Married To Baseball

What's Stopping Her From Doing So Now?

Jailyn~

"She meant nothing to me," Nick states as he takes the stand. "It was a fresh out of high school relationship with a girl I was working with. I'm sorry that it's been seven years and she still can't let it go, but it was never that serious. I can promise that I've never laid a hand on her. Believe me, I know I made some mistakes, but she's created this narrative about me ever since we broke up." Letting a breath out of my nose, I can't help but shake my head. He's trying to push the crazy obsessive ex storyline.

Michael nods before asking, "Can you explain the nature of your relationship with Ms.Jailyn?" Back on that one, I see.

Nick nods, "Yeah, it was pretty casual. We had met while working at Payless, she had been hired about two weeks after me. Even as frustrated as I am with how she's been trying to make me look, I can't deny that she's always been physically attractive." Being perceived in any way by him makes my skin crawl. I'd almost prefer if he had called me a bridge troll, at least then he can't think of me in any way that benefits him. "There was another girl at the store who was also cute, I started talking to both of them and that was kinda it for a while. I wouldn't say I was actively pursuing either of them, but I'm not sure they realized that."

"Things were on and off with Jailyn and me for a while up until I got drunk at a party at our boss's house. Like I'd said, Jailyn has always been attractive and I did have a little thing for her, at that point. The day after that party I wasn't sure if I'd said anything stupid so I apologized and that's when we started talking a lot again and I think our first date was about a week or two after that."

"The relationship itself was nothing notable. We were together for about six months, I think." Nick pauses, "I'll be the first to admit it wasn't a healthy relationship, we fought a lot, but never did I ever lay a hand on her in a negative way."

"Why do you think she would be saying you had?" Michael asks.

"I don't know," Nick shrugs. "She's been obsessed with me since we'd broken up. The first handful of girls I was with after we had broken up, she went out of her way to contact them about me. For the sake of full transparency, I did cheat on her," the first shred of honesty he's given. "I'd assume it has something to do with that."

"How often would you say the two of you fought?"

Pursing his lips, Nick takes a moment before answering, "It was more bickering than anything, never anything physical. It was almost daily, she'd get jealous usually because I had female friends and it would go from there. There were other things too, but that was mostly what our arguments would be about."

"How far would you say things would escalate?"

"Never to anything physical," Nick reiterates, "Things would escalate, one of us would end up saying something toxic and then we'd threaten to break up. We would go back and forth before whoever had threatened the break-up backed down."

Michael nods, "Did you ever physically restrain Jailyn from leaving?"

"No, if she genuinely wanted to leave, she could. At worst I may have grabbed her hand to stop her so we could talk things out, but it was never violent or aggressive."

"Did you ever threaten to harm yourself, or Jailyn, if she broke up with you?"

"Absolutely not," Nick states quickly, "That's not something to joke about let alone threaten someone with." I bite my tongue. It's clear Michael has interacted enough with Nick to know that he knows how to spin things. Having encountered his manipulation for months while we were together, I know exactly what he's doing. Nick never struggled with a conversation, he knows what people want to hear and what buttons to push to get the reaction he wants. It's no different to what he's doing now. There's no chance he doesn't know the power my name holds on its own. He has to know that he can't sit up there and speak about me in an overtly negative way, that's why he's still trying to play the mindful apologetic side rather than just openly dragging my name. It sucks to admit, but in this sense, he's not stupid.