Page 69 of Heartless Boss
This place makes me fucking sick. It smells like fresh air, and it feels homey enough to make my skin crawl. If I didn’t know the history of what goes on in here, I wouldn’t know that abuse and nightmares filled this home.
Different sizes of pictures of that girl and Ryan hang on the eggshell walls. That’s the thing about pictures—they can paint illusions of happiness while there’s a shit show happening behind the scenes. The house looks like any traditional home with an upstairs that I didn’t bother lurking in. I go into the kitchen. It’s small with a white fridge and flat top stove. Repulsive-ass place. Then after I finish looking around, I head back to the recliner in the living room.
Several minutes later, I hear the key jingle in the lock before the front door opens, and feet pad against the pale wooden floors.
“Nova, you goddamn bitch. You better have my dinner ready. I had a horrible day, and I’m not in the mood to wait. For every minute I have to wait, you’ll get slapped.” He throws his keys on a wooden stand next to a bowl filled with fake fruit.
He has a bushy beard and freckles sprinkled across his tan face. He’s built like a bodybuilder. But he’s a good three inches shorter than me.
“She isn’t here, dipshit,” I say. His dark brown eyes snap to me and widen in surprise.
“Gunner Underwood. Why the fuck are you in my house? Where’s Nova?”
I push myself off the recliner and stomp up to him, and his chest brushes against mine. “She left you and won’t be coming back.”
“Get the fuck out. I’m calling the police.” He takes out his phone from his breast pocket.
“Go right ahead, call them. You can tell them how you use Nova as a punching bag.”
I fold my arms across my chest. I planned everything in my head before this motherfucker showed up. I’m going to beat him so bad no one will be able to recognize his face.
“You come here to steal Nova like you did Gia? You really take sloppy seconds to another level, don’t you?”
“I didn’t steal her from you.” I never wanted to beat someone’s ass as much as I want to now.
“You didn’t, huh? That’s why you showed up to the library all the time and sat with her. She left me to be with you.”
“She left because you beat and raped her.” I shove him, and he stumbles backward.
“You can’t rape someone who belongs to you. Gia was my property.” He grinds his molars as he shoves me, and I take a few steps back, balling my fists so hard my nails dig into my palms.
“That stupid bitch. I used my inheritance money to put a roof over her head, clothes on her back and food in her belly. What does she fucking do? Fall in love with another man.” He pauses for a beat. “She didn’t know that I put a tracker on her phone and that’s how I knew she went to your graduation party. Later that night, she came home looking like a tramp and reeking of alcohol. And do you know what she said when I asked her where she’d been, just to see how loyal she was?” He pauses, balling up his fists. “She lied and told me that she went to play board games with her whorish-ass friend Izzy. When I told her that I tracked her phone she finally admitted that she went to a party. I asked her if she went to see you or look for you. She twirled her hair and denied it. That’s her tell when she’s fucking lying. Dumb bitch.”
I don’t remember Gia ever coming to that party, but then again so many people were there, and I got so drunk I wouldn’t know who showed up. I glance around the room to see what kind of object I can hit this motherfucker with.
“She swore that she didn’t like you. But I knew, I fucking knew. You want to know how I knew, you piece of shit?” He pauses, not giving me a chance to respond. “When I said your name, she got that glint in her fucking eyes like she used to do with me when we first met. I was pissed and jealous that she had the audacity to fall in love with another guy while she was with me. So I fucked her in the ass to remind her who she belonged to.” His lips curl up into a smirk.
I snap. My fist connects with his jaw. I push him to the floor and pound on his face. I’ve had enough of his shit.
He tries to cover his face, but I move his hand and crush his nose with my knuckles. My hand stings, but I keep punching as I see red. Then blood filters through my nostrils as memories of that night in the basement when Ellis blew his head off barges into my mind.
My hands tremble and bile tickles my stomach as my heart seizes in my chest.
No, no, no, no, this is not happening right now.
Shaking my head, I yell, “Don’t you ever talk about Gia like that! You beating on a woman doesn’t make you a fucking man. You pussy!”
He spits blood mixed with spit on my cheek, and I stand, using my shirt to wipe my face.
“Fuck you, Gunner!”
This motherfucker doesn’t need to be sticking his dick in anyone, so I stomp as hard as I can on his balls, causing him to howl. He clutches his balls and rolls to his side as he cries like a little bitch.
I need to get the fuck out of here. Every time I look at Ryan all I see is my dad’s face covered in crimson blood oozing from his head, drenching his clothes.
As he rolls onto his back, I place my right foot over his throat and squeeze down hard as he scratches at my black boot. His bloody face turns a shade of purple, and he gulps for air. “You call the cops on me for beating your ass, I’ll come back and skin you alive.”
I release my foot as he gasps for air. I rush outside, and I vomit over the freshly manicured lawn. I wait in the car and close my eyes as my dad’s last words play in my mind.
