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But still, a part of me was self-conscious about it now. I didn’t want to put that in front of someone like Grant.
We walked to a table where Hollis ordered four shots and turned to hand them out to us. “To new beginnings,” Hollis said.
“To fresh starts,” Jane said.
“To men who deserve you,” Grant said.
My eyes locked with his as I held up my glass.
“Yeah,” I said. “To all of that.”
We clinked glasses, and my eyes fell to my drink. I was nervous with Grant being there. I didn’t want to talk about it with him around. I knew Jane and Hollis were waiting for me to fill them in on all the details, but I felt lightheaded. My heart was slamming too hard against my chest. I felt like I was going to puke even though I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
“So?” Jane asked. “What happened?”
“I finally got tired of his bullshit,” I said. “I told him it was over.”
“What did he say?” Hollis asked.
No way in hell I was answering that question. “Does it matter?” I asked. “What matters is we aren’t a thing anymore.”
“What did he say to you?” Jane asked, her eyes narrowed. It was annoying sometimes how well she could read me.
“It’s not important, okay?”
I lifted my eyes to Grant quickly before I took a sip of the drink Jane had handed me.
“Do you w
ant to know what it looked like from the outside?” Hollis asked.
“No. But I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyway,” I said.
“He was manipulative and controlling, Theresa. Always telling you what to wear and policing where you were all the damn time. You couldn’t even come over to my house for an hour without him texting you five or six different times.”
“I know,” I said.
“And remember that time when I finally got you out of the apartment?” Jane asked. “When we went dancing that night at the studio?”
“I do,” I said.
“Yeah. Ike made you change your outfit three times because he didn’t like what you were wearing, and he wasn’t even going with us, Theresa. It was insane.”
“He did that?” Grant asked.
I groaned as I threw back the rest of my drink. “It wasn’t that he made me, it was that I didn’t want to fight about it,” I said, hating how pathetic it all sounded.
“He’s abusive, and I’m glad you’re finally away from him,” Hollis said.
“Yeah, well. I’m going to have to find a new place to stay. And I’ll have to separate our phone bills and divvy up credit card debt with him. We were together for eight years. Our lives were intertwined,” I said.
“And we’ll help you with all of that,” Jane said.
“Yeah, and if you need to, you can move in with me,” Hollis offered.
“You guys must think I’m completely incompetent when it comes to taking care of myself,” I said.
“No, but you did stay with a man who openly manipulated and controlled you for eight years,” Jane said.
