3. Jessica
JESSICA
Since neither of them was talking, at least not to me, I settled back in the soft leather of my Dad’s car and let myself relax. They might not be talking to me, but they were sure sending messages back and forth to each other with those looks of theirs.
That’s something my parents have always been good at: secret communication between just those two. They could be in a room full of people and have a whole conversation that no one else knew even existed. My siblings and I have been hip to it for a while now, though, so they’re not fooling me.
I rolled my eyes when Mom shook her head ever so slightly at whatever it was Dad had just relayed to her through eye movement and looked out at the night sky.
It’s been a while since I’ve had a moment like this.
A moment just to decompress and enjoy the little things that usually bring me so much joy.
It's hard to find joy in things when your heart is in a battle with itself. You see, when I first found evidence that the Asshole was indeed cheating, I had a lot of emotions, even though I was the one who had pretty much paved the way for it to happen.
At the end of the day, I was being cheated on, which meant someone in this universe thought that I was a chump, fucking aye!
That dog don’t hunt over here. At the same time that my anger was building over the sheer audacity of those two, I had to keep reminding myself that this was what I wanted.
I wanted him gone, and I didn’t want to be the one to do it.
You might ask yourself why that is. You see, Dale wears two faces, and pretty much everyone thinks he’s in the running for sainthood. He’s an exemplary son and quasi-son-in-law. He treats me like gold as far as anyone can see, which he did because why would I settle for anything less?
He was very attentive and caring of my needs and wants throughout the relationship until, I guess, his true nature couldn’t take it anymore, and he showed his ass.
I guess he got too comfortable. Now, I wouldn’t say all men are like that; my Dad sure isn’t, and neither are my brothers.
That is how I knew that he was not the one for me after three years of wasted time and energy.
Anyway, I had to fight myself over what was the right thing to do.
Should I stand my ground and fight for the man that I no longer wanted just to save face?
Just so that I didn’t lose to the other woman?
Or should I just walk away? Neither of those two things worked for me.
For one, I didn’t want him any longer. Even if I hadn’t been over the relationship already, the mere fact that he was tempted by someone else was enough for me to be done.
But just walking away wasn’t it either. I could’ve slithered out of his life without a fuss, but then what would I have gained? He’d done such an awesome job of hiding the affair that none of our mutual friends knew, and neither did our families. No one would’ve believed that he was capable.
So, I did what I did and gave him and the skank all the space they needed to fall into the hole I’d dug for their asses.
Why did I go to those lengths, you ask? Because how the fuck dare either of them?
I might not want him any longer, but you best believe no one takes shit out of my hand without my say-so. So, her ass is gonna get it.
As for him, by the time I’m through with him, he won’t know which way is up. So, while I was scheming and playing the hand I was dealt while stealing from the pack, I did not have time to stop and smell the roses. Sabotage is a full-time job.
I was suddenly tired and sleepy when I saw the turnoff to the family estate up ahead.
As grown as I am, nothing beats the comfort of being back home, where I’ve always felt safe.
That feeling soon fled to be replaced with one of angst and uncertainty as something heavy and warm settled in the pit of my stomach.
“What’s he doing here?” I felt my heart race as I saw the lone figure getting out of his fancy sports car on the driveway as we pulled in through the gates.
Julius Blair, the only man I’m afraid of.
He turned and looked back at the car, and I was almost certain he was looking right at me or through me, which is what it always felt like whenever we were in the same airspace.
“Ah shit, I forgot he was coming over tonight.” Dad got out of the car with a wave before walking around to open Mom’s door. I almost growled at Julius when he did the same for me, and I barely saved myself from falling flat on my face when he held my arm to steady me.
“Hello Jessie-Belle!” I ought to wipe that smirk off his face with my fist. He thinks I don’t know he’s all but calling me Jezebel?
“Julie!” Why doesn’t he ever get mad when I insult him? At least this time, he didn’t ruffle my hair like a toddler. Instead, he just grinned and walked away. Annoying jackass!
We’d barely made it into the house when the others showed up one after the other like a nosy motorcade.
The twins, who were on break from their studies, had decided to stay home this year instead of traveling because Annabelle had given birth a little more than three months ago to our first nephew, and like all the men in this family, they are baby hogs.
Not wanting to be left out, Zade had foregone visiting Europe with his friends for the same reason. I’m not sure how they did it, but somehow, Mom and Dad had raised us to believe that spending time with loved ones trumped anything else.
If I thought I didn’t want to be bothered before, that paled in comparison to what I felt when my sister and brothers converged on me like condors on a battlefield of the dead and, right in front of my enemy, started questioning me about my situation.
I tried cutting them off with headshakes and words whispered through gritted teeth, but these bastards just kept going. My sister, the self-proclaimed therapist, studied me like a specimen under a scope for what felt like an eternity before making her diagnosis.
“What the hell is going on? You weren’t in love with him.”
“What makes you say that?” My hackles rose because even though her assessment was accurate, the way she said it sounded way too dismissive for the circumstances.
“I know you, so let’s have it; what happened?” I looked at Julius, who was pretending to wait for my Dad to bring whatever it was he came over here for, but I knew he had his nose deep in my shit. I don’t know why, since he’s always treated me like an annoying little cousin or something.
I tried to ward off my sister until he left, but she wasn’t having it.
With her son on her hip, she went into Gestapo mode and started spouting off rapid-fire questions.
I was not about to answer any of them in front of him, though, but since my siblings know me so well, they were all but answering their own questions and coming pretty close to the truth.
“Can we wait until Mom and Dad come back and there are no strangers around so I can tell the story once?” I made a point of glaring over their heads at Julius, who was pretending not to care.
“Oh, please, like Julius Blair cares about our little lives. Are you sure you don’t need Toby? That’s the reason I came. I thought for sure you’d be out for blood.”
“No, I’m fine.”
“You sure? Because I think the fact that you weren’t in love with him makes the situation even more dangerous.”
“How do you figure?”
“Well, if you loved him, no matter how much he hurt you, you’d still try to protect him from us. But since you don’t love him, you wouldn’t care, so this little innocent act isn’t selling. What do you guys think?”
“I’m just waiting for the spinning head and the pea soup projectile vomit.” My idiot brother Hunter said that around a mouthful of banana, and while my siblings laughed, that jackass Julius snickered, and I’m sure I saw him shake his head with disdain out the corner of my eye.
“Do you mind?” I snapped in his direction but was brought up short by the drill sergeant, also known as my sister.
“Don’t be rude. You see, I think you do need Toby. Your facade is wearing off, and you’re starting to attack innocent bystanders.”
“Who the hell is Toby?” Well, he held it in long enough.
“None of your business, Julie….
“The robot she made.” Zade snitched.
“She what now?” The rest of them were only too happy to fill him in on the illegal robot I had built from scratch, starting at age fourteen. I’m not sure why they trust his ass so much to be sharing family secrets, but I was not amused.
He had the nerve to look at me with something approaching admiration in his eyes.
Not the kind of admiration one would accept, though; no, this was more like the surprised look of someone who had learned that the village idiot could walk and talk at the same time.
Forget Toby; I’m gonna smash his face in.