Through the glass and the quiet night air, Simon could hear it. The muffled, breathy moans. The raw, unfiltered sounds of absolute pleasure that another man was ripping from his wife’s throat.
Simon wanted to claw his own eyes out. He wanted to instantly go deaf. He wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole so he wouldn't have to watch the woman he loved give herself to someone else with such reckless, consuming fire.
The rhythm stuttered, turning frantic. He watched their bodies tense, pulling tight as they exploded together. Then, thesilence returned, broken by the muffled, breathless sound of their shared laughter as they kissed in the aftermath.
Laughter. The sound shattered the paralysis holding Simon in place. The crushing devastation instantly mutated into pure, blinding, blood-red rage.
Simon lunged at the car, grabbing the handle of the rear door, and yanked it open with explosive, terrifying force.
"Get out!" Simon roared, a feral, inhuman sound tearing from the very bottom of his chest.
Before the stranger could even react, Simon reached into the dark cabin, wrapped his fist tightly into the fabric of the man's shirt, and violently ripped him backward. He dragged him out of the car, throwing his heavy frame hard onto the unforgiving asphalt.
Simon didn't hesitate. He dropped his weight onto the man, his fist flying in a blind, savage arc, connecting with a sickening crack against the stranger's jaw.
"Simon, stop!" Audrey screamed from inside the car, her voice pitching into pure terror.
But Simon couldn't hear her. He pulled his arm back to strike again, but the man beneath him wasn't a passive victim. The stranger twisted violently, planting a heavy knee into Simon’s ribs, throwing him off balance. The man retaliated, his own fist crashing into Simon’s cheekbone with staggering force.
They rolled on the damp street, a brutal, messy tangle of limbs and fury. Simon tasted copper as a punch clipped his lip. He swung wildly, fueled entirely by the agonizing image of this man’s hands on his wife's skin. He landed another heavy blow to the man's ribs, taking a sharp punch to the eye in return.
"Stop it! Stop it right now!"
Audrey was out of the car, her blouse hastily pulled up, scrambling frantically on the pavement near them, but the twomen were entirely locked in a violent, primitive brawl, ignoring her completely.
Suddenly, a freezing, high-pressure blast of water slammed into the side of Simon’s head.
The shock of the ice-cold water forced him to gasp, blinding him. The water blasted over both of them, relentless and freezing, forcing the two men to break apart. Simon scrambled backward, swiping his wet hair out of his eyes, chest heaving like a bellows.
Audrey stood a few feet away on the edge of the lawn, clutching the heavy rubber nozzle of the garden hose, her chest rising and falling rapidly.
She twisted the metal valve. The water abruptly cut off, leaving only the sound of it dripping onto the asphalt.
Simon spat a mouthful of bloody saliva onto the street. He glared at the man, who was slowly pushing himself up to his feet, wiping a smear of blood from his split lip.
"If he comes near you again, I'm going to put him in the hospital," Simon snarled, taking a threatening step forward, his fists still clenched so tightly his forearms cramped. "You touched my wife. I will kill you."
The man stood up to his full height, ignoring the blood on his chin, his hazel eyes locking onto Simon with absolute, lethal disgust.
"You didn't remember you had a wife when you were fucking your subordinate, did you?" he fired back, his voice a low, dangerous growl.
The words hit Simon like a physical blow. The absolute hypocrisy of his rage was shoved violently in his face. He saw pure red, all logic completely evaporating as he lunged forward to strike the man again.
"Nate, please stop!"
Audrey stepped directly into the space between them. She placed her hand flat against the center of the other man’s chest, physically holding him back. "You need to go."
Simon froze entirely. The breath left his lungs in a sharp, agonizing rush.
Nate. Nathaniel.
Simon stared at the man’s face, the bruised jaw, the dark hair, the familiar hazel eyes that he had only ever seen in old college photographs. The realization slammed into him with the force of a freight train. This wasn't a stranger. This was the man Audrey had loved before him. The only other man who had ever truly held her heart.
Simon’s blood turned instantly to ice.
Audrey didn't look at Simon. She was looking entirely at Nate, her fingers gently tracing the edge of his bruised jawline.
"Wait here," Audrey whispered to him. She turned and ran up the walkway, disappearing into the dark house for thirty agonizing seconds. She returned with a blue gel ice pack wrapped in a paper towel. She handed it to Nate, offering him a soft, incredibly vulnerable look. "I'll call you later. Please, just go."
