Chapter 16

With a deep frown, she began her journey into the underworld. She tapped on his shoulder. The moment he paid her any attention, she spat in Ethan Klein with spit in his face.

“So, you let me sit there a whole hour waiting for you, and you were here the whole time?” The harpies on either side were ready to react, but Leigh Anne’s reflexes were too fast for the two lushes. His mother got a swift kick to the gut, and his loving wife’s head met with the hardwood of the bar top.

“I cannot believe I gave you my time again! I cannot believe I entertained this charade. Leave California, Ethan! Leave me alone!”

She turned on her kitten-heeled feet, smoothed down her dress, and stormed onto the sparsely trafficked boardwalk. Not realizing she was being followed, a large hand gripped the crook of her arm and abruptly and harshly spun her around.

“What the fuck was that, Leigh Anne?” His face was raging. His pestilence radiated off him, leaving Leigh Anne with a fear she had never felt before. “There’s no way she will ever let this go now?”

What the hell is wrong with him? she thought to herself as she tried prying her arm free. “Let me go!”

“I can’t do that! I have to pretend that I’m going to punish you.” His eyes pleaded with Leigh Anne to play along with him.

Leigh Anne was staring at him with confusion and disbelief. Have I just stepped into the Twilight Zone?

“You’re going to walk back over there with me and apologize, Leigh Anne.” Again, he was begging her to play a part. “If you want me to leave and never return, we must work together.”

Leigh Anne was shaking her head, not wanting to have any part in this deception. She finally got out of his grip and shoved him back, but he caught up with her, trying not to create another scene. He made another attempt to change her mind.

“Please, I don’t deserve your cooperation or anything from you, but acting on friendly terms will be better for us.”

Ethan held his pointer finger to his lips, signaling her to keep quiet. He’s wired!

He gently removed his finger from his lips, and Leigh Anne’s facial muscles softened, easing the tension in her brows and mouth. She breathed more relaxed.

“I know you have no reason to trust me. You should have never given me your trust, but if any part of you remembers who I was first year, trust that guy.” Leigh Anne remembered that Ethan very well. The Ethan who stayed by her side when she almost died when her mother prayed for her death. He was there and held her hand in the hospital bed.

“Fine. But until this is over and you’re out of my life for good.”

He nodded with little emotion. “I’m going to turn it back on now. I will be saying things that aren’t nice, but please don’t react, and I don’t mean a word of it. I’ll explain everything later.” He winked before he flipped and turned the recording device taped to his chest back on. “I promise.”

Lights, camera, action.

Ethan roughly jerked Leigh Anne along as they strolled back to the bar area. They would be taken on their word as evidence of the fist-sized bruise wrapped around her arm. The circumference of her flesh bore his mark.

Carlie had an indentation on her forehead from the top of the bar and was now holding an ice pack to keep the swelling down. Nancy was nursing her bruised ego with a Jack and Coke. The moment she was in their sights, their violent tendencies came roaring to the surface.

“You had the fucking nerve to bring her back in here after that physical assault upon us? Your mother and your...”

“Supposed ex-wife.” Leigh Anne snidely commented, which she thought was under her breath, but nope, they all heard but pretended not to. Don’t react. She wordlessly repeated Ethan’s directions in her head.

“Yes, well, she was shocked to see you two here. After all this time away from us, she developed a short backbone. Isn’t it a shame that it will be broken out of you once we get you home safe with the people who truly have your best interests at heart, Leigh, my love?” Ethan was devastatingly good at this alter ego. If Leigh Anne didn’t know any better, she would think this version of him was the genuine Ethan Andrew Klein.

Ethan forced Leigh Anne to sit between himself and his mother on the stool beside him. Great, a demon Oreo cookie!

“So, did you tell your ex-wife what we expect of her?” Nancy slurred, taking another sip of her sharp-scented amber drink.

“Not yet, Mother. But now is as good a time as any.” Ethan took a shot and slammed one down in front of her. “Drink it—” he leaned in closer. She cringed at his closeness. Trying to pull away, he snatched her closer. “Drink it. I won’t tell you again.” He breathed in her face. All Leigh Anne wanted was to toss it in his face, but she couldn’t. So, rather than break with the façade, she knocked it back.

“I can’t believe we still have to be relegated to sit with this crazy cunt.” Oh well, here comes the evil version of Glenda. The mother of the innocent spawn of Satan and Lilith. The woman Ethan claimed he divorced and sired a child with. If anyone should question the other’s presence, it’s Leigh Anne regarding Carlie.

“Shut the fuck up, darling. You’re the one who insisted on being here. So, deal with it and get another screwdriver.” Ethan’s grip tightened on Leigh Anne’s hip. If he didn’t mean to get that handsy, he misjudged his strength. How was Leigh Anne going to explain the bruises?

“Are you going to not punish her for doing this to your w—” but every time someone tried to refer to Carlie as his wife, they were stopped. “Fine, fine. I’m out of here...” She fell off the stool, icepack on the floor, heels wobbling as she staggered onto the desolate boardwalk.

“So, now that the tart is gone, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty, shall we?” Nancy smiled like the Cheshire Cat as she twirled the straw mixer in her drink.

“Mother, not now...” Ethan’s teeth ground as he put more pressure on Leigh Anne’s hip.

“Oh, this is the perfect time, dear boy.”

Leigh Anne looked at her ex-husband for a shred of sentiment or thoughtfulness. But all she saw was emptiness and a shell. No wonder he played a chameleon so well. No one resided within his body anymore. He was soulless and devoid of life. But then she remembered what she promised; she promised to recall Ethan from the first year, the Ethan who saved her life.

“Fine, fine, Mother. You tell her, then.” Ethan chugged down his Guinness, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

Leigh Anne only remembered that grin, like the demon from the Stephen King book, “The Storm of the Century,” the sharp teeth, all pointed, yellow, and jagged.

“You’re coming home, my dear. Enough of this shameful, attention-seeking mirage you’re playing at. We are all fed up with this lack of responsibility you’re playing at. This family is not suffering from your shameful behavior any longer.”

All she could do was sit there and take this self-righteous pity party Nancy Klein feigned to suffer from. Her act of suffering made Leigh Anne sick, and all she wanted to do was tip that glass of forty percent-proof alcohol over her sanctimonious, bleach-blonde head of hers. This sixty-five-year-old woman still bleaches her hair without any toner.

“We will give you two days to say farewell to that loose cannon brute of yours and get rid of that hellion orange feline. Don’t worry about packing. You have a closet full of appropriate attire at home.”

Leigh Anne did a magnificent job of keeping her tears from falling, but she knew she’d be sobbing in the privacy of Theo’s arms later. She’d weep until she couldn’t anymore. There was no way in hell she was going back.

“Mother, thank you. I think private time with my future wife is needed, don’t you?” Ethan painfully grinned, putting a shielding arm over her shoulder.

“Of course, my darling son. Moira will be so pleased to know her only daughter will reunite with her real family again. And no worries, my dear, my stomach doesn’t bear any actual damage.” She glared daggers at her as she kissed the air near the side of her face.

Breathe Again

When the coast was clear, Ethan switched off the wire, removed it, and placed it in his pocket. He carefully unclenched his hold on Leigh Anne and allowed her to breathe again. Only then did she let a single tear fall.

“I’m not going back, Ethan. Never. Not to you, not to them, not there.” Leigh Anne sighed, wiping her eyes.

“I know, Leigh Anne. That’s why we have to work together. We have two days. I have two days to make your life right, and if that’s without me, then so be it. We are over, I know that. I know what I did to make that happen. I can’t apologize enough to you for being such an abusive, cruel, weak prick.” He rubbed his face with the palms of his hands—covering his true face. The mask he had been wearing his whole adult life was cracking, and he couldn’t let her see that. “But for two days, we have to put on a show. I’ll have to see you tomorrow, and you need to let your b-b-boyfriend know what’s going on.”

“H-how, how do I do that? What should I tell him?”

“You’ll find the words. You graduated from our class and could have gone to any top ten Ivy League University. I’m sure you can find the words to tell him what’s happening.”

With that, Ethan stepped away from the bar and Leigh Anne. He gingerly brushed his fingers along the bruises he left behind, and in a breathless exhalation, he said he was sorry.