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I’m feeling a myriad of emotions as I pull away from my best friend’s house which just so happens to also be the love of my life’s house. I’m so angry I can barely see straight. Furious. Devastated. Livid.
All the while, I feel so unsettled with what would happen between me and Serena. And I knew just who to take that out on.
Her voice blares through the phone like nails on a chalkboard, and if I had the power, I’d reach through the phone and strangle her. “I was wondering when I’d hear from you,” she sneers.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Jana? Do you just enjoy hurting people and ruining their lives, is that it? You’re so miserable and unhappy with yourself that you have to make sure others are as well? Misery really does love company, I guess.”
“I enjoy hurting people? You are sleeping with Preston’s daughter! His twenty-one year old daughter! Did you think he was just going to be okay with that?”
“IT WASN’T YOUR BUSINESS TO TELL HIM!” I bellow into the phone. “Why the hell didn’t you come to me? I could have explained to you—”
“Explained what, that Griff was lying? That you didn’t have that skank around my son?”
“Watch your fucking mouth, Jana. Serena is far from a skank. And you of all people don’t have any room to talk about promiscuity.”
She scoffs. “Fuck off, Landon.”
“You do realize that if Preston goes to the board and I get disbarred for morality or ethics, you can go ahead and kiss your pretty little alimony check you’re gunning for, goodbye.”
The other side is silent and I shake my head. Didn’t think about that shit, did you? Not that it’s totally true. There are quite a few loopholes; the main one being that Serena doesn’t technically “work” for our firm, and I plan to use that if it comes down to it. But my guess is that the board won’t really give a shit that I’m having a relationship with Serena Mitchell. I make the firm too much money for that.
Preston will certainly give a shit though, and his opinion matters more to me than anyone on the board.
“Jana, I’ve never wronged you. Maybe I could have been home more, but that was after you cheated on me. I was hurt and angry and I could barely look at you. Maybe we should have tried therapy, but I just didn’t have it in me. So, I checked out. Maybe I spent too long punishing you for what you did, maybe I took my coldness too far, but you are in the wrong here, Jana. For you to turn our son against me, to go after my best friend…and for your information, Jana,” I spit out her name and it tastes awful coming out, “I’m in love with Serena Mitchell. Maybe that offends you or her father or whoever else, but frankly soon to be ex-wife of mine, I don’t give a damn. And if you don’t set our son straight and stop feeding him lies, then I’m going to tell him what actually happened in our marriage. And unlike you, I’ve actually got proof,” I growl. It’s true, I have pictures and phone records and an email exchange that highlights all of Jana’s indiscretions that I’d kept for insurance purposes.
Stay one step ahead of your opponent.
“You wouldn’t dare!” she screams. “And Griffin doesn’t believe anything you have to say!”
“Because you lied to him!” I yell. “Jana, I—” My words are halted by the sound of a horn, blaring long and hard, someone slamming on their breaks, and tires screeching against the pavement. My head snaps to my right just in time to see a car connect with my passenger side, hard. I drop my phone just as the car connects and it’s like the entire crash is happening in slow motion. The glass of my passenger side window shatters and glass begins to fly throughout the car and I shield my face as best as I can to prevent lacerations. The force of the crash slams me against my driver’s side door and the whiplash from my seat belt burns against my neck almost cutting into the flesh. Every light on my dashboard lights up, and every sound imaginable beeps as smoke begins to expel from my hood.
“Fuck.” I cough as I lean back against my headrest, trying to gain enough strength to get out of the car. My heart is racing a mile a minute, but my vision is getting foggy and everything sounds muffled. I feel something wet—blood, I think fleetingly—trickle down the side of my face and I try my best to wipe it, but my limbs feel like they’re being weighed down by cement blocks, preventing me from moving. My eyelids are getting heavy and the sight of Serena’s sweet face is the last thing I see before my eyes shut.
“Mr. West, can you hear me?” Words are being shouted all around me, and I hear the sound of a siren somewhere in the distance. “Mr. West if you can hear me, squeeze my hand. You’re going to be fine, sir, but can you open your eyes?” The sensation of being lifted takes over, and then I am set on my back on something hard and stiff. My guess is on one of those boards to keep you straight. My head is throbbing, the pounding behind my eyes so aggressive I think I could pass out at any second. “Stay awake for us, sir. Can you tell us your first name?”
Landon. I don’t know if I say it, or merely think it as the sky disappears and is replaced with fluorescent lighting and the ceiling of the ambulance.
I need my phone. I need to call Serena. She’ll worry or she’ll think I’m ignoring her.
I cough, forcing my lungs to take a breath, and I lift my arms, trying to press my hand to my chest.
“Don’t move, we need to make sure nothing is broken and you don’t have a concussion. The less you move the better.”
“Ser...ena,” I manage to force the words out of my mouth, only coughing once in-between. “Call,” I whisper and the EMT nods.
“Okay, is that…your wife? Someone else in your family?”
“Gi—girlfriend.”
“Okay, Serena?”
I try my best to nod, but I don’t think my head is moving. “Tell her…” My voice seems to be coming back, but my body feels like it’s getting weaker by the second. “Tell her...I love her.”
“You can tell her yourself, sir. Everything is going to be fine. I know you feel a little banged up, but you will feel better when you get to the hospital.”
“Tell P, I’m sorry,” I murmur, and it’s the last thing I remember before I’m out again.
I was seconds from hopping in my car and driving to Landon’s when there’s an aggressive knock on my door.
