Page 71 of Rome
When the bastard tried to slip by me to head back into the bar, I blocked him with my arm and shoved him back into the room they’d just come out of. I gently pulled Abby in with me, then shut the door behind us.
“What the fuck, dude?” He tried to get around me to reach the door handle, and I shoved him again, hard. He stumbled backward and landed awkwardly on the couch behind him. He started to struggle to his feet, and Abby again tried to pull away from me.
“Sit your ass down, motherfucker. You don’t want to fuck with me, trust me on that.”
He blanched as he got a good look at my cut and decided to take my threat seriously. He carefully eased back onto the couch, not taking his eyes off Abby and me. I absently noticed that he was wearing a T-shirt with the bar’s logo on it, and realized he was a bartender.
“Abby, did he hurt you?” I asked her again. She made a sound of distress but refused to look at me. I tilted her chin up so I could see her properly. Her hair was tousled as if someone had run their hands through it repeatedly. Her watery eyes and the dark streaks from her mascara stood out even more starkly against the unnatural pallor of her skin. I realized she was shaking and then my eyes zeroed in on her lips. They were red and swollen, and my heart sank as I recognized the signs.
“What did he do to you, baby girl,” I whispered urgently. I was desperate for her to tell me I was wrong. She didn’t answer, she just shook her head.
“You put your hands on her?” I roared at him. “You attacked my wife?”
The soon-to-be-dead motherfucker raised his hands up in front of him. “Whoa, slow down, dude. I didn’t attack her. She came on to me. She told me she was divorced.” He looked accusingly at Abby.
I stilled as his words sank in. My grasp on Abby’s arm loosened just enough that she was able to pull away from me. She took a step back and wrapped her arms around her waist, keeping her head bowed.
I barely registered that the man was still running his mouth, until I heard him say the words that broke me.
“She wanted it, dude. It was her idea.” I took a step toward him, intending to shut his mouth with my fist. Abby grabbed my arm.
“No, Caleb, don’t!” I stopped and looked down at her as her fingers clenched on the fabric of my shirt sleeve.
“It’s not his fault,” she whispered brokenly.
“You fucked him?” My voice was filled with shock. This could not be happening.
She just stared at me, her expression tightening and her eyes narrowing. I had my answer.
“What I do is my business, just like where you stick your dick is yours. We’re both single now, remember?”
I looked at the asshole still sitting on the couch. “Get the fuck out of here before I beat your ass.”
He wasted no time leaving the room. Piece of shit motherfuckin’ pussy, leaving Abby alone with her angry ex-husband without giving a single damn thought to anything but saving his own ass. I would cut off my arm before raising a hand to her, but he didn’t know that, and he left her alone with me anyway. I was gonna find him and give him a beatdown for that if nothing else.
As soon as the door slammed shut behind him, I looked Abby in the eye.
“I haven’t stuck my dick anywhere. That bitch lied. I saw the surveillance feed. I heard every damned word that came out of her lying mouth. It was bullshit. Every damned bit of it.”
“You couldn’t keep your dick in your pants while we were married, so why should I believe that it’s changed now that we’re divorced?”
“Is that why you did this, just to get back at me? Do you hate me that much?” I croaked.
“It may be hard for you to believe, Caleb, but not everything is about you. This was aboutme. This was about me taking back control of my life –a life you almost destroyed– so don’t you dare stand there in judgement over me. At least I waited until I was single before touching someone else.” The layer of hurt underneath all the anger in her voice was the only hint that Abby – my Abby – still existed.
No matter what she said, I knew my actions had driven her to this. I was the reason she acted so out of character and put herself in danger with a total stranger like this. I was in shock that this was happening.
“I can’t believe this. I can’t fucking believe this. You actually fucked another man?”
Her jaw clenched and she dropped her hand from my arm as she took a step back. A look of complete disgust crossed her face as she stared at me and delivered the fatal blow to my very soul.
“I didn’t fuck him.It was just a blowjob.”
I flinched as she threw my words back in my face. She left then, and I let her because I didn’t know what else to say.
I couldn’t stand to stay in that room one more minute without wanting to tear the place apart, so I stormed back out into the bar, looking for the fucking bartender. I didn’t see him anywhere, so I headed out to the parking lot. On a hunch, I slipped around to the back of the building, and found the bastard leaning up against the building, having a smoke next to the dumpster. He straightened quickly as he caught sight of me, then tossed his cigarette on the ground and held his hands up placatingly.
“Look, man, I’m sorry about your girl. I didn’t know. I swear, the bitch told me she was divorced.”
