I weigh my options. Stay locked in, a trapped animal. Or face her.
The memory of Alyssa’s weight, the mud across my face, flashes through me. Then it morphs, becomes Craig. My head foggy, movements uncoordinated. The helplessness.
I won’t be helpless again.
Taking a deep breath, I unlock the door and shove it wide open.
Chelsea stumbles back a step, caught off guard. Her aura is pure, undiluted hate. Her hand rises, clutching something that reflects the light. A blade’s dull flash.
“There she is,” she sneers, edging forward a step. “The freak who stole my boyfriend.Twice.”
I step away from the stall, keeping distance between us. The restroom is overly bright, the white tiles and mirrors amplifying the tension, glares and reflections from all directions until my eyes water.
“Damien was never your boyfriend.” My voice is surprisingly steady. “You were a favour to his father.”
“Like you’re worth anything to him except for novelty value. What do you think’s going to happen when he gets bored? You’renothing special. He’ll toss you aside like rubbish when he’s done.”
I shuffle sideways, moving towards the bank of sinks, and Chelsea mirrors me, keeping pace. The pepper spray is a steady weight in my palm, hidden behind my leg. I slide my thumb over the safety cap, and it clicks off softly.
“You just can’t keep your hands off what’s mine, can you?” Her voice rises hysterically. “You ruined things with Craig.”
My caution curdles into something hotter, angrier. “Craig,” I repeat, the name tasting like broken glass. “You mean the arsehole who assaulted me after spiking my drink?”
She stumbles to the side. A crack in the fury. “That’s not what happened. You must’ve led him on.” Her voice gets stronger. “Youwantedit.”
I take another step back, my shoes clicking on the tile. The sink counter presses into my hip and it’s only a few feet back to the door.
“You can rewrite history however you like, but you saw me that night. You saw how out of it I was. Why are you defending him when at best, he cheated on you? At worst, he’s a rapist.”
“Because you ruined everything!” she shrieks, the sound bouncing off the tiles. “We were happy. We had an understanding. And then he had to leave school because of your lies.”
“My lies?” My laugh is incredulous. “I never said a word to anyone until a couple of weeks ago. He left because he was guilty.” My voice is a cold, flat tone I didn’t know I possessed. “Or maybe he was just desperate to get away from you.”
“You bitch.” Her voice shakes as she advances, raising her hand level with my face. “I’ll slice your face into ribbons, and we’ll see how special Damien thinks you are then.”
There’s a stink of wine on her breath. Her hand’s shaking. She’s not a natural at this, used to letting other people do her dirty work, but desperation makes people dangerous.
“Go ahead.” I straighten, my finger resting on the nozzle. “But you’ll have to live with the consequences of carving up his favourite toy.”
A raw, incoherent scream tears from Chelsea’s throat. She lunges forward, her arm arcing towards my cheek.
Time slows. My body moves on instinct.
Ducking to the side, left arm blocking her wrist while my right hand swings up, the pepper spray aimed directly at her eyes.
And the can slips in my sweaty grasp.
The spray goes wild, halfway between us. I gulp in a breath and fire tinges my lungs. Trembling, backing up a step, I hold my wrist steady with my other hand and press the nozzle again.
There’s a sharp hiss. A fine, burning mist hits her square in the face.
Chelsea shrieks, a sound of pure, animal agony. “Fuck.” The knife clatters to the floor, skittering under the sinks. Her hands fly to her face, clawing at the skin. “My eyes.”
She stumbles backward, crashing into a stall door and sliding to the floor, writhing and screaming.
The capsaicin fills the air until my eyes are watering, tears pouring from beneath my closed lids.
A detached part of me revels in her screams, her suffering. A flicker of satisfaction, quickly drowned by a wave of nausea. There’s so much more at risk now. What have I done?
