My mouth worked, but nothing came out. So much nothing it nearly choked me. I wanted to bang my head against a wall. Rant and rage. Climb back over the fence and set the house on fire. I wanted to lose my shit, big-time.
“O-kay,” he said. “You should probably take a breath.”
I shook my head, quietly hyperventilating. My whole life might not have flashed before my eyes, but the last four months came through loud and clear. Stupid, stupid girl. Vindictive, scheming asshole.
“C’mon, Lydia.”
Everyone knew. My fingers gripped the edges of the seat, nails digging deep into the wood. It was like I’d been on a roller coaster this whole time and here came the ultimate, dizzying, final fall. White spots danced before my eyes.
“Babe? Hey. Breathe.”
“I hate this town,” I babbled first, then took the breath because no one was telling me what to do. Sensible advice or not, I was done with being handled. Managed. Maneuvered. My lungs worked hard, pulling in air as fast as they could. “That duplicitous manipulative little piece of shit.”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
“I want to hurt him. Bad.”
“Understandable.” Vaughan’s tongue worked behind his cheek as if he was deep in thought. “Looks like he’s sure as hell given you reason. Tell me, are his parents still trying to be the Kennedys of Coeur d’Alene?”
“You just described them perfectly.”
“How long you been in town?”
“Four months. It was a whirlwind romance.” I blinked back hot tears. No more. Not a single fucking one. “I thought I finally had it all figured out, but I was clueless. No one told me.”
“No, well … you’re new, they wouldn’t. At heart, this place is still a small town.”
“Right.”
“So,” he said with a sigh. “There you go.”
“There I go.” Everyone knew. My humiliation was complete. I stared off into space, visions of Chris’s bloody severed penis dancing through my head. Violent tendencies weren’t my natural setting. Chris, however, had all but walked me to the edge of reason and pushed me over. Garden shears would be wonderful. Also an ax. I bet axes were awesome for working out aggression. Probably fantastic for building upper body strength too. Hooray for multitasking. You’d have to imagine it’d make a godawful mess of his junk but never mind. Chris’s dick was dead.
“Babe?”
“That’s not my name,” I said, mouth on automatic pilot.
“Whatever. You’re looking a bit homicidal over there. Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Figuring out the best method for separating him from his manhood.”
Vaughan winced.
“Can you blame me?”
“No, no.” He set his clasped hands on the table. “Dude worked you over big-time. But before you start washing the streets with his blood, think about it from his perspective.”
“You’re defending him? Seriously?” I gaped.
“Fuck no, of course not. But you jilting him, how do you think that’ll go down with the pack of uptight assholes he calls family and friends, huh?”
I stopped. “They never thought I was good enough for him. Me rejecting him so publicly … he’ll be completely humiliated.”
“Yeah.” His vicious grin was glorious. It put the sun to shame.
“They’ll be talking about this for years.”
“Longer. Places like this never forget this sort of shit.”
“I also left the cell phone. Unless he somehow got to it first, they’re going to see him and Paul in action.” My smile was equally all sharp teeth. “Everyone will know why I did it.”
Vaughan clicked his fingers. “Paul. That was the guy’s name.”
“What guy?”
“You know. The football captain in high school. Fancy them sticking together all these years.”
“Yeah. Wow,” I said drily, rising to pace the room. There was too much anger in me to sit still. Too much manic energy. “It’s beautiful. True romance.”
“Sorry.” He not so successfully hid a smile behind his hand.
“I wonder who sent the home porn?”
“Number was blocked?”
“Yes.”
“If Chris is anything like the prick he was back in school, it’s not like he’d have a shortage of enemies.” His eyes narrowed on me in scrutiny. “You seem nice. Why’d you want to marry him anyway? Money?”
“No.” I bristled, shoulders squaring. “I told you, he was really good to me.”