Chapter 4
971 Words
I raised my hand and slapped her across the face. Chloe flinched and ducked behind her friend on pure instinct.
I laughed, cold and sharp. "I thought you were blind? Then how did you know I was about to hit you? What are you dodging for?"
Chloe slipped right back into her helpless act. She waved her hands frantically, tears rolling down her cheeks in big, fat drops.
The kind of face that would make anyone's heart ache.
Jason grabbed me and pulled me out the door. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? Can't you see? She's not blind!"
He looked at me like I'd lost my mind, shoved me out of Chloe's apartment, and went back inside to comfort her.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and left.
On the way home, I got an offer from a company back in my hometown.
They wanted me to start within three days.
I thought about it and said yes.
I packed the rest of my things into my suitcase and told my brother I'd be home tomorrow night.
"Make sure you take Jason out for a nice dinner before you leave. The guy's been looking after you all this time."
I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes so hard it hurt.
Take him out to dinner? He should be grateful I wasn't taking him out back.
"You have no idea what kind of trash boyfriend I've been dating."
I said it under my breath, and of course he didn't catch it.
While he was still going "huh? what?", I hung up on him.
That night, I slept like a rock.
When I woke up the next morning, Jason had just gotten home.
He saw my bags packed and piled by the door. "What's all this?"
"Nothing. Just homesick. Going back for a visit."
He thought it over. "Want me to come with you?"
Funny. When things were fine between us, he thought I was moving too fast.
Now that I'd decided to leave, suddenly he was eager to follow me home?
I smiled bitterly. "Let's slow things down. I just graduated. There's no rush."
He actually looked impressed, said I'd matured a lot.
"Not as mature as your ex." I turned to head for the bathroom and nearly jumped out of my skin when a dog launched itself at me from nowhere.
I scrambled for my glasses on the floor, already on the verge of a meltdown.
"Jason! What the hell! Where did this dog come from?"
"Chloe's busy today and can't take care of him. She asked if we could watch him for a couple of days."
I heard every word he said, but strung together, they made no sense.
What do you mean she's busy and we're watching the dog?
If anyone's watching it, that's your problem.
Not mine.
Seeing me lose it, his calm tone turned aggressive. "It's just a dog. Do you have to be so heartless about it?"
I adjusted my glasses. "Am I being heartless? You know I'm allergic to dog hair and terrified of dogs. Did you forget that?"
Then I turned and saw the dog tearing the apartment apart. My brand-new laptop had been knocked off the desk. The screen was shattered to pieces.
I completely lost it. I grabbed a broom and swung it at the dog twice.
"Enough! It's just a dog, it doesn't know any better! It's just a laptop. Go buy another one."
He snatched the broom out of my hands, scooped the dog into his arms, and started cooing at it.
I was sneezing and dripping snot everywhere as we screamed at each other.
"This is MY apartment! Take your dog and GET OUT!"
Maybe my yelling set the dog off, because before I could react, it lunged and bit me.
I sat on the floor, eyes wide, shaking, and kicked at it blindly in panic.
By the time the apartment went quiet, Jason was gone, dog and all. He'd slammed the door on his way out and called me a psycho.
He didn't care whether I was hurt or alive.
I gritted my teeth through the pain and called an ambulance.
Coming out of the hospital, I spotted Jason across the street, rushing into a pet clinic with Chloe's dog in his arms.
As I walked past, he turned, saw me, and grabbed my arm.
I thought, for one stupid second, that he was going to ask about my bite wound.
Instead, he came at me with accusations.
"Look what you did to the dog!"
Chloe came tapping out of the clinic with her cane, feeling her way toward us.
"Yanna, I'm sorry. If I'd known you were allergic, I never would have asked Jason to watch him."
I shook Jason's hand off, said nothing, and flagged down a cab.
While I waited, he walked over and told me to stop making a scene.
"You traumatized the dog so badly it's in the hospital. What more do you want?"
The rage that had been building inside me finally boiled over. I slapped him across the face. "What do I want? What do you want? Can you just leave me alone?"
I didn't wait for his answer. I got in the cab and slammed the door.
The second I got home, I grabbed my suitcase and headed straight for the airport.
Before I left, I sent Jason the audio recording I'd accidentally captured that day.
Yanna: We're done.
Then I deleted and blocked him on everything.
The moment I landed in my hometown, even breathing felt easier.
I had a good meal with my family and slept like the dead.
The next day, I showed up at my new job—and discovered that my direct supervisor was Simon Sawyer.
- Writer
