The Five Seconds King

Chapter 003

NEAL

I froze.

Everything in my body went still. Like time had paused just to let my rage boil.

"What did you just say?" I said low, slow, and dangerous.

Jack grinned, that spoiled rich-boy grin that made me want to drive his face through a wall.

"I said," he repeated, cocky as ever. "Go back to your garage and fix a tire or something. Let real men take care of your woman."

That was it.

I didn't even think as I slammed my fist into his chest, hard this time. Jack stumbled back, crashing into a chair. The people around us gasped, some getting up and backing away.

Elisa screamed.

"Neal, stop! STOP!"

But I wasn't done. Jack lunged at me, but he was slow. Weak. I grabbed his shirt collar and slammed him down onto the table, plates crashing and glasses shattering on the floor.

A waiter ran forward. "Sir- Sir, please! You have to stop this- this is a private establishment."

"Elisa's my wife!" I roared, throwing Jack off the table and dragging him toward the pool just behind the dining section by the ear. 

His body hit the pool fence, broke through it, and then SPLASH- he went flying straight into the water.

Water sprayed everywhere.

People screamed and scattered, running from their tables while clutching their phones and bags.

A busyboy slipped and fell, and from the corner of my eyes I saw someone's steak fly off their plate and hit the ground with a splat.

I stood there, my chest rising and falling. My fists were still tight, and I was breathing like I'd just run ten miles.

Jack flailed in the pool, coughing, sputtering, soaked in his designer suit, looking like a drowned rat.

Hotel staff were running over, trying to calm the chaos.

Then I heard her.

"You're violent, Neal!" Elisa screamed, stepping between me and the pool. "You're crazy! You're out of control!"

I turned to look at her. "What?"

She was crying now. The tears were streaming down her face, but they weren't for me. Not for us. They were for him. She wasn't even feeling bad that she'd been caught cheating. Oh no.

"I can't believe you did that! in public! Are you insane?!"

I took a step back, as if she'd slapped me. Well, she had. Just... metaphorically.

"Elisa... he kissed you. You let him kiss you. You booked a hotel room with him. On our fucking anniversary."

"I didn't plan it like this!" she shouted, her face red as she threw her hands up. "You don't understand-"

"No, you don't understand!" I yelled back, pointing to the mess, the broken plates and the shocked guests. "I made you dinner! I bought you flowers! I got you a necklace with your birthstone on it! You said you were working!"

"Because I have to work, Neal!" she shot back, her voice like steel and ice. She was almost foaming at the mouth because of yelling out every sentence. "Someone has to. You barely bring in anything. I carry the weight of the house. I built that company from nothing while you play handyman in the garage!" 

My heart shattered into a million pieces right then and there.

She wasn't just cheating. She hated me. 

"I'm not good enough for you now?" I asked quietly. "Because I fix cares and you run a company?"

"That's not what I meant-"

"Then what the fuck do you mean, Elisa?! That you can't be faithful to a man who's rich? That I did not wear a suit and sit on a board, so I deserve this?"

She opened her mouth to speak to me but nothing came out. I looked at her for a long second, trying to think of anytime when she'd made it clear or even hinted that she didn't love me anymore. But I couldn't. Maybe they were there, but I was too in love, too blinded to see. The woman I married was gone. This wasn't her.

This was someone else. Someone colder. Someone who let another man put his hands on her while I was sitting at home lighting candles.

"You disgust me," I said.

"You're pathetic!" she thundered back. "You're just a man=-child who wants to be taken care of. You walk around acting like you're in control when you don't do shit! Jack treats me the way I deserve to be treated."

I stifled a hurt laugh. "That thing? That thing treats you like you deserve?"

Behind me, I heard splashing again. Jack pulled himself out of the pool, soaked, wheezing. He glared at me, blood on his lips and his eyes full of fire.

"You'll regret this," he growled.

I looked at him and almost laughed again. "All I regret is ever trusting her, and letting you two meet."

"Elisa," I said, turning back to her. "We're leaving. Now."

She stared at me, silent.

"I said- come on." I stepped forward and reached for her hand. But to my shock, she yanked it back.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped. "Get out, Neal. Get out of my face!"

"Elisa-"

"I said GO!"

She stood there, chest heaving and her eyes glistening with tears, arms crossed like there was a wall between us. I stood rooted at the spot, staring at the woman who once told me she'd love me forever. I backed away slowly, my hands falling to my sides and my heart crumbling inside my chest.

The hotel staff finally reached us, two of them trying to usher me out. "Sir, we need you to leave right now or we'll be forced to call the police-"

"I'm going," I said, brushing them off, eyes flicking between the two of them before settling back on Elisa.

Then she turned her back to me. "Somebody call an ambulance, please."

I walked away, and every step felt like I was dragging a broken leg. But inside me, everything burned. Everything screamed.

But I wasn't done. I was going to make her really pay for this!