4 a.m. // Jeggy

Chapter 25

When I woke up this morning, I wasn't expecting another few hours with John or to be going to my asshole ex-boyfriends house twice.

Yet here we were, on our way to James's house that I had rushed away from so quickly, hoping I wouldn't have to come back until at least tomorrow.

Despite John's hand resting gently on mine as he drove, I couldn't help the anxiety that was rushing through my body. I was terrified of what was going to happen when we showed up on James's doorstep and told him everything that needed to be said.

My heartbeat thumped in my chest and I felt shaky as I realized we were turning onto his street. At this point, I was almost hoping that he wouldn't be home, wouldn't be there to interrogate. Unfortunately for me, his car was sitting in his driveway still, just where it had been when I had left.

We pulled into the driveway slowly and John parked, turning the car off but waiting for a minute before getting out. He squeezed my hand and I looked to him.

"Hey, you're gonna be fine, I promise. Everything is gonna go the way it needs to. We're both gonna come out of this perfectly okay." He said, trying to reassure me. I nodded and sighed, trying to exhale all my anxiety before I had to get out of the car.

"Let's just hope this all goes well. I really... I really need this to go well, you know?" I told him.

"I know. We'll get the job done, okay? We got this." He said, holding his hand out. I high-fived him with a small laugh before he started to pop his door open. Taking one last deep breath, I did the same.

I can't count the amount of times I had walked up to this house, this door, been yanked inside. This time needs to be different. He can't take advantage of me this time. Not with John here.

John stopped a little behind me when we arrived at the door, encouraging me to knock. It took all the courage in my body to raise my fist and knock three crisp times on the door.

I heard him fumbling around inside, wandering to the door. He opened the door after about a minute, and gave me a look when he saw me standing there. John and I had decided that he would hide around the corner so James couldn't see him, and if things started to go awry, he could step in and help. I knew he was watching and listening carefully, peeking around the house so he could see us without James spotting him.

"Well, would you look at that! Little whore decided to come back for more, huh? Why don't we go inside, let's get this thing going." He said, trying to reach for my arm to pull me into the house. I yanked my arm back and a look of shock cross his face.

"No, James. I'm not here for that. Not today, and... not anymore." I said, trying to keep my voice from trembling or showing exactly how afraid I was.

"Excuse me? I don't think I'm getting it here, are you trying to defy me?" He said, anger creeping into his voice. I could sense his body language shifting, getting ready to lash out and grab me or something. I shifted back a little bit, just enough to be slightly out of his reach so he couldn't do anything.

"Actually..." I began, taking a deep breath in. He began to smile, thinking I was going to say that I wasn't defying him and I would go with him.

"I am defying you. And I'm stating that this... thing, whatever this thing is, it's over. Forever. You can't con me into this anymore, you can't blackmail me. I'm done with your bullshit, James. I'm cutting you off." I said, my confidence rising. It quickly dropped again when he smacked me across the face, hard.

My head whipped to the side and I knew there would be a bright red mark on my cheek in the shape of his hand.

"What the fuck, Peggy? You're not ending this. You're mine and I told you that already. Don't try to pull this again. Come inside, or you'll get worse than that slap." He spat, his face close to mine. I could feel his hot breath against my skin, and it felt like his anger was radiating off of him. Just as I began to think of him, I heard John walk from around the corner and James quickly looked up, shoving me back a little since he didn't realize who it was.