“You think you’re so clever. Getting things over on me, huh? Newsflash, Loren! You’re nothing but a whore, spreading her legs for the wrong people. They aren’t who you think they are. Both of you will get what’s coming to you. Just you wait. I tried playing nice, but you had to screw around with what I had going. So now, I’m going to screw around with your life!”
“Brian, you’re not making sense. I haven’t done anything to you.”
“You’ve done everything!” he roared, his rage on the surface. His face was so red, it was purple, his fists tight as I watched him open and close them. His chest moved up and down with his breathing, and there was a thin film of sweat on his brow. I catalogued everything, taking in the danger and assessing the risks, a game I’d gotten really good at during our marriage. How had I thought it was normal?
He staggered toward us again, and I took another step back, my hands raised out in front of me. Jude held onto my bicep, moving with me. Feeling him there, it was the courage I needed.
“Brian, if I’ve done something, then let’s talk about it when you’re sober and much calmer. This isn’t the best idea. You’re clearly upset, and I don’t—“
“You don’t, what?” he scoffed. “You’re so blind to the truth. You walk around with your rose-colored glasses, seeing the best in people. Well, guess what, Loren? Everyone uses you. Everyone. They see you as an easy target, and they attack. You were always so blind to the things I did in our marriage, convincing yourself everything was perfect.”
He rolled his eyes, his body wavering as he became worked up. I tried to block out his hatred, reminding myself of what the truth was. Still, each blow was a strike against my vulnerability, and I soon found myself bleeding out emotionally as he wrecked my carefully structured walls.
“I was never faithful to you. Not at any point when we were dating. You were such a bore, but apparently, I only needed to treat you like a slut, and you would’ve opened your legs more. I can’t believe I trusted your mother to deliver on her promises and pay me the money I was owed, but she’s a lying bitch too. Now I’m ruined, and it’s all because of you, you heinous bitch. I hope you rot in Hell.”
Brian spat the last part, the spit hitting me in the face, and it was the jolt out of the frozen panic I needed. Wiping it from my face, I didn’t hesitate as I grabbed his shoulders and kneed him in the groin. Then, I used the palm of my hand to strike him in the chin. He staggered back a step, moaning as he attempted to recover from the force, holding his hands over his sad dick. Without even having to think, I lifted my leg, kicking him in the temple, sending him backward and falling completely to his back. I stood there for a second, amazed at what my body had done, and realized the importance of muscle memory.
Brian laid there moaning on the ground, and I’d had it. I was done feeling scared by him. Walking up to him, I managed to stop myself from stepping on his fingers, barely, but I did. The logical part of my brain knew I couldn’t push past the self-defense line and stagger over into assault. All the years of pent-up aggression and complacency came spilling out of me, though, and I let him have it with my words. I doubt he even heard me over his own groans of pain, but it felt nice to get it all out.
“You’re the asshole, Brian, not me. I don’t know what you and my mother are up to, but I’ll find out. Stay away from me, or next time I’ll get a restraining order. I’m done with your manipulating, narcissistic, mansplaining bullshit. You can take your gaslighting ass and stay the fuck away from me.” I started to walk away, happy with my delivery when he had to have the last word.
“You’re such a stupid bitch. You’ll pay for this.”
Turning, I lasered him with my glare. “No, Brian. I won’t. Because this garage has surveillance cameras, and all I did was defend myself from my drunk, aggressive ex-husband. If you did anything to Christine, it will add to your charges and evidence of guilt. And you’re wrong, you know,” I cooed, crouching down closer to his face. “I spread my legs for them because they’re phenomenal at sex, and it turns out size does matter. So… sorry about your tiny dick, you suck as a human and at sex.” Patting his cheek, I stood, brushing off my hands as I walked away, needing his filth off me.
When I looked up, I realized I had an audience. Standing where Jude and I had been was not only my foster son but Monroe and George. The three of them all held looks of shock on their faces, but when they saw me, they started to applaud. My cheeks heated, but it felt nice, and I found myself doing a silly little bow toward them. George walked over, patting my shoulder.
“I’ll take care of this rodent for you, Miss.” He winked, walking over to the still moaning piece of trash. When Brian saw him, he started to cry foul and ask for me to be arrested. George shook his head and pulled out some zip ties, locking his wrists together. Monroe reached out a hand and pulled me into him, and I felt my body stop shaking. I’d been confident, but it had still taken a toll on me. As usual, Monroe’s hugs were a warm balm to my outer edges, and I found myself settling into his embrace.
“How did you know?” I finally asked.
“Jude. He texted me to bring security to the garage, STAT. I ran out so fast, I could barely get the sentence out to tell Levi to lock the door before I was taking the stairs two at a time. But when George and I got here, you already had it handled.”
He pulled back, cupping my face as he did, pushing the hair out of the way. “I’ve never been so relieved and turned on at the same time,” he whispered, thrusting his erection into me. Biting my lip, I barely managed to contain the moan that wanted to spill from my lips and escape. Lifting up, I kissed him quickly before pulling away.
“Later.”
“I’m holding you to it.”
Nodding, I turned to see what was becoming of Brian while keeping one arm around Monroe’s waist. I briefly wondered if I would need to make a statement as I watched George haul the protesting asshat up. Reaching my hand out, I pulled Jude into our little huddle, wrapping my arm around him. Laying my head on his shoulder.
“Thanks, JuJu.” He groaned but didn’t move away, causing me to smile. “You’re a smart kid,” I offered. He’d been cognizant enough to keep his promise by getting help and staying with me. Seemed I needed to get on board with the whole phone thing finally. He blushed at my compliment but turned to me, a determined look on his face.
“I didn’t want to break a promise, but there was no way I was leaving you, Lor. Misfit Penguins, remember?”
Nodding, I pulled him closer. Seriously, this kid had my heart. There was no letting him go now. George walked toward the elevator, Brian continued to rant and rave, but no one was listening for once. I relaxed once they were gone from sight.
“Shoot. Do you think I need to give a statement or something? I meant to ask George.”
“Go ahead. I’ll tell them you’ll stop by tomorrow to leave one. They have the video footage anyway, so enough to lock him up until Monday morning. Look at us babe, getting our ex’s jailed a day apart. It must be ‘Locked up’ weekend. Maybe it was a 2-for-1 sale?”
Laughing, I pushed him for his bad joke. When I got to the car, I remembered Brian had been lurking there, so I called out to Monroe once again. “Um, you think you could help me make sure it wasn’t tampered with. He was around it when we got here. How he knew I’d be taking it today, now that’s a mystery.” I chewed that bit of information over in my mind as Monroe shuffled his feet.
“Um, sure.”
Together, we all pretended like we knew what to spot as we kicked the tires, peered under the hood, and then crawled under the car. Nothing looked amiss, and since the car hadn’t been moved in a while, there was a good layer of dirt that hadn’t been disturbed either. Odds were, it wasn’t messed with, considering Brian didn’t know how to do anything and had been drunk. Once we were done with our inspection, Jude and I hopped in, and we continued on with our day, hoping the rest wasn’t as exciting.
* * *