Chapter 48: Confrontation

“Hello?”

Drew was answering the landline phone in the kitchen. Their big rented house was in an area with poor cellular reception, so they maintained a POTS line (Plain Old Telephone Service).

“Sure, Lorelei, hang-on ... PETER, it’s your ex!”

“Thanks, Drew. Hello, what’s up? Who? Oh, I see. No, I understand; you didn’t have a choice. I appreciate the warning. I’ll let you know. Thanks, bye.”

“JARED! CLARISSA!”

Leah walked into the kitchen.

“Peter, don’t shout. They’re having a little twilight swim.”

“Oh, shit! Clarissa’s parents are on their way here, and they are not going to be happy.”

“Oh, shit! GO!”

Peter tore across the living room and down the hall to the rear of the house, flinging open the screen door. He wasn’t at all surprised to see his son’s bare ass pounding up and down between Clarissa’s knees.

“STOP! Clarissa’s parents are coming here. Any minute now! Get inside and get dressed, for pity’s sake!”

Jared and Clarissa wrapped themselves in towels and ran inside to the third bathroom to quickly dress.

Peter and Andrew put their heads together, trying to come up with a plan for the drama they expected to begin almost immediately.

They only managed a few sentences before there were loud pounding on the front door.

Drew squared his shoulders and opened the door about a foot, exposing the angry faces of Lane Trent and his wife Lisa.

Drew looked him up and down and then grunted, “Yes?”

“I’m Clarissa Trent’s father, Lane. Where is she?”

“I believe she is here with Jared. Is she expecting you?”

“What? Expecting? We’re here to take her home!”

“Alright, I’ll speak to her. Please wait.”

Before they could react, Drew stepped back and shut the door firmly.

“We have about 15 seconds. Where are they?”

Jared and Clarissa appeared, escorted by Peter. They were disheveled and still soaking wet from going swimming just before they started screwing each other. Peter steered them to a spot behind the coffee table, just as Lane started pounding on the door again.

“Stop that, please. Would you like to come in?”

Wordlessly, the Trents pushed past Drew and rushed up to the coffee table.

“Why are you WET? What did you DO?” he asked angrily.

“It’s a nice evening, so we were enjoying the swimming pool,” answered Jared mildly.

“You exposed your body to this, this boy?”

“Of course not. I wore a bathing suit,” lied his daughter.

“In front of this pervert? Who are you?”

“I am Jared’s father, Peter North, and I am very displeased to meet you. So, what do you—”

Lane didn’t really feel like talking at the moment. He reached out a heavily muscled arm and grabbed at his daughter’s shoulder, attempting to forcibly pull her through or over the coffee table and across the room to the door.

In his agitation, Lane had not noticed that Drew had followed him across the room. Drew put Lane into a chokehold when Lane was just a few inches from grasping his daughter’s shoulder. Clarissa leaned back, just out of his reach. She watched her father flail helplessly as Drew kept him immobilized, held by his neck. Drew took direct action, realizing that Jared would try (and fail) to shield Clarissa from her angry father.

It seemed like minutes went by while Drew maintained his grip on Lane. Lisa Trent raged and sputtered to no avail, while Jared and Clarissa safely comforted each other just beyond Lane’s reach.

Peter briefly left the living room and then returned with a small box in his hand, which he revealed only to Drew. Resignedly, Drew released Lane and waited for the inevitable.

Lane felt his freedom for a moment, wound up, and crashed his fist into the side of Drew’s face, knocking him flat. Then he lunged at Jared and dealt a second wicked haymaker. At the same time that everyone heard the thudding impact on Jared’s face, Peter pushed the two electrodes of the taser into Lane’s midsection and gave him 50,000 regrets for what he had just done.

By the time a couple of bored police officers arrived, the three Trents had arrived at a permanent misunderstanding. Which is to say, Clarissa, at age 18.058 years, would no longer live with her parents. Instead, she would be staying with Jared, Sandra, and Lorelei until they could find an apartment or similar place to live during their university studies.

Drew’s and Jared’s faces were horribly bruised and photographed, and the police took a report. Lane Trent would escape prosecution for battering Drew only after granting Clarissa full access to her college funds that she inherited from her grandmother.