AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Jay
I watch as the woman I love runs off into the darkness, sobbing and broken. It’s too late for should haves and regrets. I want to follow her, but my logic dictates I first sort out the bullshit waiting in my living room for me.
Clenching my fists, I thrust them into my suit pockets for fear of what my anger would love to use them for. I despise my ex now more than ever, but I’d never lay a hand on a woman, no matter how much she deserved it.
“Put that thing out.” I swear as I march inside, slamming the front door, then stalk toward Cheryl.
“You have your entire family in panic mode. Why the fuck are you here and why all the secrecy?”
Her dark red lips pull into a smirk so evil, so greasy, all the hair on my neck stands on end. Dropping her second cigarette into her undrunk wine, she steps toward me. The scent of burned tobacco, mint, and her favorite perfume attack my insides and I all but force myself not to yack all over her.
Sliding her hand over my shoulder and cupping my neck, she pushes her skinny, bony body into mine.
“Because they would have squealed, and I needed to see for myself what you were up to, baby.”
I step back, repulsed by a woman I had once promised my heart to forever.
“What I was… Am up to has less than fuck all to do with you. Tomorrow you’re signing the papers and then I’m sending you packing.” My knuckles ache as my fists ball tighter where they’re stashed in my pockets.
“I’m afraid that won’t be happening.” Her gaze turns from icy to glacial as her arms drop to her sides.
“And why is that? You get tired of your boy toy? Or you spent all the money you so wisely extricated from me?”
A moment of fear flashes across her faces before she restrains her emotions. I remember just how well I know this woman. My hands relax when I realize what’s happened and why the hell she’s here.
I won’t give her anytime to settle in and stir more shit. “You’re not staying here.” I glance around trying to find her luggage.
“Oh, don’t worry. A lovely local, Mrs. Dorsett? She’s offered me a bedroom for free. I must say, she had an awful lot to say about you and your whore.”
My vision blinks in and out as anger reignites. “How’d you? You know what, I don’t care.”
It takes all of my will power not to give her what she wants. I force my arms and hands to remain relaxed as I paint the most amused expression I can muster on my face.
“Well then, I guess we’ll just have to wake her up because you’re not spending a minute longer than you ought to in my town.” I walk toward the garage door grabbing my car keys.
“You can’t make me do anything I don’t want to,” she threatens. “I’ll go to the police and make sure they know what a brut you are.” Her voice rises in volume and octave as she turns around grabbing a small stone statue that came with the house rental.
Realization of how far this bitch will go to ruin me dawns on me. I take two long strides as she brings the ornament down toward her face but catch it a fraction before she strikes herself.
“No!” she yells and pushes against me.
Her feather-weight attempt is useless and only serves to remind me how much I miss Simmi’s voluptuous full form. How could I ever have felt anything for this empty husk of woman?
I grab her wrist and with my other hand, dislodge the weapon. I lean forward and sweep her over my shoulder.
“Put me down. You’re going to pay for this, you bastard.” She shrieks.
I ignore her and march us to the garage where I dump her in the passenger seat. She tries to squirm out.
“Enough!”
She ignores me as she twists and attempts to slide into the driver’s seat. I grab her arm and tug her back.
“Cheryl. Enough. I don’t love you anymore and you, I doubt you’ve loved anyone except yourself. Now sit the fuck down.”
She faces me, her face mascaraed-streaked and her red lips smeared down her chin. I don’t like seeing her so broken, but I’m also no longer, nor was I ever, responsible for her decisions.
