Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Possibly even move out entirely.
He could just move into my place. We could make it work.
“I can tell by your non-answer that you wouldn’t have allowed me to come,” she sneered. “Hence showing up without calling first.”
“Is it okay to throat punch a woman? Asking for a friend,” I asked Coke.
Coke snorted, and Beatrice hissed in annoyance.
She stood up and went to the kitchen, Coke and I following her movements with wary eyes.
She reached for the paper plates that Coke used instead of dishes and picked one up.
“I hated that you wanted to use these,” she said, tearing the plate in half.
Coke growled under his breath.
“I also hated that you always bent to my father’s wishes. What kind of man does exactly what another man wants? What kind of man does that make you? A pussy, that’s what.” Beatrice tore another plate in half. “I hate you. I hate the way you’re so subservient. I hate the way you never stood up for me.”
She ripped up another plate and then turned to survey me with a look of disgust on her face.
“And you, with your fresh baby face and cute little body,” she sneered, ripping up another plate. “You think you can replace me? I can have him back in a heartbeat.”
That’s when Coke chose to laugh.
She ignored him.
“He was mine. I had him first. I gave him his first child. Now he can’t give you a child because he got fixed.”
That’s when Coke lost it.
He walked forward and ripped those paper plates out of Beatrice’s hands, then pointed toward the door. “Get. Out.”
“No,” she snarled. “This is still half my house. Did you know that, dear?”
That last part was aimed at me.
“No, I didn’t,” I said. “But, possession is nine-tenths of the law. Looks to me like Coke is the one living here, not you.”
“We bought this place because Coke just ‘had to have it,’” she sneered. “Well, let me tell you something, dear. I made sure that this house was put in my name. That was the deal for him getting this place. He bought it, but it went in my name. That way, if he did anything crazy like divorce me, he couldn’t have his precious cabin that I wasn’t allowed to visit.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“Unfortunately for you, Beatrice, things that you acquire when you are married, it doesn’t matter whose name it’s in.” He paused. “Like we’ve already been over. This cabin and land are not yours. You got the five-bedroom monstrosity that you had to have in town. I got this place. That was what the mediation was about, remember?”
Coke sounded like he was speaking to a small child who was throwing a tantrum.
“You got me fired from my job,” she snarled, reaching for the bowl of fruit on the counter.
One second it was sitting pretty, and the next it was on the ground in pieces, apples and oranges flying everywhere.
An avocado fell to the ground and burst apart, making me wince.
That one would’ve been perfect today.
Dammit! Avocados are so damn expensive, and it takes days for them to be ripe enough to eat! This damn woman had just ruined it!
Whore.
Why was I being irrational about an avocado, you ask?
Because I didn’t know what in the hell to say or do. I did not, under any circumstances, want to be near that woman.
I was uncomfortable, underdressed, and had stuff on my thighs that I’d rather the entire world not know about.
“You have thirty-seconds to get out of here before I call Tyler Cree and have you picked up. You’re on bail, but one of the stipulations for it is definitely not getting arrested for trespassing. They pick you up again, it’ll be harder to get bail a second time because a judge isn’t going to look at you and see a good person. They’re gonna look at you and see the bitch you are,” Coke pointed out.
Beatrice hissed and reached for the roll of paper towels, knocking those off, too.
I turned to leave, knowing that I couldn’t handle this anymore.
My anxiety was through the roof.
That’s when it got incredibly awkward.
Frankie walked into the front door with a look of curiosity on her face.
She must’ve heard the yelling from outside.
Then again, I wasn’t quite sure why she was here and not at her dorm room.
Not that she couldn’t be here seeing as this was her father’s house, but it was the middle of the week.
Shit, shit, shit!
I slipped from the room, forgoing my bag that was still in the living room, and decided that I’d just put my clothes from last night on.
It was bad enough to be standing there in front of the man’s ex-wife with all the stuff Coke had just done to me written not only all over my face but also body fluids – his and mine - all over my body.