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Looking sick, Will nodded at me and ducked inside the back seat of the car. I descended the steps, watching his face behind the window. Slowly, the blue and red lights blurred together, and I wiped my eyes.
“If you come inside, I’ll call a cab for you. I have to call a tow truck for that asshole’s car.”
I spun around and saw Ben standing at the top of the staircase. “Why are you doing this? Have you lost your fucking mind?”
Something flickered in his blue eyes, maybe there was a bit of regret buried somewhere inside there. Every part of me was radiating heat. I don’t think I’d ever been so angry in my life. I didn’t understand how someone could be so petty, to set up my boyfriend to be arrested because he was jealous.
“You never used to talk like that, Nat. What happened to you?”
“Are you disappointed that I’ve finally learned to stand up to your bullshit?”
He disgusted me. I wished Will hit him harder. I pulled myself to the top of the staircase and my knee shot upwards, hitting him straight in the groin.
All six feet of him crumpled to the ground, and I laughed with savage pleasure as he cradled his balls.
“That’s for posting naked pictures of me on my LinkedIn. I will sue you and you’ll be disbarred. You’ll never practice law again.”
I wasn’t sure he could hear me. He was still rolling on the ground, holding his balls. I walked down the steps, leaving him there to scream in pain while I opened my phone and called Jessica. Something inside me said that this wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.
10
It was past midnight, and I was walking alone on the streets of Oakland. It was almost as though I witnessed someone being shot. The numbness that gripped my head wouldn’t let me think about anything but placing one foot in front of the other. I couldn't believe what had just happened.
Ben had lost his mind. There was no other explanation for why he would do something so petty, but this wasn’t just the action of a jealous ex. No, he had leapt far beyond jealousy and had crossed into creepy as fuck. Ben wasn’t a bastard when we were together, but somehow he became one when we were apart. Will was carted off to jail because of me, and now I’d dragged Luke into this mess.
Un-fucking believable.
My pocket buzzed, and I slipped my hand inside for the phone.
“Hey.”
Jessica’s voice was a nervous bubble of energy. “Natalie? Where are you? We’re stopped near Ben’s apartment.”
“Just keep driving. I walked about a mile.”
“Natalie! You shouldn’t be walking alone in Oakland!” She said something to Luke. “We’ll be there soon.”
“Okay,” Nothingworse could happen at this point.
Luke’s car rolled up next to me and he honked to get my attention. Jessica popped her blonde head out of thewindow and beckoned. I got into the car and stared ahead as they both turned their heads to look at me.
It was like swimming through water. Every sight and sound distorted into confusing messages I couldn’t understand. I asked Luke to repeat what he said three times before I understood.
“Did Ben hurt you?”
“No, but he hit Will.” A horrible image of Ben’s fist slamming against Will’s head replayed over and over in my mind. “It’s all my fault. Will was just defending himself.” I looked into Luke’s blue eyes. “I’m sorry for all this.”
“Natalie, you’ve nothing to be sorry about. You did nothing wrong.”
“Yeah, but…” my voice cracked, and I bent my head to the ground.
“What happened?”
I told them everythingin a robotic tone; the severity of his actions hadn’t hit me yet. From the backseat, I watched Luke’s face tighten as I finished the story.
“Someone needs to contact Will’s father…and his publicist, if he hasn’t already. This is really bad.”
My throat squeezed. “But he did nothing wrong!”
