Chapter 95 Damage
Daxton
A groan escaped me as I wiped the paper towel on the brown sopping up my white t-shirt. My favorite t-shirt. It was one of those things Verena always got me whenever she went on a wild shopping spree.
And, this woman ruined it for me? I knew she bumped into me intentionally. I’d seen the spark in her eyes before she did.
“I’m sorry for this mistake. I will have the shirt dry-cleaned and have it sent back tomorrow morning,” she said. I didn’t even bother looking at her. I didn’t want to see that fake guilt on her face.
Verena shook her head. “It’s a designer shirt. Stains like this don’t go away easily…” She clicked her tongue against her teeth, before gasping at the bad smear on the fabric. “I will go get more paper towels from the car. We can’t go to the restaurant like this—” she walked away before I could stop her.
I heard the sound of footsteps, eyes cutting to Ashley who leaned against the wall with her cheeks pressed to it. Her face was devoid of emotion. “I saw both of you skating. It reminded me of us. Remember, you were the first person who taught me how to skate,”
My face hardened. “I don’t remember. I don’t hold onto insignificant people and memories from the past,”
If I’d known that there was a possibility of crossing into Ashley in Seattle, I wouldn’t have convinced Verena to come here.
She faked a wince. “Ouch, that hurts. So, you are really not going to talk to me?”
“You are one terrible human being and definitely the last person I’d ever want to talk to,”
She laughed softly. “You are really bent on hurting my feelings,”
I didn’t answer.
Slowly, Ashley let out an exhale. “Are you happy that my life turned out miserable?”
I stared her in the eye. “Very happy. You’ve no idea how excited I am. I couldn't care less if you ended up as a garbage collector,”
Ashley burst into a laugh. She laughed so hard that her eyes watered with tears before the smile on her face dropped. “I waited for you Daxton—”
“For you to burst into the church and stop me from getting married to Ewan. But you didn’t and my life turned out this way. Thanks to you,”
I could feel the rage building inside of me. One more trigger and I could snap her head off her neck. “I’m not the reason for your bad choices in life. I didn’t care then. What makes you think that I care now?”
“Want to know a fact? I erased you from my memory that you didn’t even cross my mind over the years,”
I was telling the truth. If I hadn’t seen her here, I wouldn’t have remembered she existed at all.
Her eyes were full of rage, jaw tightening as she blurted. “I thought of you every single day,”
“Good for you,”
“You are so mean, Daxton,”
“You’re welcome,” A wave of relief hit me when I spotted Verena coming towards me with more paper towels.
“I thought meeting her up close would make me see what’s so special about her. But, I don’t see it,”
I shot a glare at her. “Probably because your eyesight is starting to fail,”
“She isn’t better than me,”
“You wish,”
Ashley went silent, smiling at Verena and I hated how weird it made me feel. “You looked so happy with her. How dare you be happy when I’m not,”
“There is still more time for you to register in a psychiatric home. Move mad around Verena and me and I swear that I will send you to a place where no one will ever find you,”
She huffed out a laugh. “I’m shaking in my boots—” her voice dripped with sarcasm. “You know what, I actually don’t care or even give a fuck about you anymore. Just show up at the reunion. I already told everyone you are coming so we are all expecting you to be there.”
Verena
A mother of one. Constantly moving states because she was running from her abusive husband and recently moved to Seattle. Her daughter, Simona, was born with a heart condition—one that required regular hospital visits.
Took up multiple jobs just to support her and her daughter and also to afford her daily medication. She’d set up a GoFundMe but the donations were low.
Only Atlas, Lisa, and a few others in the community consistently donated.
I walked up to Daxton with the paper towels–acting like I hadn’t noticed the tension between them.
There was something Daxton wasn’t telling me.
“I’m sorry I took that long,”
Ashley’s eyes softened. “I don’t have a lot but I will pay for the damage I caused—”
Paying for the damages meant exhausting the little she had on a mere piece of fabric. I still didn’t know what to think about her—if I had misjudged her or was right about the way I felt about her.
“No, don’t. It’s okay. It is just a shirt,”
Daxton cut in, voice rising in anger. “It is not just a shirt. It is my favorite one. You bought it, Verena. Let her pay,”
I glanced up at him and shook my head. “No,”
“Yes!”
Ashley forced out a dry laugh. “It is right that I pay for the damage caused…”
“Please don’t mind him. We will buy another, thank you for sticking around,”
She nodded. “I could leave then, right? I just received a notification for another delivery,”
“Sure,”
The moment she hopped on her bike and left, I glared at Daxton. “You normally don’t care about these things. Why are you bent on her covering the damages? She can’t even afford it,”
“I don’t care if she can’t afford it. She made a mistake. She should pay for it,”
Atlas had told me to be nice to Ashley and Simona. I was still wary of her but I would be nice.
“Be nice to her, she is already going through so much,”
“Nice to Ashley? She is a toxic person and is definitely the last person you want to be nice to.”