“Man, I’ve learned my lesson,” he says. “I’m joinin’ Gamblers’ Anonymous. I’ve registered for my first meeting. Babe, I’m gonna get better, I fuckin’ promise you. I’ve learned my lesson.”
“How did you even get that money?” she asks.
“Okay, what’ll it take then?” I speak loudly, despite what Violet has just asked. “A hundred grand?”
“What’ll it take for what? For me to agree to let you keep her? Nothing. She’s not for sale, man. I love this girl. Three years, we’ve got together. I know I’ve been fuckin’ up lately, Vi, but this is you ‘n me here. We stay as a we through anything, right? Thick or thin.”
She doesn’t flinch. She stares at him and her expression has gone cold.
“Violet, let’s go,” he says and shoots me a look like he’s the righteous one.
“Where did that money come from, Ray?” she asks.
I squeeze her hip. “Baby.”
And then I drop a kiss on her collarbone. She shivers.
Ray’s eyes bounce between me and Tony and he loses the smugness when he sees the smile on my face.
I smile wider.
And now he’s tweaked. Good.
“Kill, I paid you. You have the money. Please, let’s just leave it at that. I’m sorry I fucked up. I will be forever grateful that you gave me the chance to make it right.”
“Multiple chances,” I correct, stroking the column of Violet’s sexy, satiny-soft throat with my fingertips.
Her eyes hit mine and I stare deep.
“Multiple chances. Yeah, man. And I made it right. I wanna take my fiancée and just go.”
“Violet, it’s up to you,” I say. “You wanna go with him?”
“Ray, we’re finished,” she says immediately, leaning into me, eyes still on mine.
Fuck, but I like the feel of that.
“Babe, let’s go talk.”
“No,” she says. “No,” she says again, and it’s loaded with emotion.
“Tony, a minute,” I say.
Tony shoots Raymond a dirty look and then he steps outside my office and shuts the door.
Violet straightens up, her chin pointed high. “We’re over, Ray. Please take your stuff from my apartment, and move on.”
He stares at her with disbelief, before grinding words out through tight teeth. “I fucked up and you have a right to be upset. But Vi, I told you I’d find a way. I found a way.”
“I don’t care. I’m done. We’re done. I told you this multiple times and I meant it. I’m done. Please, go.”
“No way,” he vows. “I’m gonna fix this, fix us.”
I pipe up. “Vacate her apartment, Raymond. Vacate her life. She wants you gone, so get gone. Maybe it’s time you left town. Make life easier for yourself.”
“Leave this to me and Violet, Kill. I paid you your money, I appreciate your kindness, but me and her have shit to work out. C’mon, Violet. Let’s go home and talk it out.” He stands.
Fucker does have a set of balls on him. And that’s by design, really.
Remaining on my lap, Violet’s arms cross her chest. “You’ve got until tomorrow to leave,” she says. “Killian, can I stay in your guest room one more night?”
“Yes,” I say. “Out, Raymond.”
He shakes his head and then he sneers. “Guest room?”
She says nothing.
He shakes his head some more. “You’re telling me you slept in his guest room? Did you keep your hands to yourself, Kill? Violet, if something happened with you and him, I forgive you. We can fix this… I just turned down twenty grand, Violet. He raised it to a hundred. You were right here.”
“Oh my God; shut up,” she snaps.
And pride swells in my chest as his back snaps straight and he stares at her with shock for a minute before talking fast. “You can’t think you’re gonna be with him now, Vi? Do you know anything about this guy? No offence, Kill, but she’s naïve and innocent. She has no clue the kinda life… Babe, if he’s got stars in your eyes over his lifestyle, believe me, it’s not something you’d want; I know you. And if he seduced you, believe me it was a one-off to get back at me. He doesn’t want you to be his woman, Violet. I know this has been a fucked-up situation, and-”
“The lady said shut up. You best listen,” I warn him.
“You’re the fucked-up situation, Ray. And we’re over. This has nothing to do with anybody but you. We had a good first year because you pretended to be someone you’re not. You pretended everything. And then our second year, I started to see where things were going wrong, but I tried. I tried so hard to be what you needed, to love you despite the fuck ups, to try to understand why they kept on happening.”
His shoulders drop and she keeps going.
“Bad shit kept happening to you because of you, Ray. You. Not everyone else.”
His head drops and he stares at his feet, but his lip is curling.
She keeps going. “I gave up everything to make you happy. People you didn’t like, even if I loved them. The things I did for fun. Over. Control of my finances, my life, everything. All to make you happy.”
His fists curl now. She keeps going. I’m ready in case he makes a move in her direction. I have a loaded gun strapped under my desk, under my right knee.
Gimme a reason, Ass-wipe.
“The more time went on, I realized you took so much from me. You gaslit me because you wanted to make sure I didn’t think I could possibly leave. You took my sense of self-worth and crushed it. My family. My friends. And all I had was you. You and your moods. You and your temper. You and your excuses for why everything was always going wrong.” Her voice hitches and I feel her take a deep breath. She keeps going, no tears, voice steadying like she’s gotten stronger while digging in to find the words. “You dragging me down to make me think I was lucky to have you, that no one would want me. You turned me into someone I don’t recognize. Got me into debt. Do you know how many times I cried myself to sleep? Do you know how awful it felt when you ruined my credibility at my job because I kept having to go to them for advances when you messed up with money?”
She takes a shaky breath.
“And then when you smashed my grandmother’s doll out of spite, knowing how much I loved it, how much I missed her and how it was the last thing she ever gave me? That was the last of it. Cold hard truth stared me right in the face. When you smashed the wall beside my face and then told me days later that you should’ve hit me since I was acting like you did? I was already done at that point. You did beat me. Emotionally. I was your emotional punching bag for well over two years, Ray, and I’m done. I’m so done.” She stops, glares at him, and delivers her parting shot. “I don’t love you. I haven’t loved you in a long time. Loving you took so much from me and I want it back. I want me back.”
Damn. I want to kill this guy. I want his blood seeping into the earth.
“You paid Killian back his money, which is good, though I have no idea where you came up with it, but that’s on you. Not me. I don’t know; and really, I don’t care. I don’t ever wanna see you again. If you come near me after this, I’ll file a restraining order. You thought you lost me temporarily to gambling in Atlantic City, but you lost me a long time ago. We’re done. Have I finally made it clear enough for you?”