“Is there someone in there?” he snapped. There was no warmth in his voice. It was pretty much devoid of any emotion.
“N-no. Why would you say that?” Something was wrong. Very wrong. Her instincts were screaming at her. Why was he looking at her like that? Like she’d betrayed him?
“What’s this?” He held something up by his finger, staring at it with disgust. She stared at it as well. It was a flimsy piece of lingerie. Red, see-through and obviously cheap. Why would he have that?
“I-I. . . that’s not mine.”
“It was sitting on your doorstep. With a note.” He held up a piece of paper then read from it. “I saw this and thought of you. Wear it for me tonight, sexy.”
No. No, no, no.
“I don’t want it,” was all she managed to say.
He raised an eyebrow. “Whoever he is, he doesn’t have good taste. Or know your size since this is two sizes too big. He should have put it in a bag or a box if he didn’t want me to see it. If you’re gonna cheat on me, I’d have thought you’d be more discreet than this.”
She swayed, unable to hear anything more due to the ringing in her ears. She went hot then cold.
“You think I’m cheating on you,” she whispered in horror.
“Think that’s pretty obvious, babe.” This was the first time he’d called her babe and it hadn’t sent a shiver of desire through her. Instead, this babe was almost spat at her. She placed her hand over her nauseous stomach. “You don’t get lingerie from strangers who then tell you to wear it for them.”
“Y-you don’t know what’s going on. Y-you’re wrong—” She was so upset by the way he was reacting that she couldn’t get out what she needed to say. Not that it seemed he wanted to listen.
“Yeah, well, I was wrong about you before, wasn’t I?” he said bitterly.
Right. Because he thinks you cheated on him. And now, he’s willing to believe the worst of you.
Why hadn’t she forced him to listen?
She licked her numb lips. “Jed, listen, y-you don’t understand.”
“I understand. Don’t worry, I blame myself. I shouldn’t have gotten involved with you again. I thought you had changed. I was wrong. It happens. Guess at least it happened this time before you got your claws in too deep.”
Claws? He thought she had claws? And she’d thought they were already deep. At least she was. Seemed he hadn’t felt the same.
“Bye, Daisy. Maybe this time you’ll take my advice and leave. There’s nothing here for you.”
This couldn’t be happening. She grasped hold of the door to hold herself up, her grip on the bat loosening. It dropped to the floor but she ignored it, her full attention on the man she loved more than anything.
He turned away.
“Wait, Jed, please. You’re wrong. You don’t understand.”
Why hadn’t she told him about the flowers? Or the guys at JSI? Idiot.
“Please,” she called out, her voice breaking.
But he ignored her. He climbed into his truck. Then he drove away. Leaving her standing there on her porch.
Alone.
As soon as she realized that, she stepped back inside and quickly shut and locked the door. Her heart racing, she ran around the house pulling all the blinds.
That asshole was out there somewhere. She didn’t know if he was watching right now, but she wasn’t taking any chances. She was alone. All she had was herself.
And she was pretty damn certain that wasn’t enough.
When everything was locked up tight, the drapes all pulled, she grabbed the bat and crept over to her secret stash of candy. Yes, she wasn’t supposed to have any candy that Jed didn’t know about. But a girl needed stuff for emergencies. And besides, wasn’t like he was here anymore. These past few days, her appetite had been nil, so she’d been living on suckers. She grabbed a raspberry sucker and popped it into her mouth. Then she picked up the bat again and retreated to that same corner she’d hidden herself in last week behind the sideboard.