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“What else you gotta say, smart ass?” I yelled. “Give me another reason to fuck you up.”
Jamie raised his hand and struggled to get back to his feet. Once standing, he kept his hand in front of him to ward off any more pain I might inflict. “Maybe I’ll call the Sheriff and report you for assault,” he sputtered, still catching his breath.
“Why not, asshole. You called him about Hayes.”
He grinned. “Fifty grand is fifty grand, dude.”
I cocked my arm and he jumped away. “You reported him for money?”
“Hell yeah, I did. Like I said, fifty-K is a shit load of coin,” he defended.
“You disgust me, Jamie. Who the fuck are you right now?” I asked.
I started to walk away but he wanted the last word. “I’m the guy who left your ass, you bumpkin,” he yelled after me. “That’s who!”
I stopped dead in my tracks, turned around, and slowly strode back to him.
Surprisingly, and probably ill-advised on his part, he stood his ground.
“Say that again, asshole,” I muttered. “I want to hear you say that to my face.”
“Or what?” he spat. “It hurts don’t it?” he added.
“Fuck you! What would you know about hurt?” I asked. “You never deserved my love, Jamie. You took and you took all those years and gave zero shits about me when the time came to leave.”
“So, losing me did hurt, didn’t it?” he taunted. “That was more than two years ago. Grow the fuck up, Bo.” He was enjoying himself. He liked being able to dig his way into my psyche and see what pain he could resurrect.
“Yeah, J,” I agreed. “You leaving hurt something awful and do you wanna know why it hurt so much that I thought I wanted to die? Do you wanna know why?” I asked, my eyes welling up.
He looked away because he wasn’t ready for the truth. He knew I was an emotional person who was able to express how I felt. He glanced back at me and waited. I could see he was about to crumble and knew he had suddenly realized that I was done with him once and for all.
“You crushed me, Jamie. I loved you,” I spoke softly. “You were the only person I’d ever loved. I planned for a life with you. That’s why your leaving hurt me so much.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, shifting gears. “I truly am, but that Hayes guy is too good for you, Bo. You and me, we don’t get to be with people like that, and you know it.”
“He loves me.”
“He’s from money and you know those types don’t come to our towns and choose one of us to be with. You’re better off, Bo.”
I stared at my feet and kicked at gravel. “You’re wrong about him,” I insisted. “We’re in love.”
I felt myself being broken down again by Jamie. He always knew how to get me to understand my place by reminding me of my shortcomings. In life, with him, with goals, and anything else he didn’t like to believe was possible for me.
“What do you really know about that guy?” he asked. “Did you know he’s rich?”
“His dad is rich. Hayes works for him.”
“I googled your friend, Bo. Wanna know who Hayes Crawford Jr. really is?”
“Fuck off, Jamie! I know he’s from rich folk, so whatever,” I argued.
Jamie took a step closer, smelling blood in the water. The further away I got from our relationship, the more clearly I saw him for who he was. He was a bully.
“Have you heard of Stanton Crawford?” he asked. He studied me when my eyes gave away the answer to his question. Everyone in South Carolina knew of Stanton Crawford. “Yeah, that’s right.ThatStanton Crawford.”
Stanton Crawford wasold-oldSouth Carolina money. His father, another Stanton, and that Stanton’s father owned half of all the private land in our state. They’d owned vast plantations back when they didn’t have to pay for labor. Despite the ties to slavery and other horrendous avenues to amass their fortune, Stanton Crawford was still a very big deal in South Carolina.
“So?”
