Standing there watching him break; it was both a pleasure and a pain mixed into one. She wanted to relish in it, to continue seeing him snivel but just as with Grace as she could do was stand there and watch him cry. It rooted her, a twinge in her cheeks from muscles that were taut and ready for action but a brain that wasn’t telling her what to do.
Time ticked a bit as she stared him down before she tutted and looked away from him. Why she would go into these situations, look forward to them and then realize it was no longer fun?
“Sorry blue man but you no longer amuse me. Locking yourself up here in this fucking apartment like a loser? I’m going to go look for someone who can entertain me.”
Picking up a leg she kicked over some paintings, not to destroy them but just to make a mess and then made her way past him to the door.
Jack tried to reach out for her, but she brushed past him without even a second glance.
With a heartbroken whimper, the blue man slowly sank to his knees, hugging himself tightly as he silently cried. The wrecked paintings meant nothing. Katelynn had cut in and attacked his deepest insecurities – all the things he most hated about himself. He wanted to argue with her, to demand to know what had happened, to grab her and force her to stay so they could talk this out … but he couldn’t even move. His legs felt weak as water. His chest felt as if a giant, icy hand had squeezed his heart – it hurt to even breathe.
“K-Katelynn,” he managed to whisper one last time, “please … you’re everything to me …”
She stopped at the door when he whispered, once again rooted not only by his words but by the prickling that was a constant ache in her head. Hopefully once she left him behind it would stop. Or she could ask her master for more drugs to push it away.
Or kill it completely.
“Well isn’t that just sad,” she informed him, not even turning to look at him. “To leave everything to a worthless love that wasn’t meant to be. Maybe the next bitch can give you everything you need or put up with you but you’re not getting it from me.”
Turning her head to look back at him, she smiled and sauntered off. “Goodbye loser.”
And, helpless, Jack watched her go.
When the woman was out of sight, he sat down hard on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest and burying his face in them as he wept. God, he hated crying – hated how it reminded him how weak he was, just like she’d said.
Realizing that the fight had tied down, Roxy and Stella emerged from where they’d been cowering in the kitchen. The little black pug, seeing how distressed her master was, tried to cuddle against him with a whine. With a sob, Jack pulled her into his lap, stroking her silky fur.
Eventually the tears stopped. Jack drew in a few painful, hitching breaths, still hugging Roxy to him. It had been just the two of them in the beginning, and now … oh god, what was he going to do? All the dreams he’d had, the future he’d had a glimpse of …
A snort from Stella caught the blue man’s attention. The bulldog was snuffling at something on the floor. She wanted to pick it up, he realized, but her stubby mouth couldn’t get a good grip on it. Jack reached over … and his hand closed on the engagement ring.
Jack carefully picked up the sapphire ring, not caring how drooly it was. Katelynn had thrown it back at him …
… But she hadn’t been herself.
The dogs had growled at her.
Her eyes had been wrong – and the eyes never lied.
“… Something did happen to you,” Jack whispered. He clutched the ring to his chest like a promise. “And I’m going to find out."
Jack Maple 