Bullet
I should’ve left the moment he lied.
He didn’t even notice when I came into the house. But the fake moaning coming from the whore’s mouth made it unbearable. I would know. It was bogus because he couldn’t even last a minute.
I went and sat on the couch in the living room, a space I had picked out myself. The same couch where I had planned our future. I got up and poured myself a glass of wine, enough to numb the sickening rage coiling in my gut. A few minutes later, they emerged from the bathroom.
The door opened with Seth’s towel wrapped around his waist, and the whore’s arms were tightly wrapped around his half-naked body. He stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes meeting mine. I tilted my head to the side, then glanced at the girl. He pushed her behind him.
“Look, I can explain,” he pleaded, his eyes wide.
“Go ahead.”
He blinked, confusion clouding his face. My usual reaction was a hurricane of tears and accusations, but not this time. I was too tired of fighting for someone not worthy of a single punch.
He glanced at the girl still clinging to him. “Um, I…I was…um…Babe,” he stammered. The water dripped from his body, each drop like another lie about to fall from his lips.
“He doesn’t have to explain himself to you,” the bitch finally spoke, her voice laced with a pathetic, fake concern.
I looked at her, then down at the floor, and back at her. “Brush your teeth before you speak to me.”
She gasped, then looked at Seth, who was now stepping forward, his brows furrowed. “Who gives you the right to question my authority?” There it was. His go-to line when his control started to slip.
I raised the glass of wine in my hand and took a long sip, finishing the last of it.
“I’m talking to you,” he hissed, his face red with anger.
“Shut up. You’ve pissed me off.” My tone was a low, dangerous sneer.
I turned and started walking toward the front door. He followed me, his bare feet slapping against the wood floor. “Don’t you walk away from me, Isabel!” He gripped my forearm, spinning me around. I narrowed my eyes, staring at his pathetic, desperate ones.
“Phew! So dominant,” I mocked, my voice dripping with disdain.
He stepped back, releasing my arm, and glanced at the whore behind him. He leaned in, muttering under his breath, “I made you who you are, Isabel; no one wants a broken vessel.”
This wasn’t the first time he’d used these pathetic tricks to hold me. The threats, the insults, the manipulation, the gaslighting. Everything under the sun that involved mind control—I’ve lived and fought through it all.
I leaned in just enough. “Mm-hmm, your dick is broken too.”
His hand wrapped around my throat. He squeezed, a warning, not a real threat. A chill ran down my spine, but it wasn’t new. His control was slipping. “Take. Your. Hands. Off,” I hissed, staring him dead in the eyes.
Something shifted in him. He scanned my face as if searching for a flicker of weakness. “Are you deaf?” I pressed, not blinking. He released me and ran his hands through his damp hair.
“What do you want?” he asked, his tone now desperate. “Just tell me, is it money?” He continued, snapping his fingers. “Go get my wallet,” he demanded of the girl.
She looked at him, her expression a mix of confusion and fear. “What? … Seth,” she mumbled.
He looked at her. “What did I say?” he growled. She flinched, then ran upstairs. Within a few minutes, she came running back with the wallet. He pulled out his black card, handing it to me.
“Go buy yourself something; it always cools you down,” he said, throwing me the card as if I were a dog.
The sick, twisted bastard.
I chuckled to myself. Both of them looked at me, a mixture of confusion and rage on their faces. “I’m done, Seth.”
I turned, opened the door, and pushed him away when he tried to slam it shut. He stumbled back, giving me just enough time to slip through the door. The tension in the air rose as I jumped into the car and quickly turned on the engine. He banged on the door, his voice a frantic scream.
“Don’t you dare, Isabel!” he yelled as I drove out of the parking lot, desperate to leave. My clothes could stay, or I could buy new ones. But for now, I had to run as far as possible from him.
