Boys and Girls, Part IV: Why I Love to Hate You

Chapter 18 – The Breaking Point

It was about one in the morning when Tristan finally arrived home. He’d gotten a little drunk, but not too much – not like he did back in Texas when he’d made love to Jacy with such frustrated passion. He hoped that the silly girl had eventually come to her senses. He hadn’t meant to leave her when he did, but Tristan was so stressed out. He wanted his sweet, caring, and carefree Jacy back in his life to soothe him. He didn’t want sleazy Rob Gregorio to be right about Jacy. Tristan loved her, and he just didn’t want to lose her for stupid reasons.

Tristan unlocked his front door. Upon opening it, he was a little surprised to see that the apartment was pitch black. It was a little late, but Tristan had hoped that Jacy might have stayed up and waited for him to return. Oh well. He flipped on the living room rights and proceeded to his bedroom. He hoped that she had cooled off enough to welcome him with some hot sex. Right now, Tristan was feeling horny as hell.

Tristan opened the bedroom door. “Jacy?” The room was also pitch-black. Tristan turned the light on and uttered a loud expletive.

She was gone.

****

Tristan had been gone for almost four hours, which had given Jacy more than enough time to pack her things up from his apartment. She’d hastily departed the beautiful building back to her own apartment complex. It had been a while since she’d last been there, but Jacy was thankful that she hadn’t moved in with Tristan entirely.

On the way in, Jacy bumped into Ryan. He finally appeared to have gotten over Jacy’s “betrayal,” as he was making friendly conversation with her. They parted ways on the third floor, where Jacy’s apartment was. Ryan went up one more floor to his girlfriend’s apartment and told Jacy to come up and visit. Jacy appreciated the offer, but right now…she wasn’t really in the mood to hang out and be happy with her friends.

She was so mad at Tristan. He had made her feel like a complete fool for her insecurities, but Jacy would rather be insecure and on her guard right now than to have everything blow up in her face after she had utterly and irrevocably given her heart away.

She was in the process of folding some of the clothes she had kept in Tristan’s dresser when a loud pounding sounded at her front door.

“Jacy, you better open this door!”

Oh, brother. Jacy ignored the knocking and went on with her housekeeping. Not two seconds later, Tristan began pounding on the door again with a lot more gusto.

“Open the door!” he yelled a little louder.

Jacy ignored it again. It really was cruel to subject Tristan to this. He wasn’t the groveling type, after all. Still, he had made her feel so goddamn awful with his accusations of insecurity and foolishness. Even if they were true –

“Open the fucking door!” he screamed, pounding the door again.

Okay, fun time was over. Jacy scrambled over to the front door. She didn’t want neighbors complaining or her landlady to have a conniption. She slowly unlocked the door and turned the knob.

Tristan looked livid. Jacy was a little frightened; Tristan only looked this way when he was really mad. His icy blue eyes were wide opened, and he was regarding her with a look of disbelief. He was huffing like he had just run a marathon. Tristan was still in his dress shirt, dress slacks, and dress shoes. He was looking simultaneously delicious and scary. What a lethal combination.

“Forgot to tell me something?” he gritted out.

Jacy gulped but stood her ground. “No.”

She was blocking the doorway, but Tristan easily pushed past her. When he turned on her, his eyes narrowed and he was shaking his head in disgust. “I’m gonna kill you, sweetheart.”

The threat mixed with the endearment weirded Jacy out. She wasn’t certain whether the endearment was added to soften the threat or if the threat was added to remind Jacy that she was in deep trouble.

He threw his hands up. “What the fuck are you doing? Why are you back here?”

“I live here,” Jacy answered firmly.

“No,” Tristan corrected. “You live with me in my apartment, so get your fucking things packed back up, and let’s go home.” Tristan remained in his confident stance with his arms crossed over his chest. He was waiting for Jacy. The son-of-a-bitch actually thought she was going back with him!

“I’m not going back, Tristan,” Jacy replied.

His jaw tightened. “Why the fuck not?”

“We’re no longer a couple.”

“The fuck we aren’t!” he yelled. “I’m giving you five minutes, and then I’m personally going to throw you over my shoulder with whatever you’ve got. Don’t waste your time, Jacy.”

“I don’t need five minutes, Tristan.”

“Good,” he answered, misunderstanding her response. “We’ll leave now, then.” He grabbed her hand and began pulling her to the door. Jacy resisted, and Tristan groaned in frustration. He angrily let go of her arm. “Why the fuck are you being like this? Why are you making this so goddamn difficult?”

“Because it’s over.”

“What’s over?”

“We’re over,” Jacy explained.

Tristan sneered. “Don’t be fucking with my head right now, Jacy.”

Much to Tristan’s chagrin, Jacy’s face remained expressionless. “This is for real, Tristan.”

Tristan threw his head back and gritted his teeth to suppress his frustration. “I’m not waiting any longer. Grab what you can, and let’s go.”

Jacy motioned to the open door. “You better leave.”

Tristan grabbed her extended arm and pulled her towards him. He brought his face within inches of hers and lowered his voice to a menacing whisper.

“I’m not leaving without you, baby. If you won’t come with me, I guess I’ll just have to stay here.”

“I’ll call the police,” Jacy threatened.

“You do that,” he taunted her.

“Let…go,” she ordered through gritted teeth.

Tristan just grinned before lowering his head. Just as he was about to kiss Jacy, she whipped her face to the side. Tristan persisted, despite Jacy’s vocal protests. His mouth landed over hers with force and possessiveness. Jacy moaned in protest, but apparently, Tristan didn’t care. He cupped her face and pulled her toward the couch. Jacy tried to jerk back, but Tristan’s hold was too strong. Instead, her protests grew in volume, and she began to beat weakly against Tristan’s hard chest. The son-of-a-bitch hardly budged.

“Stop fighting me,” he spoke into the kiss. He continued to ravage her mouth, but Jacy wasn’t done. She picked her foot up and gave a solid kick to Tristan’s left shin. He finally let her go.

“Fuck! What the hell is your problem?”

Jacy didn’t answer – only regarded Tristan with disdain. She wiped her mouth and stalked towards her bedroom. Tristan grabbed her arm and yanked her toward the couch. Jacy landed on top of the cushions, and Tristan didn’t give her an opportunity to get up before he climbed over on top of her. Jacy screamed in protest as Tristan’s hands lowered toward the zipper of her jeans.

“You want this, don’t you, Jacinda?” Tristan taunted in a husky voice.

Jacy couldn’t find the courage to answer him. She slowly closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

“Get the fuck off of her.”

Jacy’s eyes shot open. She felt Tristan look over his shoulder and felt the eventual rumbling of his chest as he laughed. It was Ryan.

“Shit, Mackey,” Tristan began through chuckles, “seeing you has just about killed my stiff dick.”

Ryan wasn’t amused. He angrily made his way toward Tristan and Jacy. “I’m not telling you again, Carter. Get off of her.”

Tristan did nothing except smirk. “Or what?”

“Or I’ll beat the fucking shit out of you, asshole.”

Tristan’s smirk didn’t waver. “Sure you will.”

Ryan ignored Tristan’s sarcasm and extended a hand toward Jacy. “Come on, sweetheart. We’ll go upstairs to Lani’s.”

Jacy reached for Ryan’s hand, but Tristan pulled it back into his own grasp. “Get your fucking hands off of my woman.”

****

Jacy’s face went red, and she pushed at Tristan’s chest in frustration. “Stop.” Surprisingly, Tristan rose and got to his feet – but Jacy was sure it wasn’t because she requested it; it was because Tristan was ready to kill Ryan.

Tristan shoved hard at Ryan’s chest. “This isn’t your fucking business, Mackey.”

Ryan shoved back. “She’s my friend, so it is my business, asshole.”

Tristan’s scowl turned a shade deadlier as he aimed a punch at Ryan’s head. Ryan instinctively dodged it at the last second, and instead, threw a punch aimed at Tristan’s stomach. It connected.

“Fuck!” Tristan spat out. His eyes glowed with rage. Tristan regained his composure before throwing another punch at Ryan’s head. This time, he got the latter on the cheek. Ryan stumbled back and shook his head.

“Stop it!” Jacy commanded desperately. She took the time to zip up her jeans and make herself decent. When she looked up again, the two men were still kicking each other’s asses. She was too stunned and terrified to intervene? What the hell? How had a break-up morphed into this?

“What’s going on here?” a low voice commanded from the doorway. The owner of the voice was Jason. Jacy glimpsed Delaney and Lani standing behind him.

The two idiots were still fighting. They didn’t even know that Jason had appeared. Within seconds, Jason marched in and broke up the fight. He had to pry Tristan away from Ryan. Jason leveled a deadly stare at both of them.

“Why is it always the same situation with you two? What the fuck is it this time?”

“Let’s just say that Tristan doesn’t like to hear ‘no’ from his women,” Ryan answered. That flamed Tristan’s wrath, and Jason had to hold him back.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jason asked in disbelief. He turned to Jacy. “Are you okay, Jacy?”

She slowly nodded. “I’m f-f-fine.”

Jason then turned to Delaney. “She’s staying with us tonight.” Delaney immediately nodded in agreement.

“No, she’ll stay with us,” Lani broke in. “We live in the same building for goodness sakes.”

Jason regarded Ryan. “Is that cool with you, Mack?”

“Absolutely,” Ryan answered. He extended a hand. “Come here, sweetheart.”

Jacy awkwardly got to her feet and strode shyly toward Ryan. He grabbed her hand and walked her over to Lani. Tristan did not look happy.

“Take her upstairs. Let me know if she needs anything from her apartment.” He looked over his shoulder and regarded Tristan with disgust. “I’ve gotta take out the trash right now.”

Lani nodded, and with Delaney, helped usher Jacy out of the apartment.

“You leave right now, baby, and that’s it! I’m serious Jacy! I don’t have time to put up with this anymore!” Jacy heard Tristan yell out from behind her.

Jacy slowly turned around and leveled an almost tragic gaze at Tristan.

“That’s okay.”

Maybe it was just her, but Jacy sensed that something had died within Tristan at that very moment. His blue eyes iced over. He looked equal parts sad and pissed off because here she was pretty much saying in front of all her friends as witnesses that she was willing to let the Tristan Carter slip through her fingers. Even a cocksure ass like Tristan could only take so much of a blow to his ego. In any case, she couldn’t bare to look at Tristan in his current state and admit to herself who she was giving up at that very moment. Instead, Jacy turned around and walked with the girls up to Lani’s apartment.

****

Tristan couldn’t believe it. His Jacy had initiated a public break-up in front of her friends. How could she do it?

“I’ll walk you home, Carter,” Jason spoke.

“Just dump him on the street,” Ryan grumbled.

“Go fuck yourself, Mackey!” Tristan spat out.

Ryan looked as if he was going to throw another punch in Tristan’s direction when Jason cut in. “Chill, Ryan! Look…go with the girls and make sure that Jacy is all right. I’m going to walk Carter home.”

“I’m not a fucking girl, Kent,” Tristan complained. “I don’t need your company.”

“Well you’re going to get it, Carter,” Jason retorted in a firm tone. “You’re all bent out of shape right now, and I want to make sure you don’t do anything else stupid.”

Tristan didn’t answer immediately. Ryan gave him one last scowl before turning to leave. Jason walked toward the door and motioned for Tristan to follow him.

“Let’s go.”

Tristan reluctantly followed his quarterback, who it seemed, was calling all the plays off the field, as well.

****