Sean takes a tentative step forward as my eyes meet Dominic’s behind him. His features impassive as he surveys me.
I can’t believe I let myself get wrapped up in these liars, these manipulative thieves who stole me from myself.
“Cecelia,” Layla speaks up, her voice on edge. “Baby, what’s going on?” She turns her gaze on Sean and Dominic. “What did you fuckers do?”
“Don’t bother,” I scold her dismissively. “Don’t pretend to give a damn about me now.”
“You know I didn’t have a choice.”
“Oh, bullshit,” I glare at her. “You had a choice. You chose them. And guess what? You deserve them.”
Guilt runs clear in her blue eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“Save it. You’ve all made your point. I think it’s time I made one of my own.” I lift the five-gallon can adding the rest of the contents to the puddle in front of me.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Sean asks, taking a step forward, just as I lift a different kind of bottle, the rag inside soaked.
“Jesus Christ,” Tyler says, his eyes bulging. “Cecelia, what the hell are you doing?”
“Who did it!?” I fume as Sean starts toward me.
“Take another step before I get my answer, and I’ll light this, and we’ll all see where it lands. Don’t fucking push me, Sean!”
“Put it down,” he barks as I try to ignore the sight of him and what it does to me. Seeing them again is surreal.
But I’ve been a fool far too long.
“Who did this to me!?” I scream, no longer able to keep our secret. No longer able to hide what’s been done.
“Is this what you consider loyalty? You want me? Well, here I fucking am! You want extremes? You want devotion. Trust me. I’m dedicated to this. And I learned from the best. Fucking test me.” I lift my chin in defiance. “Speak up, and you can come and get your fucking prize.”
I strike one of the Zippos I stole from Sean when we were together, and he jerks back.
“Cecelia, don’t!” Sean’s panicked eyes dart back to Dominic, who starts to move toward me, his steps sure as he pushes through the crowd.
“Bitch has lost her mind,” one of the girls says from the garage. “You must’ve dicked her too good, Dom.”
A few guys I recognize from one of the meetups chuckles, but no one else is laughing, especially Dominic, whose eyes flare in irritation as he moves toward me at a leisurely pace.
“What the fuck?” One of them speaks up, catching on to the damage done. “She slashed our fucking tires!” Dom holds up his hand, silencing them all with the flick of his wrist.
“I swear to God, Dominic, I’ll light this place up,” I say, my voice steady. “Stop!”
He does, his eyes cold, dull, lifeless, familiar boredom schooling his features. And it hurts, it stings, it’s as if we never existed.
“Why?” My jaw shakes with anger. “Why?!”
I twist, just enough so they can see the clear marks on my back and watch them both carefully for reactions. Neither gives me a single tell. I can only calculate this was just another one of their plans to mess with my head.
“Cowards! You’re both fucking cowards!” I shake my head, rage boiling over just as phones begin to go off at random around us. Tyler lifts his to his ear as Dominic and Sean both start to slowly walk my way as if cornering a stray cat. “I was never yours, and I never will be. Stay the fuck away from me!”
“Dom!” Tyler shouts, running to his side with the phone before putting it to his ear. A second later, Dom grips it and drops all pretense walking toward me in a blur just as I light the bottle and toss it down in the puddle of gasoline. Dom lunges, but the flash of flames separate us, giving me just enough time to dash to my Jeep. Dominic reaches the hood, slamming his fists on it just as I peel out. My heart hammers wildly against my chest as I race down the roads, screaming as I beat my hands against the wheel.
And under the cover of night, I disappear.
I arrive home near dawn, feeling safe enough to avoid any visitors so I can make my exit. Limbs heavy, back stinging, I’m exhausted from hours of driving aimlessly, my body sore from countless minutes spent staring into the dark road ahead, directionless. I have no idea what it’s going to take to move on from here, but I’m leaving. Not tomorrow, or the day after, now.
I have the money.
I’ve lost my fucking sanity for it, but it’s over. This ends today. The toxicity of the relationships I’ve formed is making me venomous. I’m so far from the girl who pulled up to this house a year ago.
Securing the house, I set the alarm, knowing that anyone who wants inside can and will get to me. Walls and doors mean nothing to these men, and at this point, I’m sure none of them will stop me from leaving. Because maybe now they see me as a poison too. We’ve hurt and betrayed each other. There’s no coming back from that. And Tobias’s absence, his silence, only confirms that once again, I’ve played the fool. I might not know what love is, but I now know what it isn’t.
I push all thoughts of Tobias away as I pull the packed suitcase from beside my bed and begin loading another. I should have been packed before I hit the garage, but I was too angry to come up with a better plan. Instead, I counted on arriving home at the late hour, expecting that anyone looking for me would give up when they saw I didn’t return home. It’s when I hear the disarm of the front door that I know that my plan backfired.
I’m not alone.
Fear cripples me as I stand in the center of my bedroom, waiting. Never did I fear these men before, and never did I ever think they would hurt me.
Nor did I think they would push back over a couple of tires.
Okay, a lot of tires. Every tire in the parking lot.
Tires that will cost them a small fortune to replace. In the grand scheme of things, it was a psycho ex-girlfriend move. And that spectacle made me look like the guilty one when I’m anything but. But who marks a woman without their consent?
Lunatics in a power struggle. I’m forever branded because of them, because of their selfishness.
I blink and see Dominic standing in the threshold of my bedroom. A gun tucked in his waistband with the tip of a silencer attached to the end of it.
A silencer.
Swallowing, I eye it and take a step back, and he holds his hands up.
“Cee,” he shakes his head as if my reaction is ridiculous. “Come on.”
I’d shown my ass tonight, made myself look unstable. Unreliable. Emotional. A liability.
“I’ll pay for them. All of them. I-I was angry.” I take another step back, and he chuckles incredulously before pulling the gun out of his jeans. I hear the thump of it land on the stairs as he makes his way into the bedroom. “No gun, okay?”
“W-what are you doing here?”
He eyes my suitcases and then brings his silver gaze back to me. I can’t control the shake that overtakes me, nor the panic that starts to rapidly consume me.
“I’ll pay for them, Dom. I swear. I won’t say anything. I’m leaving, see?” I nod toward my suitcases.
“Come on, Cecelia,” he scoffs. “Really?”
“I was angry. But I d-didn’t t-tell anyone.”