Chapter 42 – Fraudulent
Chapter 42 – Fraudulent
KYLIE’s POV
My brows shut up in surprise at the drunkard’s words. I don’t think I had ever heard anyone speak to Justin in that manner before. But what surprised me more was the fact that Justin had yet to throw a punch. I had always known him to be short -tempered. But here he was, exchanging words with him rather than ending once for all by making his nose bleed. “You better watch your tongue with me.” Justin snapped, his fist balling at his sides, and his expression angry. He looked ready to swing those fists, but at the same time, stood exactly where he was.
I knew I was in the middle of this, but a part of me couldn’t help but wonder where all of this would lead.
“Or what? You’ll call Daddy to send his men to pound me?”
“I’m warning you.”
“Warning me? Oh my, I’m so scared. Someone save me from Justin Crawford, who thinks that the sound of his name would make me pee myself.”
“Damn you.” Justin spat.
“That’s all you’ve got? What’s wrong? You’ve been balling those fists for ages, when do you plan on using them?”
Justin said nothing, instead his chest rose and fell with apparent anger.
“Oh that’s right, I don’t think Daddy has that influence at all, does he?” the drunk man said, looking like he was enjoying this whole situation a bit too much.
I, on the other, watched and listened to them, feeling a bit confused. What was this drunk man saying? And why wasn’t Justin contradicting him?
“You shut your mouth about things you know nothing of,” Justin said through gritted teeth, but the drunk’s smile widened. “But I do know what I’m talking about. You little pretty boy. You go around, trying to be something you’re not. Or would you rather I spell it out for everyone to understand?”
“You’ve got nothing.” Justin spat.
“Oh.” The drunk said and looked at me with a winning smile, “I beg to differ.”
I took a step back in surprise. What was this man trying to say? That Justin wasn’t the man he said he was?
Everyone knew who Justin was. He was the paraboi. The boy every girl wanted to be with for how handsome he was, but more than that, they wanted him for the wealth they felt he had. But now, this man was insinuating that Justin wasn’t any of that. He was insinuating that Justin was pretending.
Well, that changed things.
Not for me though. I couldn’t care less about Justin and his riches and wealth. But he had been so inflated when we dated. Henry would come around school with the flashiest of clothes and spend money recklessly.
He was the perfect picture of arrogant wealth, and Lisa loved it. So Much so that she took him from me, and he had let her. He had so easily played me. In his arrogance, he had abandoned me and made me feel less. Now it turned out that it was an act?
Well, wasn’t that captivating news to me?
It would be earth–shattering news to Lisa, for sure. The man she had so recklessly taken from me was a fraud.
“What’s wrong Daddy’s boy, scared? No more threats ?”
“You’re pushing the line,” Justin said in a quiet tone, that sounded angry, but that’s where it all ended. He didn’t do anything else.
He just stood there with his hands balled in fury. Because that much was clear, he was angry.
But now I understood why he didn’t want me going after the drunk man. He felt he was someone I couldn’t afford to offend because he was someone he couldn’t afford to offend.
He had been projecting.
It all made sense now, why Justin always tried
Successfully unlocked!
Why he never tried to be the hated guy? I had found it charming until it started to affect our relationship would en ny he simply let his friends talk down to me without defending me. But then again, he also possibly had not cared that deeply. He had left me for my sister had he not?
“Oh, brother.” I found myself saying as I watched the drunk man sneering at Justin. It was something like a taunt.
An awareness that no matter how hard he pushed, Justin would not do anything about it. He could not afford to either.
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Chapter 42 – Fraudulent
He was all bark and no bite and I found myself almost feeling sorry for him.
“I’ll go farther than that line if time permits because you’re nothing but a coward.” The drunk man spat and sneered some more, pushed him some more. “But you should have thought all of these things through before you decided to play the hero, don’t you think?”
I saw Justin’s jaw clench in fury, his eyes red with anger, but still he said nothing. Those insults must have burned, but still, he said nothing. He simply couldn’t. Like he told me earlier, he wasn’t someone he could afford to offend.
“But you.” He began, turning to me and looking at me with a slippery gaze. His eye were like vice wrapping around my neck, and I wanted to claw out his eyes.
Me, I thought. Me, who couldn’t care less about offending him? And my anger from earlier resurrected.
“Girls like you don’t care about knights in shining armor.” He said, his eyes dragging over me like ants making my skin crawl. He walked closer to me, and for a moment I forgot about the rocks in my hands, “why else would you be tangled up with someone like him?” He asked and tightened my hand over the stones.
“Because girls like you can be so easily bought.”
“Go to hell.” I spat, but he laughed.
I think I saw it coming, but I simply stood there as he fished into his pocket for whatever cash he had in there and shoved it down the front of my dress.
His hand against my flesh, felt like I was burning and heat rose up in my cheeks as hot raging fury burned within me.
I grabbed his filthy hand with my free hand and felt my claws pierce his flesh.
“You keep those damn hands away from me,” I said, my voice so harsh and cold, but he howled in laughter.
I never knew I could be capable of hate. He withdrew his hands and grabbed mine instead, and I heard ringing in my ears.
But before I could react, he was dragged away from me with so much force. A firm grip on him from behind.
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