Back to Life (24 page)

“I’m
off duty for one thing, and for two, believe me, you deserved it,” I said, glaring
at her.

“Rory,
you need to tell us what is going on,” my dad said, his loud voice booming
through the room still full of guests.

Raising
a shaking hand, Rory pointed at Erica and said, “You deserved that, Erica, and
if Liam wasn’t holding onto me right now your face would look a lot like a car
ran over it. How dare you even speak Mason’s name after what you’ve done!”

“I
didn’t do anything to that boyfriend of yours,” she spat out, holding a hand to
her cheek that was rapidly swelling. I had to hand it to my girl, she sure as
hell knew how to hit. “He was shot on his way to run an errand that he should
have gotten done before you two went out on your little ‘date night’.”

“You
fucking bitch,” Brody said, and he took a step toward her but Nick caught his arm.

“Calm
down, man,” he said, and Brody stopped. Nick kept his grip on Brody.

Rory
struggled in my arms to get free, but I held onto her as tight as I could.
“’Little date night?’ It was our anniversary and he’d just proposed to me, you
bitch! You knew all of this, because you were trying to get into Mason’s pants
and he wasn’t having any of it. You only called him and threatened his job so
you could get another shot at him! You meant to ruin our night and you know
it!”

“I
didn’t hit on him, Rory, and I wouldn’t have had to ‘threaten his job’ as you
put it if he’d completed his work on time.”

At
that moment, I heard another slap and I looked up and saw Marissa standing face
to face with Erica. “You bitch! If you say another word about Mason I will
attack you myself!” she shouted. “You know that you ran him ragged, just like
you ran every other male that worked under you ragged too!”

“He
loved that job and if he didn’t he wouldn’t have put up with everything you put
him through, including the sexual harassment! Besides, he wasn’t leaving to run
an errand, and you know it! He left because you told him that you were at a bar
and you were too drunk to find your own way home! You know that you were just
trying to trap him like always! Why couldn’t you just leave him alone? Of all
the men in the world why did you harass him? Why couldn’t you just leave us
be?” Rory screamed, tears flowing down her cheeks as she struggled to get out
of my grasp. “I saw his phone, Erica! I saw all the rude texts and I heard all
the voicemails and I saw all of the nude pictures you sent him hoping you would
get him in trouble with me, but it didn’t work! He loved me and you were pissed
that he wouldn’t give into you, so you deliberately made him leave that night
by threatening him. I know you did because I saw that text too! Stop lying to
cover your ass Erica because now everyone knows what a lying whore you are!”
she cried.

Erica
composed herself. “Vivian, if this is the kind of trash you allow into your
home and your family you can guarantee I won’t be back here. I can’t believe
you are letting your son’s ‘fiancé’ speak to me this way, especially since we’ve
been friends for many years,” she said, using air quotes when she said
“fiancé”.

Mom
rounded on her and glared at her. “We are most certainly not friends, Erica,
and if you ever call that sweet girl trash again, you are going to need plastic
surgery after what I do to you. The only reason I have tolerated you all these
years was so I wouldn’t upset or embarrass my husband, but after the scene
you’ve created in my home I don’t really care anymore. I don’t believe for a
minute that Rory would lie about something like that, especially since you have
done that kind of thing to almost every man you have ever worked with,
including my husband,” she said, and my eyes went wide. What?

“What
are you talking about? I would never hit on a married man!” Erica shouted, and
there were several audible gasps and muffled guffaws behind us. Apparently the
whole crowd was aware of what Erica had done.

“Don’t
insult me by lying to me, Erica. You relentlessly pursued my husband and you
tried pulling him away from me and our son all the time. Grayson told me
everything, Erica, so you can stop acting like you don’t know what I’m talking
about. You need to leave my home right now before I tell my son to let Rory go
and I let her have her revenge on you, which you deserve,” my mother said.

Erica
rolled her eyes and held her head up. “Good luck with that one, Liam. Mason is
probably better off dead than he ever was being with trash like her,” she spat,
and she was just about to walk away when I felt a sharp pain in my stomach as
Rory elbowed me as hard as she could and wiggled out of my grasp, making me
double over. Before I could stop her, I heard her running and Erica’s scream of
pain through the large room.

Rory

I
struggled in Liam’s strong grasp as I saw Erica roll her eyes. “Good luck with
that one, Liam. Mason is probably better off dead than he ever was being with
trash like her,” she said, and I lost it. The rage inside me had reached its
boiling point.
I’m so sorry, Liam, please forgive me,
I thought just
before I elbowed him as hard as I could in the stomach in order to get free. I
could no longer stop myself as I saw her walking away from me, and I wasn’t
about to let her get away this time with nothing more than a couple of slaps. I
lunged myself at her and grabbed a hold of her hair, pulling her back around.
She struggled in my grasp and spun around to face me, screaming the whole time.
“Let go of me, you crazy bitch!” she screamed.

Once
she was face to face with me, I cocked my fist back and socked her as hard as I
could in the jaw. I could barely register everyone’s gasping and sounds of
shock as I saw blood trickle from her mouth. “That was for Mason, you bitch!
And this,” I said, before moving close and head butting her in the nose, “is
for our baby! I hope you rot in hell and lose everything you love just like I did!”
Seeing a fountain of blood pouring from her nose, I spit in her face and said,
“You better steer clear of me because the next time I see you, I won’t hold
back.” I turned on my heels and stormed out of the house, not bothering to look
at anyone or even say goodbye or apologize to Grayson or Vivian for ruining
their evening. Before I reached the door, I heard Vivian gasping, “A baby? Oh
no…” At that moment, my heart broke. Vivian would never be able to forgive me
for what I had just done, and I would never be able to forgive myself for
embarrassing her like this. Now I had lost two mothers in my life, and I felt
myself slipping into despair. This was the one mother that I actually wanted to
love me. As soon as I reached Marissa’s car, I fell onto my knees and started
bawling like a baby. I heard a cop car in the distance, knowing that they were
coming to arrest me for attacking Erica. She would surely press charges against
me, and that would seal my fate in this family. The Tanners wouldn’t want me
now that I am about to have a record. They are a high society family, and how
would it look to them if they have a crazy psycho bitch with an arrest record
for a daughter in law?

As
I lay on the ground and cried, I heard footsteps behind me. I couldn’t turn to
see who it was…I couldn’t bear to look at anyone’s face after the scene I just
created. “Rory? I brought you a blanket,” said a voice I instantly recognized
as Grayson’s. “It’s getting chilly out.” I felt him wrap it around my bare shoulders
and he knelt down beside me. Before I could begin to form the words to try and
apologize, he pulled me into his arms in a tight hug. “Darling, are you all
right?”

I
blinked and looked up at him. “I just violently attacked a woman in your home
in the middle of your holiday celebration, and you are seriously asking me if
I’m all right?”

He
chuckled. “Rory, you just did what most of us that know Erica have wanted to do
for many years, and she deserved it. That woman is poisonous, and it is
upsetting to me to know that because of her actions you lost someone you
loved,” he said, rubbing his arms up and down mine in an attempt to warm me up.
I hadn’t even realized until that moment that I was cold. “I am so sorry that
this happened to you,” he said.

“No,
Grayson, I am so, so sorry for embarrassing you and Vivian. Can you ever
forgive me?” I cried.

“Forgive
you for what? Standing up for yourself, your fiancé, and the child you lost?
Like I said, Rory, that woman deserved every bit of what happened in there.”

“But
the cops are coming to arrest me!” I sobbed, still hearing sirens as they grew
closer to the house.

“No,
they aren’t. They are coming to remove Erica from my home after she caused a
drunken scene and fell on her face, causing herself injury. At least, that’s
what Nick told the 911 operator when he called it on,” he said, and I looked up
at him. He winked at me.

“Grayson,
that’s not what happened. What if she tells the cops the truth or worse, they
actually do a breathalyzer or a blood alcohol test and find out she wasn’t
drunk?”

“Erica
has been a heavy drinker for years. Her blood is probably ninety percent
alcohol. I know for a fact that she drank a lot tonight because she stayed by
the bar most of the evening while you kids were down on the beach.”

I
can’t believe that he was protecting me after what I did. I am not sorry I did
it. In fact, it felt good to finally get my revenge on her. However, I was so
ashamed that it happened at The Tanner’s home. I wanted nothing more than to
please them today and show them how much I loved their son, but instead I ended
up beating a woman’s ass in their home. “Grayson, I am so sorry,” I said again,
crying fresh tears.

“Rory,
you have nothing to apologize for. Like I said, Erica deserved every bit of
that and no one in that house will say anything different. They all hate Erica
and they are standing by you, just like Vivian and I are. That woman has been a
thorn in our sides for a long time. She tried everything that she did to Mason
on me right after Liam was born,” he said.

If
it were possible, I hated this woman even more. “She did?”

He
nodded. “She was always calling me when she knew I was home with my family, and
she would leave notes on my desk when she knew Vivian was bringing Liam to the
office. She tried to make it look like I was cheating with her so Vivian would
leave me, but I was honest with my wife from the start. Vivian is the love of
my life and she’d just given me a beautiful baby boy, and I wasn’t about to let
that treacherous snake mess it up for me.”

“You
sound a lot like Mason,” I said, sniffing. “He was honest with me about her
from the beginning, but he always said ‘It’s only for now, Rory. When I finally
am a partner or I am offered a partnership in another firm we won’t have to
worry about her again.’ He loved his job, and he honestly thought she was just
harmless and that he could just ignore it,” I said.

“Well,
I tried to ignore it, but it took me leaving the practice we both worked at and
starting my own firm with a couple of colleagues to make it completely stop.”

“Why
didn’t Vivian ever confront her?” I asked.

“Because
she didn’t want to hinder my chances of getting my practice going, so she
stayed silent and made nice with her, but I know she didn’t want to. She’s an
amazing woman and has always put myself and Liam ahead of anything she wanted
for herself. Think of it this way, sweetheart. You didn’t just avenge Mason or
the baby. You got her back for Vivian and every other woman in there whose
marriages and relationships she destroyed. I’m very proud of you,” he said,
hugging me tighter.

At
that moment, a squad car pulled up in the driveway and two officers stepped out
of the car. Shining a flashlight at us, one of them said, “Excuse me, sir, are
you the owner of this house?”

“Yes
I am, and the woman causing the trouble is inside. Please remove her from my
home,” he said sternly. He wrapped his arms protectively around me and helped
me back to my feet as the officers walked up the steps of the house. “Are you
going to be okay, sweetheart? Do you need someone to look at your hand after
you socked her in the jaw?” he said.

I
laughed at him, and after what had happened, it felt good. “No, I’m good. Are
you sure you aren’t mad at me?”

“Oh,
my darling girl,” he said, hugging me even tighter. “I could never be mad at
you. What you’ve been through…” he trailed off, “you are an amazing woman, and
my son is so lucky to have you. He needs someone that can go toe to toe with
his stubborn side, and it looks like he’s met his match.”

I
moved my arms from inside the blanket and hugged him around his waist. “Thank
you, Grayson. For everything,” I said, and before I could stop myself I blurted
out, “I love you.”

He
took a deep breath and looked down at me, pride in his eyes. “I love you too,
sweetheart.”

At
that moment, Liam came rushing out the front door towards us. “Dad, is
everything all right? Rory, baby, are you okay?” he asked, frantic.

Grayson
released me and I went willingly into Liam’s waiting arms. “I’m just fine,
babe. I was hysterical when I came out here, but your old man here set me
straight.”