davey seemed to have Rosa firmly under his thumb, a level of control over Aidan's estranged wife that Aidan found hard to rationalise. Something told him there was more going on, that far from helping Rosa out of her collapse after Aidan has left, Davey was exploiting the situation. Aidan had never seen his wife more isolated and withdrawn. What had Theo said? That even Arly, her best friend, rarely saw her these days. It sat like a lead weight in his stomach.

Maybe Cassie could help. Maybe she could give him a professional opinion on how he was feeling and help him work through all this. Aidan laughed mirthlessly to himself, thinking that perhaps Cassie could help him come to terms with losing his wife when what he really needed was someone to help him form a battle plan to win her back. Digging his hands into his pockets, he stood on the street corner and weighed his options.

He needed a job, since he couldn't go back to the gym. He needed somewhere to stay, before Ant and Theo got sick of him sleeping on their couch. He needed to get his shit together because Davey had his shit together. Rosa needed to see that Aidan was back for good. He nodded to himself. That was the first step. Let's see how Davey copes with a little friction, he thought, knowing that Aidan was nearby and intent on winning his wife back.

"Yeah," he said to himself, "Fuck you Davey. I'm not going anywhere."

Aidan grinned, feeling better than he had for days. Time to stop looking down at his feet; time to fix his eyes on the horizon. First, he needed to check in on Indi.

---

Tony had a house in the outer suburbs with a big front lawn and a trampoline. The house was in an older style, solid brick with a concrete driveway and a small porch over the front door. Aidan walked up and knocked. He could hear sounds of music inside, a discordant babble of notes, and voices. He knocked again.

The door eventually opened, and Aidan found himself facing a girl with a baby on her hip. No, not a girl, but petite and lean, like Indi, with dark skin and black eyes, regarding him warily, frowning.

"Uh, hi," Aidan stammered, "I was wondering, is Indi in?"

The girl's face cracked into a sudden grin.

"Ah, g'day, you're Aidan, right?"

"Yeah, I'm...."

"Yeah, no worries, Aladdin told me," she interjected, "At last we meet. Come in."

The girl stepped to the side and Aidan entered the house.

"Uh, Aladdin?"

"Come through to the back, I'll see. Aladdin, yeah. Don't ask, I think his Mum was a little loopy on the epidural still. Tony, right?"

"I don't understand."

She turned to him as she walked. "Tony in the club, not his actual name, no-one uses their actual name. That'd be stupid. I'm Kora. Real name."

Kora led them through to the back of the house, into a large open room filled with furniture and toys.

"And this is the iwi," she announced, coming to a halt at last.

Aidan saw Indi at a keyboard against the far wall with a young girl, sitting side by side on a bench. At the interruption, she turned and Aidan was greeted with a wide smile. There was a younger boy playing with a truck on the floor, making engine noises to himself.

"Eldest over there, she's starting school next year. Can't bloody wait, eh. I mean she's pretty keen, but I can't bloody wait," Kora continued, "Al's out hunting and gathering but he should be back soon. Do you want a brew?"

Kora set the baby down on a mat and went into the kitchen.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Aidan called after her.

Indi had turned back to the keyboard and was running through a simple scale, letting the girl play along, repeating the sequence of notes. Aidan watched them together, Indi's delicate fingers on the keys, her patience with Kora's daughter, the little encouraging smile when she completed the scale. She was dressed in shorts and a t-shirt that Aidan suspected were Kora's, hair tied back with a butterfly clip.

"Milk?" Kora called from the kitchen.

"What?"

"How do you take it, Aidan? You prefer white?"

"Sure."

Kora laughed. "I prefer black."

"The coffee?"

"Yeah," Kora replied, "The coffee. What did you think I meant?"

Kora returned with two mugs and handed one to him.

"So, Indi tells me you did a stint in West Island."

"I did?"

"Yeah, Sydney, Australia. There's North Island, the Mainland and then West Island across the ditch."

Baffled, Aidan locked onto the part that he understood. "I was in Sydney for a while, yeah."

"Heard you met a movie star," Kora murmured over her coffee, conspiratorially.

"Uh, okay."

She raised her eyebrows. "Indi told me everything."

Aidan drank his coffee without responding. Everything?

"Hey," Aidan began, switching topics, "Look, thanks for helping. We're really... we had nowhere else to go."

"No worries. She's been a blessing, really. She's so good around the place."

Kora's attention was on her daughter now, deep in conversation with Indi. Aidan followed her gaze, watching as Indi stood up and took the young girl's hand.

"Like this," Indi said, going up on tiptoes in bare feet, ankles together.

She held her hands out to her sides, poised gracefully as she raised a foot.

"There are positions, see?" she continued, as her smaller companion attempted to copy her stance, wobbling on her tiptoes.

"You learn each one until you've got it. Then you can put them together."

Indi grinned and suddenly launched forward, spinning around and around, toes up on point, her body flowing across the room to come to rest, knees bent and arms wide, facing the young girl.

"She moves like an angel," Kora murmured, "I don't know where you found her, but she's something else. I think I'm in danger of losing my daughter to a white chick."

Indi relaxed and patted the young girl's shoulder. She came over to Aidan, smiling.

"Hey," Aidan said, "I thought I'd check in. So that you know I haven't forgotten about you."

"Hi Aidan."

The sound of piano scales echoed across the room again.

"You wanna sit outside and catch up in the quiet?" Kora suggested, looking down at her youngest child wriggling in agitation on his mat, "It's gonna be all on for young and old in here in a minute."

Indi nodded and led Aidan out through the back door into the garden. There were a couple of plastic seats and a table on the grass next to a rugby ball and a hula hoop. Indi sat down.

"How's it going?" Aidan asked.

"It's chaos," Indi replied, her eyes drifting back to the house, "There's always some noise, or someone crying, or...."

Indi smiled to herself.

"Aidan, I'm having the best time."

"You seem to be making yourself useful."

"Oh, yes. I don't want to be a burden, especially since they've been so kind."

Her eyes settled back on him.

"How about you? How did you go?"

"With Rosa?"

"Yeah."

"Not great."

Indi's smile faltered and she put her hand on his, an unexpected, delicate gesture that stirred deep emotions within him.

"Tell me, if you want," she said.

Aidan paused, searching her face. Indi was an enigma to him, an unknown quantity. When they had met, she had appeared to blend into the background, overshadowed by Andrew, the man who described her as furniture. Back then, Indi had been just that: a decorative addition to his house in Los Angeles.

Andrew had taken her with him to Tokyo, even while he made advances on Mara, confirming to Aidan and to Indi that they were both nothing more than background scenery to the grand story of his life. Looking at her now, in Tony's back garden, sitting happily in the sun, Aidan didn't regret for a second bringing her with him when he left.

Bit by bit, he related the conversations with Rosa. Indi listened attentively, nodding and prompting when he came to a halt. He could see that her concern was genuine, and when he reached the end, there was silence. Then Indi surprised him.

"That bit at the end, it sounds like it was too far too soon," she observed.

"You think?"

Indi nodded. "Talking about love and the last embryo, it might have been too much for her to take all at once."

Aidan set his coffee down on the table and curled up, his head in his hands. He let out a deep sigh.

"Yeah, maybe," he groaned, "Yeah, I really fucked it up."

He felt her hand on his back.

"It sounds like you backed her into a corner and she bailed out of the conversation."

"Could be, but," Aidan replied, "I dunno. I just had to get it out. I had to tell her, I had to say it."

There was a pause, and then Indi surprised him again.

"Do you think she still wants kids?" she asked.

Aidan rocked back in his chair, bewildered.

"What? Why is that...?"

"From what she said, about being broken. About you going and finding someone who can give you children."

Indi's expression was intent, now. From somewhere over the horizon, like the air before a thunderstorm, a feeling began to grow inside him. All he could do was listen as Indi continued, feeling strange ideas forming, puzzle pieces locking into place.

"She wants them, doesn't she? As much as you. It's what drove you to all this in the first place. It hasn't gone away."

Aidan shook his head. "No," he admitted, "No, it's not."

"And you still have one more try left."

"Yeah, in the freezer."

Indi didn't say anything, she didn't have to. The pieces slid into place and for a brief moment, Aidan could see a way forward. Then suddenly it all came crashing down. He slumped.

"No, Indi," he muttered, "It's not the answer. It's not gonna work."

"Why?"

Aidan launched himself to his feet, suddenly, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans, and began to stride back into the house.

"Aidan, wait."

He stopped. Eventually he turned back to her.

"Really," she said, "Why isn't it going to work?"

Aidan spoke carefully, as if explaining the obvious. "Because we worked it out, Rosa and I. The embryos were fine, she was not."

He fixed her with a terrible, lost look. "She can't carry them. They all die," he said, simply.

Indi got to her feet. Aidan stood, rooted to the spot, as she approached him and wrapped her arms around him. He found himself looking down into her upturned face. She smiled at him.

"I can," was all she said.

---

He'd messaged ahead, letting Rosa know that he was coming. He didn't want to surprise her this time, especially not on her own doorstep. He needed her to be prepared for the conversation. Walking up to the apartment block, he felt the same nerves as before, a tingling in his fingertips, the same moment of hesitation before knocking on her door. Not their door, he thought to himself, accepting the gulf between him and his wife now, preparing himself for the moment that the door opened and he was face to face with her. There was a rattle and the sound of the handle turning. He drew in a deep, steadying breath.

Davey appeared.

"Aidan," he rumbled, "Hi."

"Where's Rosa?"

"Why are you here?" Davey replied, ignoring Aidan's question.

"I want to talk to her."

"Say it to me."

Aidan shook his head slowly. Davey grinned, and something inside Aidan snapped. He pushed the door open, forcing the other man back.

"Rosa!" he called out into the empty space behind.

"What do you think you're doing?" Davey growled, placing a hand on Aidan's chest.

Aidan glanced at him, knocking the hand away and called out his wife's name again.

"Rosa, I wanted to talk. Please."

A figure appeared at the end of the hall: his wife. She had her arms wrapped tightly around her body, her long blonde hair tied back, her face unreadable. Davey blocked his way, coming close to him.

"Time to go," he hissed, "How about you just fuck off like a good boy?"

Aidan's eyes were fixed on Rosa, ignoring his erstwhile friend's presence.

"I need to talk to you, please. I need...."

"You need to take a step back, Aidan," Davey interjected, then his voice dropped to a murmur, "How about you fuck off back to your new girlfriend and leave us in peace?"

At this, Aidan rounded on the other man, bristling. Rosa didn't move from where she stood at the end of the hallway. He needed to reach her.

"What? She's not my girlfriend."

"Sure she is, or do you think Rosa's too stupid to see through your lies?"

Davey grinned, but before Aidan could answer, Davey ploughed on.

"You're tearing her apart, you stupid, evil fuck, all over again, after all the progress she's made. You want to see her hurt? You wanna push her to a breakdown again, or you wanna go further this time, you selfish prick? You come to finish off the job?"

"No," Aidan snapped, "Of course not. I just wanna sit down with my wife. I...."

"What makes you think she wants to sit down with you, Aidan? Ask yourself, why was I the one who opened the door?"

Aidan turned to his wife in desperation. "Is that true, Rosa?"

"Aidan, I just... I'm...," she responded, hesitantly.

He could see the uncertainty in her face, the confusion. She frowned, like she was trying to gather her thoughts.

"Rosa, just tell him. Tell Davey you want to talk. Tell him to back off and we'll talk."

Davey leered at him, then turned to the figure at the end of the hall.

"Babe," he said, "Is that what you want? You want him to go, or you want him to stay? You choose."

Both men waited, poised, as the silence lengthened. Rosa seemed unable to respond.

"Rosa," Aidan croaked, his voice cracking, "Babe."

"Looks like a no, bud," Davey murmured, bringing his face close to Aidan's, staring into his eyes. "She doesn't want you, she doesn't love you Aidan. Just get the fuck out of her life. She's better off, now. She's with me."

Aidan looked to his wife, his eyes pleading. She stood frozen to the spot, paralysed, her eyes wide and glassy, staring back at him.

"I won, you lost."

The words, the way Davey grinned like he was enjoying it, the triumphant look in his eyes, it was all too much. Aidan stepped back in one fluid movement and led with his fist, punching Davey in the face. He felt the crack of his knuckles against Davey's nose, a spatter of blood, and then Davey was falling back, dropping to the floor.

Aidan looked down in shock at what he'd done, then up the hallway to Rosa. Her eyes were wide. Davey propped himself up on an elbow, one hand exploring the damage to his face, but when he looked back up at Aidan standing above him, he was still grinning.

"That was too easy," Davey whispered, then in a louder voice, followed up with, "You're a regular one-man army, Aidan."

Aidan stood, suddenly helpless, feeling Rosa's eyes on him as Davey reached into his pocket to pull out his phone.

"Guess who I'm calling," Davey said, "No? Need a clue? Okay. It's the cops."

Aidan staggered backwards as the realisation of what he'd done engulfed him. He found himself standing just outside in the corridor, looking in at the bloody face of the man on the floor, and then the motionless figure of his estranged wife.

"Don't leave the country," Davey smiled, reaching out with a leg to slam the door closed.

Aidan stared at the door, not seeing it. Instead, burned into his memory, was the vision of his wife's face. She'd just stood there. She hadn't said a word.

---

Rosa crushed some ice into a hand towel and applied it to Davey's face, taking the bloodied, used one from him that he'd been holding as the police took his statement. She felt blank inside, sitting down as they asked questions, taking a statement from her as well. She corroborated Davey's recounting of events, that her husband had turned aggressive and had punched Davey once before leaving. The words just tumbled out of her, echoing everything that Davey had said, watching numbly as the policewoman taking the notes jotted it all down. Now, in the quiet of the aftermath, she was alone with Davey.

"How's the nose?" she asked.

"I think he fucking broke it," Davey replied, "Can I get some painkillers?"

"Sure."

Rosa went and retrieved a small packet of pills from the cupboard above the refrigerator and a glass of water. Davey broke two pills out and swallowed them, going back to holding the ice against his face.

"What happens now?" Rosa asked, her voice soft.

"What should have happened way before this. He stays away. First step, we need to get an order against him, then I want to see him in court for assault."

"Really? He could go to prison."

"Yeah. I know."

Davey reached out and drew Rosa closer to him, slipping his arm around her waist.

"Babe, if there was another way, I'd take it. But you've seen, right? He's been stalking you, and now he's turned violent. I know he's not behaving like he used to, like the Aidan we're used to. I thought he was a close friend, but we need to face the fact that he's changed."

He gave her a little reassuring squeeze.

"I think something happened to him while he was away, maybe something that had been there all along, and it just came to the surface. Was he ever, uh, a little off?"

"I dunno. Maybe."

Davey nodded. "There you go. I think it's gotten worse, and now he's come back to make it worse for you too, and I'm just not gonna let that happen."

Davey brushed her hair and gave her a little peck on the forehead.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, "You need fixing up again?"

Rosa shook her head slowly.

"Wearing off though, now?"

"Uh huh."

"Thought so. I just gave you a little. Just enough to get you through Aidan coming round."

Davey wrapped his arms around her, and instinctively, she pressed her face into his neck.

"We need you to feel safe, babe. We need a plan."

"A plan?"

"I've been thinking, Rosa, that maybe we should look at you getting out of here for a little while. Just to remove you from the environment. What do you think?"