Page 21 of No, For An Answer
Everyone in the kitchen is chanting‘Fight, fight, fight!’Brushing the blonde hair from my face I prepare myself to go again but I’m instantly hoisted up and thrown over Jesse’s shoulder.
“Jesse, put me down,” I continue, howling with laughter. “Let me beat that bitch’s ass!”
“Watch when I see you next bitch!” Fran calls. I look up and flip her off with both hands, laughing hysterically.
“Not if I see you first!” More laughter comes now because she has absolutely no idea how true that statement resonates. All this pent-up aggression flows from my body and that was just the beginning. I’m just getting started with the havoc I’m about to cause here. The lives I’m about to ruin.
But you weren’t there when she really needed you, Ashley.
“I can walk y’know,” I deadpan. Pushing thoughts of Maisy from my mind.
“You can fight too it seems,” he counters. “Quite the little mongoose.”
“That wasn’t nearly enough.” A bedroom door opens behind me, and I’m dropped to my feet. I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and wince.
“Let’s get you cleaned up,” he says, pulling me into the bathroom, wrapping his hands around my waist, he hoists me up effortlessly onto the bathroom counter. Bending down, I watch as he pulls the first aid box from the small cupboard under the sink, placing it on top of the counter. I love this image he’s trying to pursue, trying to convince me and everyone else of. That he’s the good boy, when in actual fact he’s the sewage line that runs through this entire place.
“I’m fine you know.”
“I can’t have you bleeding to death.” He tears the top of a small plastic packet and removes the antiseptic wipe.
“Dramatic,” I state as he takes hold of my chin and runs the wipe over the cut. I hiss, wrapping my hand around his wrist and pulling out of his grasp. “Ow!”
He clicks his teeth, pulling me closer to him again. “So dramatic,” he sniffs, throwing my previous words back at him. He works silently. Cleaning my lip as much as possible. I doubt it’s even that bad, but I allow him to do it, so he feels like a saviour.
“Why are you being so nice? What’s the catch?”
“There’s no catch. There’s nothing wrong with being nice to someone.”
Bullshit.
This good boy persona is a crock of shit.
He’ll find out that I know more about him than he thinks.
“Who was the girl downstairs?” I ask, wondering if he’ll tell me. Wondering if he will give up the reason why they’re not together anymore.
“Jealous?” he asks, picking up the few bloody pieces of tissue and throwing them into the trashcan beside me. I’m incapable of feeling anything that doesn’t involve rage.
“You wish.” I already know who she is. I just need him to confirm it for me.
“My ex.”
One down.
“Recent?”
“Finished last year.”
Second down.
“I caught her fucking someone else.”
“That’s rough. Anyone I might know,” I breathe out, laughing on the end of it.
“Professor Danvers.”
Ok, I didn’t expect that one.
