Page 102 of Another Love, Another Time
I had mentally gone over everything I wanted to discuss with him while I was on the flight. I even took notes to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
I find my car quickly, hop in, and turn on some music for my ride home. Baxter is right. I need to stand up for myself. When Auggie and I get finished with our conversation, he will know exactly where I stand. I will be straightforward. I will tell him exactly what I need from him. If he can’t do those things, then I will walk away from our friendship, relationship, or whatever we are doing or working towards.
While staying at my house, Auggie expressed several times that he would eventually like to be in a relationship with me, but we are not there yet. I still feel like he’s holding back. There is still a lot he needs to do to show me that I’m his number one priority.
I also haven’t told him everything. How he reacts to my news will determine our next steps. He needs to be able to respect my decisions.
I don’t think he’s engaged to Melissa. The more I think about it, the more it just doesn’t add up, which is stupid on her end. If he even starts to defend her, the conversation will be over. I’m not going to listen to him give her the benefit of the doubt again. There isn’t room for both her and me in his life. Not anymore.
~~
I had expected Auggie to arrive a little early. What I didn’t expect was to see Melissa sitting on my porch, waiting for me. How did she even know I’d be home? Did someone tell her? I wonder how long she’s been here.
I get out of my vehicle, pull my bag out of the backseat, swing it over my shoulder, and head for my front door. As I pass her, I spit out, “What are you doing here, Melissa?”
“Can’t I come visit my cousin? You left the other night without saying ‘hello.’”
I roll my eyes at her. “Leave. I don’t have time for your shit.” My phone vibrates with a new message, but I choose to ignore it. Instead, I decide to record this conversation, just in case. You never know with Melissa.
I turn around to face her. At the same time, I put my phone in my back pocket. I don’t want to turn my back on her. Who knows what she will do? She won’t leave until she says everything she came here for. Well, I’ve got words for her too.
“Well, let’s do this,” I say. “Apparently, you came here to say something. So, say it. I don’t have all night. I have to get up and go to work tomorrow.”
“I want you to stay away from Auggie,” she demands, crossing her arms.
“Don’t you think that might be kind of hard, seeing as we are partners? We see each other every day.”
“You can put in a request for a change in partners.”
I wonder if this is what she did to Auggie’s previous female partner. “I think you’ve lost your mind.” I just laugh. She has balls; I’ll give her that. “Why in the hell would I do that?”
“Because Auggie is mine. If you don’t, you’ll regret it,” she threatens.
“Really? How is that?” I narrow my eyes at her. “Are you going to repeat what you did at prom to get me to run away? News flash: I’m done running.”
“What are you talking about?” She acts innocent; however, she seems nervous.
“I know you set me up to walk up on Auggie and you kissing.”
Her eyes widen, but because she’s so cocky, she takes the bait. She sneers. “It didn’t take much convincing; a few tears and a guilt trip, and he was putty in my hands.” She doesn’t even question how I would know. It makes me angry, but I’ve already started down this path. There’s no stopping. I need to stay calm.
“It must be hard to have to manipulate a guy into kissing you,” I say. “That must suck, but I guess you are good at manipulating people since you were able to manipulate a guy into attacking and trying to rape me.” Her eyes widen again, but she doesn’t take the bait this time. I keep pushing her. “You’re not denying it?” I raise my brow.
“I didn’t do that,” she responds, but she doesn’t sound convincing.
“What? So, you are saying you didn’t get a guy hooked on pills intentionally? You didn’t withhold those pills from the guy until he promised to attack me? You didn’t promise him you would give him all the pills he could ever want if he just did what you asked?” My voice rises with every word. “But that wasn’t good enough for you, was it? You wanted me ruined, so you told him you wanted him to have sex with me. He told you he wouldn’t do it. That’s when you blackmailed him. You threatened to ruin his chances of receiving a full ride to a college he’d spent years working toward. You talked me up, and then you told him your cousin had a kink, right? That I’d enjoy fighting back. But you didn’t anticipate me being able to fight back and get away before he could rape me, did you?”
She says nothing. I’ve caught her off guard. I taunt, “What? You don’t have anything to say?”
“It doesn’t matter what I say. You can’t prove anything. If you could have proved it, I would have been behind bars a long time ago.”
She’s right. If I could have handed in evidence without gettinghiminto trouble as well, I would have.But maybe I still can. “Oh, I have proof,” I say. “I’m just biding my time. The only reason I haven’t is I don’t wanthimdragged into this.”
And I don’t. I know this sounds crazy and maybe even stupid, but I’ve actually forgiven the guy who attacked me and have come to care for him and his family. I’ve seen what the craving for drugs will make a person do. I truly believe that if it wasn’t for Melissa, he never would have done what he did.
I still made him pay for what he did to me. He owned up to what he did and got his ass kicked for it, but he didn’t make excuses. He apologized. He may have been stupid to get involved withMelissa, but he was smart enough to keep all the voicemails and text messages from her to corroborate his story.
“How sweet of you,” she hisses.
