5. Marisol
5
MARISOL
Grant rounds the corner, and I freeze, my hand lingering on the half-closed door. Next to me, Salvatore is hidden, holding his knife loosely at his side and watching me. The threat is clear. One wrong move and I’ll gut you.
I want to slam the door in Grant’s face, but I don’t want to him try to force it open and find out what’s on the other side.
I put on my best ice queen face. “What do you want?”
Internally, I wince. I don’t sound tough, I sound heartbroken. Grant’s face softens with sympathy.
“I’ve been thinking…” Grant says.
“Don’t.”
He raises a hand. “Let me finish. I’ve been thinking, and what I did was a horrible, shitty, cowardly thing to do.”
You think?
Sweat prickles along my hairline. It’s taking serious mental energy to maintain eye contact with Grant and not look at the other man behind the door. Maybe I can signal to him somehow that I’m in trouble and get him to call the police. Too bad we always sucked at charades.
“But I think we both know we should’ve broken up a long time ago.”
My sudden clenched fist makes the door tremble. “You don’t know that,” I say. “We could still get married.”
Grant sighs and crosses his arms. “Mari, it’s just you and me here. We can be honest with ourselves. Getting married would’ve been a huge mistake. You don’t like me. We don’t like doing any of the same things.”
“Like what? Smoking weed with Jeremy and getting drunk and playing video games? You know, I think I could’ve liked those things just fine if you ever invited me over. But you didn’t want me there, because you were too busy fucking Lilah!”
“ God , Mari!” The tips of his ears redden. I used to think it made him look cute, but now he looks oafish. “No one wants to invite you over. You’re too much! If we’re playing video games, you have to win every time. If we’re smoking weed, you’ll get the most high. We can’t even have sex without you begging me to spank you and choke you. It’s fucking annoying to be around! Not everything has to be this insane competition with you!”
My heart pounds in my ears. “I win every game because I like to win,” I spit. “People can like different things. So you weren’t interested in doing what I wanted in bed? You sure liked all the blow jobs I gave you. You liked when I did all your assignments for you. Relationships are work, which is probably why you didn’t want to bother with ours.”
Grant jerks his hands through his hair and sucks down two deep breaths. “Mari, baby,” he says in a patronizing voice, “I need you to send me what you found. There’s a criminal out there stealing money from Snap Close. This is a matter of right and wrong?—”
I roll my eyes. “For cripes sakes?—”
“ That! ” Grant jabs a finger at me. “I hate when you do that shit. I hate how you remind me of her constantly .”
“Oh! Should I brush her under the rug? Should we pretend she’s not your mom?”
“You’d love that. I get it. If anyone’s going to love my mom the most, it’s gonna be you too? Even love is another fucking thing to win.”
I step forward to get in his face, but Salvatore’s hand wraps around my wrist behind the door. I start to look at him and then jerk my gaze downward so I’m not being so obvious.
Oh, fuck me. Buck is rubbing his head against Salvatore’s pant legs.
“Mari, is there someone with you?”
I inhale. Salvatore’s grip tightens. I level my gaze at Grant. “It’s time for you to leave. Now. Before you get hurt.”
Grant stares at me for several long seconds, unaware of death looming on the other side of the door.
Finally, he exhales, long and slow. “Lilah was right. You are a bitch.”
The bedroom door swings open.
I barely catch the horror and shock on Grant’s face before I turn to Salvatore. I’m nearly too afraid to touch him, but I do, placing my free hand on his firm chest. He hasn’t let go of my wrist and tugs me to his side. At least his knife is tucked in the back of his jeans. He studies Grant with a totally flat expression except for the displeased twist of his mouth.
“Salvatore, please,” I say. His name tastes strange on my tongue. “He’s not worth it.”
“You need to leave,” Salvatore says to Grant, without raising his voice at all. He lets go of my wrist to wrap his arm around my waist. I drop my hand from his chest as if burned. Buck can’t catch a hint and places his paws on Salvatore’s pant leg, looking for pets while my life falls apart.
Grant’s eyes dart between us. “Mari, who the fuck is this? Have you been cheating on me?”
I swallow a laugh. Somehow cheating feels so much smaller than what I’m going through right now. No, he’s here because of what I did for you, babe.
At six feet tall, Grant’s got Salvatore by a couple of inches, but it doesn’t make a difference. The promise of violence rolls off of Salvatore in waves.
I need to get a sign to Grant. I don’t want him to fight Salvatore, just to help me.
“Give me ten minutes, and then I’ll be gone. Forever,” I say. Salvatore squeezes me to his side, and I suck in a deep breath. The heat of his body sears along the length of mine. If he doesn’t let me go, I’m going to have a panic attack. I need to get away from him. I open my eyes wide and blink rapidly at Grant. Help me.
Grant clenches his hands into fists. “Couldn’t lose this either? Had to be the best cheater.”
Before I can reply, Salvatore cuts in, “Get out. Now.”
Grant’s shoulders slump forward as he takes in Salvatore’s appearance.
“Just so you know, Mari, I was only with you because Mom asked me to take care of you. I never really wanted to date you—you’re a fucking psycho.” One last jab as he ignores my pleading expression and storms out of the apartment.
Salvatore turns toward me. His face is calm. The worst day of my life is any ol’ Monday morning for him. “Time is up. Let’s go.”
I’m surrounded by men who take from me and give nothing in return.
I swipe at my eyes and sniffle.
“Get your computer,” he says.
Dick. I jerk my body from his grip and stomp to my desk. I drop down to yank my power cable out of the outlet, and when I stand, I crack my skull against the underside of the desk.
“Fuck,” I mutter, touching the knot on the back of my head. For a moment I crouch there and try not to cry. Grant’s abandoning me. Salvatore’s taking me somewhere I don’t want to go. Even Buck’s betrayed me.
Sometimes I’d lay my head on Kristin’s lap and clutch her blanket and sob at how unfair it was that she was leaving. She’d stroke my hair and tell me, “One day at a time.”
I inhale deeply and force myself to stand. I just need to get through today.
Once I’m up, Salvatore grips my arm and wrenches me toward him.
What the?—
He probes the back of my head, looking me over as impassively as a buyer in a livestock auction.
“You need to be more careful,” he says.
I slap his hand away and twist my arm out of his grip. I want to scream or cry, but instead, I march over to my suitcases and grab the handles.
Salvatore couldn’t care less about my tantrum. “Go get Buck.”
Right, my treasonous cat and Salvatore’s new best friend. I’m half-tempted to leave him here, but… but Grant hates Buck and Lilah’s allergic, and I’m the biggest fucking sap in existence because I’m already moving to the bedroom to find the cat carrier.
While I pull out the plastic carrier from the top of my closet, I can hear Salvatore rustling around in the kitchen. I can’t find it in me to care about what he’s doing. Hopefully eating something expired out of the fridge or tripping and falling on a knife.
Buck’s on top of the bed, but the second I look at him with the carrier in hand, his sixth sense kicks in, and he rockets out of the room.
I take one moment to stare at the ceiling, blinking back tears, and then pull myself together for the hundredth time today and follow him.
When I return to the living room, Salvatore holds out a bag of frozen corn to me.
I blink at him.
“Put this on your head.” He presses the bag into my hand and then slips the cat carrier from my grasp.
He approaches Buck who’s perched at the top of his cat tower. Buck eyes him suspiciously but doesn’t move. He lets Salvatore lift him and slide him into the cat carrier like it’s nothing. How…?
Salvatore ignores the shock on my face and opens the apartment door. He nods toward the hallway.
“Let’s go.”