Page 78 of Nothing to Lose: Lost Trilogy: Part 1
“This is the most cardio I’ve done in a while,” I tell the girl when I drop everything on the counter for her to scan.
I am so out of breath, I worry about my health now. Maybe buying all this ice cream was not the best idea. I know I’ve gained some weight. I am an emotional eater as a rule, and not hearing from Puck has really gotten me emotional.
The girl scans all my stuff with no questions asked, just the way I like it. I pay and grab my bags, ready to run to the car before all this melts.
My heart skips a beat when I see a tall figure leaning against my car. It’s a guy from what I can tell. He has his back to me, so I can’t tell who it is, but I gasp in shock when he turns around and I can see his face.
“Steve,” I call his name like it’s poison. “What are you doing here?”
If the man didn’t like coming to my house very often while we were dating, why would he come to the grocery store by where I live now when we’re not together anymore?
“I was waiting for you,” he shrugs like it’s no big deal.
“But why?”
“Well, Emily,” he pushes himself away from my car and walks toward me. He is giving me such creepy vibes, I want to drop the bags and take off running. “I thought you’d be coming back to me by now. Running in fact,” he adds in amusement.
I stare at him like he dropped from another planet.
“Are you crazy?” I manage to ask. I want to laugh at him but am scared to, just in case he is not stable.
This is how people die. They get killed in public places by people who they used to trust. How in the world did I think I was going to marry this man?
Steve sighs in disappointment. “Emily, did you really think I would just let you go without a fight?”
“But you did,” I remind him. “You slept with someone else.”
“I never took you for a prude,” he snorts.
He is definitely deranged, I decide. “A prude?”
“Who cares if I screwed someone in my office? I did come home to you every night, did I not? That’s what’s important.”
The way he says it, he really believes that him cheating on me with Lonnie was nothing.
“Did you sleep with her during the entire time we were together?” I shouldn’t care, but it does sting. Thank God I always insisted on him wearing a condom. It’s really strange I insisted that Puck wouldn’t…
I need to let Puck go, too. I need to let all the men go. They are all crazy and needy, and I don’t want this kind of negativity in my life. I’m going to have to marry my vibrator sometime in the future. I’ve always wanted a house full of children. I’ll just have to adopt.
“I wouldn’t call it sleeping,” Steve snickers. If this is his way of talking me into taking him back, it’s not working.
“You know what?” I unlock my car and drop my ice cream in the thermal bag I have in the trunk. “I need to go. My ice cream is melting, and I really don’t want to talk to you.”
The smile dies off Steve’s lips. “You’re going to come to my office in the next few days. I think you will find our conversation to be mutually beneficial.”
It’s like he is running a business transaction.
“Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Whatever you’re selling here, I’m not buying. Ever,” I make sure to add.
I am just about to pull the door closed when he grabs it, preventing me from leaving.
“You had your fun with your biker punk,” he sneers into my face. “And if you think he’s going to get what’s rightfully mine, you can think again, Emily.”
The shock of him mentioning Puck is getting me lightheaded. This is the third time when he refers to him specifically. How does he know? The time when Puck visited, he was so careful not to be seen, and especially with Steve not having anything to do with Sunny, there was no way for him to see me and Puck together.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I tell him through clenched teeth. “And I am not interested either. Don’t stalk me anymore. Don’t call me, don’t text me,” I make sure to add. “Just leave me alone.”
Steve watches me for a few moments, rage coming off him in waves.
