Unexpected Trouble by Lauren Wood
Ashley
Icalled Steven and he was letting his phone go to the machine. He always did that, making me put a message on that old-timey contraption, and then I would have to wait for him to call me back. It could be a few minutes, hours, or even days. Steven had no qualms about making me wait forever. I think that he liked it. I think that there was something about it for Steven, something sinister.
While I knew Steven’s past, I knew Anna, and she wasn’t perfect. Steven walked around like his wife was the greatest thing to ever hit Jefferson or maybe all of the state, but that wasn’t true. She hadn’t walked on water, no matter how much he treated her like she did.
I was sick of waiting around. It had been a long day and I needed some of what Steven could give me. No one else could do it like him, and I wasn’t going to be able to sleep until he did me right.
After about an hour, I just couldn’t wait anymore. I knew that Steven didn’t like me popping up and I really didn’t either, but this was an emergency. This wasn’t something that I was going to be able to ignore. I was going to have to just break one of his silly rules and that was the end of it. He was going to be mad, at first, but I was convinced that it wouldn’t last very long. I hoped not anyways. Steven could be a bit scary when he was angry, and I didn’t want it pointed towards me.
When I got to his house, I didn’t see anyone else’s car there, so I thought he was alone. Quickly, I realized that he wasn’t alone though. I could hear laughing on the other side of the door. Not only was Steven not answering my calls, but it sounded like he was there with another woman. I couldn’t believe it was true. I mean, I guess, I could, but I was shocked more than anything else.
One part of me said just to leave. Leave right now, and I would just call him later. That was one side of me though, and it was apparently the side that I didn’t listen to. I certainly didn’t want to listen to any of it. I wanted to know who it was. It wasn’t going to do me any good, and it was definitely going to upset me and put me down a path that I wasn’t prepared for, but I couldn’t help it. I had to do it.
I went to the door and before I could knock, I heard Steven laughing and I was sure then that I had the wrong house. I looked around and, of course, I was in the right place. What had happened to Steven? I had never heard him laugh in all of the time that I’d known him. That didn’t make sense, and I felt a wave of fear run through me. Damn it, I wasn’t going to able to have Steven if he had his eyes on someone else.
Who the hell was it that was making him act like a completely different man? It wasn’t a good thing, him being different. That meant that he might not want to be with me anymore. He didn’t love me, I knew that, but he cared about me, or at least I thought he did. He denied it, but then again, why would he say anything at all if he didn’t?
I didn’t think that there was an answer and before I could do something real stupid, I got away from the door. Everything in me wanted me to go to the door, bust it down, and start demanding answers. That’s what I wanted to do, but that’s not what I was going to do. It would do me no good, and I knew that much.
Instead of confronting the problem head on, I did the worst thing imaginable. I hid. I wanted to see who this mystery woman was, convinced that it was going to be some out-of-towner or something like that, but I wasn’t sure. Someone that was only here for a couple of days wasn’t someone that I was going to have to worry about. I was going to have to wait and see. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too much later. I knew how Steven was. He would never let her stay the night. Steven hadn’t changed that much.
* * *
It wasn’t too long later beforethere was a noise at the door and a woman was leaving. I smiled to myself, because I didn’t know why, but it would have been checkmate if she had stayed the night. Whoever she was, she was no different than me and I liked the idea of it. Steven was kicking her out, just the same way that he did me, right afterwards, no cuddling, just go.
The woman didn’t go far, not far at all. She didn’t have a vehicle there because she lived there. I saw her go into the bottom apartment, and I didn’t know what to think. I had to find out who she was, how long she was going to be in Jefferson, and anything else that could help me take her down, anything at all.
I was on a mission the next day. I was going to find out who that woman was from last night and how I could run her out of town. I had been working on Steven for almost two years, and there was no way that some bitch was going to come along and ruin it. I had been biding my time, trying to get him to care more about me than he said. I just wanted it all to work out the way it did in my head. We’d get married, have babies, and it would be good. Life would be good. Why couldn’t he see that? I could see it as clear as day, and I just had to let him see the vision as well. Then, how could he say no to that? It was perfect.
* * *
“So,who is she, Sheryl? You see everyone that comes in here. They all come to you eventually, so I know that you have information on her.”
Sheryl was the woman that worked at the local diner. It was a staple in the small town, and it was the house of all of the gossip. I was sure that I would find out everything I needed to know about the skank trying to steal my man. Steven didn’t know it yet, but I had big plans for us. I wasn’t going to let anyone stand in my way. If I wasn’t going to let Steven change my plans for me and him, why would I change them for anyone else? Whoever this woman was, it didn’t matter. What mattered was I was going to do my best to figure it all out. That’s all I had to do.
“Well, she has been in here a couple of times. She is really quiet, that one. Doesn’t say much, just works on her computer. When I asked her once what she was doing, she just said that she was working. I don’t know what kind of work she was doing, but it looked really complicated.”
I didn’t know what to think of that. I asked her when she usually came in, and Sheryl said that she came in every Saturday and Sunday morning. It was sort of a routine that she had picked up and I was glad to hear it. I didn’t like that she was making routines and getting comfortable in town, but I liked that she was going to be there the next day. Then, I would be able to meet her and get a sense about her. I had a feeling that it wasn’t going to be hard to spot her. From what Sheryl said, she was from out of town, and it showed. I hadn’t gotten a good look at her because it was so dark, but her mannerisms were not from here.
“So, what does she look like?”
“Well, she is a pretty little thing. She is petite with blonde hair that is almost white. She has the prettiest eyes and smile. I am telling you, Ashley; she is as cute as a button. I am sure that she goes to the coffee house during the week. Maybe you could get a hold of her over there. She should be here tomorrow, if you want me to tell her that you were looking for her.”
I told her that it wasn’t necessary. I didn’t want to talk to Tracy. I wanted to destroy her and make sure that she never looked at Steven again, never made him laugh. Why I was stuck on that particular idea, I didn’t know. Didn’t care. I wanted her to pay, because fundamentally, I knew she was my real competition. It wasn’t Steven. It was Tracy, some city girl that came here to Jefferson, thinking that she was going to take my man. I wasn’t going to let it happen.
“No, no, that’s okay. I will probably bump into her soon enough. You know that nothing stays secret in Jefferson for too long. Thanks for the information, Sheryl. You do a service to this town.”
She was confused because she didn’t know what she had done, but she had been very helpful. Now I knew exactly who the competition was. I just had to figure out how to beat her. I hoped that since she’d left so early, that Steven wasn’t as satisfied with her as he was with me. When it came to me and him, he took longer, took his time to make me feel better. I wanted to believe that he didn’t do that for her.
Tracy was going to pay. Steven was mine and there was no way that I was going to give him up without a fight. There was no way that I was going to let any woman have him. He was mine, and I’d worked too hard to have him be mine. I wasn’t going to be able to just walk away. I didn’t care if Tracy made Steven act differently. I didn’t want him to change. I’d gotten used to his crotchety attitudes. I didn’t mind them. I just wanted Steven, any way that I could have him.
