I scowled. “That’s right. Is that a problem?”
She looked back at me with a less stellar portrayal of kindness. “It’s just, this girl completely ruined my haircut because I broke up with her brother in law,” Taylor said. “Kind of unprofessional, don’t you think?”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Sylvia stepped forward. “First of all, I wouldn’t even let my scissors near your dry, bleach blonde hair. Second, keep spreading rumors about my business and you’ll see what I can do to hair.”
Taylor didn’t look the least bit concerned as she rolled her eyes and looked at me. “I just wanted to talk to you. What was it, Lena?”
“You can call me Elena,” I told her, enunciating the E. Only Ethan had the privilege of calling me Lena, and it came after years of my disapproving correcting before he was finally grandfathered into the nickname. “What do you need to talk to me about?”
I tried to angle my body between she and Sylvia so Sylvia would have the opportunity to calm herself. “Well,” Taylor started, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. “You and Ethan looked really close, but I wanted to make sure you know that we’re only on a break. It’s temporary.”
I had no idea how to respond to the comment, but Sylvia didn’t hesitate. “Is he aware of the break, or it is a self-imposed thing? Because I guarantee he is not willing to screw you again.”
I gasped, but Taylor didn’t flinch. “It’s mutually imposed actually. He understood that I needed him to heal fully before getting back with him. I can handle a few scars, but who wants to be around the fresh burns?” Taylor faked a gag. “But he completely understood and gave me space while he healed.”
Disgust coursed through my veins. “You were too disgusted with his wounds to stay with him?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Of course not. That sounds terrible.” I knew I hadn’t misunderstood her. “But the wounds smelled terrible. I couldn’t sleep in the same bed as him without puking. We agreed that once he figured out the medical stuff, I’d be here for him. He just had to heal first. Then we took a bit longer so he could get over the nightmares. But it’s time for me to come back, and we both know it.”
Taylor was the most despicable human being I had ever met. “You left him vulnerable because of the scars and the nightmares. If you cared for him, you could have stayed by him. You lost your chance.”
Any decency on her face faded as she scowled at me. “I have been with him longer than you. I know him better than anyone, and he will choose me every time. I can ignore a few scars when he’s inside of me, and when he’s not, he’ll be wearing a shirt anyways. He’s mine, and you’d do well not to forget it.” All the perfect features I envied previously morphed into an ugly expression.
I hadn’t realized that people as cruel and petty as her existed.
“You’d do well to realize who you’re talking to,” I told her, stepping into her face. I was not one to start conflict, but my calloused hands and strong arms would break a girl like her.
“I know exactly who I’m talking to,” she said. “The whore who’s trying to steal my boyfriend.”
I snickered and clenched my fists. I felt Sylvia’s hand over my wrist and tried to ground myself using her grip. “I’m the whore who accepts his scars whether he’s inside of me or beside me. If you don’t think they’re as beautiful as he is, you don’t deserve any man, let alone him.”
She shrugged. “We’ll see what he thinks.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder and turned her back.
I lunged forward, done with allowing her to hurt Ethan. If she was anywhere near him, she’d have the power to break him, and I was not going to let that happen. He was too fragile to be brought down again so soon. Sylvia’s grip was like steel around my wrists as I attempted to go at Taylor. “No,” Sylvia said. “You don’t need to drop to her level. Ethan is yours, and he will never slum it with her again.”
Her words went in one ear and out the other, but her words clicked with me. She was right, even if I hated to admit it. Ethan had shown nothing but interest in me from the moment we first rekindled our relationship, and Taylor would not get in the way of that.
She may have thought she had power over him, but I knew she was wrong. I unclenched my fists and took a deep breath.
I let her walk away, but her words stuck with me.
Chapter Twelve
I fumed over every word that Taylor said for twenty-four hours before deciding that confronting Ethan about the situation would be the best way to curb my anger. I needed to talk to the person most central to the issue. I walked inside his house using the key I was given. I knew he’d sleep late after a long night at the fire department, so rather than waking him, I got to work on staining the kitchen cabinets the same dark color as the wooden furniture I had worked on in previous days.
I needed to finish the kitchen backsplash within the next day, but the drill was too loud to run while Ethan slept. For four hours, I did the most mundane and silent tasks I could find, so when I finally heard him stomping down the stairs, I put down my stain and greeted him with a smile. “So, I ran into Taylor yesterday,” I
