by C. C. Brown
The door flung open again, and in walked Jacob, Heather, and Stacey. Jason’s eyes darted to his brother, and without hesitation, he leaped over to him, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. “What the fuck did you do to her?” Jacob calmly threw his hands up and shook his head.
“I told her all of the bullshit that you won’t tell her.” Chelsea’s eyes narrowed as she moved closer to me, never taking her gaze off of Jason.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Jason lowly grumbled, his tan skin taking on a shade of red.
“Tell Cara why you came to Heath… in fact, why don’t you start at the beginning and tell her everything about you. If she doesn’t know any of this, I’m sure she doesn’t know shit else about you Jason.”
Jason’s body temperature felt like it filled the room. I was once again short of breath and sweating profusely. I watched Jason ball up his fists, and move towards his brother, but Hunter stepped in the way to keep him from physically accosting Jacob. “Cara you want to know why Jason hates me so much? Why he hates coming home to Heath?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Jason yelled, and this time the veins in his neck looked as if they were about to burst right through his skin.
“Jason and I were rotten little shit head teenagers. We grew up with privilege and we used it to our advantage. Girls wanted us, and we only wanted one thing from them, which wasn’t too hard to get, considering who our father is.” I watched him move about the room, and he kept talking. “We’d have fuck parties, and we'd sleep with girls at the same time, then kick them out on their asses in the morning. But you know what, all of that changed when we met Heather. We had a fuck party with her, but I fell for her, and apparently Jason did too.”
Jason charged Jacob and a scuffle ensued. They were rolling over one another, throwing wild punches – some connecting, but most not. Heather screamed for them to stop, and after Jacob connected with Jason’s mouth, Hunter grabbed Jacob and threw him off of Jason.
When both of the guys regained themselves, Jacob picked up right where he had left off. “When she chose me over him, he flipped the fuck out. He started doing shit to embarrass the family, he tried hurting me in any way that he could, and I figured, why not introduce him to Heather’s little sister, Stacey.”
Jason stared at Jacob, panting -- ready to go after him a second time, but Hunter held him back.
“That lasted for a while, until I made Heather my wife, which sent him into a tailspin. He was destroying the business with his antics, and my dad told him he had to go. So, he chose California. He has a nice home, nice cars, and he is away from us and no longer wreaking havoc on our lives.”
I looked around the room, stopping on Heather who had head in her hands, more than likely mortified by the shameless display that her husband was putting on.
Jason pushed through Hunter, and was back to pushing his brother. Jacob didn’t back down, and after being shoved into the wall, they were back to holds and punches. Jason had Jacob bent over and firmly held the back of his neck. He squeezed his neck while Jacob threw small but effective punches into Jason’s thigh and groin area, causing him to let go.
“You should just stop Jake, seriously,” Heather yelled, only to be rebuffed by her husband.
Jacob rubbed the back of his neck, obviously sore from the grip that Jason previously held. I rushed over to Jason and rubbed his back, throwing death stares at Jacob.
He wouldn’t let up, and continued on with his story, through grimaces and short breaths. “I had to go away for business trainings in New York for two months, and while I was gone, your dear sweet boyfriend here decided he just needed to stick his cock in my wife once again. When I got back, Heather was pregnant, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together.”
Heather yelled for Jacob to shut up, and as she stormed out of the room, Jacob caught her wrist and held her firmly in place.
“You piece of shit,” Jason growled at his brother, “is this all you’ve got? Old shit?”
“Oh, I’m not done yet, it gets better Cara,” Jacob replied, smiling at me. I knew I should leave the room, but morbid curiosity pinned me to my spot.
Jason grabbed my hand and tried to pull me out of the room, but I stood firm, curious about what else would come out.
“My parents were gutted. This would definitely not be good for business, or their social circle, so while Jason signed his name to Abby’s birth certificate behind closed doors, we carried on that the sweet little muffin was mine.”
“Oh my fucking God, is this right Jason?” I asked, almost in a whisper because I couldn’t gather up the energy to give any more.
“All except for the fact that Heather actually chose me, and he blackmailed her into going to him.” I saw tears roll down his now red cheeks, and I felt a stab of deceit course through my body. Heather nodded her head, so I knew that part was true.
“I fuckin’ hate you,” Jason yelled with the veins in his neck bulging, his skin almost completely red. He lunged at Jacob, and threw a punch, but missed and hit Hunter instead, since he jumped in to stop Jason from hitting his brother again.
“Has Jason said how much he adores your curly hair?”
I reached up and touched my hair, remembering how often Jason ran his fingers through it.
“There’s a reason for that. Heather once had curly hair just like yours. I don’t allow that anymore because my asshole brother is infatuated with it.”
I looked at him accusingly, but he never looked at me, just kept his gaze on his brother.
Did he ever get pissy about you drinking too much? Well, that’s because he swears that the night I so-called blackmailed Heather, she was heavily intoxicated and made a drunken decision.”
My stomach rose to my throat and I threw my hand over my mouth, hoping to keep my dinner from expelling all over the kitchen floor. Jason turned to me, and wrapped his arms around my hunched over body, but I pushed him off; disgusted with what I was hearing.
“Stacey was his replacement. He wanted Heather but knew he couldn’t have her, so he moved on with Stacey and actually fell in love. When he moved to San Diego, she picked up and went after him and they got engaged. I don’t know what happened out there that led him to you, but I do know my parents were confused and thrilled to see them so close again down here in Heath during Abby’s time in the hospital.”
Hunter walked over to Jacob and tried to get him to leave the topic alone, but Jacob got aggressive and pushed him away.
”That sweet baby needed a blood transfusion, and my Dad decided once and for all that we were going to have a test to put all of this to rest. Luckily for me, the test proved that my sweet little girl is in fact, my little girl. We spent the next couple of days with Dad’s lawyers, getting his name off my daughter’s shit, and changing it to her rightful daddy.”
Heather stood and pulled on Jacob’s shoulder, yelling, “Enough!” He laughed, and kept going.
“He didn’t call or text you while he was gone because he was in mourning. Mourning the fact that the one tangible thing he had to Heather was gone. He got drunk often, and Stacey was there to soothe his ache in more ways than one.”
“You’re a God damn liar,” Jason threw back at Jacob.
“Oh really? None of that happened lil brother?” Jacob asked, full of sarcasm.
I glanced over at Stacey, who smiled a sly little smile, but focused her attention on Jacob.
“Tell em’ Stacey,” Jacob prodded.
“This is a shitty way to do this, but she needed to know Jason. And you need to know that I’m pregnant.”
My eyes darted towards her and then back down to Jason. I stood up and rushed over to the sink and threw up all of the substance that I had been working so hard to keep down. Chelsea rushed to me, and turned on the water, then turned around and shouted, “You are all a bunch of sick bastards.”
Jason walked over to me -- eyes wide and desperate, and stood behind me, waiting for me to turn around. When
I did, I couldn’t bear to look at him, so I turned and threw my head into Chelsea’s chest.
“This is a bunch of bull shit Cara. I swear to you.” Jason frantically yelled. “I haven’t been with this skank in over a year.”
“You can’t deny it Jason, you’ve already admitted to it.” I managed to make out, through the uncontrollable sobs leaving my body.
“All of the previous shit, yes, I was a dirty fuck, but none of this recent stuff is true. I saw Stacey a couple of times while we were in Heath, but it was always in public. I never fucking slept with her while I was with you, NEVER!”
“I can’t believe you Jason. You never told me why you rushed down here, and what you were doing. What the hell do you want me to believe? You left your fate in someone else’s hands, and they beat you to the truth before you could tell a lie.
“I never lied to you.”
“Omission is still a lie,” I bit back.
He stormed over to Stacey and shouted in her face, “Tell the fucking truth. You’re a two cent whore. As many guys you’ve slept with, there is no way I would stick my shit back in you.”
She didn’t budge, and simply pulled a positive pregnancy test from the clutch she was carrying. My mind quickly flittered back to the tent where she was playing with her clutch in my view.
Every emotion I felt came boiling out of me, wrath being the most prevalent. Jason moved in front of me and I pushed him away sending him stumbling into the counter. “Don’t touch me. You are a filthy man whore and I can’t believe I ever fell for your shit.”
He looked defeated, but calmly stated, “I love you Cara. I would never cheat on you.”
Tears welled up in my eyes and I made no attempt to stop them from roaring down my face. “No you don’t, you have no idea what love is.” I moved around him, with Chelsea and Hunter following close behind. I stopped in front of Jacob, just as angry with him.
“Why are you doing this? What have I done to you?” I asked, fighting back another explosive round of tears.
“Nothing." He said, with a snide grin on his face. "I would’ve done it no matter who the girl was because Jason deserves it.”
His look of superiority sent me over the edge, and I slapped him, with all the force that could be channeled within me. My hand stung, and Jacob had a red mark on his left cheek, but the release felt good. He rubbed his cheek, and then used his chest to bump against me, which sent Jason tackling him to the floor and clobbering him with punches to the face. I had seen enough and started walking out of the room when Jason stopped and pulled himself off Jacob, who was curled on the ground in the fetal position, blood coming from his nose.
“Cara… Cara don’t leave.” He called out, running after me. He caught up to me and took my chin in his tense, blood speckled hands. “You’ve got to believe me. I’m so sorry for my past, I can’t change that, but none of that recent shit is true, none of it.”
I shook my head, and through trembling lips I shouted, “I HATE YOU!”
Jason’s eyes bulged, and he dropped to his knees, holding my hands in his. “I can’t live without you Cara; you’ll take my reason for living if you leave me.” The tears filled his eyes, but I was too angry to care.
I looked around the room and shouted, “Fuck you and you,” as I pointed to Jacob and Stacey.
"Your boyfriend already did," Stacey smugly retorted. I ignored her, fearing if I paid her any more attention that I would turn violent and become a serious jackass by hitting a pregnant girl.
I looked down to Jason and calmly replied, “You’re already dead to me,” and stormed into the bedroom to gather my things.
<>
Hunter helped Richard load mine and Chelsea’s bags into the car. Jason was standing in the doorway of the guesthouse looking sick and reduced. I couldn’t bear to look at him. I didn’t want any inkling of sympathy to creep back into my heart, and the sight of him in such a state depressed me more than anything I had heard that night.
Hunter hugged me tight and kissed the top of my head before I got into the car. He kissed Chelsea and told her he would be on the first flight he could get, after he took care of the business stuff for his dad’s firm. She nodded and slid into the car next to me. Jason walked over to the window and mouthed, I love you Cara, and all I could do was put my head down and allow the tears to continue to stream down my face. I lay in Chelsea’s lap as we pulled off and just sobbed, occasionally needing to catch my breath, but sobbed until I cried myself to sleep.
When we arrived at the airport, my phone buzzed, indicating a text message from Jason.
From Jason
*Have a safe flight. I am coming home tomorrow so we can fix this. I love you!*
I shut my phone off and followed Chelsea into the ticketing area.
On the plane, I lay in Chelsea’s lap as she played with my hair, also massaging my scalp to help calm me down. “I wanted to look past his past Chels, because everyone has shit they aren’t proud of, but this recent stuff, it was like a knife twisting in my back.” I began to sob again and Chelsea pulled me in closer to her and rocked me in her lap.
“Shhhh. He’s got a lot of twisted shit to sort through. I’m sorry we didn’t catch all of this sooner.”
I fell asleep to the ebb and flow of Chelsea’s lap and the precision of her fingers in my hair.
<>
When we touched down in San Diego, I felt like I had been through all 12 rounds of a lopsided boxing match, and had lost every round. My neck and back hurt, my eyes burned and felt swollen to the touch. I looked as bad as I felt, but I was grateful to be back in California where people loved me.
We made our way to baggage claim and grabbed our bags. We wheeled them outside where I saw Chase’s truck pull up in front of us. I quickly turned to Chelsea who shrugged her shoulders.
“We needed a ride.”
Chase got out of the truck and took our bags, placing them in the back. Chelsea turned and thanked him before climbing into the back seat. Chase stood with his arms open and I walked into them, keeping my arms folded across my chest, and cried.
“I should have seen the signs, they were all there,” I said, pulling away from Chase’s body and looking him in the face. “There were red flags that I ignored, and now look.”
Chase shook his head and pulled me back into his chest. “Don’t kick yourself right now Cara.” And I burst into an uncontrollable sob of tears, standing in the pick-up lane of the San Diego Airport, feeling like I had nothing left.
About the Author
I am a proud Marine Corps wife who is also the mother of two adorable, yet rambunctious children. I graduated with a degree in Sociology from California State University, Dominguez Hills. My love of literature and writing never left me, and after having to follow my husband around for his career, I decided to take my dreams of writing a novel, and turn them into a reality.
In my spare time I am often on sports fields watching my son play, taking in a girl's day with my daughter, or riding on the back of a motorcycle with my husband. Books are never far from my side; as I believe they provide the opportunity to escape reality.
I want to thank you for reading my work, and invite you to share your thoughts, questions, and reviews on my Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/CC-Brown