Page 14 of Tangling Hearts

Chapter Nine

Rebecca

Same Time: 4:00 A.M. Staring at: Tommy’s T-shirt. Obsession: what’s underneath

He’s sleeping. I can tell by the rise and fall of his chest. I’m sure I can get away with a little peek. If I lift his shirt by by the neckline, I can see what’s going on. There’s clearly a square shape pushing through the fabric. Is it a bandage?

My eyes flit up to his as my hand slowly comes up. Eyeing his left shoulder, holding my breath, I slowly move my hand over his chest, hovering above his neckline. With my index finger slipping down first, I hook it oh-so-gently under the cotton. Tommy’s right hand latches onto mine so fast that I gasp. His eyes, mere slits, look over at me. I stare at him, heart slamming in my chest.

His grip tightens on my fingers.

“I was just going to…” I stop as his eyes narrow more. “You’re hurting me, Tommy.”

He shoves my hand away from him hard and fast, and my whole body sways with it, pushing me back. He leaps off the bed and goes for his pants. I lift up on my hands, locking my arms at the elbows, surprised. “You’re leaving?!”

He checks his wallet and his phone, like I might have taken something or called someone. I stare at him, aghast. As if I would ever go through his wallet! But the memory of pulling Brendan’s phone from his jacket stops me cold from objecting, and my jaw drops as I realize I’ve been doing things I would never do!

“You couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?” he spits out.

Defensively, my neck lengthens and I cock my chin proudly upward. “What? I was just going to put my hand on your chest to cuddle up to you.”

He looks at me in disgust. “Really?! Women! Do youthink we’re that stupid? Do you really think we don’t see what’s going on in your heads?” He gives his temple a couple swift taps with his finger. “That we don’t get it? Who started the wars, Rebecca? We did. Who strategized and conquered not only countries but entire continents? WE DID.” He laughs a cynical ugly laugh. “And you think we’re stupid! Don’t think you can outsmart men because you CAN’T.” He strides over to one of the wine glasses and slams it into the darkened fireplace, the glass shattering as I cringe, shocked. He turns to me, hatred in his eyes for my entire gender. “Jesus, I thought you were different. There’s only one thing you women offer us. The ONLY thing. And it’s not your brains, Rebecca. You think you’re all so fucking smart.”

I stare with my mouth furiously shut. He glares back at me and strides over to grab up the other glass. He throws that one from where he stands, the glass flying across the room and shattering in the fireplace so loudly it echoes. I begin to shake, unable to control it.

“You know why it’s not your brains, Rebecca? Because you pull STUPID SHIT. This?” He points to his shoulder. “This is my body. If I want to leave my fucking shirt on, I’ll leave it on. Ever heard of boundaries?!”

“You just fucked me in the window with the whole world watching and you want to bring up boundaries??!”

He laughs. “You wanted that, and you know it. You could have said no. Did you say no? Because I know I did! But you couldn’t leave well enough alone.”

I pull the comforter up around my chest. A banging from the room next door sounds near my head. “SHUT UP!” I yell at it, and turn to glare at Tommy again, afraid he’ll do something violent.

But Tommy does worse than hit me. Instead he says something I will never be able to forget, ever. “I know why Brendan never fully claimed you. He saw the truth about you. You can’t be trusted.”

I scream, “STOP IT!”

He smiles ruthlessly. “That’s why I never even heard about you before that night I showed up there, unexpected. If I hadn’t come over, would I even know you existed? No way!”

“STOP IT!!”

“If I wasn’t at the baseball game, do you think he would have kissed you in front of everyone? He was doing that to make me jealous, because he knew I cared.” Tommy’s eyes slice into my heart as he yells, the veins popping out of his temples, “I FUCKING CARED ABOUT YOU!”

The sting of tears slaps against my cheeks, and I sob, “Stop it.”

“Go ahead and cry, Bec. You’re going to keep crying until you can learn to become a woman a man can trust.”

“Don’t say that!”

He walks to the bottle of wine, picks it up and heaves it into the fireplace, but the sound is dull now to the numbness that’s encasing my body from shock. Tossing a last hateful look back at me, he throws open the door and leaves.

Wracking sobs rip out from my lungs. I bury my face in the pillow, pulling it tight around my head so I can scream. Minutes pass. A tentative knock at the door is heard, but I don’t move because I know it’s not Tommy. It was too gentle.

A small female voice calls though the wood, “Mrs. Wells?”

“Oh for fuck’s sake.” Wrenching the blankets off the bed, I jerk them around me, racing to the door to throw it open. “What? I’ll buy new wine glasses! They’re like what – ten bucks each? Leave me alone!”

Just as I’m about to slam the door shut on her, she says, looking sad, “I guessed you turned him down then…”

Flustered and confused, I grip the door, staring at her. “What are you talking about?!”

“He said he was going to propose. I guess it didn’t go well. I’m so sorry.” She looks so earnest that I can’t help but burst out laughing.

“He said that?! That’s hilarious! God, are you as naïve as you look?! Well, get ready honey, the world’s a fucked up place and there are no fairytale endings. Unless you count the ones where everyone dies at the end!”

I slam the door shut on her and her innocence, plodding back to the bed to climb in and cry myself to sleep.

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