On the Edge (The Grange Complex Book 1) novel Chapter 30

Sasha

I didn’t want to see him at all, but he had to pick up his stuff. Our three long years together meant nothing to him. I had been sitting on pins and needles all day, wondering how he was going to act when he showed up.

My heart was shattered, broken, and I hadn’t stopped crying since the moment I realised that it was truly over. It was the second time it happened. My last boyfriend had cheated on me with my roommate and now Kirk had done exactly the same, but with my childhood friend.

I packed whatever I could into boxes. We had stuff that we’d collected together and I wanted to be sure that he wouldn’t take anything that didn’t belong to him. Our relationship had been intense and at the time I thought it was also real. I couldn’t believe that it was over. I felt betrayed, betrayed and lost. The contract for the flat was coming to an end next month and I didn’t know what I was going to do after that.

I heard the car outside and looked out the window. Kirk got out, looking like his usual self, and a few minutes later he was upstairs. He knocked. It was funny, because this flat was still under his name, but we had to act like we were civilised.

I opened the door and let him in.

“Here’s your stuff. I packed it up for you,” I said, trying to sound strong, but it came out like I had swallowed a wooden stick. I was so weak when he was around, always ready to fulfill his every need.

“What about the stuff that we bought together?” he asked and then I noticed that he had been drinking. His voice had that familiar hard edge to it, like when he enjoyed provoking an argument. I shouldn’t have let him in.

“Kirk, how much have you had to drink?” I asked shyly.

“It’s none of your fucking business. I do whatever I want now that we aren’t together,” he shouted straight into my face.

“What happened to us? Why did you do this?” I whispered to myself, knowing that he wouldn’t listen, but he took a step towards me.

“Nothing. Nothing happened. I got bored of you telling me what to do all the time.”

I dragged some air into my lungs, not even realising that he had heard me. This wasn’t how I imagined our last meeting would go. I thought he would at least apologise to me, but it looked like he had other plans.

“We were happy, Kirk. I can’t under–”

“There is nothing to understand, you stupid bitch. You were boring, always worried about what our friends thought about you. Jessica seemed like a better candidate all along.”

“She was my best friend!” I shouted.

“And a very good fuck!”

Tears began streaming down my cheeks then. I couldn’t believe he was behaving as if I meant nothing to him.

“We need to discuss the money now, Kirk. You’ve been avoiding talking about it for some time.”

A couple of months ago, I took a loan from the bank for eight thousand pounds so he could get a new car. Kirk had bad credit, so he asked me to apply for it. I agreed, but so far I had been the only one paying it back.

I don’t know what happened then, but Kirk’s eyes shifted and I saw a mad gleam in them. His fists were clenched. Before I knew it, he had pushed me over to the sofa.

“I ain’t giving you anything. We are not together!” he shouted and then stormed to the kitchen.

Something snapped in me. I was done with being pushed around, done with being treated like an idiot. I went after him, knowing that I couldn’t let it go. I was going to get this money back from him no matter what.

He was searching through the cupboards for something, probably for more money. I had a tendency to hide some emergency cash in the kitchen, away from him, but he could always find it.

I wiped the tears away from my face and picked up a fork, my hands trembling.

“Stop going through my stuff. I want you to leave now.”

I kept my voice calm and controlled. I needed him to go and sober up. Kirk was working and he could afford to pay back the loan. He didn’t stop opening and closing the cupboards, talking to himself, so I nudged him with the fork.

“Take your stuff and get out!”

He turned, launched himself at me and grabbed my wrist. Everything happened so fast, so unexpectedly. He was so much stronger that I couldn’t do anything. Next thing I knew, I felt excruciating pain in my cheek. A warm and sticky liquid poured down my face.

“You stupid bitch. You were always weak. Don’t you fucking dare talk to me about money. I took care of you when you were in the hospital, so you owe me.”

I opened my eyes and realised that he had stuck the fork into my cheek. Then he knocked me to the floor and was standing above me, his eyes wild, unrecognisable. Although I was in pain and shock, I couldn’t let go of the fact that he was cheating me out of my money.

“The car is mine, Kirk. I paid for it!” I yelled, trying to get up, but then he kicked me, knocking over the bottle that was on the kitchen counter. It smashed next to me.

“Stupid fucking bitch. Whiny cow. I made you! It was me that created you. You would be nothing without me,” he kept saying, picking the pieces of glass off the floor. I screamed when he launched at me again, realising it was just the beginning of his rage.

“Sasha. Hey, Barbie. For fuck’s sake, snap out of it. You’re scaring me.”

Dexter’s voice drew me back to my shattered reality. He wasn’t driving anymore and we were outside my new flat. I was so caught up in my past that I didn’t even realise we’d arrived back on my street. I didn’t know why I brought these awful memories back up. It had been a long year and I’d transformed myself, became a different Sasha, a stronger one.

Kirk broke three of my ribs that day and he slashed my face with pieces of the broken bottle. I was in agony for days from the corrective surgery. My parents insisted that I press charges, so I did. He was arrested for domestic assault and actual bodily harm, but he was bailed a week later. That was just the beginning of my nightmare.

“I’m all right, Dex. I just want to go home,” I insisted.

“If that bitch was telling the truth, then why is that asshole walking free?” he asked.

I closed my eyes, knowing that there was no point hiding the truth anymore. No one apart from my parents knew exactly what I had gone through. I looked at Dexter, then took a deep breath and started explaining what happened that night. I told him about Kirk, about his drunken episodes, about what he did to me and about the fact that I’d been ready to do anything for a guy that I loved. By the time I was finished, Dexter’s fists were clenched, his face unrecognisable, twisted with anger and rage.

“I had him in my hands. Fuck, I wish—”

“Dex, stop it, please. That isn’t everything. There is more,” I managed to say, dropping my head in my hands.

“Jesus Christ, Sasha, more?!”

“He was bailed and started spreading rumours about me, telling people that I had a breakdown because he broke up with me. He pushed it too far, made out that I became aggressive and started stalking him. Everyone believed him and because we had the same circle of friends, it was easy for him to convince them. I was very insecure then, not the person that I am now. People assumed he was telling the truth, that I was a liar. My friends stopped talking to me, and everyone turned their backs on me. I started getting threatening messages and emails. I had lost everything. I couldn’t work, so the hospital had to dismiss me. It was a total shambles.”

Dexter was shaking his head, cursing Kirk out. I felt good that I finally got the truth off my chest, that I came clean. I’d found things out about Dexter, pushed him to go to the hospital and he didn’t hate me for it. Still, Dexter had to earn back my trust, show me that he changed.

“It was a nightmare and Kirk only got a few months. I didn’t get any justice.”