Reaching up, I cup his face, shaking it so he looks at me instead of the guy behind me. “Just for a minute. Outside. This doesn’t have to be a scene.”
Emanuel’s jaw tightens. “One minute.”
I kiss his lips and then quickly turn, striding past Matthew. “Follow me.”
****
“I really cannot believe you’d just show up out of the blue like this. How did you even know where I’d be tonight?”
“Your mother.”
I blink, shaking my head in confusion. “Mywho?”
“Your mother.” He rolls his eyes as if that makes total sense. “Look. I came here to discuss your moving back to Boston and us finally getting married. Isn’t that what this whole charade of yours is about? Then I come and find you dancing all over some guy, like a—”
“Like a what?” I angrily question with my hands on my hips.
Matthew blinks, obviously shocked by my attitude. I can’t remember a time in our relationship when I actually stood up to him.
He shakes his head. “We’ll discuss this later. Back in Boston. Right now it’s time for you to pack up your stuff and—”
“You’re obviously not getting this. I’m. Not. Going. Back. To. Boston.Ever.You and I … There is noyou and I.We’re over. Done. Past. Expired. Finito. Got it? I have no idea why you even bothered to come down here to Williamsport, but you can catch whatever airline you took back to the northeast.”
I shake my head, still unable to believe that Matthew is actually standing in front of me. Most of the time we were together he hadn’t put in this much effort. It took me way too long to figure out that he just wasn’t the one for me. But being separated from him for months, and more importantly, falling in love with a man who showed me in word and in deed how much he cared for me and wanted to be with me, made it all crystal clear.
“What the hell are you saying?” Matthew spat as he moves closer, invading my personal space.
When I try to take a step back, his hand curls around my arm, tightly. “Let go of me.”
“I took time off of work to show up here, and you continue to behave like a petulant child who can’t get her way. You ungrateful—”
“Matthew, get off—”
“I treated you well. I gave you what you wanted, didn’t I? In spite of what my parents told me about you …”
“And what did your lovely parents have to say about me?” I question angrily, while still trying to yank my arm from his hold.
“Doesn’t matter. I should’ve listened and treated you like the whore you are instead of a—”
Gasping, I cover my mouth in shock when Matthew’s hostile tirade is brutally cut off by a blow to the side of his face. Something or someone pulls me from behind, moving me out of the way. I have to blink a few times before I realize that I’m seeing Emanuel pummel Matthew right in front of me.
“Say some more disrespectful shit to her again!” Emanuel charges once more, sending a punch to Matthew’s ribs.
“Emanuel, stop!” I yell, trying to get to him, but whoever is holding me back has a tight grip. I’m not yelling out of fear that he might do serious damage to Matthew. My panic is for Emanuel.
“Okay, okay, that’s enough,” someone says.
I look around and realize it’s Sean, Angela’s brother, who, along with Don, moves to get in between Emanuel and Matthew who is now stumbling to get up off of the sidewalk as he holds his ribs. I inhale sharply when I notice blood spilling out of the hand covering his nose.
“I’m calling the fucking cops!” Matthew’s yells are muffled due to his hand over his bloody face.
“That’s not necessary,” Sean states, trying to calm the situation down.
Emanuel isn’t saying anything as he drills into Matthew with a dark gaze, and looking like he could break the hold Don has on him at any moment to pick up where he left off.
“This is who you’re with now?” Matthew turns to me, yelling. “I always knew you weren’t worth the fucking trouble. I should’ve listened to—”
“Oops!” Don declares as he lifts his arms, releasing Emanuel, who does exactly what I knew he was going to.
