“Yes, but he’s not a threat. I can handle him. Thank you, Markie.”
The husky security guard huffed at Bishop before returning to his post.
“Were you dying and didn’t know how to tell me?” I asked as calmly as my beating heart would allow.
“No.” His brow furrowed.
“Then there’s no reasonable explanation for you to handle me like you did. You said you weren’t ready. What’s more to say than that? Don’t come around me anymore, okay?” I started walking toward the main street, searching for Carter, unsure whether I wanted Carter to see Bishop. Bishop wasn’t a weak man, but he also wasn’t an ex-football player who still worked out regularly. Carter would beat him down without much effort.
“Not until we talk. I wasn’t ready then. I am now.” He blocked my path, and I tried to move around him. “I’m serious. We need to talk. I can tell you’re still angry and that’s not good to walk around...”
“You don’t ever get to tell me shit else to say or do. That ended the day you left without a word to me, you fucking coward,” I yelled. “You can’t come here uninvited, messing up my peace. Never again.”
Bishop placed the gift in my hand. “Can you at least hear me out? I deserve whatever you want to say, or if you want to hit me,then do it. Just let me explain since you refused to read my texts or answer my calls.”
“Get the fuck away from her now. She might not hit you, but I will.” Carter’s deep voice startled both of us. He walked up and stood between us, with me behind him.
Bishop scowled, and before he could protest, his eyes widened. “Wait...aren’t you Carter St. Patrick?” He then looked at me and scoffed, “This your new man? Or are you still trying to make me jealous because I know he’s just fucking around with you?”
Carter cursed and balled his fists.
I quickly grabbed his waist and held on to him, pressing my face to his back. “He’s not worth it, baby.”
His body trembled from anger, though Carter calmly said, “I can guess who you are by her reaction. I won’t repeat myself.”
“She still loves me. That’s why she’s so pissed,” Bishop thundered. “You see, she took my gift and still lives in the house I bought her. My key still works.”
Incensed, I jumped in front of Carter, threw the gift in the parking lot, and punched Bishop twice in the nose and jaw. My knuckle hurt, but I tried to punch him again. This time, Carter grabbed me around my waist, lifting me off my feet as I shouted, “It’s not your house. You gave me the down payment, and I’ve been paying the mortgage for years by myself. You want the down payment back, I’ll fucking give it to you.” I hissed as Carter hauled me away from a growing crowd, still shouting, “Have you lost your mind? I don’t give a fuck what you feel you need to say, and if you come to my job or my house again, I’m calling the police.”
A stunned Bishop held his nose and stomped to retrieve his discarded gift. Carter put me back on my feet and opened my door. “If I see him again, he’s dead. You understand me?”
He stormed to the driver’s side without another word.
“Carter, I haven’t spoken to him in three years.”
He started the car and peeled out of the parking lot. “Why does he still have the key to your house?”
“I never bothered to change the locks. I assumed there was no point.” That sounded weak tomyears.
“Or you hoped he would use it one day.” He angrily pulled onto the street. His knuckles were tight over the steering wheel, and he refused to look at me during the tense ride home.
“At first, I did. Kept thinking he would walk through the door with more of an explanation than he wasn’t ready. It fucks with you when someone who was supposed to share your life suddenly ghosts you.”
“The fact that he left you at the altar wasn’t enough of a fucking explanation?” He roared. “You dodged a fucking bullet, and instead of being grateful that God kept you from that marriage that would’ve been hell, you become this shell of a person.”
“I’m not a shell of a person,” I yelled back. “I just focused on myself and refused to deal with bullshit men.”
“No, you refused to deal with any man. You allowed that man to steal who you really are,” he pounded the console with his fist.
I wilted in the passenger seat and hugged my knees. Carter had never been angry around me. Rarely irritable. Easy going. He welcomed my touch or kiss anytime. And now I wondered if I would ever snuggle against him again. Carter had become a different man. An iceberg radiated from him, and I didn’t know how to melt him.
When he pulled into my driveway, Carter kept the car running.
“Why are you leaving? You saw my anger, and you heard our conversation.”
He tersely nodded. “I did. He came here at some point. Usedhiskey tohishouse. You were holdinghisgift when I walked up.He said he’d been reaching out, and you’ve been ignoring him. Why didn’t you tell me that when I shared my past with you?”
“Because he isn’t relevant.” I hit the back of my hand into my palm.
