But I was faster. I caught her wrist before the blow could land.
"You... you're actually siding with an outsider?"
That only made her angrier.
"Don't you side with Boyd every single day?"
My voice was level.
"That's... that's different!"
Melanie clenched her jaw. "Boyd and I have a pure friendship. Whatever's going on between you two is something else entirely."
Boyd chimed in right on cue. "Come on, man. What you're doing here is really out of line."
Out of line?
A cold laugh escaped me. "You freeload under my roof, eat my food, and you think you have the right to lecture me?"
The moment those words left my mouth,
Boyd's eyes turned red on command, tears rolling down his cheeks.
Like a child who'd been scolded for nothing.
Crack!
Melanie slapped me across the face.
"All you ever do is bully Boyd. What kind of man are you?"
"Divorce!"
She spat the word and walked away without looking back.
Beside her, Boyd's lips curved into a faint, taunting smirk.
A victory lap.
I raised my hand and touched my stinging cheek, the words forming silently in my mind.
Melanie.
That slap just burned through whatever was left between us.
That evening,
Sylvia and I came home to an empty house.