Okay, well I couldn’t really ignore that.

“Are you telling me the truth about Sarah?” I asked point-bank. “Did you really see Michael leaving her bedroom? Adam, I’m not going to lie, if you made this whole thing up then I’m going to be beyond hurt about it. But I’d rather know the truth now, before things get deeper and the damage becomes harder to undo.”

Adam looked sad and hurt, maybe because he had lied and was getting ready to fess up, or maybe because he was telling me the truth and was upset that I would ever doubt him. But before he could answer me, Sarah walked in with a book to sit and read in the common room. It was weird how she was suddenly more out and about in the house than she had been before. Maybe pregnancy made her finally feel like socializing a bit more, although I’m not sure what that would have to do with it. She gave Adam a strange glance as she walked by and plopped down in one of the soft chairs near the window. Adam stood up and slowly pulled his hand from my thigh.

“We can talk about this more later,” he said as he turned to leave. “I need to go do something.”

I watched Adam walk toward the hallway, wondering what that was all about and why he didn’t even seem to want to be in the same room with Sarah. Everything about all of it was weird. When Adam got to the mouth of the hallway, Michael was coming out from the hall at the same time and the two of them brushed shoulders on accident. It was such a small thing, nothing that would make anyone get upset or get into a scuffle over. But both men were so triggered by each other right now, and so on-edge about the situation, that the small touch of their shoulders sent them into an impulsive and reactionary spiral.

Adam glared at Michael as he looked around the room to see who was here.

“What are you doing in here?” Michael asked him when he saw me and Sarah sitting in the common room.

“None of your damn business,” Adam shot back. “I live here, remember? I can do whatever the hell I want.”

“Not when what you want to do is create lies and deception,” Michael snarled.

“You’re not one to talk about deception, Michael.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’d say that doing anything just so that you can win Lisette over Rob and me isn’t exactly fair play. You were so insecure in her affections toward you, so threatened by Rob and me and the idea that maybe she might love one of us more than she loved you; that you had to create some sort of forced agreement just in order to share her with us one last time. Well, let me tell you, I don’t agree to it, not anymore. And I’ll be the one to decide whether that time was the last time I make love to Lisette, not you.”

The look on Michael’s face hardened and I saw his hands ball into fists at his side. I sat on the edge of my chair, ready to jump up and get between them if I needed to. Sarah sat in her chair by the window and I could hear her chuckling under her breath. What the hell was wrong with this woman? How could anyone think this situation was funny or amusing?

“The agreement wasn’t forced,” Michael snarled. “It was agreed to and you knew what you were doing when you willingly agreed to it. I’m not threatened by you at all, Adam. Because Lisette does love me more than she loves you.”

Three things happened then. Three things I never wanted to see again so long as I walked this earth. Adam lunged at Michael and the two of them grabbed onto each other’s shoulders in a violent wrestling match where Michael threw Adam to the ground and started to punch him in the face.

I leapt up from my chair and ran toward them, trying to figure out how in the world I could get between two massive bodies that were tangled around each other and rolling around on the floor.

And then Rob opened the door as he came in from outside, completely unaware of the brawl that had started until he saw the two of them and ran over to pull Michael and Adam apart.

“I need popcorn to watch this,” Sarah howled in laughter. “This is better than television.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I shouted at her as I flipped my head around to face her.

I had enough of this woman, resident or not.

“I’m mental, remember?” she asked sarcastically.

I couldn’t tell if there was truth in her words or not. At the moment, I didn’t care. I ran up to where Rob had just managed to pull the two guys apart and was holding Adam’s arms behind him to keep him from lurching at Michael again. Blood was dripping down his face and off the tip of his chin. Michael had managed to get a few good shots in, as was apparent both by Adam’s face and by Michael’s knuckles which were already starting to turn a bluish-purple as they bruised and started to swell.

“You guys need to stop it,” Rob said.

“Tell him that,” Michael said as he rubbed his sore knuckles.

“He threw the first punch,” Adam said as he spit blood onto the floor. “As usual, he will claim that he didn’t do it.”

“Oh no, I fully claim the fact that I hit you first,” Michael said with a look of vehemence on his face. “You were being an asshole and you deserved it.”

Rob shook his head as Adam tried to wrangle out of his grip.

“Let go of me for fuck sake!” Adam yelled at him.

“Not until you calm down and promise not to keep this fight going,” Rob said.

Michael snorted.

“His promise isn’t worth anything,” Michael said.

“How were the two of you ever such good friends?” Rob asked. “Because damn, you both sure seem to hate each other now.”

That was it. I needed to get this figured out. We couldn’t keep going on like this with a tension that was making everyone go crazy. Apparently, Michael was feeling the same way because he walked straight past Adam and Rob, and over to where Sarah was sitting and pretending to read in her chair.

“Come with me,” he said in a demanding tone that prompted her to stand right up as if she were following a command.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“I want to talk to you,” he said.

The three of us stood and watched as Michael led Sarah out of the room. I couldn’t remember ever seeing Michael talk to Sarah alone before. As far as I had ever seen, the two of them had only said a couple of words to each other.

“That’s not surprising,” Adam shouted after them. “He’s probably going to try to con her into covering this whole thing up now.”

I looked at Adam and he didn’t look the same. Maybe it was his bloodied and battered face, but something seemed off about him. He looked calculating and severe, and not at all like himself. Rob let go of Adam once Michael had left the room. The three of us stood there together and stared at each other for a solid minute.

“Anything you want to say or admit to?” Rob asked.

Adam shook his head with a giant huffing sound and stormed out of the room to go clean up his face.

“Aren’t detective agents supposed to be a bit more subtle than that?” I asked Rob, once it was only the two of us left in the room.

“Thought I would give it a blunt try first,” he said with a shrug before heading back outside to finish working on his bike.

I knew that I should probably just stay in the common area and keep working on the payroll ledgers, but I couldn’t help but want to know what Michael and Sarah were talking about. So, I crept silently toward the hallway until I could hear their voices talking quietly at the end of the hall. I stayed hidden around the corner and pressed my ear as close to the edge as I could so that I could try to make out what they were saying.

“Whatever it is that Adam has promised you in order to keep up this lie, I would double it in order for you to just stop lying and tell the truth,” Michael said.

There was a desperation in his voice that I had become familiar with. It was the tone that he had when he was earnestly trying to make things right against all odds.

He was telling the truth.

That baby didn’t belong to him.

“Adam didn’t promise me anything,” Sarah said.

Michael continued with that tone of voice. “Then why are you doing this? You’re hurting people’s lives.”