“Just remember how many friends you have before I subpoena them all and make them testify against you. If you get them to lie on the stand, I’ll make sure they go to jail.”
She dropped her arms and her eyes grew huge. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“The fuck I wouldn’t.” He leaned in close to her face, making sure she understood just how serious he was, and how willing to do whatever it took to get her to go away.
“It won’t work anyway. I’ve covered all my bases, so to speak.” She grinned wickedly, and I wondered what made someone turn so vicious.
“Just sign the fucking papers, Chrystle.”
“No.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because I refuse to make it easy for you to get rid of me.” She smirked again before looking at Melissa and me.
“Is this a fucking game to you?” Jack asked through clenched teeth, and I knew he was starting to lose it.
“I want to stay married, so I won’t sign anything if I can avoid it.”
I placed my hand on his shoulder to hold him back and remind him to keep his cool. “Avoid it?” I repeated to her. “You think you can avoid this?”
“Actually, yes, I do.” Her voice was dripping with confidence, and I couldn’t wait to see this bitch fall.
Jack threw his hands up in the air. “You?
?re just a bad person.”
“So are you!” she fired back.
“No. I’m an asshole. There’s a difference.”
Melissa stepped forward, her hands fisted, and I grabbed her shoulders to hold her back. My feisty little pixie looked ready to get herself into trouble, and the last thing I needed was to have to bail her out of jail tonight. She tried to wriggle away, but I tightened my grip.
“I’ll do whatever I have to do to be rid of you,” Jack said in a low, menacing voice in Chrystle’s face. “You hear me? Whatever I have to do.”
“Are you threatening me?” she asked, her voice deliberately raised to draw more attention to the scene she was creating.
“If I were threatening you, you’d know it. Sign the damn papers.”
Jack turned away and punched the door open as I followed behind, dragging Melissa out by her arms.
Once in the car and on the road, we all seemed to finally exhale. I rolled down my window partway and allowed the air to blow over me, needing a little cooling off.
“I can’t believe we saw her tonight,” Melissa said from the backseat. “She’s wretched, Jack. In every way.”
“She’s worse than I remember,” I said, nodding.
Jack glanced at us. “Do you guys get it now, why I can’t go see Cassie until she’s gone? I have to be rid of that woman completely before I knock on Cassie’s door.”
Being here now, seeing and hearing Chrystle the way we just had, it did make more sense to me. Jack wasn’t avoiding Cassie for no reason; he honestly believed he was protecting her. And after what happened tonight, I didn’t blame him one bit.
We walked into the nearly empty house and I reached for Melissa’s hand. “You okay? I thought you were going to kill Chrystle back there.”
“I wanted to. Once she started saying that shit to Jack, it’s good you held me back,” she snapped, her sass coming back in full force with the memory of earlier, and Jack and I both laughed.
“Honestly, I think I would have paid good money to see you hit her,” Jack said with a smile.
Melissa jerked her thumb toward the door. “We could always go back.”