Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 75891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 379(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 253(@300wpm)
When he had to go out of town on business, I sent him on his merry way without a doubt. Of course, I cut back on all bedroom activities, not that he noticed, since he was getting it elsewhere. I gave them all the space they needed to do what they did.
I pretended not to see when I saw. Pretended not to hear when I did. Each late night at the office, that was really him running off to see her, was documented. He never knew about the tracking device on his car or the listening device I’d planted in the apartment.
Then I sat back and watched and waited. A part of me was hoping that I was mistaken, that it was all innocent, even though I knew deep down that it was happening.
It was my pride more than anything that wanted it not to be true. As much as I wasn’t in love with him, I did love him in my own way and thought he felt the same. Not to mention, who the hell wants to be jilted?
He'd been so careful, though. Always covering his tracks, to the point that I was almost ready to convince myself that it was all in my head. Until I found that phone last night, I was ready to laugh at myself for being paranoid.
Even though I expected it, it still came as a shock when I found it, cracked the code, read all their little message to each other, and saw their whole relationship played out in words. It seems like all the space I gave him paid off after all, and he used it voraciously.
I sent every last word to my own phone to go through later. I’d seen enough to burn them, both professionally and personally, among our friends; he didn’t know that yet. He’d gone to great lengths to keep me in the dark, no doubt weighing his options with every sleazy meeting those two had.
I know him; he wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. My family’s prestige isn’t something he would’ve given up that easily, not even if he had fallen in love with this girl. The doors that had been opened to him just by his association with me weren’t something an ambitious turd like him could give up that easily.
I would’ve left them open had he only had the balls to be honest with me. People fall out of love every day, and we’d had enough respect for each other to be upfront and honest. But what burned more than anything was the fact that by cheating on me with her or anyone else, he was basically saying that she was better than me; bitch, what?
JESSICA
The next few days were a whirlwind of chaos and what I call normal Thornton madness. I wasn’t allowed to do much of anything except laze around my parents’ place, eating everything that wasn’t nailed down while sucking up all the love of my family, who seemed to have made some sort of pact with each other to keep tabs on my every move.
I was never left alone for too long, which was fine by me because I did have my crazy moments where I was ready to burn everything down to the ground. My ego and pride were so wounded that there were times I almost said screw the long game; I want blood now.
Thankfully, my messy family’s interference gave me the space I needed to think rationally throughout the day so that at night when I went to bed, I was calm enough to scheme in a more civilized way. See, this is why you should never do anything in haste, especially when anger is involved. By taking my time, I have found innumerable ways to add to the long list of vengeful things I plan to do to my ex.
This is just one of the many things Gramps and the uncles have taught me over the years. I’m not sure why a five-year-old needed to know these things, but hey, they came in handy on the playground even back then. My sister sucked up all their teachings, and that is why I lived with two mothers my whole life. They drilled that sibling responsibility into her as the oldest to the point she thought, and still does think, that she’s in charge.
You’d think that with two babies and a crazy husband, she’d have her hands full, but no, her bright idea was to involve her husband, who, well, let’s just say Elliot Stanton Payne fits right in with the rest of the degenerates around here.
I’m almost certain that when the phone calls started coming from all over the place with the many reasons why my parents shouldn’t allow their daughter to marry him, they did more harm than good. Those poor souls could not have known that the more outlandish the story of Elliot’s escapades on the dark side, the more endearing he became to my father, at least.