Mirage - Alice Tribue Page 0,56
leave the restroom, the band has taken the stage and I’m relieved to discover that the music is actually good now. I work my way through the room again, trying to get back to Nathan, when someone grabs me by the arm. I’m spun around and met with familiar angry eyes.
“Collin. What are you doing here?” I ask, genuinely stunned to see him here.
“I could ask you the same thing, Victoria.”
“Weekend away,” I tell him being deliberately vague. The last thing I want is for Collin to make a scene. This earns me a shake of his head.
“Didn’t take you long, did it?” He juts his chin out with a look of disgust on his face.
I let out a frustrated sigh. I really don’t want to do this shit with him now. As far as I’m concerned, this thing with Collin and me is over, and I do not want to rehash the past or talk about his feelings.
“Didn’t take me long for what?”
He glares at me looking truly evil and more than a little scary. It’s funny the things that we notice about people after we’ve already wasted too much time on them.
“I saw you with your little friend back at the bar.”
I nod my understanding at the same time I pull on my arm, forcing him to let me go. I always knew he wasn’t above pettiness, but this is just ridiculous.
“What I do and who I do it with is none of your business anymore, Collin. We’re not together.”
“That’s great. I tried to get you to come away with me for as long as we knew each other and what, one or two months with that guy and you’re a new person? You’re actually open to having a life now,” he says, cocking his head to the side and crowding me in an attempt to make me cower. I do the opposite, steeling my spine in defiance.
“I always wanted a life; I just didn’t want it with you.” It’s a direct hit. I can tell by the visible flinch and the way his face distorts with anger that I’ve injured his precious ego. It was never a hard thing to do because his pride always gets the best of him.
“I was the best thing that ever happened to you. You think that guy could give you all of the things I could have given you?” He gestures toward the bar with a jerk of his hand. “I will be your biggest fucking regret.”
“You’re absolutely right,” I snicker. “You are my biggest regret. I deeply regret ever getting involved with you in the first place.”
“You’re a little bitch.” He grabs me by my upper arms and gives me a hard shake. I’m about to fight back when I feel his hands leave my body and he’s pulled backward. Nathan is there, spinning Collin around, and without a second thought, punches him directly in the face. I watch in horror as Collin goes crashing down to the ground with a loud thump. He tries to get up, but Nathan is bending down and pulling him by the collar until their faces are practically touching.
“If you ever so much as look at her again, things will not end well for you,” he says, letting go of his collar with a shove. Before I can say a word, he’s snatched my hand in his and pulls me out of the bar, practically dragging me through the parking lot, until I’m in his car.
“Are you all right?” I ask, trying to gauge his reaction when he pulls out of the parking lot and onto the road.
“I’m fine,” he answers curtly. “I should be asking you that.”
“I’m fine,” I assure him not knowing exactly how to feel about what just happened back there.
“Am I to assume you knew that guy by the way you were arguing?”
“He’s my ex,” I tell him, feeling embarrassed for ever getting involved with him. “I haven’t seen him in months; he’s actually the last person I would have expected to see here at all.”
“I take it things ended badly.”
“They ended fine for me. I guess not so much for him.”
“What does that mean?” he probes, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. I reach out and touch his arm.
“Please don’t be mad.”
He gives me a brief look before turning his attention back to the road. “I’m not mad at you; I’m fucking pissed that that asshole put his hands on you.”
“He didn’t hurt me, and he wasn’t going