Hollis’s shoulders tensed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh you don’t?” My eyes flared, then narrowed to slits. I turned to Presley, who stood there highly amused. “Presley, how was your sangria the other night? Kelli and I enjoyed your company the other night.”
Presley’s expression filled with shock. He raised his hand in the air, signaling his departure. “I don’t know how you know my name. I have nothing to do with this.”
“Oh you don’t?! Everybody’s fucking clueless that my husband’s a fucking cheater, huh? Is everyone also clueless about the fact that he’s fucking another –“
SLAP!
Before I knew it, Hollis reached out and slapped the shit out of me. My face was frozen from the sting of his contact. He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me into the house.
“MOOOOM!” I heard Jordan scream. “MOOOOOM!”
“Come here Jordan,” I heard Kelli say. “Stay away from your mother.”
“Dad just hit mom!” Jordan roared. “Mom are you okay!?”
I was too stunned to move, respond, or attempt to look my son in the face. My brain started to dizzy as I tried to take all of this in. Was this really happening? My heart paced like crazy. Hollis never put his hands on me. Ever. He also never forcefully dragged me anywhere.
Kristophe must have started to follow, because Hollis shouted. “Stay out of this! I’ll be right back.”
He tossed me on the floor. “What the fuck is wrong with you, you stupid bitch!”
I looked up at him, and broke down in tears. “What the fuck did I ever do to deserve this?! What did I ever do to you? You’re cheating on me, and now you’re hitting me and calling me a bitch?”
Jordan’s screams for me penetrated the glass door. Hearing his worry compounded my pain, and I started sobbing even more. I never intended for my son to see how badly we were not getting along, but hiding the stress of our situation was maddening.
Hollis looked at the door and shouted, “Jordan be quiet!”
“You’re tearing this family apart. Don’t you see that?” I stood up, finally able to move past the shock of being slapped by my husband. I looked at him, hoping to see some kind of remorse in his eyes.
I got nothing.
He seemed too cold and soulless to give a damn.
“I didn’t come over here causing a scene. I didn’t start making wacky accusations. And I didn’t rock the boat. I don’t know what the fuck your problem is, but it’s not me. You need to get your shit straight. Your problem is with that man you’re fucking, not me.”
“You’re accusing me of fucking another man when the man you’re fucking is the one who gave me those flowers,” I spat. I enjoyed the slight bug in his eyes when he realized that’s how I found out. “He left them on my car when I was at Kelli’s, after you bought him that ring he’s wearing. He let me know everything the other night while you were drugged to sleep in his bed. Oops! I mean ‘working for 24 hours.’” I made quotation marks with my fingers to emphasize my knowledge of his made up story.
Hollis’s jaw clenched. He reached out and clamped my shoulder. I tried to shrug him off, but his grip was too strong. He pushed me out of sight from the glass door, away from the view and towards the bathroom. I started screaming, and he shushed me. I didn’t listen and tried to fight him, but as always, his strength outmatched mine.
The dark look in his eyes was evil. Pure evil. I’d never seen anything like that except in horror movies or Lifetime re-enactments.
Tears ran down my cheek, and I began trembling as he closed the bathroom door behind us. I was sure this was where I’d die; here, in my best friend’s bathroom on a beautiful summer day at the hands of my cheating husband. I was sure after he killed me, he’d just bury my body in his lover’s backyard.
He slammed my head against the wall and wrapped his fingers around my neck. As I slowly lost my fight, and my life started to flash before my eyes, I started to see all the mistakes I made, the opportunities I missed, and things that passed me by dealing with this knucklehead.
“Don’t you tell anyone,” he snarled through gritted teeth. “Or your life will be a living fucking hell.” His eyes looked into mine as he squeezed. “Do you understand me?”
I grunted in the affirmative, and he released me, leaving me to slip to the floor, and as always, walked out without saying another word. I gasped as my throat pulled for air, and started coughing.
I heard the glass door open, and heard frantic steps enter. Kelli and Jordan called out for me. I could barely speak, so they had to listen to the sound of my coughs.