Chapter 27
Harding~
“J esus Christ, is this chick for real?”
I turned to see Trista, standing next to her car, staring at her phone, and she could only be referring to one person. We’d just come back from picking up her kids, and so, while I had the kids corralled next to me, Trista was staring at her phone, not moving.
“What is it?”
Her green eyes looked up over at me, and I watched her shake her head tiredly. “She sent me some pictures and a video of her and one of my ex-boyfriends.”
I glanced down at the kids as I could only imagine what Paige had sent Trista. “How about we get inside, get the kids settled, and then…then deal with this?”
Trista gave me a tight nod before shutting the car door, then making her way towards us. Luckily, there wasn’t a whole lot of packing involved with trading off the kids, so it’d been nothing to get them into the house, then settled in their rooms. With dinner already eaten and tomorrow a Monday, the rest of the evening would be relatively easy.
Once the kids were all busy doing their thing, I met Trista in the kitchen, her phone already on the table. “Go ahead and look,” she said.
Even so fucking tired of Paige’s shit, I grabbed Trista’s phone anyway. When I pulled up the texts, it was a repeat of what she had sent with Gil, except for this time, the couple in the pictures hadn’t been in a motel room. Paige had gone so far as to take this man to our house and into our bedroom for this little show, and I honestly didn’t know how to feel about that. A part of me was angry that she kept going to extremes and making things worse, but then another part of me felt sorry for her. She was sleeping with these men to make me jealous, but all I felt was embarrassed for her. She kept sinking lower and lower, and I was just so damn tired of it all.
“Who is he?” I asked as I scrolled through the pictures, my eyes glued like rubbernecking a terrible car wreck.
“Kirk Nabers,” she answered. “I dated him for a few months last year, and he wanted to get serious while I hadn’t seen our relationship like that. When he pushed for more of a commitment, I said no, and he kind of lost it. He started accusing me of using him for his money, which made no sense.”
I looked up from the phone. “Why?”
“While he was very generous, I hadn’t ever asked him for anything,” she explained. “It was like…I don’t know. It was like he’d been trying to buy my love, but when it didn’t work out that way, he threw everything that he’d ever done for me or bought me in my face.” Trista shrugged her shoulders, seemingly confused by the entire thing. “I don’t know…I’d been under the impression that he was just a giver, but I guess his generosity had come with strings attached.”
I looked back at the phone, and I couldn’t help but swear as I fell deeper into her rabbit hole. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
“What? What is it?”
As soon as Trista was standing next to me, I angled the phone in her direction. “She’s wanting you to know how much I suck in bed, and how you were stupid for trading in a stud like Kirk for me.”
“I’ll be a sonofabitch,” she drawled out. “She really used the word ‘stud’.”
“Oh, look…there’s another video,” I deadpanned.
“What does she think this is going to accomplish?” Trista asked, genuinely baffled by Paige’s behavior, yet she wasn’t the only one. “I still don’t understand any of this.”
“I have no idea.”
Just then, my old phone chimed with an incoming text, and my stomach actually cramped with the sound. Anymore, I wished that I didn’t have to own a fucking phone. With Paige owning one, it was like the work of Satan at play, and I wanted nothing to do with it.
Trista grabbed her phone from my hands as she said, “What do you want me to do with these texts?”
“Well, since both of their faces are very visible in these, I say to save them in case we need to use them later,” I answered, not really wanting her to have a goddamn sex tape of her ex-boyfriend, but also needing all the ammo necessary to end Paige’s reign of terror.
“Are you going to check your phone?”
“Do I have to?”
Trista chuckled as she said, “It’s like ripping off a band-aid, Harding.”
Shaking my head, I pulled my old phone from my pocket, and sure enough, Paige’s name was on the fucking screen, and I started reading her text against my better judgement.
Paige: As u can c, uv been replaced. Kirk is 10x the man that u could ever b, n I actually feel sorry 4 Trista. She chose the wrong man, but her mistake is my blessing. Kirk is better than u n every way, n he knows what it really means 2 luv sum1.
“Oh, fuck,” I muttered.
“What?’
“It’s a text, telling me how I’ve been replaced, and that Kirk knows what it really means to love someone,” I told her.
“Wait, what?” she asked, sounding just as confused as I felt right now. “She’s…she’s saying that they’re in love? Already?”
Paige: I’ll b glad 2 sign ur stupid divorce papers now that Ive found my true soulmate. I understand now that God made me experience u and Patrick so that I could really appreciate what a truthful soul Kirk is. I will never take him 4 granted like uv done me.
“She’s saying that they’re soulmates,” I went on.
“What?” Trista choked out. “What in the hell?”
“I…” I shook my head. “I don’t know…I don’t know what this is.”
“Could she just be saying all that to make you jealous?” she suggested. “I mean…otherwise, that’s pretty wild, Harding. They’ve only just met…what? At the most, a few days? It’s only been a week since you told her everything.”
“I don’t know,” I repeated. “I…this could be all a lie, but…honestly, I don’t know if I should feel grateful that she’s moved on or warn the poor man.”
Paige: Unlike u and ur whore, me n Kirk r going 2 last 4ever. He’s going 2 luv me like I deserve 2 b luvd, n Im going 2 luv him back the same way. Meanwhile, ur relationship is going 2 crumble as soon as u get tired of her, like u got tired of me.
“Harding, are you sure that she’s not crazy?” Trista asked again as she read the texts with me. “Because this shit is insane.”
Paige: But now that Iv found true happiness n am moving on, with or without that woman n ur life, I’ll continue 2 pray 4 u n hope that u eventually get right with God.
I set the phone down on the table, then looked over at Trista. “I have no idea what to think right now.”
“Neither do I,” she muttered. “But…I can’t see it being love for Kirk. At least, not at this stage in the game. He’s not…he likes the chase. He’s a wooer, and if she’s fawning all over him already, I can’t see it lasting. He likes to do the impressing.”
“Seriously, a part of me feels like we should warn him that she’s saying this stuff,” I replied, feeling genuine concern for this stranger.
“I don’t see that being a good idea,” she remarked. “He was very bitter when I called things off, so I can’t see him welcoming any kind of conversation from either you or me.”
“So…then we should just…just let it be and hope for the best?” I asked, that plan not really sitting well with me.
“No, not necessarily,” she answered. “I just think…maybe we…we wait it out a bit. She could have just sent that to try to piss you off.”
“Well, they were in our bedroom, so I can see that,” I reluctantly agreed. “I just…if she isn’t fucking around, how scary is that?”
“Crazy usually is scary, Harding,” she sighed.
“Yeah, I guess it is.”