Colton steps into my back and although I’m not facing him, I feel the tension coming off him in waves. “And what have I told you about addressing my girl? She’s not working today. This is just as much her home as it is mine. Hell, she’s more welcome here than you are.”
Laurelle sucks in a loud gasp. “Colton,” she shrieks as I mentally high five him. “We have company. How can you be so rude? You weren’t brought up that way. It’s this … girl that you’re spending your time with. She’s a bad influence on you. I forbid you from seeing her anymore. I thought I instructed you to cease her employment.”
Colton laughs at my back and I feel the rumble right through to my chest. “Careful, Mom,” Colton says in a low, chilling tone. “Ocean bites a lot harder than you can.”
Pride surges through me. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of having your boyfriend stand up to his toxic mother to defend you, and not just in the ‘leave her alone, she’s important’ kind of way, but the real ‘come at us and we’ll fucking destroy you’ way.
Laurelle’s eyes drop to mine and her lips pull up in a disgusted sneer. “Go and fetch my guest some refreshments and while you're at it, you can find yourself a uniform. What have I told you about showing respect for your employers? My home is not yours to holiday in. If you must be here, then I expect you to work.”
Melissa looks over me in the same way and I quickly realize that these two are exactly the same. “Your home?” I question. “That’s funny. You divorced Charles nearly three years ago. This home is Colton’s. I’ve seen the deed, Lauren, and you aint on it.”
She sucks in a horrified breath, quickly realizing that I’ve gotten her name wrong on purpose and knowing damn well that it’s a show of disrespect. “You have two seconds to get out of my sight before I …”
I take a step forward. “Before you what? Tell me, really, because I’m so damn interested to see what a classy lady like yourself is about to say. What is it that you think you can do to me that this town hasn’t already done? Though I have to admit, I’m a little more curious to see if you’re the kind to get your own hands dirty. But then, you’d never admit to that in front of your snotty country club friends, would you?”
Her jaw clenches and she snaps her gaze back to Colton’s as I hear Spencer choking on a laugh and getting silently scolded by Melissa. “You need to handle this.”
I feel Colton’s eyes on my body, heated, hooded, and full of seduction. “Oh, believe me, I plan to.” Gasps are heard from both the women but they don’t get a chance to express their horror before Colton continues. “Actually, I wouldn’t mind doing that now. So, unfortunately, I’m going to have to cut this little catch up short. As always, Melissa, it was such a treat seeing you again. I’m sure we’ll see you again soon.”
Colton walks to the front door and opens it wide for her and for a short moment, she starts to go until she realizes that she’s being kicked out by her friend's eighteen-year-old son. Not to mention, her husband’s new boss. “No,” she snaps. “I will not be forced out by a bunch of children. I have come to discuss my son.”
I take a step forward, forcing her gaze on me and making her uncomfortable with my proximity, but in comparison to how her son made me feel, I figure I still have a few levels of fucked-up to go before I cross a line. “What about him?”
“He ...” her eyes flick around to Colton’s and then to Spencer’s before coming back to mine. “He’s missing.”
“Your son is a fucking pig,” I spit. “He’s a rapist. I hope that wherever he is, he never comes back.”
She sucks in a horrified gasp. “How can you say that? You don’t even know my son. You’ve been here for two minutes. My Jude is a good boy.”
“Oh really? I don’t know him? I actually think I know him pretty damn well. I know him well enough to know that years ago, he raped a sixteen-year-old girl, and I know him so fucking well that only a few weeks ago, he raped me too.”
Melissa’s hand slaps hard across my face. “You’re a liar,” she shrieks as Spencer rushes into my back and grabs my wrists, restraining me from making a dog’s breakfast out of her face.
“You know it’s true,” I tell her. “I heard all the fucking stories. I know how you and your husband paid her off to make that story disappear, but don’t you think it’s funny how no one has seen her since? Fucking suspicious if you ask me. I wonder what kind of damage a scandal like that would cause?”
Melissa glances around in a panic, staring at a horrified Laurelle though something tells me she’s horrified at possibly having her name involved in a scandal and not because of the news she’s hearing. “NO. SHE’S LYING. YOU CAN’T BELIEVE HER.” Melissa looks back at me. “You’re trash. I've heard stories about you, sleeping your way through Bellevue Springs. You’re just after a payday, but guess what? You won’t be getting one from me.”
I step a little closer and watch as she takes a hesitant step back. “Did I mention anything about wanting your dirty money? You’re a delusional bitch if you honestly think your precious little Jude is a good little momma’s boy. He's a monster. A rapist.”
She shakes her head so violently that I fear it will rock right off her shoulders. “You. Are. Lying.”
“Really? Do you want me to tell you how he drugged me, how he forced me up the stairs, how he shushed me when I tried to scream for help? How about when he hit me? Tore my dress and forced himself inside of me while I cried, begging for him to stop? That’s the piece of shit you’re defending.”
She watches me for a short second before her eyes begin to narrow. “You know where he is.”
I grin, not daring to hold back despite knowing that the boys must be shitting themselves right now, terrified that I might just say a little too much. “If I knew where that fucker was, I can assure you, he’d be dead. You better hope that you find him before I do because I will end him. No one gets away with touching me. Unlike the poor girl before me, you can’t buy my silence.”
With that, I storm over to Colton and rest my hand against the door handle. “Now, if you don’t mind, my boyfriend has already asked you nicely to fuck off. You don’t want to wait around to see how I’m going to ask.”
Melissa huffs while Laurelle stares on, shocked but also far too intrigued and I have a feeling that this news is going to spread like wildfire, but I don’t need to be ashamed, I should be proud to fight back. No one takes from me and gets away with it.
I will not be silenced.
With no other options, Melissa takes her sorry ass out the door, and just before I get the chance to slam it in her face, she shoots one hell of a nasty glare at me. “This isn’t over, Oceania Munroe,” she says, letting on that she already knows exactly who I am.
I grin wide, knowing damn well that I have the upper hand here, after all, I have her son rotting in the wine cellar dungeon. “Try me, bitch. I dare you to come for me.”
She huffs once again and just like that, she’s gone. The door gets slammed and by the time I turn back around, Laurelle is nowhere to be seen.