“Get the fuck out of my way,” Ike said.
He tried to push past me, but his shove was like a small girl’s punch. It didn’t even move me, and his eyes were mounting with anger. I could hear Theresa shuffling around on the floor, and I looked back and saw the fear in her eyes.
Which made me even angrier.
“You little slut. Is this who you were seeing the other day?” Ike asked.
“And that’s enough of that,” I said.
I stepped back and slammed the door in the man’s face, hearing him curse as he buckled to the floor. I knew I’d caught the top of his knee in the crash and I didn’t care. I looked back and saw Theresa trying to cover herself up, searching desperately for her clothes as her eyes grew wide.
She was pulling on her dress and kicking her underwear into the kitchen as a key slid back into the lock, and I gritted my teeth as I turned back toward the door.
“I have a fucking key. You’re going to talk to me, you lying little hypocrite!”
I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what the hell Theresa had ever seen in this monster.
“Let him in,” Theresa said.
I slowly panned my gaze back at her as my hand reached out to keep the door closed.
“What?” I asked.
“Let him in, Grant. I’m decent,” she said.
“I’m not letting this crazy asshole into your home,” I said.
“Technically, it’s partially his home as well. He’s got a key, and he’s helping me pay part of the rent.”
“Is his name on the lease?”
“It is.”
“Still, I’m not letting him in. Not after knowing the kind of man he is.”
“It was a mistake.”
I felt my heart stop in my chest as her h
ands smoothed down the front of her dress.
“You have to know that, right?” Theresa asked breathlessly.
“You’re not seriously talking about last night,” I said.
“I am.”
“It wasn’t a mistake, Theresa.”
“It was. Coming to see you while I was still in a relationship was a mistake and thinking I could erase eight years of insanity with one night of sex was a mistake as well. Now let him in, Grant. This is my mess to clean up.”
I bit down on my tongue and shook my head. She couldn't be fucking serious. I glanced back at her one last time, seeing the hardened look in her eyes. She was preparing for yet another fight, and all I wanted to do was save her from it. I wanted to whisk her away and show her all the things Ike could never give her.
But I couldn't do any of that without her permission.
And I didn’t have it.
I lifted my hand from the door and Ike crashed into the apartment, falling to his hands and knees as I scooped my shirt up off the floor. Theresa was shaking as that pathetic excuse of a man scurried off the fucking floor like the rodent he was.