"I already told you, ever since we got back together, Joan and I are done."
"Today's a special situation. I was just going to talk to her..."
I gave him a mocking smile.
"Do you honestly think I'd believe that?"
This exact scene had played out more times than I could count.
During those two years of his affair, I'd been hysterical. I'd screamed, sobbed, interrogated him like a woman losing her mind. I couldn't understand why Brian had to betray me. I smashed everything in the house to pieces. I clawed his face until it bled.
All it earned me was his contempt.
But now, there was nothing left to feel. Just numbness, still and flat as dead water.
Especially after Brian had crossed every line, lied to me without a shred of conscience, time after time. After he'd sworn up and down that he and Joan Henson were finished, then kept sneaking around, kept meeting her, kept betraying me.
I'd learned the hard way: not a single word that came out of a man's mouth was worth believing.
Brian's lips twisted into a cold smile. He backed me into the corner, one arm braced against the wall beside my head.
"Eleanor. Be a good girl."
"I know you only brought that friend of yours home to get under my skin."