These repercussions that keep popping up are pushing me further and further away — tearing us apart from each other all the more.
And it aches and hurts — both of us.
“I’m breathing just fine, Mason. I’ll be more so once I get rid of the contamination that’s been eating away at our air for far too long. I won’t regret doing what I should have long ago. I’m what a person who doesn’t hide looks like, they rage and roil and act accordingly, especially when the person they are angry with has it coming. They don’t hide behind secrets and lies they helped create. They don’t tell a man who shouldn’t be boxing that he’s okay to do so. They don’t let greed blind their judgment between right and wrong. You had a lot to say when you came to see me, Natalie. Don’t you have anything to say now?” I blame bitterly. If fire could shoot out of my eyes, she’d be up in flames.
The wench says nothing as I attack. Her body language says it all for her. She’s stiff as a two by four. Most likely scared of what’s to come of her. She a greedy woman who I hope learns her lesson one of these days.
It’ll come back in time. You get what you give as they say.
Karma. She’s a cruel and bitter bitch when she wants to be.
“The damage is done, why talk about it when there’s nothing you can do to change it? I don’t blame you for Natalie’s stupidity, Mason, if that worries you. I don’t believe what the magazines printed either. I blame you both for these accusations toward me, though. I blame you both for everything. The story, the pictures, and what’s happening with you and me, Mason, they show what the two of you did has hurt all the more. Not only me but many others.”
There’s a sense of peace in my tone. One that doesn’t quite feel right in a situation where I’m trapped in this room with my husband and Natalie.
I think seeing the two of them side by side is what has my inner self-sensing peacefulness on the horizon when it comes to Natalie. They sure don’t look nice and cozy as they did in the pictures. They both look like they hate each other.
I’m taking it as a sign Mason let her go or, she told him I did. She can bait a hook on someone else, and it won’t be Cody. Unbeknown to Mason, I’ve made sure of that. Cody is meeting with Marcus Nulty and one of his agents as we speak. Marcus is the man behind the rock band Trained In Black. I love their music, and so does Aubrey. We were listening to them the other night on the beach with the kids, Sparky and Pixy. Listening to them reminded me about the lead singer, Roman Nixon, and his wife Joslyn being in the spotlight several years back. Marcus and his team handled the situation very well.
I think he’ll do great taking care of Cody.
“You’re right. It was stupid on her part. She’ll pay for it one way or another. Again, I’m sorry.” The anguish in Mason’s voice is genuine, but to me, it’s as empty as the promises he’s broken.
On a heavy exhale, I step a little further into the room, drawing off the comfort that even though Mason and I are still in the midst of our storm, I know he would never cheat on me in the physical sense.
My nerves flutter as my gaze switches back to him. I search his eyes so profoundly, I nearly topple over. Those blue eyes are sinking with torment. And I feel so small and vulnerable that I was adding to it.
But I keep a neutral expression on my face, locking down my heart as a barrage of emotion attempts to escape the steel bars around it. I cannot think about anything other than the reason I’m here.
I’m here for one reason only. To confront the latest revelation, that is Natalie.
“Eden, I’ll take care of this, I promise,” Scott says, drawing me out of my stupor. I stand stock-still, hands balled into fists while my head slowly pivots in Scott’s direction. I don’t like his wounded expression. I suppose it’s better than pity. I couldn’t cover up my sadness no matter what if I saw that on him or anyone else when it comes to me.
I’m not a pitiful woman, but Natalie, she is. She’s full of it. Natalie is as pathetic and disgraceful as she is powerful when it comes to getting what she wants. Well, not anymore. I warned her, and I intend to follow through.
“I know you will. That’s not why I’m here. Natalie knows, why don’t you?” Trickles of hatred pierce my throat. I’m going to do what I came here to do, and then I’m leaving to wait for the shoe to drop when it comes to my husband.
“I don’t have to put up with this. I’m leaving.” She places her hands on the edge of the desk, lips trembling, on the verge of crying. Fake tears, I’m sure.
“You get out of that chair, and I will slap you into next week. Try me, Natalie. Give me another reason to slap the greed out of you. I beg you.” Fat fucking chance of her walking out of here without me having the last word on Mason’s behalf. I wanted to throttle her when she came to see me; I want to slay her now.
I've often prided myself in ignoring my internal aches and pains created by the hand of Natalie and just carried on regardless of my feelings toward her. It’s an impossible task to do anymore. This woman has ruled a lot of my thoughts over the years. Up until they started talking behind my back, she’s controlled every non-personal action my husband has made.
I warned her.
“If I remember correctly, Natalie. You said you weren’t a sticks and stones type of woman anymore. You stated you were more an action type of person. I thought about those sayings all the way here. I thought about a lot of things when it came to you. There is one thing that stuck. You are a lonely woman whose intentions have no boundaries anymore. My husband isn’t boxing; he told you that. Now remove yourself from this room and take your actions elsewhere.”
Anger fills the air. It vapors out of us both.
“You don’t have to worry about seeing me again, Eden. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have things to do.”
Right here is where I should keep my head clear and not let the delicate thread keeping me together break. I should let her walk out of the door and fly across the table into my husband's arms. I’m doing neither.
What I am doing is pushing the limits on the stress the doctor told me to temper down, and I can’t seem to help myself.
“Your damn right I won’t be seeing you again, neither will Cody or Mason.” Her mouth drops open. Karma is already taking over. I wasn’t going to say anything about Cody, guess it just slipped out of my mouth.
She’ll hear about soon enough.
Mason rises from his chair. The man I want to hold me inching closer and closer, stealing the air right out of my lungs.
One corner of his mouth twitches when he reaches me, and I stare at that mouth I want to kiss badly as I gnaw on my bottom lip, not caring there are other people in the room. That same electric current that has surrounded and connected us from the first time we met sizzles in the air between us. His gaze drops to my mouth, where he holds it for a moment and then moves back to my eyes.
Mason lifts his hands and cups my face, both thumbs pulling the corners of my mouth upward. God, how I want to lean into him. “Always loved it when you smiled. Love it when you take charge too.”
I melt a little under his hands.
Then he makes a stupid move by sliding them to my hips, trying to steer me backward out of the room.