He looks away from me, glancing sternly at the wall. I don’t know what else to say to him. I get the feeling that the more I say the less it will help. Finally, after a beat, he exhales sharply and rises. “I’ve got to go."
I know that he’s upset, but he’s not shaking mad. “Are you okay to drive? I can give you a ride home."
He looks at me for a quick second and blinks. "I’m fine. I just, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you." Is all he says. He’s not shouting, he’s not throwing things, he’s not spitting his words in anger, so all I can do is take his word for it and let him go. I have no idea wherehe’s going, or what he’s going to do, or even if he believes me. But in the next few hours, I’ll find out.
Chapter 13
Levi
The last thing I want to do is lose my shit in front of her. Lennie doesn’t deserve that. It took a lot of guts for her to tell me what she did. I could tell by the look on her face that it pained her telling me as much as it pained me to hear it. Aside from my own father, nobody has ever betrayed me in my life. I’ve been damn lucky. Even after that moment of grace, I still know that Shelly needs to pay for what she’s done.
Praying to God that the bitch is home, I drive over there, thinking about what words I should use when I describe howdisgusted I am with her. Once her house is in plain view, I can see her car parked in the driveway. I don’t even knock first before entering. I simply use the code and go inside. The first thing I do is grab all the belongings that I’ve left here, knowing that I will never see her again.
Unfortunately, my clothes are in her bedroom, and from her footsteps, I can tell that that’s where she is too. She’s fixing her hair in the mirror above her dresser when I enter. I say nothing to her; I just start grabbing a few items of clothing. I don’t even look at her to see the expression on her face. But I know that she stops what she’s doing and stands there watching me. “And hello to you too. Have you got some laundry?"
“No, but I know you do. You’ve got lots of dirty laundry, don’t you, Shelley."
She places a hand on her hip, and glances at me, puzzled. "What does that mean?"
“Quick, Shelley. When was your last period? Oh wait, actually, how many husbands have you had? Even better, just how many fake pregnancies and fake marriages have you had? Just how many lies have you weaved, anyway?"
She goes for denial. “What idiot have you been talking to?”
“Seeing as you know so many of them, including me. It’s just lucky for me that you don’t live in a small town and therefore you don’t know how they work."
“Whatever the hillbilly told you, it’s not true. I’ve been married and divorced once and that’s it.”
“Just how in the hell were you going to follow through with this plan of yours. Were you going to shit out a kid in nine months' time? Just how in the hell were you going to execute this whole charade? I’m really curious about that one."
Foolishly, she's still on the road to denial. “Well, if you don’t want to be a part of your child’s life, then that’s your choice. But I’ll get all the child support I need. The courts will see me asa single mother and a student, covering her bills all by herself. Good luck coughing up the dough for that.”
“You come after me for child support after you get knocked up by some poor soul at a bar, and I'll demand a goddamn paternity test first. Don’t waste your time or mine. I know enough lawyers and accountants. You haven’t got a prayer."
She sneers at me. “Oh yeah? And what about after I tell everyone in town that you got me pregnant and refuse to support your child. No lawyer or accountant in your small town will even look at you without pointing the finger.”
“Once again, good luck with that. I’ve lived in Copper Cove all my life, and anyone that knows me will take my word over yours any day. By the time I reach home, the whole town's going to know the truth. That you set me up you goddamn gold digger. If you’re smart, you won’t ever show your face in Copper Cove again. If you know what’s good for you, that is."
As I grab my lone bag of things, I walk out the bedroom door.
She shouts after me. “Well, they'll believe that you have a skinny little pencil dick! And that you don’t even know how to use it! I’ll spread a rumor all over town that you suck in bed!"
I chuckle loudly as I close the main door behind me. “The only thing they’ll get out of that is that you’re a whore."
I get into my truck, expecting her to chase after me with a bat, but she doesn’t. It’s about time she grew some sense. I toss the bag into the cab and head for the ranch. Billy and Nash are just coming back from a ride, as I get out of the truck. The bag is in my hand as I walk towards the resort house. As much as I try to walk normally, both seem to notice the extra bit of dust that I'm kicking up with each step. "What's going on, little brother?" Nash calls out to me.
I'm not sure if I really want to talk about it yet, but then it just comes bursting out. "Shelly's a fucking con artist, that's what."
"A what?" Billy says.
"She was never fucking pregnant. It was all a goddamn game to her."
"Jesus Christ." Nash mutters. "How did you find out?"
"Lennie. At the Hoedown."
I don't get into specifics. It's not important. What is important is that I've been had, and everyone already had an inkling that Shelly was up to no good. So I feel like a fucking fool.
"So she's not pregnant?" Nash says. I can hear it in his voice that he's duly relieved.
