Ignite (14 page)

             
Some of these girls were beautiful. Not in the fake sense either, but totally real and beautiful, and incredibly nice. When they’d hear he was taken they didn’t try and pursue, but rather took it like champs, wishing him the best.

             
Still. I hated it. My mind darkened and I’d wonder if he brushed them off because I was in the same room as him. He used to be such a player, flirting up a storm even if he had no intention of going further. This was before us, but just how did someone change in the blink of an eye? My mind answered.
They don’t, Sara. Change doesn’t happen overnight, and Jaxon has always come off as the overnighter change.

             
Then one night, my worst fears came true during my shift. It was a Friday night, and the bar was packed. I was running like mad, serving drinks, taking orders, chatting with regulars who knew me well.

             
“Holy shit,” I heard a familiar voice exclaim. “Sara!”

             
I spun around and came face to chest with a really tall guy. I blinked up at his face and smiled wide. “Doug!”

             
Doug Mackenzie, holy shit. If it hadn’t been for that unchanging face, I wouldn’t have known who he was. He was huge now, same height: six foot five and rolling in muscle. I snickered to myself, remembering the awkward and lanky boy two years ago, and couldn’t wait to tell Jaxon when I got home.

             
“How are you?” I asked, noticing Lexi stop dead in her tracks to check him out.

             
“Great, yeah, just moved to Winthrop two weekends ago.”

             
“That’s great. What’re doing with yourself lately?”

             
“Got my fitness training certificate. Officially a training instructor, and best place to do that would be in the city, right?”

             
I nodded. “Absolutely. A lot of fat people here.”

             
He laughed. “Yeah, there are. How about you?”

             
“Yeah, good.”

             
“Is this your full time job?”

             
“No, I’m studying at UW. Law. Will be done second year in the next couple months.”

             
“Holy shit. That’s awesome.” He smiled genuinely at me, his brown eyes twinkling on his tanned face. “You still hanging around Jaxon Barlow? I remember how inseparable you guys used to be.”

             
“Inseparable? I wouldn’t say that.”

             
“I would, and so would everyone else. I was crushed when he took you to Prom.”

             
I snorted. “What a load of shit, you never showed me any interest!”

             
He gave me a confused look. “Yeah, I did. I was all over you.”

             
“No way. I waited for you to ask me to Prom and you didn’t. No one did, actually. That’s why Jaxon took me.” I flushed at embarrassingly admitting that no one batted me an eye.

             
He burst out laughing. “That’s because Jaxon threatened to beat the living shit out of anyone who came within a foot of you with intentions to take you out.”

             
I froze and stared wide eyed at him as my jaw dropped. “What?”

             
“Yeah, he did. He was stronger than me. Bet now he isn’t, right? Please tell me he’s turned into some hobo.”

             
“He’s my boyfriend.” The words came out quiet. I looked away as I tried to come to grips with this revelation. “Look, I gotta get back to work. Are you at a table?”

             
“Yeah, my boys are waiting in the back over there.” He motioned to a table where three large guys sat, staring at us. When they saw us look their way, they hooted, cheering Doug on. Idiots were making the wrong assumptions.

             
“I’ll be with you shortly.” I took off before he could respond and found a quiet corner in the kitchen, pretending to refill the straw and napkin containers.

             
I was angry. No. Livid. How could he? He was damn well aware how much being ignored before Prom had made me feel. What the fuck? This was one of those moments I was glad he wasn’t here and instead at home with Trevon. There would have been a scene along the lines of me kicking his ass. He lied to me!

             
I grabbed my cell phone from my purse in the back room and talked myself into writing a snide message. It was childish and I knew I’d regret it later on, but I was so angry at being lied to.

             
Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. As I swiped my finger across the screen, I saw an unread message in my inbox from a private number. When I opened the message, I nearly dropped the phone.

             
It read:
So much for a faithful boyfriend. Jaxon isn’t as he seems, huh
? Below the text was a blurry photo of Jaxon. Kissing a girl.

             
It was a side view, and the girl was tall, thin with red long hair, and her fists bunched in the collar of Jaxon’s shirt. Despite the blurriness, I knew it was him as clear as day. I could easily make out the chin length hair and the clothes he’d bought only a couple months ago – the black rocker shirt and deep blue denim jeans.

             
Tears fell from my eyes. I was breathing wildly and shaking. My teeth shuddered against one another as I stared in shock at my unfaithful boyfriend. I couldn’t tear my eyes from the image.

             
“Sara, where you at, bitch? We’re drowning in customers and—” Lexi stopped talking for a moment. Then she came at my side and held my arm. “Why are you crying? What the fuck happened?”

             
I didn’t have to answer her. She followed my gaze and gasped, tearing the phone from my hands to get a better look. “What the fuck? Is that Jaxon?” When I didn’t respond, her anger mirrored mine. “Do you want me to fuck that boy up, Sara? I’ll do it. I’ll do it now if you want me to!”

             
“What’s going on? We’re super busy,” said Tracey, coming in to join us. She appeared stressed, her blonde hair not in its usual immaculate condition. “I need you guys. I’m barely getting around as it is.”

             
“I’ll take over for Sara. Give me two seconds, Trace.” Turning to me, Lexi stroked my back. “If shit goes downhill, you can come and stay with me, alright? Go home and tear that guy a new asshole.”

             
“I can’t believe this,” I bit out through my chattering teeth. “He cheated on me, Lexi. He cheated!”

             
“Girl, I know what it’s like. Trevon was all promiscuous and shit in the beginning. Kissing girls had been the least of my worries. Jaxon’s still young–”

             
“He cheated!” Now it was fury pushing me out of my pitiful state. I grabbed my purse and shrugged on my coat. “That fucker! That stupid fucker!” I was too engrossed in my own anger to thank her for looking after my shift. It was going to be a tough few hours for Tracey and Lexi without me there. But they were damn good friends like that, and I’d intended on repaying them.

             
I was glad I took the car to work that day. I didn’t have class on Fridays, so when that fucker came home from work I was still kicking around and took the car.

             
I don’t even know how I got to the apartment. I could hardly concentrate let alone formulate a thought without feeling like my body was going to explode amidst the ocean of anger I was drowning in. My chest was tight and breathing was a mission. Thank God it was hardly a five minute drive away or else I’d never have made it home.

             
Home? I scoffed. What a joke. That place wasn’t home anymore, not when I was living with a cheating prick.

             
Cheating. Oh, my God. He cheated.

             
How many women had there been? I quickly went over all the times he’d supposedly been hanging out with Trevon knowing it was probably a cover up so he could dance behind my back with some stupid slut.

             
When I parked the car, I stared down at the photo and pure, unrepressed rage boiled from within. This was good. This was better than heart break – though I knew that feeling would rear its head eventually.

             
I heard the television from within the apartment as I shakily unlocked the front door. I was a wild mess of adrenaline and fury, but I somehow managed to walk inside looking relatively calm. I saw the smiling fucker sit on the couch next to Trevon, each with a controller in their hands, playing some shoot ‘em up game.

             
I somehow made it to them, standing beside the edge of the couch, glaring at Jaxon with a look that could kill fifty baby kittens. When he turned his head to glance at me, he broke out into a huge grin. “Hey babe, you’re home early.”

             
I clenched my cell phone tightly, distressing the plastic cover. “Has my unexpected arrival ruined your plans?”

             
He instantly stopped playing upon hearing the edgy tone of my voice. “What plans?”

             
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe fucking some girl behind my fucking back?” I spat out. My anger felt like rolling waves, moving like a tsunami throughout my body.

             
Trevon’s eyes popped open wide. “Shit, man, I should head off.”

We didn’t acknowledge him. Jaxon stared at me, dripping
in shock.
God, the fucker can act.

             
I barely registered Trevon’s hurried exit out of the apartment. The temperature in the room went up and up, much like my anger.

             
“What are you talking about, Sara?” Jaxon asked gently.

             
Oh, so he was going to be a soft spoken liar, eh? Cue the deterioration of my relatively calm state.

             
“You lying fuck!” I shrieked, and then I was pointing at him, screaming out words and curses. “How could you sit there and fucking lie to me right now? You cheating piece of shit! I trusted you!”

             
Now he was up on his feet, panic sweeping his face as he rushed to me. He went to grab my arms, but I stepped away. “Don’t fucking touch me!”

             
“Sara, I don’t know what you’re talking about–”

             
“STOP LYING!” My vocal cords ached as I unloaded my hysteria.

             
“I’m not lying, baby.”

             
“Don’t fucking call me that ever again! I am not your baby, and I never will be, you cheating piece of shit!”

             
He raked his hands through his hair, tugging on it tightly as his panic rose. “Sara, I’ve never cheated on you!”

             
“Too much of a pussy to come clean, huh?” I scoffed at him in disgust. “Pack your fucking shit and get the fuck out of my life!” I didn’t realize I’d been crying until I tasted the saltiness of my tears in my mouth.

             
“Why the hell would you think I cheated on you?! Tell me! I’m not fucking lying. Holy shit, Sara, I’m not lying to you!”

             
“You fucking prick. Lie to me after this!” I threw the phone at him as hard as I could, and he barely dodged it as it crashed onto the coffee table with a sickening crack.

             
I saw him reach for the phone, but I didn’t want to be around him. I hurried to the bathroom and shut the door, locking it and taking a seat on the toilet. I closed my eyes and cried, shaking like mad from the anger and pain.

             
“Sara, open this door! You’ve got it all wrong, baby. Open this door,” he pleaded on the other side.

             
“Go the fuck away!” I roared, feeling the ache in me run so deep, I began pulling on my hair as hard as possible to displace the pain from my heart.

             
“Let me talk, Sara. I didn’t cheat on you. Open this door.”

             
“Still lying through your teeth.”

             
“I’m not lying, I’m–”

             
“Go away!”

             
“Just let me explain–”

             
“There’s nothing to explain! Pack your shit and go!”

             
“I didn’t cheat–”

             
“Go away.”

             
“Fuck’s sake. Stop interrupting me, Sara, and let me talk!”

             
I got up and whipped the door open, glaring up at his concerned face. “There’s nothing to explain because you can’t explain that.”