“What are you doing here, Jess?” I asked.
She smiled, surprised to see me. “Well, in the flesh. Mason Savage returns. I’ve missed you. Have you been hiding from me?”
“No,” I replied. “Answer my question. What are you doing here, Jess?”
“Wow, right to the point,” she said with a goofy grin. I could tell she was loaded. What was she doing behind the wheel?
“I’ve made it clear to you, that whatever we had before is over. Can’t you understand that?” I asked.
“I just don’t think you realize what you are giving up, what you are throwing away. We had something special and it can still be that way. You just have to come down off your judgmental high horse and realize that I was the best thing for you.”
“Judgmental high horse? Jess, you are high right now. I suggest you check in somewhere and get some real help. Now, get out off of my property. I want you to park your car on the side of the road outside my gates. And then I want you to wait while I call you a ride. You are in no condition to drive.”
I would have just told her to leave the car there, but with Toby and Libby around I felt it was best and easiest if they didn’t have to deal with having Jessica anywhere near them, or her stupid car. I had no idea what kind of drugs and drug paraphernalia she probably had stashed away in the thing. Yeah, it was best to put her back on public property.
“I think you’d better reassess what you are doing,” Jessica said.
“Look at yourself,” I said. “You are wasted. You have no business being on the road. And you have no business with me. It’s over. We will never be anything again.”
“Why are you saying those horrible things?” Jessica said. She leaned in closely and reached her hand towards my crotch.
I leapt back out of her grasp.
“What the hell are you doing?” I demanded. “Can you not hear a word I’ve said? Is it not getting through to you? We are done!”
I looked back towards the house just in time to see Libby watching from the window. She turned and walked back inside the kitchen. Shit. What had she seen? Was she about to get the wrong idea?
“Baby, you are getting so uptight,” Jessica said. “Don’t you want me to make you feel good? You know I can make you feel so good…”
She was practically falling asleep standing up.
I placed my hands on her shoulders to keep her standing and to help her snap back awake.
“Jessica, I am sorry, but you are too late. I’m with someone. I am with someone I care about very much.”
“What? You are cheating on me?” Jessica yelled. “You bastard.”
“What cheating? We haven’t been together in a long time. We are over.”
“Is that her? The chick in the window?” Jessica asked.
I glanced back. Libby was watching from the window once again.
“Yes,” I said. “We are happy. I’m sorry, Jess, but you have to leave. Now get in your car and do what I told you. Promise you will do that. I don’t want you to driving on the open road. You aren’t safe.”
“Fine,” Jessica said. “But you understand this. You bastard, you think you can look down your nose at me and pretend to be all high and mighty. How dare you! You will pay—mark my words—you will pay for rejecting me.”
She got back in her car and drove down the driveway. I watched until she was out of sight and then I made the phone calls for a car to pick her up. I could only hope that she did what I told her. If she wasn’t there when I got inside to check the security footage, I’d have to call the cops to have her picked up. That was the last thing she needed, but if she left me no choice, then she left me no choice.
Luckily, she did what I suggested. Her car was sitting outside my gates across the street when I got back to my office and looked up the footage. I breathed a sigh of relief and then poured myself some whiskey. It was a little after noon, but dealing with Jess always gave me the kind of anxiety that required a stiff drink.
“So, who was that?” Libby asked.
I laughed and told her the whole story about Jess.
“Wow, what a sad girl,” Libby said.
“Yeah, she is. It just goes to show you how one’s potential can just be wasted. I just hope that one day she gets the real help she needs.”
Libby put her arm around me. “I know you want to help the whole world, but there is only so much one man can do. Even if that one man is Mason Savage.”