Hot Coffee (The Hollens)
Chapter 39 (Split)

Emma's POV

You've got to be kidding me. This can't be happening. Is he cheating on me? When did this start? I asked myself as I looked at the panties disgracefully.

I tapped my left foot impatiently as I waited for him to come out the shower. My arms were folded on my chest and there wasn't anymore niceness left in me. "What's this?" I asked him as he came out of the shower wrapped in his towel with another one drying his hair.

He gazed down to the floor where the underwear lay. "We're not having sex, Emma, so pick up your underwear," he said and moved over to his closet.

My blood came to a boil and I threw a pillow after him. It bounced off of the back of his head and fell onto the floor, but a pillow couldn't inflict the pain I wanted to do to him.

"These aren't mine asshole! Who are you sleeping with?"

"That's not your business. Besides, I'm not in a mood for this, so don't push me." He put on boxer shorts and a vest.

I was steaming because he was ignoring me again. "Ethan, you're cheating on me and you have the audacity to bring her underwear home! What the fuck have I ever done to deserve this?"

"What I do, that's my damn business, not yours. Maybe if you'd have been minding your own business then we wouldn't be in this situation!"

"Are you high? How can you put this on me when it's you fucking around and fucking up this relationship? If you can't do this anymore then just tell me that! Don't go out cheating on me while I'm here like a fool!"

"Emma, I'm tired. I want to sleep, so shut up."

"You're not sleeping unless I have answers. Who are you cheating on me with?"

"No one!"

"So why was that thing in your jacket? You're lying to me now?"

He rubbed his temple and gave me a smirk. A nasty, stinking smirk that I wanted to wipe off his face so badly, but I contained myself.

Had he been taking me for a fool all along? I felt like my chest was closing in and it ached. I'd read about stories with heartache and heartbreaking moments, and I knew what that felt like now because my heart was broken by the man I was in love with. He showed no remorse. He left me standing there like a fool as he got into bed and fell asleep. I couldn't stand sleeping next to him tonight, or any other night. I turned on my heel and went to the guest room I once occupied. Tears pored down as I laid on the pillows. Why would he do that to me? Why had he became so cold and so distant from me when he told me once I was his world? I wished things could go back to the way they were. He was right upstairs, but I was missing the man I fell in love with. This stranger had taken over and he had no love or interest in me. How could someone who claimed that they love you just switch up on you like that? I was a wreck and I was devastated. What more could possibly happen to me to make my life worse than it was now?

The next morning I left the guest room and headed back upstairs to freshen up. I approached the door and overheard his voice coming from the room. He didn't go to work today?

"Yeah, no, I'm at home not the office. Where do you want us to meet? I wouldn't suggest my house, how about yours?" he spoke into his cellphone. The hell was going on here? I pushed the door open and walked in.

His eyes shot to me and he told the caller that he'd have to call them back. He hung up and looked at me like a kid caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Good morning," he said.

I ignored him and headed towards the shower, fighting back tears. I felt lost. I let the water fall over me- my head to my toes- and I began sobbing loudly. I was certain he could hear me. I slid down the bathroom glass and rested my forehead on my cuffed palms.

"Emma, are you alright?" he asked as he entered the shower, locking his eyes on me.

"Just leave me alone," I sobbed, "just leave me alone."

"I think we should talk," he said, pulling me up to him.

I managed to straighten myself and I looked at him, expecting him to apologize and embrace me.

"I think we should take a break from each other."

"Where's this coming from?"

"Emma, don't make this already harder than it is. Look at us! We've fallen apart, one incident after another. Nothing's smooth with us, Emma."

"I can't believe you're doing this. You're cheating on me so you're trying to put me at fault. You're the one messing up everything, Ethan. You said you loved me, you said you'd never hurt me, and you said you'd always be there for me, but you're not. You don't know how heartbroken I am right now over you and what you're doing to us!" I began crying again, turning my face under the shower to wash my tears away again.

He just stood there. He shifted his shoulders and left the bathroom without another word.

I began crying and sobbing even more. He was giving up on me, giving up on us. There was still so much on my chest I had to get off. I turned off the shower, wrapped a towel around me, and walked back into the bedroom. He was lying on the bed, looking up at the ceiling. I took a deep breath and toyed with the engagement ring on my finger, wondering if I should keep it on and fight for the man I loved, or give it back to him and end it between us because he was clearly having second thoughts about me.

He looked over to me and arched his eyebrow.

I took off the ring slowly. "You want space, Ethan? I'll give you all the space you need. But I want you to know this, you're the one at fault here, not me, so don't you dare try to turn the table around. I love you, and I'll never do anything to hurt you or harm you. We're supposed to be there for each other, but you're quick to take "space" when things aren't what you expect.

"I was abused in the hands of your mother and your ex-fiancee. I was dumped off at a swamp like garbage. I almost lost my life and, in that event, I lost the baby I was carrying for us. You don't know what I had to go through because I was the one going through it by myself. By myself, Ethan!

"Now you're dropping this shit bomb on me, also, when you're supposed to be helping me cope. You're a shell! A weak ass, empty shell, and I don't deserve any of this because I didn't ask for this," I said, releasing the load from my chest.

"Are you done?" he asked coldly.

"You're such an asshole!" I shouted and threw his ring at him; it hit his chest. I moved to the walk-in closet and gathered a few clothes into a suitcase.

"You're going back downstairs to the guest room?"

"No, you son-of-a-bitch. I'm moving out of your mansion! I'm moving out your life, out of this city, and, hopefully, out of this damn country!"☐☐☐☐☐