The pounding in my head woke me and I rubbed my tired eyes. Sliding my hand across the bed, I searched for my phone and quickly found it tangled in the sheet next to me. Groaning, I cringed when trying to focus my eyes on the time. Shit, I needed to get home. Slowly, the events of last night started to flood my brain.
Stumbling around the room, I finally found my shoes and snatched my keys from the dresser. Quietly, I opened the bedroom door, carrying my shoes and keys to the front door. Where Jared and Shannon were, I didn't know, and frankly, didn't care. Anger pumped through my veins as I shuffled to step into my shoes just outside the front door. When I reached my car, I sat there for a minute, looking up at the house, growing furious, thinking that they planned on me becoming their personal little whore. To say that I was pissed or speechless was a serious understatement.
I made it home and stripped down, ready for a hot shower. The hot water eased some of the ache, not just from my head, but from my chest. The anger inside me was still raging, but it was spiked with pain as the first tears mixed with water and slid down my trembling cheek. Who the fuck did they think they were, asking me to accept both of them into my life like that? That's exactly what they made me feel like, a whore.
I struggled to keep myself as calm as possible because I wanted time to choose my words wisely when confronting them again. I wanted to be classy about giving them a taste of exactly how they made me feel. I sipped a cup of tea, wiping away the tears that continued to fall as I got ready for a nap. Just the thought of having to finish Shannon's house was enough to push me over the edge.
Possibly after a little more sleep, I would feel stronger. I turned my phone off and climbed into my bed. Clearing my head, I finally relaxed my body enough to fall asleep.
When my eyes opened again, the sunlight was pouring through the window. I sat up and picked up my phone to see that it was after ten. I knew that I had to get up and start moving, but absolutely dreaded going to Shannon's. The only good thing was that I was almost finished with this job.
Dragging my ass out of bed, I grabbed a juice from the refrigerator and decided it would be a casual dress day. Why should I dress nice for someone who wanted to treat me like a piece of trash? No way would he even get close to me today. My intention was to go and get this shit over with and get the hell out as fast as possible. I wanted nothing more to do with Shannon, and then I still had to confront Jared. Most of my anger was focused on him anyway. He was supposed to be my boyfriend, the one who supposedly cared about me. Yeah, that was a joke.
I could once again feel the anger starting to build up and picked up my bag before walking out the door. The whole drive over there, my thoughts went back to the night before. How could they possibly think I'd ever agree with what they were suggesting?
I knocked on the door and when he opened it, I pushed past him. "Look, I'm only here to finish this job and I really have nothing to say to you."
He rested his hands on his hips and stared at me. "I'm sorry, maybe we went about this the wrong way."
He took a few steps closer, but I folded my arms, glaring at him with disgust and daring him to touch me. "If you don't stop talking, I'm leaving. I already told you, I'm only here to finish and then I'm out. Then you can go back to your shitty little life and find yourself a woman, one who will do anything you ask. It shouldn't be hard, you've got lots of fans."
"It's not like that!"
Holding my hand up, I demanded he shut up. "One more word, and I'm out."
He threw his hands up and walked away, leaving me to complete the job. Finishing his house took some time, but nothing I couldn't manage quickly. He continued checking on me to see what I was doing, leaving me very annoyed. I felt as if he were perpetually looking over my shoulder. "How's it coming?" He asked, checking on me for the tenth time.
"It would go a lot faster if you'd leave me the fuck alone." I asserted with attitude. "Hard to work when someone is looking over your shoulder all the time!" I could see the defeat in his face, but I was far too furious to care. He walked away and I got back to work.
An hour later, I walked through the house to find him. He was outside when I approached, spitting out my words like they were bullets. "It's finished, and if you're satisfied I'm leaving."
He looked around, not really certain what to say. I turned, storming up to the front door and he followed behind me, trying to get me to stop so that he could give me some lame ass excuse for last night. "Carrie, can I please..." my eyes met his and he ceased talking.
"Absolutely not!" He quietly followed me through each room. Once back at the front of the house I glared at him with as much animosity as I could manage. "You satisfied with how everything looks?"
"Yes, it's perfect," he answered without actually looking around. "Can I just have a minute to explain things?"
"You don't deserve an ounce of my time, this job is finished and I have to go. I'll bill you." All he could do was nod as I walked out the front door and marched to my car without a glance back.
After three days of going to lunch with Sara and the girls, I was pretty sure she knew something was up. She sat across from me, shoving a french fry into her mouth. "What's going on? I know something's off, so just spit it out."
She knew me well enough to recognize that we haven't hung out this much since before she and Ryan were married. I let out a sigh, debating if I wanted to open up all the way, or just tell her part of the sordid tale. Where do I begin and how can I possibly tell her just part? She'd never understand anyway and I knew just how much she hated Shannon, so it's not like she'd be able to give any real, fair advice anyway.
I told her all about dinner at Jared's house, and their fucked up little proposition, but conveniently left out the part about the blowjob I gave Shannon. She didn't need to know that part. "What the hell, Carrie? Did they seriously suggest that? Like, they meant it, for real?" She looked at me stupefied, "And Jared's okay with this? I just cannot believe they would expect you to go along with this shit. Do they think you're easy or something? What a complete mess! You did tell them to fuck off, right?"
"I did, but I was drunk. I'm still going to confront Jared and break it off." I had my mind made up. I wanted nothing more to do with either of them.
"That's smart! He doesn't deserve you if he's going to just pass you around. Next thing you know, he'll be trying to pass you to his disgusting friends too." She shifted In her seat, shaking her head and huffing loudly.
"I'll go over to break it off tonight. There's no way I can possibly continue a relationship with him." I picked up my phone and sent a text to Jared, asking to meet up later.
He told me to come by around six. Sara and I gathered up the kids and they dropped me off at home. I spent an hour on the laptop, taking care of work related things before running a few errands and getting myself ready to go. Practicing what I wanted to say in the car during the entire ride over there, I knew I was ready. I got out and walked through the gate, making my way to the front door. When he opened the door, I could feel my bravery beginning to wither. Why do they have this effect on me?
