Mr. Good Bad Guy

9 - Moving Fast

"I forgot--"

"No the hell you didn't. I don't know what you magically forgot, but you need to leave. I can have you arrested for trespassing."

"I was just--"

"Don't! I'm not your girlfriend anymore! Why didn't you give me your key when you left the first time?"

"Let me explain." Terrance sighed. "You didn't want to talk to me. And I didn't want to pass the key off to a neighbor."

"Do you even know why I didn't? You're fucking manipulative. If I asked about it, you probably would have gaslit me into believing you gave it back and I lost it. Leave."

"But--"

"Leave, please! I was serious when I said I didn't want to see you again."

"Irene, you--"

"Didn't you fucking hear her?" Ezra walked up beside me, slipping an arm around my waist. "I can arrest you right now. Is that what you want?"

"Who the hell are you?" Terrance looked disgusted by the way I was being held. "Don't tell me you already have someone! You must have been cheating on me."

"Here you go again with the accusations. If I wanted to cheat on you, I would have done it a long time ago."

"Still doesn't mean a damn thing. It's barely been two months since the breakup."

"It doesn't matter who I am, dude. You just need to leave before I take you down to the station."

"Yeah, like you could really do that."

"Yeah, like I really could." Ezra pulled something out his pocket and flashed it at Terrance. "Detective Moran. RFPD. Badge number–"

"I don't fucking care what you are. You touch me and you'll hear from my father."

"Running to daddy now, huh?" I barked out a laugh. "You were always like that. Hiding behind a man who doesn't give a shit about you. If you were to get arrested now, he wouldn't care. I would know."

"You bi–"

"Leave before I tack on a few more charges. I'm not afraid to do it."

"You think you can just talk to me like that?" Terrance growled, his fists clenching at his sides. "You're making a mistake, Irene. You'll see." With one last threatening glare in my direction, he stomped off down the hall. I let out a shaky breath as the sound of his retreating footsteps faded away.

"Who was that?" Randy asked after we'd been silent for a while.

I wanted to snap at him for being an idiot, but I knew he hadn't really been listening.

"Terrance Duran. My ex-boyfriend." I sighed, leaning on Ezra. "His father's a rising tycoon. I didn't think he had the balls to come back. I should have been expecting it, though."

"Should we finish dinner for you?" Parker asked.

"No...No, I'll finish it. I'm ok." I straightened up and Ezra led me back into the kitchen. The mood was officially ruined. Hopefully the food wasn't.

We finished making dinner in silence, occasionally asking each other for the other's opinion. It didn't take long, but I felt like fixing dinner was helping me avoid the inevitable. I was going to have to talk about it eventually. I just didn't want to do it now.

"Hey..." Ezra grabbed me before I could walk out of the kitchen. "I know you don't want to talk about it, but–"

"You aren't going to let it go, are you?" I asked.