"What?!" Thomas exclaimed, just as Susan shouted, "Liar! They are all liars!" She moved away from Thomas's side, and her eyes darted toward the open door again.
Couldn't they see? She was not going anywhere. She just wanted a fix.
Ty saw where her eyes were trained, and he sighed. "Don't even try it, ma'am," he said, then turned back to Thomas, who had stood up and was staring at Susan like she had sprouted horns. "And before you asked, sir,. Yes, the blow was not serious. The man was more surprised than hurt; she pushed him aside and tried to head towards the entrance. It was quite stupid, in my opinion, as I wondered how she intended to get past everyone on duty and the enforced doors. No offence, ma'am. Well, we got her back, and that was when we realised something else."
Thomas, who couldn't believe his ears, asked, "What?"
Susan rushed to him again "Tommie, my love, don't listen to them. They are all liars. They just do not want us to be able to have the life we have dreamed of together. They wanted to separate us. They are only jealous. Yes, that…"
"Would you shut the hell up and quit your whining?" The man who had his back to the room bellowed, and Susan shut her mouth instantly.
Thomas narrowed his eyes at the man's back. The voice had been chilling, but he was not about to stand here and listen to anyone talk to his sweet Susan like that.
"What the hell? Who are you?" He shouted back at the man.
He heard Ty sigh, "Mr. Lanoth."
"No, what right does he have to talk to my woman like that?" Thomas shouted and moved toward where the man stood.
The man scoffed, "Your woman. What a joke. Who am I? The one clearing up your mess is who I am."
He said this as he turned towards Thomas. Thomas stopped in his tracks as the man's dark, penetrating gaze seemed to pin him into place.
"He is my brother," Susan said in a near-whisper.
The man who had secured a lawyer for Susan when Thomas was still trying to get one. The attorney he had talked to wanted his payment upfront before he would even talk to Susan at all about representing her. Two other lawyers had said the same thing.
He had been thinking of an excuse to give to Reyona that could make him withdraw the money that was left in their joint account when he was informed that her brother had gotten her a lawyer. The brother he only learned about that week. The brother, Susan, had never told him she had until they needed his help.
It irked him that someone else had taken the step he had not been able to take because of a lack of funds. Now that he saw the man standing there in all his arrogance, shouting at his sweet love, the anger he felt boiled over. Nobody was going to shout at his sweet, guileless Susan just because he had money. It was typical for men like him to think they owned everything just because they offered some help.
The kind of man he had been trying to be. The kind he would have fully become in Luxembourg after he invested his money in a lucrative business that would make the elite of society accept him as part of them, which would have made Susan live the life she had always wanted. A rich wife's life.
The frustration of his crushed dream and this humiliation made him lash back at Maxwell.
"And so? Simply because he is your brother, he thinks he can order you about." he looked back at Maxwell "Nobody talk to my woman like that; I don't care who you are or what you think you have. You were rude to her, and nothing can excuse that fact."
************
Maxwell gave him a look that made Thomas feel uncomfortable. The kind of look one would give a slime. A look of disgust. "And what can excuse the fact that you are a pathetic excuse for a man? What excuse do you have for not being able to take care of your own shit? What excuse does a loser like you have for not knowing that his so-called woman is a c****ead?" Maxwell said it with steel in his voice without raising it once.
"What?" Thomas shouted, then looked back at Susan. "What is he talking about?"
"He is…"
"Did I stutter? What kind of sorry excuse for a man would be with a woman for such a long period without knowing that she uses it? Heavily for that matter."
"Well, we can't say that yet, you know," Ty interfered. "We have to wait for the result and..."
"Spare me the bullshit, Ty. You, of all people, know a c****ead when you see one. Just look at her," he flung his hand towards Susan, who seemed to be trying to make herself smaller than she was, or maybe it was because of the throbbing sound in her head that had increased with their conversation.
Their voice was grating on her ears, and her head protested as each statement that sounded like a boom of thunder came out of their mouth. She felt like she should drop dead at their feet. Yes, she wouldn't mind that. Right after, she had a quick puff. Yes, that would be preferable.
"Mr. Rohan, I think I should excuse you while you sort this out," the man in the suit said quickly in the ensuing silence that followed Maxwell's statement.
Maxwell looked at the man "Yes, Mr. Smith, that would be preferable. We couldn't appear today anyway, and I don't think she could give you anything concrete in that state of hers. I will get back to you once the results are in.
The lawyer. Thomas thought.
"What tests?" he echoed as Mr. Smith nodded and left.
"They made me pee in a container, Tommie. They took my hair," Susan piped up without leaving the corner where she huddled. She sat back on her haunches and rocked herself. "They invaded my privacy, my love. You are not going to let this slide, will you?"
"What?" Thomas said it again. He seemed to have been saying that a lot, he thought.
It angered him to hear Maxwell echo his thoughts as he said, "You seemed to be saying that a lot this morning, Mr Lanoth." the mocking emphasis on his name didn't escape Thomas's attention as Maxwell continued with a condescending smile edging his lips "If I didn't know better, I would think you are a questioning machine and not the bastard that had three children with my sister while married to another woman." He turned his back on Thomas dismissively before the latter could reply to his jab, "How long will it take for the results to be in, Ty?"
Ty looked at his chunky watch and then back at Maxwell. "Both the hair and urine tests should have the results in two days, three days tops."
"Right, I will get back to you. I trust that you will do whatever you have to to make her stop her twitching and stuff in the meantime, yeah?" Maxwell smiled at Ty's raised brow "Right, I'm not trying to teach you your job. I will be back when she is more stable. I have questions for her," he said as he turned to leave.
"Will someone tell me what is going on here? Why is she taking a test? What right do you have to take any test on her without informing me first?" He shouted at Ty.
"I will suggest you calm down, Mr Lanoth." Maxwell smiled as he heard Ty say in a bristling tone, "Your lady is suspected of being a user and tests needed to be carried out to confirm or dismiss that theory."
"A user of what?" Thomas asked in disbelief.
"Co***ne, and not just the powder."
"What?" Thomas said before he could stop himself.
Maxwell snorted on his way out the door, "There you go again."
If a glare could flay off someone's skin, Maxwell would have no skin left from the ferocious glare that Thomas directed at his back.