Replacing my ex

Chapter 5

“It’s Ryan!” I whispered loudly, frantically grabbing Viola’s arm.

Without a word, she bolted into her room and emerged five seconds later wielding a baseball bat.

“Vi! Why on earth do you have a bat?!” I hissed.

“This is my moment to shine,” she said in a completely normal voice, unlatching the lock and yanking the door open.

“THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY AND I WON’T HESITATE TO USE MY WEAPON,” Viola bellowed before the door was even fully open.

Ryan recoiled on the welcome mat, completely flustered and taking a quick step backward.

I calmly walked to the door and stepped up beside her, gently placing a hand on the bat to pull it down.

“It’s okay,” I whispered to Viola. “I’ve got this.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, still glaring at Ryan with enough hatred to melt steel.

“Yes, Vi. It’s okay.”

She slowly retreated, holding the bat across her chest.

“I’m right here. With my bat,” she announced loudly, sitting directly in Ryan’s line of sight and burning a hole into him with her gaze.

Ryan cleared his throat, adjusting his watch. “Hun.. Let’s go.”

“Excuse me?”

“Um … let’s go?” He repeated

“Go where?” I asked, staring at him in utter disbelief.

“Home,” he said, regaining some of his usual arrogant confidence. “Let’s go home. We can come back for your stuff later.”

“I’d literally rather chew glass,” I declared.

“Lila, what’s gotten into you?” Ryan pleaded, throwing his hands up. “Look, I know I dropped the ball on our anniversary, but we can talk about it! I booked a surprise for you. Come home. I’ll fix everything. We can go to dinner right now at The Sovereign.”

“Oh! Can we? And what does Willow think about that?” I asked, tilting my head.

He froze. His mouth opened, closed, and opened again, but no sound came out.

“What’s the matter?” I taunted. “Cat got your tongue? Or did you leave it in that home wrecker’s bed?”

“Wha-? What are you even talking about, hun?”

“Wha- wha- wha-,” I mimicked mockingly. “I know everything, Ryan. And I promise you right now, you will pay for every last tear I’ve cried over you.”

“Hun, you’re not thinking straight. What are you talking about? This is just a massive misunderstanding,” he stammered, stepping closer. “I told you, Willow is my ex. She’s in the past! Nothing is going on between us.”

Ha!

I laughed bitterly.

“First of all, my name is Lila, not ‘hun’. Secondly, you’re a pathetic, spineless liar, and the very sight of you nauseates me. Thirdly, you will most certainly be hearing from my lawyer very soon. And fourth, pick your jaw up off the floor and leave right now or we’ll call the cops.”

“Dialingggg,” Viola sang sweetly behind me, reaching for her phone.

“Lila-“

“Bye-bye now,” I said, slamming the door right in his face and turning the deadbolt.

Ryan continued to bang on the door until we heard sirens wailing in the distance. The second he realised the cops were coming, his heavy footsteps thundered down the hall.

When the officers arrived, we explained that my soon-to-be ex husband had been harassing us and fled when he heard the sirens. Meanwhile, my phone was buzzing incessantly with texts from him. Until I finally hit block.

“We need a palate cleanser,” Viola said the second the cops left.

“Real,” I agreed immediately.

“Find your hottest dress and your sluttiest heels. We’re going out,” she declared.

An hour later, we were standing in Viola’s living room waiting for our uber.

“It’s Friday,” Viola reminded me as she adjusted her lipstick. “We’re getting wasted and we’re absolutely not driving back.”

The uber dropped us off outside Ivory, a new high-end club that Viola had been dying to take me to. It was packed when we got in, the atmosphere electric. Pulsing bass vibrated through the floorboards, lights flashed across the ceiling, and a sea of sweaty bodies danced on the main floor, pressed against each other.

“Shots!” Viola shouted over the music, grabbing my hand and plowing a path through the crowd toward the bar.

She squeezed us between two patrons and leaned right over the counter.

“Max, baby,” she yelled to one of the bartenders.

A gorgeous guy with tattoos turned around, his face lighting up.

“V! What a sight for sore eyes!”

“You know it,” Viola said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and sticking out her tongue.

Max leaned in, his eyes darting toward me.

“And who is this fine specimen?” he asked.

“Hi,” I waved, yelling over the music.

“This is Lila, my other half,” Viola introduced. “And she needs shots like yesterday.”

“Done,” Max grinned. He poured tequila into three shot glasses, handing one to me, one to Viola and picking up the third.

“Bottoms up,” he shouted.

We all downed the shots, slamming our glasses back down. Max immediately refilled mine and Viola’s glasses, leaving the bottle on the counter for Viola before spinning off to serve another customer.

Viola and I had three more shots each before she dragged me onto the dance floor. We danced together like lunatics, passing the bottle back and forth. I let the music flow through me, dancing without a care in the world.

In the middle of losing myself to the music, my eyes landed on a sketchy looking scene. I noticed a woman. She wasn’t dancing. She was trapped against one of the pillars by a tall guy in a fitted shirt. He had one arm braced against the wall beside her head, blocking her exit.

The woman shook her head, her hands raised defensively as she tried to push past him, but he took a heavy step closer, leaning into her space and grabbing her wrist.

Without thinking, I let out a scream and started running towards them. Rage was boiling under my skin, fueling my movement. I could feel Viola close behind me. She had probably come to the same conclusion I had.

“Hey!” I shouted, shoving my way through two dancing couples and stepping directly between them.

I forcefully slapped his hand off her wrist.

“She said no. Get your hands off her!”

The guy stumbled back half a step, blinking in drunken surprise before curling his lip.

“Mind your own business, sweetheart. We were just talking.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” I said, holding my arm out to keep the girl behind me.

I could feel her trembling against my shoulder.

“I’m just keeping her company,” the guy sneered, reaching out again to grab her arm. “Come on, princess, let’s go grab a drink in VIP.”

Before his fingers could touch her, Viola stepped in front of me, gripping a bottle by the neck and pointing its heavy glass bottom straight at his chest.

“Touch her again and I will test how hard your skull is,” Viola snarled, her voice dropping to a terrifying, deadly register. “Walk away. Now!”

The guy quickly realised he was gaining the attention of people nearby, in addition to the two extremely pissed-off women right in front of him. He threw his hands up in mock surrender.

“Crazy bitches,” he muttered, backing into the pulsing crowd and disappearing.

The second he was gone, we both turned to the lady.

“Sam?” I exclaimed, realizing who it was.