“She’ll have no idea what hit her,” Todd hisses.
I turn to Everly because those words alone sounded like a slap, when a pair of arms wrap around me. Todd is like a toddler trying to move a football sled across the field during practice. I don’t budge as he attempts to take me down. I almost laugh, but spare him the embarrassment.
Instead, I turn around slowly and pick Todd up by the scruff of his neck. The guy’s feet dangle in the air as he kicks out.
“Dude, I suggest you give it a rest.” My voice is a growl. To make my point, I say words that I hope the Good Lord will forgive. After I lower Todd down, he twitches but acts like I didn’t intimidate him at all. Apparently, Everly’s ex is a bully and an idiot on top of being a coward.
I take her hand because I need something soft and strong to hold onto otherwise, I’m going to pound Todd into the ground.
“She’s mine,” he shouts. “You haven’t seen the last of me.”
I stop mid-stride and bellow, “I heard the entire exchange before I stepped in. You’re using her and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll listen to what she said and get out of her life.”
“This isn’t over. I’m going to prove she cheated on me with you,” he says as though thinking up the scheme on the spot. “I’m going to ruin her life...and yours.”
I laugh darkly. My life has already been ruined. There is nothing Todd could do to compare with what I recently experienced.
“You already ruined my life, Todd,” Everly says as tears make a slow crawl down her face.
“I know people in high places and they’re going to make you both pay,” Todd shouts.
Everly throws her hands in the air. “Haven’t I paid? Haven’t I suffered enough?”
“Oh, yeah. That’s right.” Todd’s laugh echoes in the night. “I guess I ought to find myself a real woman.”
“She’s every bit a real woman,” I growl. “Come on, let’s go.” Once more, my hand closes tightly around Everly’s.
She sinks into herself. I want to get her out of here immediately. There is no sense in hearing any more of Todd’s poisonous words.
“Oh, I guess you don’t know about her surgery.” Todd’s lips slide into a sinister smile. “Strange that a married couple doesn’t share a room. Though I guess with a house that big, you can afford all the space you desire. Speaking of money, you can buy my silence,” Todd says.
“The only thing I’ll be buying you is a knuckle sandwich with your name on it. Now, get lost.” I shake with anger. I turn to Everly, who grips my hand. “This guy doesn’t quit, huh?”
She shakes her head. “No. He doesn’t.”
But I’m not going to give him another inch or second of my time. With Everly close by my side, we return to Blancbourg. Preoccupied with the conversation I heard between her and Todd, the threats the idiot made, and the fury knocking around under my skin, begging to be let out, I don’t stop until we’re infront of the door to my suite. It’s much smaller than Everly’s but has a living area and an adjacent bedroom and bathroom.
I’m not going to lie, my space isn’t the picture of tidiness. Dirty athletic clothes hang off a chair, several cups of water litter the table, and I haven’t made my bed all week.
“I should go to my room.” Everly lingers in the doorway.
“How’d he know we don’t share one?” I ask, pacing in front of the windows where I’d seen her leaving the school and then returning when Todd appeared from the shadows.
“Good guess?”
“Has he been up here? Maybe you’re better off with me for now.”
“He’s as perceptive as he is manipulative. You’re not wearing a wedding ring. But he hasn’t been up here that I know of.”
“How’d he know you’re here to begin with?”
She shrugs. “He’s been texting me.” Her face falls as if she realizes something and scrambles in her purse for her phone. “He set up my phone, so he’d know where it is. Where I was.” She taps it a few times and then closes her eyes briefly as though recovering from the encounter with her ex.
A dark thought stops me in my tracks. What if I hadn’t seen her at that moment? What if I’d ignored the urge to run to her aid? What would that despicable man have done?
I guzzle a glass of water to cool myself off because I have a mind to go find the guy and make sure he never sees the light of day, or night, again.
“Where are my manners?” I mutter.
