Chapter 45
Clayton:
I looked over to the corner where Nadine was standing with my mom. In a moment, an argument ensued and the crowd went silent as Nadine cussed out my mother. My own mother; her mother-in-law. My blood started to boil inside my veins, and my heart started to race. I wanted nothing more than to grab the bitch by the throat and choke the fucking life out of her. I balled my hands into a fist and hissed.
“I’m gonna kill this bitch,” I said to myself. “I swear, I’ll kill this bitch.”
“You heard me, old bitch,” I heard her say. “I said ‘fuck you’.”
I saw her turn and walk away towards the entrance. The crowd had started murmuring and Nadine was walking away with her head held up high like she was some queen. I clenched and unclenched my fist, feeling blood rush in my ears. Trent stood beside me, a shot of tequila in his hand. He tossed his head backwards and swallowed it.
“This bitch has guts, man,” he said after he had swallowed.
“And I’m going to fucking rip it out of her,” I said indignantly and started to stomp towards the entrance she had just gone out of.
“Hold on, man,” I heard Trent say, but I had left already.
When I reached the entrance, I went down the stairs and went to the living room where there were only a few servants idling. I found Nadine sitting on a sofa, her legs crossed, an insouciant look on her face. She still held the champagne flute in her hand even though it was already empty.
“What the fuck was that, Nadine?” I barked, giving her and the servants a start.
“What the fuck was what?” She asked, getting on her feet.Belongs to (N)ôvel/Drama.Org.
The servants stood looking at us as the tension built up, their faces etched with certain looks.
“Get out, all of you,” I instructed. “I said fuck off!”
They scampered away. I walked slowly to Nadine. Her face had gone from expressionless to just a little apprehensive. Perhaps she knew what was coming but had resolved in her mind to bear the consequences to the fullest.
“Your mother treats me like trash, Clayton,” she protested. “Every single fucking time, she says the most deprecating thing to me, getting on my nerves. I couldn’t take it anymore, Clayton. I’m losing my fucking mind being in this house with her. Maybe I should-”
My flat palm connected with her face and she fell on the chair.
“Bitch, shut the fuck up,” I said. “That’s my mother you’re talking about with such disregard. Have you not even an iota of respect? This is her fucking house, as much as it is mine, and she can do and say whatever the fuck she likes. Besides, if she called you trash, it’s probably because you are, bitch. Trash, that’s what you are. I picked you up from the gutter, cleaned you the fuck up, have you a fucking life, and you have the temerity to show such blatant disrespect to my mother in front of my guests?!??”
I pulled her up by the neck and slapped her again.
Nadine:
My cheeks were smarting from Clayton’s slaps to my face, but I remained stoic. I knew it was coming; he was a weak-willed bastard and resorted to violence on the slightest provocation. I lay on the sofa after the second slap. The champagne flute I held had fallen down and broken into smithereens.
“What’s going on here?” I heard a voice say. I struggled to raise my head to look at who it was, but when I tried turning my neck, a sharp and steady pain went through my head.
“Shit,” I said under my breath. I knew I was going to need to go to the hospital, or at the very least, take some pain medications.
“Clayton, what is going on, man?” The voice said again, and right then, it struck me that it was the self-assured voice of none other than Enzo Rocco, Clayton’s elder brother. I tried to sit on the sofa and get a good look at him. He looked even better under the bright lights in the living room.
“Did you not hear this bitch cursing mom out?” Clayton answered.
“I did; everybody did,” he said calmly. “They don’t seem to get along so well, do they?”
“Not that, Enzo,” Clayton said. “Just that this bitch is too obnoxious and insolent to live with. You know mom, Enzo, she’s-”
“She can be a handful, and very difficult to handle, Clayton,” Enzo interrupted.
“What the fuck are you talking about, man?” Clayton said, his voice bursting with both exasperation and surprise.
“Calm down, man,” Enzo said. “What she did, cursing mom out in front of your guests, was clearly wrong; that’s inarguable. But let’s not pretend like we both don’t. She didn’t do it unprovoked. Isn’t she your wife?”
“She is,” Clayton said. “But I regret ever getting married to this sick woman. This bitch, this-”
Clayton raised his hand to hit me again, but Enzo held him this time. Clayton struggled with his forearm for a while before letting go.
“Why did you stop me?” Clayton asked, breathing heavily. “Let me show this lowlife how much of a useless slut she is.”
“Clayton, come on, relax,” Enzo said soothingly. “Don’t do this, man. Don’t hit a woman. That’s just beastly and unethical.”
“Fuck off,” Clayton said and stormed out of the room leaving Enzo and I alone in the living room.
“Are you okay?” He said help me get on my feet. I struggled; my legs were wobbly and my head pounded.
“I’m going to be fine, I guess,” I managed to say. “This isn’t the first time he’s doing this. Who knows how far he would have gone if you had not come?”
“Probably too far,” he said with a chuckle.
I laughed a little, too.
I tried to properly look in his face, he was standing so close. When I looked, I noticed he was looking at me too, a big smile on his face.