Plus, I wasn’t sure it was true.
Brandi had a gun. She was in the middle of a psychological meltdown. And she was desperate. All perfect ingredients for this shit to end badly.
I could take her. Take the gun.
But there was a slight chance it could go wrong and I wasn’t going to risk it when we were still at the apartment.
So we took her car. Brandi drove. After all, she was the one with the gun. It rested on her lap and I kept my eye on it, waiting for the opportunity to grab it.
“You need to slow down,” I said when she raced through the streets towards Cavalry Hill. But she didn’t hear me. She was too busy ranting about how happy we were going to be. How miserable she’d been without me. How crazy in love she was.
“Listen, we just need to take things a bit slow,” I said. “Starting with the driving.”
“What do you mean take things slow?” She glanced at me and frowned. “I love you. We can be together now. Isn’t that what you want?”
When I felt the car skid, but then right itself, I grabbed onto the seat.
There was a real chance we were going to have a wreck, and it just seemed so unfair, so fucked up for it to go down this way.
Feeling a surge of anger, I looked at my deranged ex-girlfriend. “Why are you doing this?”
Her eyebrows crashed together. “Really, Caleb? You really have to ask me that?”
A pendant of silver glinted on her neck. It was the tree of life symbol in a circle of diamonds.
Honey’s necklace.
“It was you who broke into Honey’s apartment, wasn’t it?”
She laughed maniacally and it sent shivers through me.
“You think you could just move on with her? You think you could cast me aside and move on with another woman?”
“But why break into her apartment?”
She hastily wiped her eyes with her arm. “You have no idea how hard it was to watch you with her. Watch you kiss her. Date her. Watch you arrive on her doorstep and twirl her around in your arms. I was there, you know. That day. I saw you ride off and then come back not long later. When she opened the door, you took her in your arms and you kissed her so passionately. And it was such a promising kiss. Just like you used to kiss me, do you remember, Caleb? How you would kiss me with so much promise?”
I was ashamed to admit it, but I’d only ever kissed her with lust and a primal need to fuck her.
“So I had to see for myself. See what kind of whore had gotten her claws into you.”
“So you broke in and stole her necklace.”
She looked at me darkly. Which made me nervous for two very good reasons. One, the look was pure psychotic. And two, she wasn’t paying any attention to the fucking road.
“She took something of mine, so it was only right I took something of hers.”
She reached up and touched the necklace. Which was fucking great because now she only had one hand on the steering wheel.
“It was you who sent me the lace underwear and the black roses,” I said flatly.
She glanced at me, darkly. “Don’t forget the doll heads.”
I shook my head. “Why?”
“I’ve been watching you for months. I came back to be with you, but you had already moved on,” she scoffed. “After telling me you didn’t want a commitment, you went right ahead and took on the biggest commitment of all with another woman. A woman you didn’t even know for very long.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “You were supposed to have a baby with me!”
“I wasn’t expecting to meet Honey, or to be a father so soon.” Despite the disaster unfolding around me, I couldn’t help but feel an ache in my heart about the baby not being mine. “It was never a plan. I didn’t break up with you because I wanted someone else.”
Outside, rain started to fall.
Inside the car, Brandi started to cry.
“I love you so much, but you simply cast me aside.” Her chin crumpled, but then she sucked in a deep breath through her teeth and a weird calm settled across her face. Her voice was low. Dangerous. “Tell me you love me.” When I didn’t say anything, she screamed it. “Tell me!”
She had a gun. And she was in charge of the vehicle. So of course I fucking loved her. I would do or say anything she wanted.
“Yes, I do. I do love you. Now will you please slow the fuck down.”
For the briefest moment, her face softened and her eyes glanced at me pleadingly. But then her madness returned and they turned sharp and wild. “No, you’re just saying that!”
I felt the tires slip beneath us with the increase in speed. I needed to reassure her.