Love's New Bloom by Simone Hastings

Chapter 4 Threatened

At 3 am, Erin unlocked the door to her home and walked into the living room. She saw a pair of snakeskin heels that didn’t belong to her. Sure enough, Tracy was here. Erin took her shoes off and walked barefoot into the kitchen. Five minutes later, she silently pushed the bedroom door open and padded inside with a pail full of dirty water.

Seeing Ian and Tracy wrapped around each other with her own eyes made her feel like her heart was being ripped to shreds. Hatred filled her eyes as Erin lifted the pail and splashed the water all over them, making them instantly jolt awake.

Ian almost peed himself when he saw someone standing before him. After wiping the water from his face and getting a clear look at who it was, he roared, “Are you fucking nuts, Erin? What the hell did you pour on me?”

Beside him, Tracy immediately pretended to be afraid when she saw Erin. “Ian, I’m scared she’ll hit me…”

He turned to her and wiped her face with the sheets, saying consolingly, “Don’t worry. I won’t let her lay a hand on you!”

Erin couldn’t help sneering when she saw how Tracy remembered to keep Ian’s attention on her despite looking like something the cat had brought in. “I wouldn’t resort to physical violence—it’s just going to dirty my hands!”

Ian gave her a repulsed look. “I have nothing to say since you already know about this. Let’s get a divorce.”

you stole my line. Make sure to split our assets equally!”

his birthday suit. He grabbed her by the arm and said mockingly, “Has your greed addled your brains? Do you even remember who bought this house and the cars? I did! How dare you demand I give you half of what I worked for! The only way I’ll agree to divorce is

that she could barely breathe. She looked up

even going to shed a tear at the sight of him in bed with another woman? Ian wasn’t

who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, was delighted by this turn of events. A victorious smile curved her lips—they were finally getting

hours of the night, Erin sat in a taxi, her face tear-streaked. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to get hopelessly drunk. She wore a shirt and jeans she borrowed from Holly, and

me to the food street on

…

the chair and called out to the stall owner, “Four more bottles of beer for table

deliberately trying to get me drunk, Holly? I’ve already had two beers…” Erin’s face was red. She stared at her beer bottle

you look that it won’t be easy to get you drunk tonight. Haven’t you heard that some liquor makes you more lucid the more you drink it? I know exactly how you feel right

remember, she’s told me time and time again that a woman’s chastity means the world to a man.

in terrible pain, but she had nothing to make it better. Perhaps alcohol

me after we got married. He started

underlying meaning. “Wait, don’t tell

I’m saying.” Erin downed the

answered it and yelled drunkenly, “Who the hell do you think you are, calling at such a godforsaken hour? Are you out of your mind?” Then, she hung up and burst into laughter. “Holly,

remaining upright. “Babe, I think you’ve had enough. Let’s go home,

apologize to her or beg her for forgiveness…it

was instantly shocked into sitting up straight. Whoever was texting her sent her another message. “I’ll spread this all over the