Page 1 of Wild
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“I know about her.”
“You’ve lost your mind.”
“Don’t treat me like some crazed, jealous girlfriend who never lets you go out to play with the boys. You know that’s not true. Just like I know the last boy’s trip didn’t include anyone but her. I’m not stupid.”
John was an even worse asshole when he was lying. Instead of owning his shit, he panicked like a little bitch and drove one lie right into the next.
I’d found the panties in the trunk last week. A lipstick smear on one of his work shirts two days ago. And to think he’s out fucking around despite it being his fault we couldn’t have kids.
“So why the hell did you bring me out here to the middle of nowhere if you knew I was fucking around on you?” He turned in the passenger seat and let me see the smirk on his face. “Don’t do anything stupid, Liz.”
“As if you were worth it. My father was right. You are a loser. No job. You sit at home all day playing with yourself with one hand while holding a game controller with the other. All while I go off to work and support you and your three years of broken promises.” I nodded at his door. “Get out.”
“What? Fuck you.”
“Get out, John!”
“My parents gave us this RV. It belongs to me!”
“Consider it compensation for supporting your lazy ass the last year.” I reached across and opened his door. “Out!”
“You don’t want to open this can of worms. My father will have your ass.”
I felt my face turning red. “Your father can kiss my ass as well. Now get out!”
John chuckled and shook his head like a man who’d just won a bluff at a poker table. He checked his side mirror. “Just in time.”
I heard the engine long before I saw the car pull behind us. I couldn’t see the driver, but I suspected it was her, the whore he’d been seeing. Fine. I would have liked to have left him in the woods to walk home, but the skanky hoe could have him. John climbed out and then turned back to me.
“You’re not as smart as you think you are, Liz. Go play with your little lawyer friends. I don’t give a shit. I’ll be by the house next week to get the RV and the rest of my stuff. Have a nice night alone in the woods.”
He closed the door and, through the side-view mirror, I watched him walk away. And then he stopped. He looked back at the mirror and pulled a knife from his pocket. He smirked at me again and then stuck the knife in the back tire.
The tire immediately went flat, and as I climbed from the driver seat, I heard the car’s tires squealing as John and his little bitch sped away.
To say I was fucked was an understatement. I’d changed a car tire but never had changed a tire on the RV. Where was the spare anyway?
I climbed out and walked around the RV. Yeah, I was screwed. I slid under the RV, where I found the spare attached to the underside. I also found John had been planning his retaliation to my plan to leave him in the forest. The spare tire was also flat.
I returned to the RV in search of my cell, finding nothing. In the heat of our argument, John managed to swipe my phone. Yet another reason to hate the man.
I was not good at games. I’d never dumped a boyfriend, much less a husband. Of course, I’d parted ways with a few men in my past, but the events had been with little drama and plenty of agreement on both sides.
John had been sneaky. He turned on the charm at all the right times. He said things in a way no other man ever had. I believed every word. I fell for every line. I’d been a fool’s fool. And then the devastating news of him being sterile. I was okay with it. I suggested we adopt, but he said no. Maybe cheating on me was his way of dealing with it. That was no excuse. I’d been loyal despite it not being me. A little part of me wondered if he already knew before we were married. He’d been married before but never discussed why he divorced. Everyone had a past. Some had a more extensive history than others.
I leaned my forehead against the steering wheel and cried, regretting the three years wasted. If my long past taught me anything, it was that you couldn’t trust most people. I jumped when a squirrel ran across the hood. It stopped and looked at me, an acorn between his tiny claws.
“I’m not going to let you do this to me,” I said to John despite him not being there. “I’m stronger than you. I always have been. I’ve experienced much worse during my lifetime.”
I took a deep breath and pulled myself together. My father had once told me to visualize the things I wanted in life, and they would eventually happen. I visualized John being gone, and, despite my circumstances, he was gone. I just needed to make the best of the current situation. That was something I had a knack for doing.
Lost? Not really. We’d camped at this spot down a dirt road four miles off the highway too many times to count. It had long been a perfect location, even before John. John would use the time to catch up on reading game manuals. I used the time to catch up on upcoming cases I would be working on at the office. Not that I wanted to use my time like that. It would have been better spent with a man who actually cared about spending time together.
I shifted between the seats and stepped into the kitchen area of the twenty-foot RV. The cabinets were still stocked from our trip last week, the one where John practically ignored me all weekend. The one where I already knew what he was doing while my back was turned.
The refrigerator was also stocked. Inside, I found everything I needed for a salad, including the bacon bits hidden behind a bottle of orange juice, orange juice that would be meeting the bottle of vodka I had hidden under the bed. Maybe life wasn’t so bad.
