My heart started hammering. This was it. This was how I lost her again.
“Crystal,” Indira said, her voice controlled but not quite steady. “Still hanging around parking lots hoping to catch men’s attention, I see.”
Crystal’s smile widened, predatory. “Just catching up with an old friend. We were reminiscing about when you walked in on us.” She stepped closer to Indira, and I saw something vicious flash in her eyes. “You remember that, don’t you? I was perched on his desk with my legs wrapped around him, and you just stood there in the doorway like a sad little puppy. But here’s the thing, honey—he didn’t even stop right away. Took him a few seconds to even notice you were there because he was so deep inside me. So what does that say about how much you really meant to him?”
I watched Indira’s face and saw it—the flinch. Just for a second, her carefully constructed armor cracked. Her hand tightened on her shopping bag, knuckles going white, and something vulnerable and raw flickered across her expression. The same look she’d had that day in my office, when her world had shattered.
Every muscle in my body coiled tight. I opened my mouth to tell Crystal to shut her fucking mouth, to get the hell away from us, to make it absolutely clear that nothing she was saying reflected how I felt now. But before I could get a word out, Crystal saw her opening and her smile turned triumphant. “That’s what I thought. You can play dress-up as his girlfriend all you want, but you’ll always be the woman who wasn’t enough to keep him faithful. He had you waiting at home, and he still chose me.”
The parking lot went silent. Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
For a long, terrible moment, I thought Indira might actually walk away. Her jaw was clenched, her eyes bright with what might have been tears, and I could see her fighting some internal battle.
Then something shifted. Her spine straightened. The vulnerability vanished, replaced by something cold and lethal. When she spoke, her voice was quiet, controlled, and absolutely devastating.
“You’re right,” Indira said, and I felt my heart stop. But then she continued, her voice gaining strength. “That evening did hurt. It still hurts. Walking in on the man I loved with his dick inside some club girl he couldn’t even bother to lock the door for. But here’s what you don’t understand, Crystal.”
Crystal’s smile faltered.
Indira stepped closer, and I watched her transform from vulnerable to formidable in real-time. “That was his rock bottom. The moment that made him realize what he’d lost. You think it’s some victory that he was fucking you when I walked in? You were nothing but a warm body he didn’t even respect enough to hide. He left his door unlocked. He didn’t even care if someone saw.”
She leaned in, and I saw Crystal take a step back.
“When I moved on, I waited. I healed. I built a whole new life. And when I dated other men, it was because I was choosing to. Because I had options. Because I was desirable and worthy of pursuit.” Indira’s voice was steel wrapped in silk. “When he fucked you that night, it was because you were convenient, easy, and meant absolutely nothing. I had men lining up because they saw my value. He had you because you were pathetic enough to spread your legs for a man who couldn’t even be bothered to remember your name.”
“That’s not—” Crystal tried.
“Tell me, did he look at you?” Indira continued, relentless. “Because I can tell you exactly what the men I dated did. They looked at me like I was the best thing that ever happened to them. Can you say the same?”
The direct hit made Crystal’s face flush red. I remembered it with horrible clarity: how mechanical it had been, how I’d barely looked at Crystal, how I’d felt nothing but hollow satisfaction that evaporated the second Indira appeared in that doorway.
“That’s what I thought,” Indira continued. “So let’s be clear about something. That was a broken, selfish man who destroyed the best thing in his life and then tried to talk his way out of the consequences. But this man,” She gestured toward me. “This man doesn’t run from his mistakes. He owns them. And he sure as hell doesn’t need consolation prizes from club girls who mistake being used for being wanted.”
I stared at her in amazement. She was magnificent - fierce, controlled, and absolutely devastating.
“Now,” Indira continued, her voice taking on an edge that would have made my brothers nervous, “let me explain something to you about knowing your place. Your place is nowhere near my man. Your place is not speaking to him, not touching him, not even looking at him unless he addresses you first. Because the man standing here today knows exactly what he wants, and honey, it sure as hell isn’t you.”
Crystal’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. Around us, I became aware of other people stopping to watch the confrontation, including Handful and Colt who had emerged from the auto parts store.
“So here’s what’s going to happen,” Indira said, stepping even closer to Crystal. “You’re going to get in your car, drive away, and stay the fuck away from us. Because if you approach him again, if you so much as breathe in his direction, you won’t be dealing with a man looking for an easy lay. You’ll be dealingwith me. And trust me, sweetie, I’m a lot scarier than he ever was.”
Crystal looked to me desperately, probably expecting me to defend her or tell Indira to back off.
Instead, I crossed my arms and smiled. “You heard her.”
“Dutch—”
“The lady told you to leave,” I said. “I’d suggest you listen.”
Crystal’s face crumpled with humiliation. She spun on her heel and practically ran to her car, her friends scrambling after her. They peeled out of the parking lot like their asses were on fire.
The silence that followed was deafening.
I turned to Indira, who was watching Crystal’s car disappear. But I could see her hands were shaking slightly, and when she met my eyes, there was something vulnerable there beneath the armor.
“That was...” I started.
“Necessary,” she finished, but her voice wasn’t quite steady. “Someone needed to put her in her place.”
