Terms + Conditions (Strangers #3)

Chapter Forty

CHAPTER FORTY

NOW

THUNDER ROARS ABOVE ME less than a second after a strike of jagged white light stretches across the sky. About an hour outside of Charleston, I drove straight into a thick blanket of rain. Driving down the main stretch of Jupiter Beach, the rain comes down harder, pounding onto the roof of my Bronco, and it doesn’t let up as I turn down her street.

The clock reads 11:58 p.m. I can only assume she’s already in bed, but I couldn’t wait. Pulling into her driveway, her house lit up like a damn Christmas tree, and not just because of the Christmas lights. All of the lights in the house are on, and that damn truck is in the driveway again. Through the sheet of rain, I can make out two figures on the front porch. Maybe I shouldn’t do this if he’s here…

No, I have to do this. I have to try.

There is nothing I can do to fend off the rain, so I make a mad dash for the porch. They have yet to realize I’m even here. They probably couldn’t hear me pull in over the pounding rain or their raised voices. Ryan yells something I can’t quite make out over the booming thunder above me, but as I walk up the steps to the porch, I can finally hear what he’s saying.

“No one is ever going to want you. I mean, just look at you. Your family didn’t want you. Your husband didn’t want you. You’re going to end up all alone in this big ol’ house. You’re just damaged goods! You—”

“I advise you to choose your next words very carefully when talking about my wife.”

Both of their heated gazes turn in my direction. She softens slightly when she realizes it’s me. I take the final two steps onto the porch, soaked from the rain, and my clothes have become like a second skin. I attempt to wipe my glasses, but it does little good. Pushing them back up my face, I keep my sights on Ryan, but he doesn’t back down. He stands his ground despite the slight question in his eyes.

“Your wife?” Ryan questions, looking between me and Elizabeth, then laughs. “Wow. So, that’s why Nina was so weird about you showing up. You’re the ex-husband.”

“Not yet.”

“Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts. Trust me, my guy, you’re making the right choice. Sign those papers and run. Because this one—”

My fist connects with his jaw, sending him stumbling back a few paces. Ryan chuckles dryly before he charges, and I’m not able to move fast enough without slipping on the puddle beneath me. He tackles me, a clean shoulder-to-gut hit sending me flying into the porch rail, forcing the air from my lungs. Taking advantage, Ryan pulls me up by the collar of my jacket and punches me in the gut, and then the side, but I block my face and manage to lift my knee into his groin. When he stumbles back, I shove him into the side of the house and kick his stomach. He lets out a sharp breath, clutching his sides. I swing on his head once and then slide my arm around his thick neck, grabbing my wrist with my right hand, but despite the pain, Ryan is quick. He hurls his weight forward and steps to the left, falling to the porch across my body, and we break apart. Ryan scrambles to his feet as I pull myself up, but before either of us can move toward the other, Elizabeth steps between us.

“Stop it, both of you!” She glares at us both before narrowing her eyes at Ryan. “I’m not going to ask you again. Get off my property.”

“You want her?” He asks me, ignoring her. “Fine. She’s a lousy lay anyway.”

Before I can hurl myself at him again, Elizabeth stops me and yells at him to leave now . Ryan laughs and walks backward down the steps through the rain to his truck, nursing his face. The sound of tires skidding across wet pavement echoes through the night air.

When he’s finally gone, Elizabeth turns back to me. Her eyes roam across my face before she lets out a heavy sigh. “Come inside. I’ll help clean you up.”