Not a Chance(52)

The words didn't immediately register with Arden as she was overcome with the shock of a drunk Ashley barreling into her foyer. "What are you doing here?" Arden asked.

"I come to tell you that Nick's been cheating on you with me," Ashley repeated, louder this time. "Since before you were engaged."

Arden knew she should be more bothered than she was. Maybe it was just the shock. "I think I'd better take you home," Arden said.

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Ashley shrieked.

At this point, Mark and Laura came down the stairs in their pajamas.

"I'm telling you your fiancé is a cheating son-of-a-bitch. I told him if he didn't help me out I was going to tell you everything. He comes to me telling me you don't satisfy him and that he can't stop thinking about me. Sometimes we screw for hours and then he talks about how he wishes he had the courage to leave you. I've been to his apartment in the very bed you've slept in with him. I change the sheets so I don't have to smell your perfume. I put on your lingerie and make fun of you."

Ashley's tirade went on and on. All about how cold and lifeless Arden was and how much Nick resented her but that he only wanted to marry her for her money. The initial confession had only produced a mild reaction, but as Ashley continued blathering on and on, Arden quit hearing the words over the increasingly loud ringing in her ears. She felt a heat like she'd never experienced burning just under her skin. Her heart rate increased. Her hands balled into fists. And still Ashley persisted, describing in perverse detail the various encounters between herself and Nick. Arden felt hot tears streaking down her face and that is when her anger unleashed.

She lunged at Ashley, knocking her to the ground. She locked her hands around Ashley's throat and squeezed with all of her might, screaming obscenities that had never before entered into her imagination, let alone crossed her lips. Ashley kicked and clawed, making contact a few times, resulting in some scratch marks on Arden's face and neck.

Before too much damage could be done, Mark pulled Arden off of Ashley just as Ashley swung a fist at Arden. The punch landed on her left eye and she cried out in pain. Ashley scooted back against the wall, gasping for air.

Laura dialed the police. Arden stood sobbing in her father's arms. She lost track of all time. Before she knew it, she was sitting on the stairs next to Sheriff Hartley and giving her statement.





CHAPTER TWENTY



The next morning Travis sat in the cramped office at the garage catching up on a little bookkeeping. He kept finding himself smiling. He'd heard gossip that Arden had gotten in a fight with Ashley Strauss. It couldn't possibly be true. But the mental image tickled him anyway.

He heard a car pulling in the driveway and glanced up on instinct. He was surprised to see Brody Jessop's black SUV parked outside the office.

Brody was a nice, clean-cut sort of man. He coached high school basketball and generally wore nice slacks and a dress shirt during the day. He was the same age as Travis and the same height, but narrower across the shoulders and a bit leaner. Probably because he didn't have little old ladies paying him with pie to fix their cars.

But even though they'd gone to school together, Travis didn't know Brody very well. They'd maybe spoken to each other twice over the past five years. Travis stood and greeted Brody at the office door. Brody nodded formally at him and then Travis stepped aside so he could come in.

"What can I..." Travis started.

"Are you dating Kristen?" Brody interrupted.

"Uh..."

"Don't lie to me, you bastard. I want to know what you think you're doing trying to steal her away from me like this."

Travis opened his eyes wide in shock. "Steal her away?"

"You took her to that Christmas party. And a friend of mine told me your car was parked outside her apartment one night last week."

Travis sat down in his chair and glared at Brody. He was willing to have a civil conversation but he wasn't in the mood to be yelled at. "You drove her home from the Christmas party. Seems like that makes you the winner."

"She won't talk to me."

"Good for her."

Brody tensed all over, but he wasn't the type to get in a street brawl on a Saturday morning. Travis waited and watched as Brody finally relaxed and slumped back in the chair. "I just want to know if you're the reason things have gone so wrong," Brody said.

Travis gritted his teeth. The jackass didn't even know Kristen. She would be so much better off with Travis. He knew her and would treat her the way she deserved to be treated. But she didn't love him. And he'd be lying to himself if he didn't admit that she would be his second choice, too. He sure as hell wouldn't treat her that way, though. "Brody, I didn't even know you were trying to have a relationship with her. I know she's in love with you and she keeps falling back to me because she says you're not interested in her."