If I’d had a bettersense of self-preservation, I’d have blocked Reed’s number and told him all communication had to go through our solicitors. But I hadn’t, for pathetic reasons I didn’t really want to consider, and now I had to deal with him sending me increasingly poisonous and vindictive messages about how I’d ruined his life with my pettiness.
I didn’t know what had happened today for him to get such a bee in his bonnet, but I was starting to dread looking at my phone. I should have blocked him on the spot, but a tiny part of me almost felt like I deserved it.
After all, I was the one who’d neglected our relationship to the point Reed snapped.
And I was the one who’d left.
I sighed as my phone flashed on my desk again, and I glanced down to see yet more notifications from Reed flooding the screen.
“I’ll be back in a minute,” I said as I stood, pocketing my phone and wishing that drinking in the office wasn’t frownedupon. Adam looked up at me and nodded in acknowledgement before going back to the video he was editing, headphones fully covering his ears.
I headed out into the corridor wishing, for the first time, that I hadn’t stopped smoking in my twenties. I paced up and down a few times, the urge to scream building under my skin. But I couldn’t do that without disturbing people or causing a scene, and I wasn’t in the mood to explain my frustration to anyone.
I stalked downstairs, my phone burning a hole in my pocket, and headed for the front door. Because at least if I lost my cool in the car park, there’d be nobody around to watch.
“Ezra?” Danny’s voice startled me, and I spun around to see him coming out of the toilets.
“Yeah?” I snapped, regretting it instantly when his face fell. Fuck, it really was like I’d kicked a puppy. “Sorry. Ignore me.”
“What’s up?”
“My ex-husband.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and waved it vaguely. It felt hot to touch, like it was burning my hand.
Danny pulled a face. “Is he being a wanker?”
“You could say that.”
“What’s he doing?”
“Making me miserable,” I said, unlocking the screen and opening the new messages, wincing as I read. I wanted to let his words bounce off me, but each one was like a tiny cut. Individually they stung, and together they left me bloodied and reeling. “I’m a cunt, I ruined his life, I’ve ruined my life, I’m pathetic, useless, unlovable, and, er, there’s a lot of shit about my physical appearance and our sex life.”
Danny huffed, an angry little growl surging out of him as his moustache bristled. “Give me that.”
“I’m not letting you get involved.”
“I’m not gonna do anything. Not really. I’m just gonna tell him he’s a piece of shit and a cheating scab.”
“No, you’ll make things worse.”
He frowned, anger etched into his face, his mullet almost doubling in size. “But he can’t do that to you.”
“Trust me, it’s better to ignore him.” I’d tried firing back and it only made things worse. Once upon a time, I’d found Reed’s petty sharpness and acidic tongue funny, but now I was on the other end I wished I’d never encouraged him.
“Can’t you block him?”
“I could. I just haven’t.”
“Why not?”
I sighed. That wasn’t a question I was ready to answer. “Don’t you have training to get back to?”
Danny raised an eyebrow, but there was almost something akin to worry in his eyes and I didn’t like that at all. I didn’t need his pity. And I didn’t need him to care. “Yeah, I do. Take care of yourself, okay?”
I hummed an acknowledgement because I didn’t want to promise him anything. Then I wouldn’t feel bad about breaking it.
He turned and walked away, leaving me standing there alone with a new sinking feeling in my stomach that didn’t have anything to do with Reed.
My mood hadn’t improved by later that evening. Instead it had festered and soured, eating away at my insides until I felt physically sick.
