Chapter 17
Denise
I come home from work to silence and everything the way I left it. Tidy, no skunky weed stinking up the place, and no loud video game sounds blasting in my ears.
It’s been a week and I’ve accepted that my relationship with Matt is over. Actually, I’m relieved. I don’t miss him at all, and I regret I didn’t end it with him sooner. I let fear control my actions, resigning myself to a seat I thought comfortable despite the screw poking my ass.
I cried after he left that night, then woke up refreshed the next morning. It’s like I opened up a bottle and poured out all the bad stuff. I’m rinsed and empty now. Free to welcome new and better things.
Matt collected the rest of his stuff the following day.
The asshole even took stuff I bought. I came home and discovered my TV, bluetooth speakers, and microwave missing.
Proof that he lied when he promised to never steal again.
He’ll always be a thief. It still pisses me off, but I’m not going after him.
I don’t want to see or speak to him anytime soon.
I wonder what he’ll say if someone asks why we broke up, though. Of course, he’ll tell a one-sided story where I’m the only one at fault. The cheating bitch who stomped on his heart after he tried to propose. Will he reveal the other man is Isaac?
My phone pings as I take off my clothes. A text from June.
It was a day. Ready for story time?
Since June works at a bridal store, she always has a front-row seat to a bridezilla meltdown or future in-law drama. I smile and sit on the couch in my underwear, my thumbs tapping on the keyboard.
Hit me.
She starts typing a response but gives up and calls me instead.
“Today was a new one,” she says, and I can almost hear her shaking her head. “Some lady came in without an appointment and wanted to try on a dress.”
“Uh oh. I have a bad feeling about this.”
June sighs. “I did too. I saw it in her eyes, but I thought I was wrong. From now, I’ll trust my instincts over wanting to be nice.”
I nod. “It’s safer.”
“Anyway, here’s what happened. After Katelyn gives me the OK, I take the lady over to the discount rack.
She says no, she wants something fancier.
She doesn’t look like she can afford it, but you never know, right?
I decide to show her the pricier dresses, and she chooses one.
While I’m waiting for her to put it on, I hear a rattling and a hissing sound, then I smell this weird chemical scent… ”
“Oh my god…”
“…I ask, is everything OK in there? She doesn’t answer.
I’m panicking when she finally comes out of the dressing room and hands me the dress.
” June pauses, her deep breath audible. I imagine she’s casting her gaze upward as if praying for strength to say the rest. “Denise, this lady spray-painted on the dress!”
I cover my mouth, horrified yet trying to suppress the laugh threatening to spill out.
“No!”
“Yes! She wrote P-R-I-Z-E-N in big, green letters down the front! And you know what she does after? With a straight face, she looks me dead in the eye and asks me if she could try on another one!”
“Tell me you didn’t let her!”
“Of course I didn’t! I kept my eyes on her while I screamed for Katelyn.
Then this lady looks at me like I’m the one out-of-order and says, what’s wrong with you?
” A laugh bursts out of June and I laugh with her.
When she recovers, she continues. “So I say, no, what the hell is wrong with you? You spray-painted a wedding dress that costs two grand! And she says… she says…” June struggles to hold back her laughter to get out the words. “She says, because marriage is prison!”
Both of us succumb to another round of laughter.
“More like she’s going to prison for vandalism,” I say when I catch my breath, wiping away tears from my eyes.
“You’re damn right. When Katelyn came over, the dumbass booked it, leaving her bag and ID cards. Katelyn handed everything over to the police.”
“That was something. I wonder why she did that?”
“Katelyn says she’ll try to find that out. I’ll update you. Just a shame her protest failed because she couldn’t spell prison.”
After another shared laugh, June asks how I’m doing.
I almost tell her about my break-up with Matt but change my mind.
I don’t want to bring down the mood, and I’m not ready to admit why Matt and I broke up.
The story is too messy and sordid, and all three main characters are villains.
Matt, the thief. Isaac, the blackmailer. Me, the traitor.
When the call ends, I head to the shower. The warm water relaxes me, and my mind drifts to Isaac. Even though he didn’t get back his watch, at least he didn’t kick me out last Friday like he threatened. I doubt he ever intended to do it.
I’ve been avoiding him, but I think he’s steering clear of me too.
He’s been absent since that night in the basement.
He probably thinks I rejected him because I never gave him the answer he wanted, and I defended Matt from him.
That sucks. I don’t want to lose the good relationship we had before this mess, and I wish I could clear up the misunderstanding, but it’s dangerous.
My thoughts slip back to that night, and my body warms, remembering his hungry kisses on my neck, his thick fingers moving inside me, his hardness pressed between my legs.
Do you want me, Denise?
I was going to say yes. I was ready to tell Isaac I wanted him to fuck me, eager to let it happen. Then the universe intervened, using Matt to stop me and Isaac from making a big mistake.
Every night, I imagine what would’ve followed if Matt hadn’t interrupted. I always make myself come while fantasizing about Isaac inside me. If I admit the truth to Isaac that I didn’t reject him that night, he might try to make those fantasies come true.
And Matt’s gone now, no longer an obstacle.
There will be nothing stopping us.
I shove my face into the stream of warm water, hoping it washes away my dirty thoughts.