Cherry Chapstick

42

I watched as he leaned back against the closed door, blocking it even more than it already was. My heart sank. Nothing short of screaming would get me out of here and I had a feeling that if I did that, things wouldn’t end well for me.

“I think you and I need to have a little talk” he told me, his eyes hard and his jaw tight.

“About what?” I stammered out almost in a whisper.

“Oh I think you know already. There’s no sense in playing dumb with me Ashley.” He smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes.

This guy felt dangerous to me. Maybe I could talk my way out of here if I played it cool.

“Know what?” Hopefully I could convince him that there was nothing for him to worry about and he would let me out of here.

“Ashley Ashley Ashley.” He tsked at me. “I think we’re at a point that we can be truthful to each other. We both know what you saw; now it’s just a matter of what we’re going to do about it.”

I knew there would be no way to convince him otherwise. He had locked eyes with me right after the wink and I couldn’t deny having seen it.

“I think you should know” he began speaking again while looking at himself in the mirror and fixing a stray hair “Sierra and I go way back. We have known each other for a very long time and over the years have become good friends.”

There was something about the way he spoke so casually that made me want to throw up. My stomach felt like it had a ball of lead in it and there was a sour taste at the back of my throat. Still I remained quiet so he could continue.

“I think that maybe you’re thinking too much into what you saw. It was just a harmless gesture between old friends.” Finishing with his hair, he smiled at himself and turned back to me. “Do you understand what I’m saying to you?”

I felt very angry that he was trying to gaslight me into believing that he had done nothing wrong. Especially since I knew what I did from Sierra’s admission earlier that day. This guy was disgusting and I wasn’t going to play his game any longer.

“Oh I think you have me mistaken for someone that often falls for bullshit. I know what I saw and I know when two people are f*****g even if the wife doesn’t know. Leslie deserves better than a piece of s**t like you.” I hissed the words at him without a second thought as to what would happen.

His eyes flashed at me as his whole face tensed up, baring his teeth together. Faster than I could’ve accounted for, he leapt at me and grabbed me by my wrists.

“Let me go, you’re hurting me!” I squealed out in pain from the sudden tightness against the bones. It felt as though he were shattering my wrists and still he made no effort to loosen his grip even though I fought against him.

“You listen to me and you listen to me good. You’re going to keep your f*****g mouth shut on what you think you saw. What happens in my house is none of your damn business, do you get what I’m saying?”

Tears welling up in my eyes I nodded to let him know I understood exactly what he meant.

Throwing my wrists at me he smiled.

“Glad to know we’re on the same page.”