Page 85 of The County Line
“Well, I don’t miss you,” I respond.
He steps towards me again, closer now. “Come on… we had a good thing between us.”
“We did, or so I thought we did, until you cheated on me,relentlessly. Have you forgotten about the hundreds of times that you hurt me? The times that you let me down when I needed you most?”
At least he has the gall to look wounded for a moment before he quickly recovers.
“What happened to Bianca? Kelly? Vanessa? And Kylie?” I snap, folding my arms tightly across my chest. “Are you just bored now? Is it because sneaking around without doing it behind your wife’s back isn’t as thrilling? Sleeping with random women not cutting it these days?”
Jordan rubs a hand through his hair, his eyes drifting somewhere over my shoulder. “Maybe... and yes, maybe I wasn’t the best husband.”
I let out a sharp, bitter laugh. “You weren’t just a bad husband, Jordan. You were the worst husband. You weren’t even a husband to me. I was in a marriage alone.”
His gaze falters for a second before he speaks, voice quieter but no less infuriating. “And maybe you’re right. There was a certain thrill to it… knowing I was cheating on you. But I’ve changed. I want you back, Molly.”
“No.” The word comes out firm, absolute.
I take a step back, putting distance between us as I raise a hand to stop him from coming any closer. “It’s too late. You need to leave my town immediately and never come back here again. There’s nothing here for you. I don’t love you anymore, I don’t want you anymore, and I’ve moved on with someone else.”
His jaw tightens as he scoffs. “Already? Didn’t take you long. Are you sure you weren’t the one cheating on me?”
I pin him with the coldest, hardest glare I can muster—the kind I perfected growing up with a gambler for a father, a man who constantly surrounded himself with questionable company. Men whose lingering stares taught me to protect myself long before I should have needed to.
It’s the look that saystry me, and you’ll regret it.
Jordan takes an uneasy step back, his bravado cracking under the weight of my gaze.
“I’d be careful what you say or do next, because the man that I’min love withis just as fucked up as I am,” I shout.
I yank open my car door without another word, sliding inside and slamming it shut. The tires screech against the pavement as I peel out of the driveway, leaving Jordan—and the wreckage of my past—behind me in that run down home.
My hands shake against the steering wheel, the road ahead is dark, lit only by my headlights, but I feel lighter with every mile that I put between us. Still, my chest heaves as I let out a long, jagged breath. I reach for my phone to call Colt—only to realize the battery is completely dead.
Shit.
If Colt left Charlotte right when I called earlier, he should be close to arriving in town by now. I need to get to him before he heads to Everest Lane and meets Jordan.
I press my foot harder against the gas, speeding toward my duplex despite the anxiety that’s creeping up my spine. Pulling into the driveway, I dart inside and head straight for the kitchen. I rummage through a drawer, locate a spare phone charger, and plug it in.
While the phone powers up, I step outside and scan the perimeter, hoping that Roxy might have found her way back here. But the silence is deafening, and the emptiness presses down on me.
Please be okay. Please don’t be hurt.
I take a deep breath, steadying myself.Focus. One step at a time.First, find Colt. Then, find Roxy.
Dammit, girl where are you?
I race back inside and pick up my phone, dialing Colt as soon as it hits 1%.
“Molly?” he shouts on the first ring.
“I’m fine. Don’t go to Everest Lane.”
I hear him mumble something to someone in the car with him and then tires screeching. “Where are you?”
“Back at my house.”
“Safe?”
