Once Bitten

1. Jessica

JESSICA

“I’ll just end it if you leave me.”

“Come again!”

“I said I would end my life if you left me.”

“Hold that thought!” I left him sitting on the couch and headed into the bedroom to grab the bag I’d already packed. If this bitch was going to splatter his brain all over hell and back, he wasn’t getting blood all over my shit.

I looked around to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind.

I’d already taken most of my stuff down to the car, but he got home before I could finish making my escape.

I hate messy goodbyes, but if I stayed here one more minute, my freedom just might be forfeit.

I’m barely holding on to my patience as it is.

“Where’re you going?” He jumped up off the couch when I started heading for the door. Ugh, he’s one of those.

“You said if I left, you would kill yourself. I accept that challenge.” Saves me having to do twenty-five to life behind your stupid ass.

He made a mad dash to block me, but I was too fast and was out the door, slamming it behind me before he took the third step.

I bypassed the elevator and headed for the stairwell, booking it down three flights of stairs.

I’m not an idiot; I know the elevator in this place barely works, so there was no way he would get downstairs before me.

Besides, the desk clerk was on duty, and I knew my brand-new ex would eat his own young before letting himself look stupid in front of an audience.

“Going somewhere?” Charlie, the night clerk, called out as I headed for the doors.

“Yes, Charlie, I guess this is goodbye. I’m leaving that jerk.”

“Good for you.” His response brought me up short. That shit smacked of missing-missing reasons, like he knew something that I didn’t know until roughly half an hour ago.

“Hold that thought, Charlie, I’m gonna have to come back to you on that one.

” I saw the flashing light of the elevator making its way down, so I hurried my ass out to my car in the lot, hit the fob that unlocked the door, and jumped into the driver’s seat like an extra on The Fast and the Furious while simultaneously tossing my bag in the passenger seat.

I saw my asshole ex run out the door just as I peeled off and gave him the middle finger salute in the rearview mirror.

I wish this bitch would hold his life ransom after cheating on me.

After three years of dating, didn’t he know me at all?

The Purge is my all-time favorite movie, and he knows this. The fuck!

I thought of heading to my parents’ place, but made a split-second decision not to do that. That’s the first place the Asshole extraordinaire would look for me because I’m sure his narcissistic ass was too much the coward to follow through with his promise to end it.

It doesn’t matter, though, because the moment I saw the incriminating texts between him and his side piece, he was already six feet deep, as far as I’m concerned. I’m sure he knows that too, and that’s why he went to so much trouble to hide his little dalliance from yours truly.

What I’m sure he didn’t expect was for me to just leave. He was probably expecting tears and pleadings and all that other happy shit you see in the movies that are made to make women feel less than when they don’t act like their life is over without a smelly beast.

I wish the fuck I would lose my dignity over someone who didn’t think enough of me not to fuck around behind my back. The idiot knows how much I love myself. He also knows my stance on cheating and cheaters. Whatever possessed him to think I would act any differently in this situation is beyond me.

I pulled into the parking lot of the first motel I saw and sent up a hope and a prayer that there was a vacancy.

It’s spring break, and our little beach town is known to swell to thousands about this time.

At least this place is a little way away from the water, so I just might luck out; if not, I’ll just keep driving until I run out of gas.

The nice lady behind the desk found me a room on the second floor away from the hustle and bustle of the parking lot, which was the best I could expect at such short notice, and I took one bag with me, choosing to leave the rest of my stuff in the trunk of my car because I wasn’t planning on staying here longer than the one night it would take for me to get my ducks in a row.

First things first, as soon as I got to the room, I dropped my bag and called my parents to let them know that I was okay.

I thought long and hard about how much to divulge because just as much as I didn’t want to end up behind bars, I didn’t want that for my Dad either, and he would for sure end the Asshole’s life without a second thought.

“What’s going on? Dale just called asking for you. Are you two fighting or something? You need us to come get you from somewhere?”

“No, Dad, I left him; he cheated.” Ah shit!

“Come again!”

“Dad, it’s fine, I’m fine.”

“Come home.”

“I will, but not right now. I know Dale is going to show up there looking for me, and I have no desire to see his stupid face.”

“Fine, we’ll come to you. Where are you?”

“Daaad!”

“Fine, have it your way. Call if you need me.” He hung up the phone, and I breathed a sigh of relief. That was much easier than I ever expected, but I’ll take it. I headed for the bathroom and a much-needed shower to wash away the stench of the wasted three years of my life.

I didn’t let myself cry as the hot water washed down over me. I was worth more than what was done to me, and he was not worth the salt of my tears. My mind has been on warp speed since the discovery, and since I’d been alone when it happened, I had time to think and get myself together.

I went through the motions in the hour it took for me to pack my shit and get most of it downstairs. I felt a pang of hurt and anger, but that was for what had been in the beginning and what I had hoped we might be when things had started off so spectacularly.

Maybe this is how I earned the nickname I’ve had since high school. I don’t see it myself, but those close to me have always said I’m definitely a bit of a bitch. I call it being assertive.

Look, I’m a practical person, and I’ve never liked taking out the trash; that’s a man’s job. So why the hell would I get all bent out of shape when the trash takes itself out? And any man who cheats on his partner who has been nothing but good to him is just that: trash.

The sex had been subpar the last year or so, and the honeymoon had been over within the first six months, but I was hanging in there because that’s what a respectable girl from a well-heeled family is supposed to do.

It was a trap, and I knew it. When you start dreading the marriage question instead of looking forward to it, you pretty much know that it’s over.

And that is why I facilitated his little affair in the first damn place.

I don’t know how a man who knows that I’m a freaking IT genius could convince himself that he was pulling the wool over my eyes.

He'd done a good job, though; I’ll give him that.

The extra phone that he kept hidden was something I had overlooked since he wasn’t bright enough to come up with that one on his own.

I’ll have to do some digging to figure out who helped him there, but for now, I’ll just focus on myself and reprogramming the new me.

Don’t get it twisted; I'm going to make them pay. But first, I have to get my shit together. I don’t know where he got the balls. As for his little side bitch, she’s going to rue the day she disrespected me for some mediocre dick.